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Welcome to record: The Supreme Court ruled Monday that immigration and customs law enforcement officers in Los Angeles may target people whose immigration stops, based on race and several other factors.
What just happened? In court’s 6-3 rulingShadow Summary,” Six Republican judges reversed a lower ban to prevent Los Angeles’ ice agents from relying on just four factors or joint four factors to stop immigration:
- “Obvious race or race”;
- Speak Spanish or stressful English;
- Their “presence in a particular position”;
- and their job types
Monday’s decision is not the end of the case. Noem v Perdomothis may return to Scotus, but it is a fair sign that the problem may eventually appear.
What did Ice do in Los Angeles? Since earlier this year, ICE has been placing Los Angeles against particularly large-scale and indistinguishable immigration attacks in Los Angeles, prompting President Donald Trump to conduct extensive protests against the California National Guard. In some cases, federal agents carried military weapons and equipment during raids, including using flash grenades on bystanders.
What does the liberal judge in the court say? Justice Sonia Sotomayor protested with Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, protesting the court’s proceedings and rulings.
“This decision is another abuse of our emergency case files,” Sotomayor wrote. “We don’t have to live in a country where the government can grab any seemingly Latino, saying Spanish and seem to be working in low-wage jobs.”
What is the overall situation? As my colleague Ian Millhiser, Monday’s decision was a pretty incredible result Written last month. The courts are very much in line with Trump’s preferences and it’s difficult to ensure over-promotion of federal law enforcement.
That said, the implications of Monday’s decision remained worrying – as Sotomayor warned, the decision threatened to establish “second-class citizenship”, with U.S. citizens and law residents facing arbitrary detention for their skin color or accent.
So, it’s time to log out…
I love my colleague Bryan Walsh’s good news newsletter you can read here (and register hereif you want to be in your inbox too).
He wrote a great, neglected story of progress over the past 70 years: Ireland transformed from a poor country to a high child mortality rate and a low secondary education rate to a vibrant, vibrant, prosperous country now.
That’s all for today – I wish you a wonderful night and we’ll see you here tomorrow!
