This started out as a story about one judge's decision, telling the Racist-in-Chief where he could stick his suggestion that the ACLU should be the ones to reunite the children he kidnapped with the parents he deported. It has turned into more.

First, though, about that kick-ass decision. It was the result of a tyrant's transparent attempt to shirk responsibility for potentially orphaning innocent children. The ACLU represented the plaintiffs who wanted the families reunited, and the "administration" argued that the ACLU should be the one to do it. In other words, "Hey, ACLU, you're the ones who give a sh*t about brown babies — I sure as hell don't - YOU find the kids' parents!"

Thanks to U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who saw that bratty man-baby behavior for what it was. He ruled:

The reality is that for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration, The government has the sole burden and responsibility and obligation to make (reunifications) happen.

Judge Sabraw imposed and oversaw the reunification of the first 1400 families in the 30-day deadline he set. He berated the government's lawyers for moving so slowly with this group of children, whose parents have been deported or not located in the U.S. He set another hearing for next week, and he is on. top. of. this.

In other news...DACA. D.C. District Judge John Bates ruled DACA must be restored. This "administration" had argued it had the right to dismantle it basically because Obama had...I don't know...MANTLED it? That was the sum and substance of their argument. If their predecessors had the right to create it, they had the right to destroy it. Judge Bates wasn't buying it, but in April, gave the Department of Homeland Security until yesterday to come up with something better. They didn't. Ergo, not only does DACA stand, they must begin accepting new applications.

Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, found [DHS's] explanation unsatisfactory, and said the DHS could not invent a new justification for his court, either. He said most of the arguments "simply repackage legal arguments previously made" and fail to pass muster.
"Although the Nielsen Memo purports to offer further explanation for DHS's decision to rescind DACA, it fails to elaborate meaningfully on the agency's primary rationale for its decision," Bates wrote.

"The memo does offer what appears to be one bona fide (albeit logically dubious) policy reason for DACA's rescission, but this reason was articulated nowhere in DHS's prior explanation for its decision, and therefore cannot support that decision now."

There are cases to be decided soon in Texas and other states, however, likely to be decided in the government's favor to rescind DACA, which will further complicate and slow down the attempts to help keep DACA in place.

So, when I started writing this piece, it was going to be about reunification of migrant families. Is it ending as a piece about DACA? No. It is ending as a piece about JUDGES.

I have been screaming for 18 months about the importance of the judiciary in keeping this administration in check. It is the only thing we have left in our system of checks and balances, and we are hanging on to it only by our chipped and splitting fingernails. Why do you think the Republican Congress refused to allow Obama to fill over 100 judicial vacancies in his last 2 years in office? They did not want to be checked. Why do you think now that they have the White House, they are filling judicial vacancies so rapidly? (According to the L.A. Times, "Trump is ranked No. 6 of 19 presidents appointing the highest number of federal judges in their first year.") They can enact their agenda unchecked. Their agenda of racism. Their agenda of one-party rule. Their agenda of securing power for the wealthy and the white. Their agenda of keeping Brown and Black people out, regardless of how many toddlers they torture and orphan in the process. Regardless of how many promises they break to DACA recipients.

Want to be chilled to the bone? Listen to this fact from the Brookings Institute about trump:

Still, of the 21 circuit vacancies he’s filled as of late May and others he soon will, up to seven could have had Obama appointees under pre-2015 norms. So too, up to 71 of the district vacancies he inherited and has only begun to fill could have had Obama appointees.

Have I mentioned the Supreme Court, yet? No? That is not because the role of Supreme Court justice should be played down. It is because the role of all the other judgeships should be elevated, emphasized, their significance made known to every voter in the smallest of districts. Judges matter. They are the reason we must take the Senate in November.