I am really trying to understand what is going on, but having a very hard time of it. Specifically, I am talking about the Djibouti Eight, the eight men whom the Trump administration wants to deport to South Sudan, but who have been stuck on an American military base in Djibouti. Two of the men are originally from Cuba, two from Myanmar, and one each from Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and Sudan. I think that the government asked each of their native countries to accept their return, and all refused, and in late May the government decided to send all of them to South Sudan.

This was one of several situations involved in a class action suit brought in the United States District Court in Boston.

In late April, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an injunction saying that the government could not deport people to third party countries without giving them the right to make a claim that they would be at risk of torture in those countries. Murphy set some standards for the government to abide by.

On May 21, Judge Murphy, apparently having been informed that his order was ignored and the men in a plane on the way to South Sudan, issued a subsequent order, giving the government the option of returning the men to the U.S., or holding them in a different country while giving them all the rights they would have if they had remained in the United States. Then plane carrying the men to South Sudan had stopped in Djibouti, and the eight men (along with twelve ICE agents) were temporarily held there.

So far, at least, everything was clear. But then it turned murky, when on June 23, the Supreme Court “paused” Judge Murphy’s order, in effect saying that additional notifications as to where deportees would be sent if not to the places stated on their deportation orders were apparently not required.  The ruling was 6-3, with no explanation given by the majority but with a full dissent drafted by Justice Sotomayor.

Judge Murphy’s original injunction was overturned, but when the government ignored it, it was in force, leading to Murphy’s second order. The government had ignored the second order and the question was whether this lack of compliance could lead to problems for the government.

Putting aside whether the June 23 Supreme Court decision was correct (and the three liberal justices clearly thought it was not), it was a separate question as to whether the government should be faulted for violating an injunctive order when it was in effect. So the question became one of judicial procedure more than substance, or perhaps better in addition to substance. And Justice Sotomayor wrote a second dissent that focused on this, citing law, the Constitution, and an international treaty involving prevention of torture.

I have read both Sotomayor dissents and find them very persuasive. And it is clear that there is at least a legitimate legal dispute here. But this is not the most important point I am trying to make today.

My point relates to the attitude of the MAGA folks in charge of our government today, who don’t worry about the legal niceties at all.

This is how Steven Miller described the situation:

“A Boston judge openly defying and nullifying a Supreme Court order is a radical escalation of the communist coup taking place within the judiciary.”

Got that? Radical judge. Communist coup.

And then, not on this subject, our dear president could not help himself in his Independence Day message when he said this about Democrats: “I really do. I hate them. I can not stand them because I really believe they hate our country.”

I joined my first law firm in 1972, saw it grow from seven to over one hundred lawyers, and then saw it split up, the victim of its own success. Twenty or so of us joined about a dozen other lawyers to form the DC office of a large New York firm. It was a physically easy move because we stayed in our suite, the only change being the name on the door. But no….it was not the same. I may have been behind the same desk in the same office in the same suite, but the governance changed, a new gang, with different practices and very different values. It was unsettling and uncomfortable and my analogy at the time was: I am still living in the United States, but the Russians have taken over. I feel the same way here today. Just substitute MAGA for the Russians.

I had signed a two year agreement with the New York firm. On the first day of the third year, I autodeported and set up a new firm (now in its 35th year) with a friend. Relatively easy to do when all you are talking about is a law firm.

But when the problem is the nation?