THAT SUPREME COURT RULING WON'T GET KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA HOME

We're supposed to regard this as a big victory:

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.

The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

Slate's usually gloomy Mark Joseph Stern is optimistic:

It's overwhelmingly likely that the Trump administration CAN order El Salvador to send back Abrego Garcia with one phone call. There's no plausible evidence that it can't! Things will get dicey if the administration claims that's possible. But I think the odds are that Abrego Garcia comes home soon.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM

I don't share Stern's optimism. This is the Trump regime, which is itching to defy the Supreme Court, and is eager to take full advantage of every loophole.

And here's a huge one. The ruling says:

“The [district judge's] order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

But it also says:

“The intended scope of the term ‘effectuate’ in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.“

So the High Court, while seeming to rule against the Trump administration, effectively endorsed the Trumpers' transparently phony argument that U.S. authorities can't possibly persuade or compel El Salvador's Trump-fanboy president, Nayib Bukele, to return Abrego Garcia. So now, if they choose, they can say they tried to "facilitate" his release but, darn it, they couldn't "effectuate" it. Thanks to the Supreme Court, they don't have to.

This is important bc it means there will be a fight about what the govt can or can’t do to bring about the return. That is, the exec branch might say they can’t actually bring about return, or can’t do X, Y, or Z to effectuate return. The R Justices gave the admin latitude to try and do that.

— Leah Litman (@leahlitman.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM

And the Supremes added a delay:

The Supreme Court’s unsigned order does not mean Abrego García will be returned immediately. The justices sent the case back to the lower-court judge to clarify aspects of her initial order and said the Trump administration should be prepared to “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

... In its order, the court also directed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to expand on her initial order to the extent she required the Trump administration to “effectuate” Abrego García’s return and said she may have exceeded her authority by infringing on the president’s powers. The courts typically defer to the executive branch in conducting policy overseas.

“The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,” the order said.

Let's hope Abrego Garcia stays alive while all this is taking place.

I'm reminded of what Elie Mystal wrote after Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to chastise Trump for demanding the impeachment of a judge who'd ruled against him:

Roberts is trying to maintain the appearance of power in the face of a president who has shown no inclination to respect it. He is trying, desperately, to avoid a judicial confrontation with Trump, while still wanting to sound like he is in control....

Trump is not going to follow a Supreme Court order he doesn’t like, and everybody paying attention knows that, including Roberts. The only way for Roberts to avoid being exposed by Trump as unimportant is to defer to Trump on any matter of real import.

Roberts will undoubtedly ... rule that the laws Trump won’t follow anyway are unconstitutional. He knows Trump will violate his orders, so his entire plan will be to not issue an order that Trump can violate.

In this case, the Roberts Court is arguing that a judge can't order the president to "effectuate" a renditioned prisoner's release from a foreign torture prison. So Trump will pretend to "facilitate" that release, unsuccessfully, and both he and Roberts will be happy. Or Trump won't, and will falsely say that he tried, with the same outcome.

Or Roberts has misjudged Trump, assuming incorrectly that Trump wants to avoid openly defying the Supreme Court. I think Trump will be happy to take the win on "effectuate" and say, No, we won't even pretend to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release. But we'll see.