Kyle Cheney Profile picture
Dec 2, 2023 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
BREAKING: Judge CHUTKAN has *denied* Trump's motion to dismiss his criminal charges based on a claim of "presidential immunity. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…
"Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens." ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…
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Trump's charges in the Washington D.C. case do not violate the First Amendment because "it is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime," Chutkan rules.

ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…
NEWS: The constitution does *not* preclude Trump from being prosecuted for trying to subvert the 2020 election, Judge Chutkan rules. In fact, the charges he's facing are precisely the kind George Washington warned of, she says.

politico.com/news/2023/12/0…
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Chutkan has now developed something of a habit of telling Donald Trump he is not a king, as she did in her ruling granting the Jan. 6 committee access to his White House records from NARA. politico.com/news/2023/12/0…
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This ruling is certain to be appealed and all but certain to reach the Supreme Court. It's the most difficult test of Jack SMith's D.C. indictment and will likely determine whether Trump faces trial at all ahead of the 2024 election.

politico.com/news/2023/12/0…
Chutkan twice cited the hours-old appeals court decision finding Trump can be sued for claims that his Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse incited violence at the Capitol.

politico.com/news/2023/12/0…
MORE: Chutkan’s relatively swift ruling on this extremely tricky constitutional question is aligned with special counsel Smith’s plea that she act on the immunity question quickly — since it’s one of the few issues Trump can appeal pretrial.

politico.com/news/2023/12/0…

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More from @kyledcheney

Feb 13
Some people do Friday Zillow. We do Friday habeas. Here are some cases of people who have been detained by ICE and ordered released by judges who said the detention was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Mexican man with no criminal history and six US citizen kids.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Man in US for 18 years, two US citizen kids. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Read 7 tweets
Feb 13
BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.

The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel

democracyforward.org/wp-content/upl…Image
NEW: A federal judge excoriated the Trump administration for claiming it lacked the resources to give ICE detainees constitutionally required access to lawyers — despite surging law enforcement to detain them in the first place.

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2026/02/1…Image
The rebuke came as the administration also dropped criminal charges against two men it claimed had attacked an ICE officer, who fired a gun in the fracas. “Newly discovered evidence” conflicted with the original headline-grabbing account, DOJ said. politico.com/news/2026/02/1…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 10
NEW: Federal judges are increasingly furious at what they see as a pattern / playbook of defiance by the Trump administration to court orders in immigration cases — in Minnesota and around the country.

Here’s a look at what they’re seeing: politico.com/news/2026/02/1…Image
1) WHISKING DETAINEES TO OTHER STATES: ICE has made a practice of pinballing people from where they're arrested to facilities in Texas, New Mexico or elsewhere, and sometimes more than once. It can complicate or defeate challenges to their detention.

politico.com/news/2026/02/1…Image
2) BLOWING OFF DEADLINES: When detainees sue for release, the administration is increasingly blowing off court-ordered deadlines to response. It's become almost routine and has led judges to order release in some cases. politico.com/news/2026/02/1…Image
Read 10 tweets
Feb 5
Two men were recently charged with assaulting an immigration officer in MN with a snow shovel and broom, which led to a shooting ICE claims was defensive. The case made national headlines.

The men moved in court earlier in this week to prevent ICE from deporting witnesses who they say can rebut the charges. Their trial judge, Paul Magnuson, agreed.

However...Image
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One of the witnesses, a 19-year-old woman who appears to be the partner of one of the defendants, was apparently picked up by ICE the same day as the incident and transported first to Texas and then to New Mexico.

Today, a judge in New Mexico noted demanded details about the woman's detention, noting that MN offered her a U visa for witnesses to a criminal investigation and that she's being held under mandatory detention policies that most judges – including Judge Strickland – have ruled unlawful.Image
UPDATE: Judge Strickland in New Mexico has now further enjoined DHS from relocating or deporting the witness. Image
Read 10 tweets
Feb 4
MEANWHILE: Judges in Minnesota continue rejecting the administration's efforts to lock up ICE's targets en masse. This man has been in the US since 1988 and says he's been approved for a green card.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
What may be most notable, however, is the increasingly lengthy list of requirements in the judge's order — each responsive to recent violations or transgressions by the administation, such as releasing MN residents in Texas with no way to get home to withholding their possessions Image
In another release order, Judge BARTLE — a George W. Bush appointee in Pennsylvania — vented today that ICE "continues to act contrary to law, to spend taxpayer money needlessly, and to waste the scarce resources of the judiciary." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Read 4 tweets
Feb 4
NEW: A rupture between DOJ and ICE has emerged in Minnesota, where overwhelmed prosecutors keep dropping the ball — and saying ICE won't return their messages.

The crisis has had real-world consequences for migrants illegally detained.

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2026/02/0…Image
MORE: Julie Le — the DOJ attorney who vented about the chaos in court — has been reassigned. politico.com/news/2026/02/0…Image
Le's cases are the tip of the iceberg. In recent weeks, an overwhelmed DOJ has dropped the ball in dozens of cases, missing deadlines, botching filings, violating orders.

Judge say the local DOJ attorneys aren't at fault — but blame their DC leaders. politico.com/news/2026/02/0…
Read 6 tweets

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