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Kyle Cheney Profile picture
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
Senior legal affairs reporter for @POLITICO with a focus on democracy, law and the balance of power in government. Tips: kcheney@politico.com NY ➡️ BOS ➡️ DC
144 subscribers
Aug 5 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: Donald Trump may be off the hook for his alleged crimes, but his allies are still facing charges in five states — including a case against fake electors that goes before Nevada's Supreme Court tomorrow

A look at the zombie cases and what comes next. politico.com/news/2025/08/0…Image In Arizona, where Trump allies like Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman still face prosecution, AG Kris Mayes is fighting to salvage her grand jury indictment or else go back to the drawing board.

An appeals court is likely to rule in late summer
politico.com/news/2025/08/0…Image
Jul 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: Trump has withdrawn Alina Habba's nomination to be US attorney in New Jersey, part of a multistep maneuver intended to keep her in the position as acting US attorney beyond an initial Friday deadline. Here's how it works:

1) Habba resigns as interim US attorney, ahead of a Friday deadline
2) Trump withdraws Habba's nomination to take the job permanently
3) AG Bondi appoints Habba First Assistant US attorney
4) Habba automatically becomes acting US attoreny bc of the vacancy.
Jul 10 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: A batch of newly revealed text messages and emails from fired DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni show in real time how DOJ officials handled court orders related to the Alien Enemies Act, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and more.

They lend contemporaneous support to Reuveni's claim that Emil Bove suggested telling a court "fuck you." politico.com/news/2025/07/1…Image There's a lot to unpack in the texts and emails between Reuveni and his colleagues. They joke morbidly about beign fired, and are grateful Boasberg was on vacation when the AEA crisis erupted. politico.com/news/2025/07/1…Image
Jul 7 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Xinis is pressing DOJ on why they claimed on May 27 they had no power to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US evne though they had secretly secured a grand jury indictment against him 6 days earlier. DOJ attorney now contradicts the government's sworn testimony from Tennessee criminal case, saying Abrego Garcia criminal probe began before April 28. Xinis presses her on this and she says she can't explain the contradiction.
Jun 16 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored. YOUNG: "I am hesitant to draw this conclusion, but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it – that this represents racial discrimination. And discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community. That’s what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."
Jun 13 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
BREAKING: Judge Breyer orders Trump to return control of the National Guard back to California, saying the call-up was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image Breyer stays his order until noon tomorrow, which should be enough time for Trump to seek emergency appeal at 9th Circuit and perhaps Supreme Court. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Jun 12 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
HAPPENING NOW: Emergency hearing in Newsom v. Trump, re dpeloyment of the Guard and Marines.

Judge Breyer making some "preliminary" remarks. BREYER says he's 'appreciative' of both parties for filing a detailed record with the court on a short timeframe and says these are very serious/weighty matters and he intends to act as quickly as the urgency of the matter requires.
May 30 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The Trump administration has conceded that it improperly deported another Salvadoran man in violation of a court order — blaming a "confluence of administrative errors."

The man's lawyer plans to demand his return.

politico.com/news/2025/05/3…Image Jordin Melgar-Salmeron had a criminal record — he pleaded guilty in 2021 to possessing an unregistered gun — but his deportation had been on hold since 2024 amid broader Biden-era litigation.

The Trump admin sought to speed his removal last month. politico.com/news/2025/05/3…
May 28 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Federal court says Trump exceeded his authority to impose tariffs under IEEPA. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image NEW: Trump's latest legal rejection comes from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which ruled his tariffs in response to "national emergencies" were illegal. politico.com/news/2025/05/2…Image
May 16 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
HERE WE GO: Latest hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case is underway with Judge Xinis on the bench. XINIS says she intends to do as much of this in open court as possible, despite discussion of privileged materials. they can use the husher/phones if they need to reference confidential info, she notes.
May 10 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: Federal judges across the country are increasingly warning of a due process crisis caused by President Donald Trump’s deportation blitz.

Their message: If we eliminate due process for the ‘least’ of us, Americans could be next.

politico.com/news/2025/05/1…Image The judges’ message has sharpened amid Trump’s increasingly aggressive effort to short-circuit due process for those he deems. And it’s coming from judges appointed by presidents of both parties — including Trump himself.

politico.com/news/2025/05/1…Image
May 7 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Boasberg is pressing DOJ about Trump's comment that he could pick up the phone and have El Salvador send back Abrego Garcia. Doesn't that mean U.S. effectively has custody over deported migrants, he's asking?

DOJ LAWYER ABISHEK KAMBLI:
“That goes toward the president’s belief about the influence that he has.”

"Influence does not equate to constructive custody." JEB: “Is the United States paying El Salvador to house these migrants?”

KAMBLI: “There is no agreement or arrangement whereby the United States maintains any agency or control over these prisoners.”

JEB: But there’s a formal notice of a $4.76 million grant to El Salvador dated March 22

KAMBLI: There were grants that were made to El Salvador for law enforcement and anti-crime purposes that can be used.
May 2 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
In late night filing, Trump administration advances new legal arguments re: Alien Enemies Act.

1) U.S. has no “enforceable” agreement with El Salvador to retain custody over deported migrants. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Image 2) “Vague” statements by U.S. officials about paying El Salvador for detention of deportees are not enough. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Apr 30 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: A judge has ordered the immediate release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia student detained amid Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.

@liz_crampton was in the Vermont courthouse where the decision just came down.

Details TK He's already out 📸: @liz_crampton

Apr 25 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: After canceling thousands of foreign students' immigration records — threatening their ability to study and live in the US — the Trump administration has reversed course and restored them all.

It follows intense pushback from courts across the country.

Details TK ICE had terminated the records of thousands of students from a federal database called SEVIS that tracks their legal status in the country. The effect of those terminations was in dispute, but many students said they had been barred from continuing their studies and were at risk of deportation.

The reason ICE appeared to have canceled their SEVIS records? Minor legal infractions that showed up in criminal history searches — which the law explicitly says is not a basis to deny a foreign student, studying on an F1 visa, their legal status.

Now, after dozens of judges across the country flagged the likely illegality, ICE says it won't do that anymore. politico.com/news/2025/04/2…
Apr 24 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
It is unfathomable that Martin was unaware of the widely publicized allegations about Hale-Cusanelli, who he has interviewed for hours and whose case made national headlines for years after Jan.6. March 13, 2021: politico.com/news/2021/03/1…
Apr 18 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
BUSY NIGHT FOR THE COURTS: Late last night, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction barring DOGE’s access to sensitive Social Securitt data, saying the government flouted the law to provide unfettered access to DOGE without a reasonable basis. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image ALIEN ENEMIES ACT: The Trump administration filed an emergency motion to block Judge Boasberg’s initiation of contempt proceedings, saying his suggestion of forcing the administration to prosecute itself — or bring back deported Venezuelans — is unconstitutional.” Image
Image
Apr 16 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
JUST IN: Judge Boasberg finds probable cause to hold administration in contempt of court for defying his order to turn around planes, demands new details in order for officials to “purge” their contempt. Details TK Image BOASBERG said the evidence shows willful defiance by the Trump administration that amounts to criminal contempt. Full 46-page opinion: ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…Image
Apr 15 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
DOJ provides no new information on Abrego Garcia but says if he manages to return to the US, they'll detain him and remove him to a different country (not El Salvador) or seek to "terminate" his order of removal and send him back to El Salvador...

which is the lawful process. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image Joseph Mazzara, ICE's general counsel, filed this update with the court. He also is present in court today.
Apr 13 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
JUST IN: The Trump administration says it has "no updates" for Judge Xinis about efforts to facilitate return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Reiterates that a judge in 2019 viewed him as a member of MS-13.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image THERE'S MORE: In a separate filing, the govenrment says its arrangement with El Salvador to house deportees in the notorious CECOT prison is classified. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Apr 11 • 21 tweets • 5 min read
Hello from Greenbelt, MD, a few hours before an urgently arranged court hearing in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

DOJ is under a court order to provide an update on efforts to bring him to the U.S. from El Salvador by 9:30am.

politico.com/news/2025/04/1… DOJ trying to cancel today's hearing and delay filing a response to the judge's order.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image