memeorandum: The Situation: Court Orders, Kidnapping, and Smuggling (Benjamin Wittes/Default)

9:20 AM ET, April 15, 2025

Top Items:

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:

The Constitutional Crisis Is Here — Between the path of outright defiance of the Supreme Court and following its order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador's infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), the Trump administration has chosen a third way …

Discussion: Mother Jones, OutsideTheBeltway, Alternet.org, Today's Edition Newsletter, CNBC, The Forward, Blaze Media, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, To the Contrary, New Republic, UPI, New York Times, The Post Millennial, NextDraft and KDFX-TV

Chris Geidner / Law Dork:

Trump told us the horrifying reason why Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not back in the U.S. — We are approaching one month since the United States illegally sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the CECOT “terrorism” prison in El Salvador on the third March 15 flight that took people to the prison.

Discussion: The Message Box, MeidasTouch News, The Hill, New Republic, Rolling Stone, Breitbart, Raw Story, New York Daily News, Techdirt, CBS News and New York Times

G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:

Trump's immigration agenda is not popular — To start this post, I am going to ask you a key question about immigration policy. But first, I need to establish a few facts based on recent news: — On Monday, April 14, 2025, Donald Trump met with the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, in the Oval Office.

Discussion: Associated Press, Truthout and ProPublica

Caroline Foreback / CBS News:

Maryland senator requests meeting with Salvadoran president to discuss deported Maryland man — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen requested a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele during his visit to the United States to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported.

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, Daily Caller News Foundation, CNN, Associated Press, Breitbart, Axios, Washington Examiner, Fox News, The Hill, Baltimore Sun and Politico

NBC News:

Democratic lawmakers say they'll travel to El Salvador to push for Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release — Sen. Chris Van Hollen said if the Maryland man whom the administration acknowledged mistakenly deporting was not back in the U.S. by ‘midweek,’ the senator would travel to El Salvador.

Discussion: Baltimore Sun, Washington Times and Mediaite

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Trump & Bukele Plot US Citizen Detention In Salvadoran Torture Camps, While Defying Supreme Court Via Gibberish Responses To Reporters

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, New York Post, The Atlantic, The Nation, Blaze Media, Townhall, El País, American Greatness, Talking Points Memo, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, The Independent and Semafor

Chris Van Hollen:
Van Hollen Requests Meeting with President Bukele to Discuss Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia; Announces Intent to Travel to El Salvador This Week if Abrego Garcia is Not Returned

Discussion: Off Message, Letters from an American, Axios, Racket News, USA Today, PolitiFact, The Hill, National Review, The Daily Wire, Foreign Policy, Reason, Washington Examiner and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Politico:
Trump, in a rare move, deferred to another world leader. It's a clear legal play.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Michael-In-Norfolk, Mother Jones, ABC News, NBC News, NPR and The Hill

Paul Blumenthal / HuffPost:
Donald Trump Is Defying The Supreme Court

Discussion: The Hill, The Status Kuo, Slate, American Prospect, RealClearPolitics, Rolling Stone, Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, National Review, The Guardian, Vox, Letters from an American and Politico

Harvard University President:

The Promise of American Higher Education — For three-quarters of a century, the federal government has awarded grants and contracts to Harvard and other universities to help pay for work that, along with investments by the universities themselves, has led to groundbreaking innovations across …

Vimal Patel / New York Times:

Trump Administration Will Freeze $2 Billion After Harvard Refuses Demands — Federal officials said they would freeze the money after Harvard said it would not submit to requests to overhaul hiring and report international students who break rules. — The Trump administration acted quickly …

Discussion: The Harvard Crimson, Bloomberg, Hartford Courant, Robert Reich, New York Post, New York Daily News and The Dialogue Dilemma

Michael Casey / Associated Press:

Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism — The federal government says it's freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration's demands to limit activism on campus.

Discussion: Scripps News, Axios, The Harvard Crimson, Fox News, Townhall, Bloomberg, Breitbart, NPR, New York Times, The Independent, Delaware County Times, Fortune, Raw Story and STAT

U.S. Department of Education:
Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism Statement Regarding Harvard University

Discussion: The Post Millennial, RedState, The Hill, PinkNews, The Independent, Ars Technica, The Washington Free Beacon and Politico

Jack Blanchard / Politico: The Great Fightback? — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — Good Tuesday morning.

The Harvard Crimson:
Harvard Will Fight Trump's Demands

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Wire, The Western Journal, Raw Story, HotAir, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Mediaite, Denver Post, The Hill, RVM News, USA Today, The Post Millennial and Semafor

New York Post:
Harvard may be free to target Jews — but not on the taxpayers' dime

Discussion: American Thinker

Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Harvard's Decision to Resist Trump Is ‘of Momentous Significance’

Discussion: Al Jazeera and One America News Network

Ismail Shakil / Reuters:
Trump administration freezes about $2.3 billion in funding to Harvard

Discussion: IJR, The Japan Times, The Guardian, WBUR and The Independent

New York Times:

Columbia Activist Arrested by ICE at His Appointment for Citizenship — Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, has lived in the United States for 10 years and was arrested in Vermont. He has not been charged with a crime. — Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of pro-Palestinian demonstrations …

Discussion: abc7NY, Mediaite, Reuters, Fox News, Axios, WHDH-TV, The Hill and Raw Story

Akela Lacy / The Intercept:
Palestinian Student Leader Was Called In for Citizenship Interview — Then Arrested by ICE

Discussion: kottke.org, The Washington Free Beacon, UPI, Breitbart, HuffPost, Informed Comment, New York Post, Raw Story, Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Daily News, Al Jazeera and The City

Ali Bianco / Politico:
US arrests co-founder of Palestinian student group at Columbia University

Discussion: CNN, Senator Bernie Sanders, CBS News and Twitchy

Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
Every Part of This ICE Arrest Is Horrific—Especially the Location

Discussion: The Independent and CNN

Jenna McLaughlin / NPR:

A whistleblower's disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data — In the first days of March, a team of advisers from President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the Southeast Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board.

Politico:

Tariff carve-outs underscore weak US position in China trade war: ‘This is going to get really ugly’ — With its electronics exceptions, the United States has demonstrated that it is more willing to bend than the Chinese. — The White House says it has the upper hand in its trade war with China.

Discussion: The Hill, fmprc.gov.cn, Raw Story, Xinhua and CBS News

Colby Smith / New York Times:
The Dollar Keeps Falling as Its ‘Safe Haven’ Status Is Questioned

Discussion: Bloomberg, Fortune and American Prospect

New York Times:
Trump Moves to Put New Tariffs on Computer Chips and Drugs

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill, Associated Press, Fox Business, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, One America News Network, The Daily Wire and Baltimore Sun, more at Techmeme »

Punchbowl News:

Why President Trump isn't signing many laws … Trump and Republican congressional leaders often claim his new administration has been the most productive in recent memory. — Except when it comes to passing laws. — Trump has signed fewer bills into law at this point in his presidency …

Punchbowl News:
4/15/25 ☀️ AM: — News: NRCC gets on track with $21M raised in March

Discussion: Fox News, The Kyiv Independent and Politico

Sohrab Ahmari / UnHerd:

JD Vance: My message to Europe America doesn't want a vassal continent — “It's not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States.” So says JD Vance during a phone conversation with UnHerd on Monday, his first major interview with a European outlet since taking office as Vice President.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, UPI, The i Paper, PinkNews, The Independent, The Kyiv Independent, Semafor and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
JD Vance says ‘good chance’ of a UK-US trade deal

Discussion: Bloomberg, Reuters and The Independent

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Vibe Shifts Against the Right — Alex Kaschuta's podcast, “Subversive,” used to be a node in the network between weird right-wing internet subcultures and mainstream conservatism. She hosted men's rights activists and purveyors of “scientific” racism, neo-reactionary online personalities …

Discussion: Alternet.org

Costas Pitas / Reuters:

US says most tomatoes imported from Mexico to face 21% duty from July 14 — The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday said most tomatoes imported from Mexico to the United States will face duties of 20.91% from July 14 as it withdraws from an agreement it said had failed to protect domestic tomato growers.

Discussion: Bloomberg

International Trade Administration:
U.S. Department of Commerce Announces Intent to Withdraw From 2019 Suspension Agreement on Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico

Discussion: The Hill, New York Post and Florida Politics

New York Times:

White House to Ask Congress to Claw Back Funding From NPR and PBS — Trump administration officials want legislators to rescind $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides some support for public media. — The White House is planning to ask Congress to claw …

Discussion: Politico, Blaze Media, Fox News, The Hill, Shore News Network, Raw Story, Associated Press, Twitchy, Mediaite, New York Post, Scripps News, Bloomberg and The Post Millennial, more at Mediagazer »

Benjamin Wittes / Default:

The Situation: Court Orders, Kidnapping, and Smuggling — Meet The Authors — Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With — The Situation on Friday asserted that “it's going to take a lot of work” for U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and her colleagues on the federal bench …

Discussion: ABC News, The Federalist and UPI

Bloomberg:

China Orders Boeing Jet Delivery Halt as Trade War Expands … Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.

Discussion: CBS News, Live and Let's Fly, Fox Business and New York Post

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

The Supreme Court threatens to bring “Don't Say Gay” to every classroom in America — Remember Florida's “Don't Say Gay” law? — The unconstitutionally vague law imposed such unclear restrictions on teachers who speak about sexual orientation or gender identity that many feared …

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Despite a court order, White House bars AP from Oval Office event — Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with President Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.