Abrego Garcia Will Return When the Administration Needs Him
Every week I get a call from a reporter asking if we are in a constitutional crisis. In this week's edition of "No," let me sketch out a scenario for the Abrego Garcia case. First, a brief history lesson.After Worcester v. Georgia, Georgia refused to effectuate Worcester's release from jail. President Jackson did nothing. Chief Justice Marshall lamented that this was the end of the Constitution. After six months, though, Jackson faced a bigger problem. South Carolina was defying federal authority to impose tariffs. At that point, he needed the Court on his side. So he negotiated with the Governor of Georgia and Worcester was magically pardoned.Abrego Garcia will probably be magically produced by El Salvador when the Administration loses one of the four cases now pending on the legality of today's tariffs. The Administration will then need the Court on its side. And it's clear that Trump cares a lot about tariffs. Being in the Court's doghouse when that case is brought on the emergency docket won't be worth keeping one guy erroneously deported.The only reason I say "probably" is that, to quote Claude Rains, it's also possible that El Salvador will announce that Abrego Garcia "died trying to escape."
Every week I get a call from a reporter asking if we are in a constitutional crisis. In this week's edition of "No," let me sketch out a scenario for the Abrego Garcia case. First, a brief history lesson.
After Worcester v. Georgia, Georgia refused to effectuate Worcester's release from jail. President Jackson did nothing. Chief Justice Marshall lamented that this was the end of the Constitution. After six months, though, Jackson faced a bigger problem. South Carolina was defying federal authority to impose tariffs. At that point, he needed the Court on his side. So he negotiated with the Governor of Georgia and Worcester was magically pardoned.
Abrego Garcia will probably be magically produced by El Salvador when the Administration loses one of the four cases now pending on the legality of today's tariffs. The Administration will then need the Court on its side. And it's clear that Trump cares a lot about tariffs. Being in the Court's doghouse when that case is brought on the emergency docket won't be worth keeping one guy erroneously deported.
The only reason I say "probably" is that, to quote Claude Rains, it's also possible that El Salvador will announce that Abrego Garcia "died trying to escape."
