Good to see this: “Conservative Republican former officials file brief [with DC Circuit Court of Appeals] calling Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans accused, w/out evidence, of gang membership ‘unprecedented and dangerous’ & if allowed ‘will endanger the liberties of every person in the US’.”
Those signing on to this brief include former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA10); former CIA and NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden; former VP Dan Quayle Chief of Staff William Kristol; former Special Counsel to President Trump (2017-2018) Ty Cobb; Board President for the Society for the Rule of Law George Conway; etc.
As the brief says, the signers:
“…write to express their deep concern over the potential use of an act which gives extraordinary powers to the Executive Branch during wartime when the United States is not at war. The implications of such use are extraordinary and dangerous…As former public officials, Amici pledged to support the Constitution’s demands for the separation of powers and the rule of law. Our government— including the President and the Executive Branch—is bound by the rule of law. Despite the President’s proclamation of March 15, the United States is not currently at war with any foreign nation, no foreign nation is invading or threatens to invade
our borders, and the President’s invocation of supposedly unreviewable statutory authority lacks all merit. No person should have been detained or removed under that proclamation and those that were should have been—and now must be— afforded due process and individualized consideration. Anything less countenances oppression, abuse, and tyranny.”
Of course, *everyone* should be joining with these principled conservatives, but most won’t do so because apparently all they care about is power for themselves, the constitution and the rule of law be damned (along with civil liberties, etc.). Hell, Virginia AG Jason Miyares even joined with a bunch of his fellow right-wing state AGs that the President DOES have the authority to round up and deport anyone he wants, even completely innocent people, without due process or appeal, and deport them to a notorious prison in El Salvador where they can, as Jon Favreau points out (also, see below), “be tortured in a foreign gulag because they lit cars on fire” or for literally ANY REASON the president cites. And yes, if that is allowed to stand, it would indeed “endanger the liberties of every person in the US.” Think about that…
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