Free Republic

A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request that it halt the next steps Judge Paula Xinis is seeking to take in the case concerning a migrant who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, with a strident warning about the rule of law and the possibility the dispute presented an “incipient crisis.” The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said in its seven-page ruling Thursday that the Trump administration’s assertions in the case “should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” The unanimous ruling...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump DOJ’s effort to block Judge Xinis’ order requiring the US government to “facilitate” the return of alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A three-judge panel: Harvie Wilkinson (Reagan), Robert King (Clinton), and Stephanie Thacker (Obama) issued the order. Judge Wilkinson, the Reagan appointee, repeatedly referred to Abrego Garcia as a “resident” even though he’s an illegal alien. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an El Salvadorian national who was illegally residing in Maryland. In 2019, an immigration judge ordered Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the dangerous MS-13 gang, removed from the...

A second appeals court has lifted an injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing its immigration rule relating to “public charges,” mirroring an order in the Ninth Circuit Court several days before. “Public charge” refers to an individual who is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, by receiving assistance such as food stamps or Medicaid. The cases stem from a new rule the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopted in August that expanded the definition of “public charges” in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The rule provides clarification about what factors would be considered when...

Chief Justice John Roberts held a conversation with Judge Harvie Wilkinson at the Fourth Circuit's Judicial Conference in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Chief Justice Roberts oversees the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Topics included the decisions of the 2008-2009 term of the U.S. Supreme Court, which would conclude the next Monday, June 29, 2009.

...Elevating Judge Roberts to Chief was a logical decision, both politically and on the merits. The Senate and media have been investigating the nominee since July, and have found superlatives with nary a negative. The Judge is in a position to be rapidly confirmed.... More importantly, what we have learned about Judge Roberts suggests that he shares Chief Justice Rehnquist's judicial philosophy. If Mr. Bush now follows with the nomination of an equally distinguished conservative for the Court's second opening, the Roberts Court will be able to continue the legal restoration that the late Chief Rehnquist began.... That historic mission...

The short answer is: J. Harvie Wilkinson III. A longer answer to the question of who President Bush should nominate to fill today's Supreme Court vacancy is: Constitutional law is rife with clashing certitudes generated by too-clever theories purporting to illuminate the one valid approach to construing the Constitution.

WASHINGTON — Three years ago, before today’s white-hot struggle over judicial appointments and the philosophical direction of the federal courts grabbed hold of official Washington, a soft-spoken Virginia conservative and a loquacious New York liberal met at the Library of Congress to bat around some ideas. Brought together by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of Charlottesville and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York carried on a friendly debate over the role of political ideology in shaping legal decisions and influencing congressional evaluations of judicial nominees. It’s unlikely many minds were changed during the...

WASHINGTON - Soon after President Bush took office, two events set in motion what has become an extraordinary battle between the White House and Senate Democrats over the appointment of federal judges. First, the new president and his aides turned to the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers' group, to help select candidates. Of Mr. Bush's first batch of nominees, 8 of 11 were proposed by the society. There could have been no clearer signal that Mr. Bush intended to follow the pattern set by his father and President Ronald Reagan of shifting the courts rightward and reaping the political benefit...