Harry Litman - Where the Rubber Bullets Hit the Road

Last week we learned that Trump and Pam Bondi twice overstepped in their claims of legal authority to militarize American cities. In Washington, D.C., the administration agreed to rewrite Bondi’s order after Judge Ana Reyes signaled it likely violated the Home Rule Act. And in San Francisco, Judge Chuck Breyer seemed poised to rule that the administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by calling out troops absent a genuine rebellion.

It’s critical to call out both legal abuses. Reyes and Breyer join the valorous district court judges who have held the line against Trump’s serial overreaches.

But the real danger lies not in the courts but in the streets, where federal agents pressed into unlawful service have been violating the Constitution and acting like an occupying force. And they are spurred on from the top, with Trump telling the country that “they are allowed to do whatever the hell they want.”

The clearest example came at a makeshift roadblock in a nightlife district on an otherwise unremarkable weeknight. Just days earlier Trump had federalized Washington’s police force with a false, dystopian story of a “capital overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.” A joint unit of MPD officers and federal agents set up a checkpoint in one of the city’s busiest corridors. Drivers were waved to the curb, interrogated, and ticketed if their papers weren’t in order. Nearly 350 cars passed; 28 were stopped; 38 citations were issued; one driver was arrested.

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https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/where-the-rubber-bullets-hit-the