“This is not the first time the court closes its eyes to noncompliance, nor, I fear, will it be the last,” #Sotomayor wrote. “Yet each time this court rewards noncompliance with discretionary relief, it further erodes respect for #courts & for the rule of #law.”

Justice #Sotomayor echoed that concern in a recent dissent when she accused #SCOTUS of “rewarding lawlessness” by allowing #Trump officials to deport immigrants to countries that are not their homelands. The conservative majority gave the green light, she noted, after Trump officials twice carried out deportations despite lower court orders blocking the moves.

The #SCOTUS June decision to scale back the ability of lower #courts to issue #NationwideInjunctions, & the administration’s success at persuading the justices to overturn about a dozen temporary blocks on its agenda in recent months, might only embolden #Trump officials to defy lower courts, several #legal experts said.

…Retired federal judge & fmr #Watergate special prosecutor Paul Michel compared the situation to the summer of 1974, when #SCOTUS ordered President #Nixon to turn over Oval Office recordings as part of the Watergate investigation. Nixon initially refused, prompting fears of a #ConstitutionalCrisis, but ultimately complied.

“The current challenge is even bigger & more complicated because it involves hundreds of actions, not one subpoena for a set of tapes. We’re in new territory.”

#Trump officials deny defying court orders, even as they accuse those who have issued them of “judicial tyranny.” When #SCOTUS in June restricted the circumstances under which presidential policies could be halted nationwide while they are challenged in court, Trump hailed the ruling as halting a “colossal abuse of power.”

The allegations against the admin are crystallized in a #whistleblower complaint filed to #Congress late last month that accused #DOJ ofcls of ignoring court orders in #immigration cases, presenting #legal arguments with no basis in the #law & misrepresenting facts. #SCOTUS Justice Sonia #Sotomayor also chided the admin, writing that #Trump ofcls had “openly flouted” a judge’s order not to deport migrants to a country where they did not have citizenship.

@railmeat @w7voa Nope, but the current #SCOTUS will give him the authority if he asks