Today on Lawfare: July 10, 2025

From The Lawfare Editorial Team

Compiled by Mary Ford

Articles

What Abrego’s Bail Hearing Revealed About Him—and the Trump Administration

Roger Parloff reported on the June 13 detention hearing in the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Parloff emphasized that the government’s goals in its criminal case and civil litigation against Abrego Garcia is not about upholding the rule of law, but rather contributing to President Trump’s political messaging.

Given Abrego’s extraordinary odyssey, the evidence introduced—and the evidence not introduced—also sheds light on the politicized manner in which the government has handled every aspect of Abrego’s case. The bail hearing, the criminal case it relates to, and the government’s arguments in the civil litigation over Abrego’s wrongful removal have all served a paramount goal that is neither the rule of law nor due process. The overriding goal is always the same: serving the political messaging of the Trump administration.

Civil Contempt Against a Defiant Executive

In the latest Lawfare research report, David Noll argued that the courts are not powerless against a defiant executive because they have enforcement mechanisms that are independent of the executive branch, including non-custodial sanctions, arrest powers, and more.

Before ordering the arrest of executive branch officials, courts can make use of powerful non-custodial sanctions: stripping officials of immunity, imposing substantial personal fines, and levying professional sanctions. If those fail, courts' arrest powers are stronger than commonly appreciated. Though located within the executive branch, the marshals operate under a statutory duty to enforce all lawful court orders—a duty that, if the marshals honor their oath, supersedes illegal presidential directives to ignore contempt citations. And even if the marshals refuse to act, courts possess well-established, if rarely used, authority to appoint deputies to enforce their orders.

The Situation: The Investigation Is the Point

Benjamin Wittes responded to reporting by Fox News that former intelligence leaders James Comey and John Brennan are under criminal investigation for alleged wrongdoing related to the 2016 probe into election interference, casting doubt on if it is a legitimate investigation and instead referring to it as a “ghost” investigation.

There is an announcement of an investigation. There may be a paper investigation that gets closed quickly because there’s no evidence that anyone committed any sort of crime, the statute of limitations of which would have run anyway. There may be a decision not to close anything and to feed occasional further stories to Fox News or like-minded news outlets because having an investigation open—like opening it in the first place—is politically useful.

But an actual investigation? Come talk to me when a grand jury issues a subpoena or hears from a witness. Come talk to me when an actual agent is deployed to make an actual inquiry of someone.

Until then, I’m going to assume that the Fox News story announcing the investigation is the investigation…

Podcasts

Lawfare Daily, Bonus Edition: Unpacking the July 7 Hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Wittes sat down with Parloff and Anna Bower to discuss the latest updates in the criminal case against Abrego, specifically his July 7 hearing in federal court.

Scaling Laws: Ethan Mollick: Navigating the Uncertainty of AI Development: Kevin Frazier and Alan Rozenshtein spoke with Ethan Mollick about new research on artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, the trajectory of AI development, ongoing policy discussions surrounding AI, and more.

Video and Webinars

On July 11 at 4 pm ET, Wittes will sit down with Bower, Parloff, and Scott Anderson to discuss ongoing litigation targeting actions by the Trump administration. Material supporters will receive a link to join the webinar to watch it without ads. It will be livestreamed on YouTube for all other viewers. Find the livestream here. If you cannot attend the live event, the recording will be available on Lawfare’s YouTube channel.

Announcements

The Trials of the Trump Administration, our coverage of Trump’s executive actions and their legal challenges, now includes a page devoted to tracking the status of Alien Enemies Act cases in federal courts. Find the page here.

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