Last week, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned opinion requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Maryland man whom immigration officials deported to a Salvadoran megaprison 32 days ago. But the justices pointedly stopped short of requiring the administration to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return, in light of the “deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.” They did so despite the fact that lawyers for the government have conceded that it had no legal basis to deport Abrego Garcia; in court, they have characterized his disappearance as an “administrative error,” as if shipping a man who has not been accused of a crime to an overseas gulag is the equivalent of neglecting to attach an itemized receipt to an expense report.
This is not the first time that the Executive branch has ignored Supreme Court orders. See Worcester v. Georgia and the dispute between Chief Justice Roger Taney and General Cadwalader.
The problem is that the Executive branch is (theoretically) supposed to uphold the decisions of the Judicial branch, but irl, enforcement of those decisions is easier said than done when the Executive branch disagrees.