Did a Federal Judge Really Just Shutter Alligator Alcatraz?

OA1185 - The rule of law has never been put more to the test in this country, and we do our best to keep up with at least a few of the most important decent developments. We begin with a brief review of the current status of wrongfully-deported Salvadoran asylum seeker Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Why is the Trump administration desperately trying to re-deport this Central American man whom they already fully admit was deported to hell by mistake to… Uganda? Matt explains. Then: Did a federal judge really just shutter Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”? We consider the history of this surprisingly significant swampland and why an environmental challenge to its existence was so much easier to win than one based in due process, while also celebrating a major win for native rights.

Another major presidential first this week: for the first time in US history, the President has claimed the authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Could this one decision really have global economic consequences? How much does it matter that Trump has done literally the one thing that the Supreme Court has ever told him *not* to do? We review some basics to try to understand the full magnitude of what this all means for our current moment before moving on to today’s footnote: an outstanding decision from a Virginia federal judge which should stand as a model for how the judiciary can stand up to American fascism.

1. Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Motion to Dismiss Based on Vindictive and Selective Prosecution

2. Abrego Garcia habeas docket

3. SCOTUS shadow docket order in Trump v. Wilcox (5/22/2025)

4. Judge Williams’s order closing “Alligator Alcatraz” (8/21/2025)

5. Order granting motion to dismiss in U.S. v. Russell (8/26/2025)

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