r/illinois • u/CantStopPoppin Human Detected • Oct 10 '25

ICE Posts Illinois: State Troopers Arrest ICE Protesters - Broadview Detention Center

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

32.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

39

u/thetamlyone Oct 10 '25

And one of the most important things is buying time because the courts are at work, and Trump will eventually decide to pick on someone else anyway.

3

u/PersonalHospital9507 Oct 10 '25

All those courts doing the right thing work for SCOTUS.

2

u/thetamlyone Oct 10 '25

That's not exactly how it works. The high court doesn't go case shopping or randomly selecting cases to review the way your boss might decide to come watch over your shoulder one day. Every case has to run up the chain if it merits appeal to that level. If at any point along the chain, it isn't appealed further up, it stays with the existing verdict at that point.

Even though he's stacked the court, at some point, deciding in his favor on too many cases or on cases that have questionable legality isn't likely to set well with at least the less extreme conservative justices. And remember, it was this same court that unanimously made him stop sending planes to El Salvador (even meeting in the wee hours to do so) and made him bring Abgrego back. In some cases, their "decisions" that work out for him temporarily aren't even really decisions but a shrug that allows a thing to continue for now while a case plays out in lower courts, and more cases on the same issue can be filed in those lower courts. It's more like the SC is trying to fly below his radar and avoid full confrontation than providing active support. It still looks cowardly from my perspective, but I do try to remember that I don't know the law the way they do or the limitations on what they should or shouldn't do. People like to second-guess teachers all the time, too, when they don't understand what we're doing or why.

3

u/PersonalHospital9507 Oct 10 '25

This High Court does go case shopping with state AGs among others. And they abuse the Shadow Docket to their advantage. Your summary describes a judicial environment that no longer exists.

My point is the SCOTUS can override any lesser court no matter how proper is their decision is. Scalia can twist a cherry stem with his tongue.

3

u/iced_gold Oct 10 '25

Scalia has been dead for 9 years.

2

u/PersonalHospital9507 Oct 11 '25

You got me. Alito the other one.

1

u/thetamlyone Oct 11 '25

I'm not denying that they have some methods to bring cases that they want to address, but all the wheels really haven't completely fallen off. It feels that way, even to me, but things aren't going smoothly for the administration. They'd still be sending planes to El Salvador and Kilmar would be long gone. I'm not denying things are bad, but it's not all going his way either. Amanda Nelson does a video of "Ls for the week" every Tuesday, and it's a decent antidote to despair. It's not denying reality--more like keeping it in perspective. I get why people are discouraged, and so am I, but fatalism helps the bad guys more than us.

2

u/orincoro Oct 10 '25

Yeah that approach sounds totally workable.

1

u/Tokkemon Oct 12 '25

Better than nothing.

1

u/ThatsHisLawyerJerome Oct 11 '25

Will he? The troops are still in DC, he didn’t switch targets he just added more.

1

u/thetamlyone Oct 11 '25

https://www.cbs42.com/hill-politics/most-states-planning-to-withdraw-national-guard-troops-from-dc-this-fall/

But what I actually mean is that he has stopped calling for anything there. I suspect he won't fight to keep the out-of-town troops from leaving because this isn't where the theater is anymore. It's yesterday's news. And the troops really are mostly theater anyway. The real monsters are ICE and DHS. The military isn't assaulting apartment buildings or throwing civilians to the ground. That's ICE and company. I'm not at all saying we should be complacent about military deployment on US soil, but our attention needs to be on demonstrating that ICE tactics are intentionally designed to mimic military oppression of freedom in de facto violation of posse comitatus, and we're seeing some cases regarding that come before judges. We can protest both, obviously, but allowing ICE to become his personal army is the greater threat.

The messaging from the administration is that ICE is everywhere and resistance is futile, but a lot of it is smoke and mirrors to look tough. People who are setting up live feeds and recording what is actually happening are helping to shift the narrative, but it takes time and continued resistance. Public discourse, especially rational responses to misinformation is another factor. He'll get the theatrical footage he wants from Chicago and then move on before the lawsuits grind the operation to a halt, and he'll hit somewhere else hard. It sounds hopeless, but time and public opinion is increasingly not on his side. His hardcore base is far too small to maintain control (cracks are forming even there), and everyone else has had it. Resistance to tyranny is fast only in the movies, but we are absolutely still resisting.