Harry Litman - Truth or Consequences for Todd Blanche and the DOJ
A newly unsealed memorandum opinion by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dramatically reframes the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia—and places the Justice Department, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a bind of their own making.
Originally written on December 3rd and unsealed Tuesday, the opinion reveals internal DOJ communications that call into question the government’s insistence that Abrego’s prosecution was routine and locally decided, and it leaves Blanche and Attorney General Pam Bondi facing an unappealing choice: defend the case under testimony from top-level officials, or abandon it and absorb the institutional and reputational fallout.
After reviewing more than 3,000 internal government documents, Judge Crenshaw concluded that the decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia, after Abrego Garcia successfully challenged his wrongful deportation, may have been driven by improper retaliation rather than by-the-book law enforcement. The ruling orders disclosure of senior-level DOJ communications and sets an evidentiary hearing for January 28th that could result in dismissal of the charges altogether.
The documents Judge Crenshaw ordered sketch a very different story from the one the Department has been propounding.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/truth-or-consequences-for-todd-blanche