ive been paying more attention to court cases lately. just a few that im following, and the ones popping up in the media about DoJ trying to paper over and legitimize all the ICE kidnappings, in-custody deaths etc.

the pattern i am seeing is that the state tends to have shitty representation. prosecutors/attorneys general are frequently outclassed by the opposing counsel in terms of talent/knowledge of the law, and make many procedural blunders. the political context of the case allows or forbids the court from doing more than scolding/professionally embarrassing them on the record.

for a case like luigis or the ICE detentions, they are going to get all the slack in the world to get the outcome the state needs to defend state power.

the impact of instances like this shows how the courts role is to adjudicate lower stakes cases, promote the idea that there are functional constraints on executive overreach, but always to preserve state power in general.

the trump admin, if nothing else, is making this more obvious than it has been in my lifetime, by cultivating a shallow bench of no talent losers making constant unforced errors.