The justices ordered the government to seek the return of a man whom it had wrongfully deported.The AtlanticBy Adam SerwerApril 10, 2025America has reached a very dangerous moment, as the Supreme Court’s indulgence of President Donald Trump’s belief in his own untrammeled authority collides with the justices’ expectation that he will abide by their decisions.This evening, the Supreme Court upheld part of a lower-court decision ordering the Trump administration to seek to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom—as The Atlantic first reported—the administration has acknowledged it mistakenly dispatched to El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT. Abrego Garcia, who came to the United States illegally but was allowed to stay after a judge ruled that he was likely to be persecuted by gangs in his native El Salvador, would be the first person publicly known to be released from CECOT.“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 justices wrote in an unsigned order.[...]The consequences of this evening’s ruling are difficult to predict. The Trump administration could choose to comply with the court order and secure Abrego Garcia’s return. It could also choose the path of open defiance. But it might instead make a token effort to retrieve Abrego Garcia and then shrug, telling the Court that it tried its best but was unsuccessful. The Salvadoran government has declared that anyone who is imprisoned at CECOT will never leave—if Abrego Garcia returns, he could speak out about the conditions he experienced at the facility, which could have political consequences both for the Salvadoran leadership and for the Trump administration.
Lady's and gentlemen! Place your bets! Will Trump lead us into a constitutional crisis? Is Trump leading us down the road to fascism?
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