Unlike Cuba the US (usually) follows the rule of law so it's natural that the Courts are starting to move against Clinton-Reno lawlessness:
Clinton, et al. v.
Federal Judiciary
Defendants should especially explain why the Court should not now appoint someone, acting as a friend-of-the-court and special guardian ad litem, to report to the Court directly on the Plaintiff's condition and care as well as the circumstances of his present custody. . . .
[T]o ensure that there is no misunderstanding about the terms and intent of the injunction . . . I have determined to issue this single-judge temporary Order clarifying the pertinent injunction. . .
Any and all persons acting for, or behalf of, or in concert with Plaintiff, Elian Gonzalez, are ENJOINED from aiding or assisting, or attempting to aid or assist, in the removal of Plaintiff to any place within the United States lying beyond the power and jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States, including, but not limited to, any place that is or may be entitled to diplomatic immunity.
-- J.L. Edmondson
United States Circuit Judge
11th Circuit Court of Appeals
The Court that last heard the Elian Gonzalez case, it seems, is not satisfied with the Bill Clinton/Janet Reno explanation that they were only following the rule of law in sending a storm-trooper posse in the best interests of the child. Nor, it seems, is it satisfied with this administration's good faith in following the rule of law in the future.
Court ordered
Judge J.L. Edmondson issued his order about the time that the President was pleading that the family be given "the space it needs to heal its wounds and strengthen its bonds." Just after the Attorney General told Congress she had "no regrets whatsoever." Also after Presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart denied the President had promised Florida Democrat Bob Graham that the home would not be raided at night, prompting the Senator to reply, "Joe Lockhart was not in the room when the statement was made."
In issuing his further injunction, Judge Edmondson acted on the motion of lawyers speaking for Elian Gonzalez "by and through" Lazaro Gonzalez. That is, the Miami family still speaks for the boy in the eyes of the 11th Circuit. Indeed, in the original opinion that found the boy had appealed for asylum, the court included a pregnant footnote: "The INS, in its response to Plaintiff's motion, said it would consent to an injunction requiring the INS to bar Plaintiff's departure from the United States if this Court also entered an order directing Lazaro Gonzalez to present Plaintiff to the INS, as directed by the INS, for transfer of care to Plaintiff's father. We decline to proceed in that manner."
That is, the Court had been asked and declined to order the change of custody; to respond less than 48 hours later by sending in men with gas masks and guns shows an astounding contempt for the court. The administration's supporters now wave opinion polls supporting their actions, but they should listen to legal scholars, even the most liberal of them.
In Tuesday's New York Times, Harvard's Laurence Tribe, a steadfast Clinton supporter throughout the impeachment proceedings, said the attorney general's action "strikes at the heart of constitutional government and shakes the safeguards of liberty." Ditto for Alan Dershowitz, who said on Fox TV that the administration acted "lawlessly," and "It's a dangerous day for all Americans." Also Tuesday and separately from the 11th Circuit action, Judge James Robertson of the D.C. district court issued an order for an emergency hearing Wednesday at 2:30 on a Judicial Watch request for the immediate production of all documents by the Justice Department concerning the Elian Gonzalez saga.
The more closely you look, the smellier it gets. Already the legal case is unravelling. The INS affidavit submitted by the INS for the warrant clearly states that the grounds for such an action has to do with INS authority to seize illegal aliens. But it is not clear that Elian Gonzalez, who had an appeal pending on his asylum case, was an illegal alien. More to the point, while the INS may have the authority to seize illegal aliens to deport them, the INS does not have the authority, absent a court order, to seize an alien on Janet Reno's stated grounds: enforcing her custody determination.
Yes, the INS did manage to scare up a search warrant that let them storm the Gonzalez home in the wee hours of the night. But it tells you something that the signature on this warrant is not District Judge K. Michael Moore, who had been handling the case, but Magistrate Judge Robert Rube. It was also issued at 7:20 p.m. the evening before the raid. As Andrew Napolitano points out nearby, what this means is that the administration waited until well after office hours on the Friday of the Easter holiday when they knew Judge Moore would not be there. In the meantime the boy's lawyers have been denied access to him.
The tone of Judge Edmondson's order suggests that he knows the difficulty of dealing with people who can parse the meaning of the word "is." Some of us have been complaining about the administration's defiance of the law and the courts, and it now seems that swaths of the legal community are coming to agree. It seems that the 11th Circuit meant it last week when it ruled Elian not be deprived "forever of something of great value: his day in a court of law."
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