Judge Pauses Abrego Garcia Case After Parties Reach Secret Agreement
Story by David Kurtz • 21h
Constitutional Clash Is On Hold
Apparently the Trump administration is finally doing enough to facilitate the release of the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to satisfy his lawyers – at least for now. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland on Wednesday night ordered the case paused for a week at the agreement of the parties. Her order came after dueling filings earlier in the day, with the government asking for the pause and Abrego Garcia’s lawyers initially opposing it. Both filings were under seal so it’s not clear precisely what was initially in dispute, what has been agreed to, or what the government revealed that convinced the judge the delay was not just more gamesmanship from the Trump DOJ.
As Morning Memo described in some detail yesterday, the Trump administration’s request for a pause would be a plausible move in a normal world where it was acting in good faith to secure Abrego Garcia’s release and didn’t want the details of its efforts to become public yet in court filings. But the Trump administration has consistently acted in bad faith throughout these proceedings, and a request for delay was consistent with its numerous other efforts to stonewall in the case.
We’re left to speculate about what exactly is happening, but it’s fair to say that neither the trial judge nor Abrego Garcia’s attorneys would have been likely to accede to a delay without concrete and verifiable representations and assurances from the Trump administration.
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