Show notes
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE) **CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF TORTURE** On March 15, 2025, President Trump announced the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was conducting "irregular warfare" against the United States and that members would be deported under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Trump Administration quickly began deporting people allegedly affiliated with the gang—without any semblance of due process—via direct flights to a notoriously deadly El Salvadoran prison. A few days later, the Trump Administration told a federal judge it was invoking the "state secrets privilege" to refuse to provide any information to the Courts about these flights, the people they've put on them, or what (if any) evidence they had to support doing so.
As attorneys in this still-ongoing court battle [J.G.G. v. Trump (2025)] fight to stop Trump's unsanctioned deportations under the AEA, new legal questions abound: Is the Executive Branch blatantly violating Judicial orders? Are we in a Constitutional crisis yet? What is the Alien Enemies Act? What is the state secrets privilege? Were Administrations already abusing it before Trump? Can the Trump administration invoke the privilege to "disappear" whoever they choose? What happens now?
Reb gives you everything she knows on all of those topics and more. This is J.G.G. v. Trump (2025), United States v. Reynolds (1953), FBI v. Fazaga (2022), and United States v. Zubaydah (2022).
**IMPORTANT NOTE**: This episode is expected to go live on April 3, 2025, the same day the parties in J.G.G. v. Trump (2025) are set to appear in a hearing before Judge Boasberg on his Order to Defendants to show cause why they did not violate the Court's Temporary Restraining Orders. Judge Boasberg is expected to rule on the DOJ's invocation of the state secrets privilege sometime thereafter. The case is ongoing and any further updates beyond April 2 will not be covered in this episode because Reb cannot time travel. Yet.
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0:00 - Content Warning
0:32 - Intro / Necessary Context
6:40 - Background on J.G.G. v. Trump (2025)
8:25 - Secrets secrets are no fun
9:45 - A photo op isn't a secret y'all
13:30 - The Alien Enemies Act of 1798?? Really???
24:18 - Everyone is probably just stupid
27:06 - DRAMA (WITH TIMESTAMPS) OF (LIKELY) COURT ORDER VIOLATIONS
41:15 - Constitutional crisis incoming
42:20 - Trump admin loves to tweet (themselves to hell)
47:52 - The Hail Mary
53:20 - THE STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE
53:45 - United States v. Reynolds (1953)
58:10 - The state secrets privilege is...messy
1:05:14 - ABUSE OF THE PRIVILEGE POST-9/11
1:11:30 - CIA "black sites" (TORTURE IN POLAND)
1:14:50 - FBI v. Fazaga (2022)
1:15:05 - TORTURE IN POLAND
1:16:50 - United States v. Zubaydah (2022)
1:20:43 - GORSUCH DISSENT IS...FIRE?
1:24:09 - CONTENT WARNING (TORTURE)
1:26:07 - Zubaydah wants to depose his torturers
1:30:00 - His torturers don't STFU about being torturers
1:39:02 - Gorsuch concludes with a BANG
1:42:10 - The wrong administration
1:43:05 - CAN THE TRUMP ADMIN SUCCESSFULLY USE THE PRIVILEGE?
1:46:18 - SIDEBAR: Another Judge CHEWED THEM UP
1:51:14 - REB'S REBUTTAL
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