Pesky Fourth Amendment

And then there is that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized. 

Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster.  That is called the fox guarding the henhouse.  The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.

Accordingly, the Court finds that the Constitution of these United States trumps this administration's detention of petitioner Adrian Conejo Arias and his minor son, L.C.R.  The Great Writ and release from detention are GRANTED pursuant to the attached Judgment.

Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency.  And the rule of law be damned.

Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation.  But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.

Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: "Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?" "A republic, if you can keep it."

With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike,

It is so ORDERED.

Matthew 19:14

John 11:35

-- Fred Biery, United States District Judge, ordering the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from immigration detention in Dilley, Texas (31 January 2026)

ICE Is Not A Law Unto Itself

That does not end the Court's concerns, however.  Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases.  The extent of ICE's noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated.  This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges.  Undoubtedly, mistakes were made, and orders that should have appeared on this list were omitted.

This list should give pause to anyone -- no matter his or her political beliefs -- who cares about the rule of law.  ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.  The Court warns ICE that future noncompliance with court orders may result in future show‐cause orders requiring the personal appearances of Lyons or other government officials.  ICE is not a law unto itself.  ICE has every right to challenge the orders of this Court, but, like any litigant, ICE must follow those orders unless and until they are overturned or vacated.

-- Patrick J. Schiltz, Chief Judge of the District of Minnesota, issuing a ruling in a case brought against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and others (28 January 2026)

The Will To Believe

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.

-- William James (1842 - 1910), pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897) "The Will to Believe" p. 10

Very Different Lessons

It is only in folk tales, children's stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to destroy evil.  The real world teaches very different lessons, and it takes willful and dedicated ignorance to fail to perceive them.

These are, unfortunately, leading themes of history.

-- Noam Chomsky (7 December 1928 -), American linguist, cognitive scientist, political analyst, and human rights activist, Talk titled "The World After September 11th", AFSC Conference at Tufts University, Massachusetts, (8 December 2001)

[Previously Trvth'ed on 3 May 2007, but these are, after all, leading themes.]

Affluent Misery

Tax reduction has an almost irresistible appeal to the politician, and it is no doubt also gratifying to the citizen.  It means more dollars in his pocket, dollars that he can spend if inflation doesn't consume them first.  But dollars in his pocket won't buy him clean streets or an adequate police force or good schools or clear air and water.  Handing money back to the private sector in tax cuts and starving the public sector is a formula for producing richer and richer consumers in filthier and filthier communities.  If we stick to that formula we shall end up in affluent misery.

-- John William Gardner (1912 - 2002), President of the Carnegie Corporation and Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under President Lyndon Johnson, The Recovery of Confidence (1970), p. 152

A Line Of Demarcation

When the government kills, it has an obligation to demonstrate that it has acted in the public interest.  Instead, the Trump administration is once again engaged in a perversion of justice.

The administration is urging Americans to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.  Ms. Noem and Mr. Bovino are lying in defiance of obvious truths.  They are lying in the manner of authoritarian regimes that require people to accept lies as a demonstration of power.

Truth is a line of demarcation between a democratic government and an authoritarian regime.  Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good are dead.  The American people deserve to know what happened.

It is premature to reach conclusions about what exactly happened on that Minneapolis street.  The Trump administration should not have done so, and we will not do so.  What is clear, however, is that the federal government needs to re-establish public faith in the agencies and officers who are carrying out Mr. Trump's crackdown on immigration.

-- Editorial board of the New York Times, "The Trump Administration Is Lying to Our Faces.  Congress Must Act." (25 January 2026)

They Have Forgotten

One of the most obvious facts about grown-ups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child.

-- Randall Jarrell (1914 - 1965), American poet, novelist, critic, and essayist, "An Unread Book," introduction to The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead (Holt, Rinehart, 1965 edition)