Foreign Policy Decisions

BACKGROUND

See,

1) Robyn Dixon, “How Trump’s policies have helped Russia and furthered Putin’s goals; Months into the new administration, a slew of policy changes have helped Russia, including defunding U.S. soft power, standing down cyber efforts and splitting with NATO allies,” Washington zpost, March 26, 2025 (9:15 a.m EDT);

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BACKGROUND

1) By Paul Rosenzweig, “The Pathetic, Cowardly Collapse of Big Law; Trump’s actions are an attempt to tilt the scales of justice by using the raw power of government coercion—and they’re working,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2025 (8:32 ET);

2)3) Michael Birnbaum, “Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of ehis attacks; The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. The result overall has been called an extraordinary threat to constitutional rights of due process and legal representation and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term, Washington Post, March 25, 2025 (Updated at 4:12 p.m. EDT);

3) Devlin Barrett, “With New Decree, Trump Seeks to Cow the Legal Profession; A presidential memorandum aimed at lawyers everywhere struck a menacing tone, Washington Post, March 22 2025;

4) “They Are America’s Most Powerful Law Firms. Their Silence Is Deafening,” New York Times, March 25, 2025

5) John W. Keker, Robert A. Van Nest and Elliot R. Peters,”
“Our Law Firm Won’t Cave to Trump. Who Will Join Us?,” New York Times, March 30, 2025;

The writers are the senior partners at the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters.

5) Ben Protess, “In Trump’s Fight With Perkins Coie, the Richest Firms Are Staying Quiet; None of the nation’s top-10 firms by revenue have signed a legal brief demonstrating support for the law firm that is resisting an executive order,”New York Times, April 2, 2025 (Updated 1:06 p.m. ET);

BAcKGROUND

See,

1) George Packer,”THE HOLLOW MEN; It takes a special talent to betray an entire worldview without missing a beat, The Atlantic, March 25, 2025 (8:00 am ET);

2) T. S. Eliot (1888 –1965), “The Hollow Men (1925)”, poets.org;;

3) Michael Birnbaum, “Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of ehis attacks; The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. The result overall has been called an extraordinary threat to constitutional rights of due process and legal representation and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump’s actions in court than during his first term, Washington Post, March 25, 2025 (Updated at 4:12 p.m. EDT);

4) Stefan Schocher, “Terror, Folter, Entführungen – In den besetzten Gebieten lauert die Gefahr überall;, Die Welt, den 24. März 2025;

5) Stefan Schocher,”Terror, torture, kidnappings – the danger lurks everywhere in the occupied territories,l DiecWelt, March 24, 2025;

6) “Russia rejects Trump’s new ceasefire unless sanctions lifted,” The Telegraph, March 26, 2025;

BACKGROUND

1) Will Bunch, “The frog of democracy is nearly boiled. We can still jump out of the pot; The slow, seemingly piecemeal march of American dictatorship is trampling colleges and law firms and coming for the rest of us, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 2025 (12:42 pm ET);

2) “Statement: Human Rights Watch declaration on prison conditions in El Salvador for the J.G.G. v. Trump,” Human Rights Watch, March 20, 2025(4:00PM EDT);

3) Mneesha Gellman(Emerson College),”Beatings, overcrowding and food deprivation: US deportees face distressing human rights conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prison,” Houston Chronicle, March 17, 2025

Trump’s police state is here; The useful (if untrue) metaphor of the frog in a boiling pot

On Washington Week on PBS on Friday, March 21, 2025, leading American journalists debated in fine detail whether the United States faces a “constitutional crisis”.

What the ****!

Even leading American journals have been so cowed by Trump that they can’t say the words directly. They have become incapable of reporting the equivalent of the cause of a nuclear explosion being a nuclear bomb.

The coverage in the Washington Post, in particular, has become so anodyne as to be almost meaningless. Think of the investigative journalism the old Washington Post might be engaging in.

The president is engaged in an unconstitutional dismantlement of federal agencies established by Congress.

The president is whisking people away im the middle of the night and deporting them to El Salador and its infamous prisons–with no due process as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. In some cases he is detaining individuals in the middle of the night with no charges, with no Miranda warnings, denying them access to lawyers in violation of the Sixth Amendment, and asserting he has the right to deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Could this be a constitutional crisis?

Do you think?

El Salvador’s prisons are, as regards deportees, our prisons

Think about this for a minute.

The United States cannot escape its moral and legal obligations, under either domestic or international law, by simply deporting individuals to a foreign country that does not respect such obligations.

Were it otherwise, the U.S. could simply deport an individual to a country where he will be tortured, or murdered. Or forced to live in prison conditions prohibited by U.S. and international law.

As we examine the legal arguments advanced by the Trump administration, we must bear in mind that the Trump administration is engaged across the board in bad faith government, lies, and distortions of the truth.

A central tenet of all legal systems is the obligation of all parties to act in good faith. In judicial proceedings, this obligation is particularly important.

The Trump administration violates this good faith requirement every day, stetching the clear meaning of statutes far beyond any good faith interpretation. Read their legal arguments carefully.

Do they seem to you to be made in good faith?

VpBACKGROUND

1) Cristian Segura, “Ucrania da por hecho que Putin quiere ganar tiempo para proseguir la ofensiva; Políticos y militares en Kiev interpretan que el líder ruso demostró en su llamada con Trump que no tiene intención de sellar la paz,” El País, el 20 de marzo 2024 (00:40 EDT);

2) Cristian Segura, “Ukraine assumes that Putin wants to buy time to continue the offensive; Politicians and military in Kiev interpret that the Russian leader showed in his call with Trump that he has no intention of sealing the peace
March 20, 2025 (12:40 am EDT);

3) Thomas Grove, Alan Cullison, and Michael R. Gordon, “Trump Russia Envoy Echoes Kremlin’s Views on Ukraine Ahead of Peace Talks; U.S. is hoping for a broader cease-fire between Moscow and Kyiv covering the Black Sea in negotiations starting in Saudi Arabia,” Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2025 (3:32 pm ET);

4) J. Michael Luttig, “It’s Trump vs. the Courts, and It Won’t End Well for Trump,” New York Times, March 23, 2025.

Judge Luttig was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006.

5) Javier G. Cuesta,”Putin no sueña con treguas; El presidente ruso desconfía de la Administración Trump y avisa a los empresarios de que sería una ingenuidad esperar un desenlace rápido de la guerra en Ucrania,” El País, el 23 de marzo 2025 (05:40 CET);

Moscú – 23 MAR 2025 – 05:40 CET

Law as a sword, not a shield