Remembering
James Robison

You are viewing a page from our archive site. To browse the latest Christian TV content on The Stream, click here.

The Brew: Supreme Court Pauses Trump’s Deportations. Is it Time for a Showdown with Rogue Judiciary?

By John Zmirak Published on May 19, 2025

President Donald Trump hit another judicial roadblock this weekend in his effort to repatriate some of the 10 million-plus illegal immigrants the Biden administration brought into our country, distributed throughout swing states, and primed to vote in elections (by blocking voter ID laws). This time those responsible are on our nation’s highest court, which took no action when Biden was flouting multiple immigration laws. NBC News reports:

The Supreme Court on Friday dealt a blow against the Trump administration’s attempt to send Venezuelans it says are gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador, saying the detainees must have a proper chance to raise legal objections.

The 7-2 decision, which grants a request from a group of Venezuelans, clarified an unusual order issued by the justices in the early hours of April 19 that hit pause on any government plans to deport people held in northern Texas.

The justices in the latest unsigned decision faulted the administration for giving the detainees only 24 hours to launch legal challenges.

“Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the ruling said.

But the court concluded that the justices themselves, “far removed from the circumstances on the ground,” are not best placed to determine exactly what process should be followed.

Therefore, the court sent the case back to an appeals court for further proceedings to determine what due process the detainees should receive.

The justices punted on the actual merits of Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, or his claim that as members of a criminal gang linked to the Venezuelan government they should be classified as invaders. But the track record of appeals courts trying to micromanage and veto Trump’s decisions doesn’t inspire much optimism about how they’re likely to rule.

Trump responded on Truth social:

We’ve said it here before: A constitutional showdown is coming at some point, when the Trump administration will have to decide to double down and insist on using its constitutionally granted executive power despite judicial interference. The same people who winked when Biden defied the Supreme Court by forgiving billions of dollars’ worth of student loans will cry “dictatorship” when Trump refuses to comply with lawless orders. Of course that’s nonsense. There is a clear constitutional remedy for presidential overreach. It’s the same backstop that applies to rogue judges and justices: impeachment and removal. Since Trump has been impeached twice on nonsensical claims in the past, he’s probably not spooked by the prospect anymore.

The question isn’t really whether Trump would be within his legal rights or would survive yet another sham impeachment. It’s how such a showdown would play out politically and affect the mid-term elections in 2026. As useless as the GOP Congress has proven since Trump took office, a Democrat-controlled House would go from being merely ceremonial to openly hostile. So Trump and his team are doubtless waiting for the judicial order so outrageous and unpopular that defying it would benefit them. Is this the one? Coddling foreign gang members who prey on Americans has never been all that popular outside the halls of the Democratic National Committee and Catholic Charities.

It’s heartbreaking to see our system so broken and dysfunctional, thanks to the corrupt willingness of the Left to abuse judicial authority — as it abused its law enforcement powers when it controlled the White House. Americans increasingly feel like we’re living in one of Kafka’s novels, which morbidly lampooned suffocating bureaucracy seemingly designed to break the human spirit.

We won’t be broken, and neither will our president. He will, in his own words spoken as blood ran down from his ear, “Fight, fight, fight!”

Fear of “Fascism” Driving Ivy League Professors to Flee the Country

Centrist legal scholar Jonathan Turley is taking to task coddled academics who have convinced themselves that a single lost election amounts to a “fascist” takeover of the United States and fled the country in panic. Turley writes:

The New York Times continues to work tirelessly to maintain the narrative that the United States is now a fascist regime. Earlier, the Times demonstrated its view of balanced analysis by running a collection of legal opinions titled “A Road Map to Trump’s Lawless Presidency.” Now, it is featuring three Yale professors fleeing fascism for the safety of Canada, making direct references to the rise of the Nazis. The video is titled “These Yale Professors Study Fascism.”

All three professors are going permanently to Canada to teach at the University of Toronto. It appears that the systemic rollback of free speech for conservatives in Canada is not a deterrent for Yale professors longing to be free….

The New York Times splices in ominous images of migrants being detained, children crying, and anti-Israel protesters being arrested. It also shows the image of Elon Musk’s alleged Nazi salute, a ridiculous claim fostered by the media.

Perhaps it’s too much to hope for a mass exodus of leftist academics, by the hundreds and thousands, to the Great White North. But we’ll take each little win that God decides to grant us and offer up prayers of thanks. I’m tempted to say “Bon voyage!” but since we’re a fascist country now, “Auf wiedersehn!” is probably more fitting.

Show Harvard the Money

Meanwhile, over at Harvard, there’s a university-wide meltdown over the federal contracts Trump canceled over the school’s affirmative action programs that the president says violate the Civil Rights Act:

Can We Bring This Immigrant INTO the Country? Please?

Of course, we don’t want every self-righteous, hysterically moralistic left-winger to leave the country. In fact, one or two of them are so spectacularly entertaining that it might be worth importing them. Check out this spokesman for the multiply marginalized in Cardiff, Wales:

I would personally sponsor this person as an immigrant, so long as s/he promises to run for Congress as a Democrat in some place like Martha’s Vineyard.

Pope Leo XIV Reaffirms Christian Teaching on Marriage, Sanctity of Life

Meanwhile, over in Rome, new pope Leo XIV is speaking up for traditional Christian teachings, so far eschewing the leftist political messages of his predecessor, Francis. The Associated Press reports:

Pope Leo XIV affirmed Friday that the family is founded on the “stable union between a man and a woman,” and that the unborn and elderly enjoy dignity as God’s creatures, articulating clear Catholic teaching on marriage and abortion at the start of his pontificate.

Leo, the first American pope, also called for reviving multilateral diplomacy and promoting dialogue between religions in the search for peace in his first meeting with the Vatican diplomatic corps. The audience was private, but the Vatican released Leo’s prepared text and that of the dean of the diplomatic corps.

Faithful Catholics are split about the likely direction of this pontificate, but so far Leo has conducted himself with dignity, and conservatives are cautiously optimistic about something like a return to normalcy in the church.

Along The Stream…

Don’t miss this uplifting message from Stream founder James Robison on the “unshakable Kingdom” that God builds in our hearts.

This afternoon, watch a powerful testimony from a woman who protected vulnerable children in Texas from transgender groomers.

 

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or coauthor of 14 books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. His newest book is No Second Amendment, No First.