Justice Sonia Sotomayor had harsh words for the Supreme Court in her dissent in a ruling allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to continue to arrest people based on profiling Latinos working low-wage jobs.

Monday morning, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an emergency decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. The case concerns “Operation At Large,” which deployed ICE agents in the Los Angeles area to car washes, bus stops, farms and other locations believed to be frequented by Latino people who may or may not be undocumented immigrants. On July 11, the Central District Court of California ruled that ICE had to stop Operation At Large until appeals in the case could be heard.

The Court’s ruling contained no official explanation for the ruling, however Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence. In his concurrence, Kavanaugh said the law allowed ICE to “‘briefly detain’ an individual ‘for questioning’” if they have “a reasonable suspicion, based on specific articulable facts, that the person being questioned . . . is an alien illegally in the United States.”

READ MORE: Loyalty Litmus Test? Trump Allies Quietly Prep SCOTUS Short List

Operation At Large, he said, represented “reasonable suspicion” to detain someone on the following factors: “(i) presence at particular locations such as bus stops, car washes, day laborer pickup sites, agricultural sites, and the like; (ii) the type of work one does; (iii) speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent; and (iv) apparent race or ethnicity.”

He added that “apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion” but could be a “‘relevant factor,” and that if someone detained by ICE turned out to be a citizen, they would be “free to go after the brief encounter.”

Sotomayor disagreed that this is what was happening, citing what had happened to other citizens. Jason Gavidia worked at a Los Angeles tow yard that ICE stopped at. Agents repeatedly asked if he was a citizen. They then took his phone, pushed him against a metal fence, twisted his arm, and took away his identification, according to Sotomayor’s dissent.

“Other Operation At Large encounters have included even more force and even fewer questions. For example, agents pulled up in four unmarked cars to a bus stop in Pasadena; ‘the doors opened and men in masks with guns started running at’ three Latino men who were having their morning coffee, waiting to be picked up for work,” she wrote.

“In Glendale, nearly a dozen masked agents with guns ‘jumped out of . . . cars’ at a Home Depot, and began ‘chasing’ and ‘tackl[ing]’ Latino day laborers without ‘identify[ing] themselves as ICE or police, ask[ing] questions, or say[ing] anything else.’ In downtown Los Angeles, agents ‘jumped out of a van, rushed up to [a tamale vendor], surrounded him, and handled him violently,’ all ‘[w]ithout asking . . . any questions.'”

Sotomayor concluded that Operation At Large and the Court’s decision “all but declared that all Latinos, U. S. citizens or not, who work low wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction.”

She also condemned the court for not issuing an explanation beyond the concurrence. She alleged that the Court had been eager to “circumvent the ordinary appellate process” when it comes to President Donald Trump and his administration.

“Some situations simply cry out for an explanation, such as when the Government’s conduct flagrantly violates the law,” Sotomayor wrote, adding that Operation At Large and the Court’s ruling clearly violates the Bill of Rights.

“The Fourth Amendment protects every individual’s constitutional right to be ‘free from arbitrary interference by law officers.’ After today, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees, I dissent,” she wrote.

Image via Shutterstock

After sharing a meme appearing to threaten the city of Chicago with war, President Donald Trump has backtracked, saying he only wants “to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them.”

On Saturday morning, Trump posted to Truth Social an AI-generated meme captioned “Chipocalypse Now.” It depicts Trump sitting in front of the Chicago skyline as black helicopters fly in and fire rages behind him.

“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the meme read.

After facing criticism over what many saw as a threat to declare war on an American city, the president tried to soften his original tone.

READ MORE: Judge Rules LA Troop Use Illegal as Trump Rants Chicago Is ‘Murder Capital of the World’

“We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities,” Trump told reporters on Sunday according to WLS-TV. “We’re going to clear them up so they don’t kill every five people every weekend. That’s not war. That’s common sense.”

Monday morning, he continued to reframe his original post as an offer of help.

“6 people were murdered in Chicago this weekend, 12 others were shot, and in serious condition. This would mean that over the past number of weeks, approximately 50 people were killed, and hundreds were shot, many expected to die. Governor Pritzker just stated that he doesn’t want Federal Government HELP! WHY??? What is wrong with this guy, and the 5% in Polls Mayor. I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness. The City and State have not been able to do the job. People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION. IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump’s reference to Gov. JB Pritzker refusing help likely refers to his response to the original meme.

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” Pritzker tweeted Saturday.

It should be noted that though Trump has reframed his threat to Chicago, it hasn’t substantially changed. About 40 minutes before his post, he wrote another one about deploying the National Guard to Washington, DC.

“Washington, D.C. IS A SAFE ZONE IN JUST A MATTER OF WEEKS. Thank you, President Trump. Who’s Next???” Trump wrote.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy federal troops to Democrat-led cities in addition to Washington. This summer he sent troops to Los Angeles to quell anti-ICE protests, an act a federal judge ruled violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which bans the use of military forces for law enforcement on American soil.

Image via Reuters

More than two-thirds of Democrats have a “positive” view of socialism, according to a new poll that also shows support for capitalism at a new low among Americans.

Approximately 39% of Americans overall say they have a “positive” view of socialism, according to Gallup polling. Though that number has held relatively steady, it’s increased slightly over the last 15 years; in 2010, support for socialism was at 36%. But when broken out by political party, 66% of Democrats view socialism positively, compared to 14% of Republicans and 38% of independents.

Historically, Democrats trend much more toward socialism than other groups. In 2010, half of those who identified themselves as Democrats said they were in favor, and that number increased over the years. Independents, however, have stayed relatively steady, in the 34%-41% range.

Republicans’ views towards socialism tend to be more volatile, though the proportion who view the system positively has never reached more than a quarter. The current 14% is right in the middle, with a low of 9% in 2019 to a high of 24% in 2012.

READ MORE: McConnell Goes Berserk – Says Granting Puerto Rico Statehood, Voting Rights, Representation Is ‘Full Bore Socialism’

The proportion of Americans who support capitalism hit the lowest point in 15 years, 54%. About 60% of Americans have historically supported capitalism over the last 15 years, with the rate dipping to 56% in 2018. About three-quarters, 74%, of Republicans have a positive view of capitalism, which has held mostly steady over the last 15 years, with a peak of 78% in 2019 and a low of 67% in 2016.

But among Democrats and independent voters, support for capitalism is on the wane. In the latest polling, 42% of Democrats and 51% of independents have a positive view of capitalism, the lowest number for both groups in 15 years.

The poll was conducted between August 1-20, polling 1,094 American adults via telephone, with a margin of error of 4%.

While there have been a few socialist candidates to find success—in 1910, Wisconsin’s Victor Berger was the first Socialist elected to Congress—socialism generally has faced an uphill battle in the United States. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is credited with the recent mainstream acceptance of socialism by GovFacts.org.

Recently, however, Democratic socialists have seen victory. Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayoral candidate, trounced both current mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the primary election. However, both Adams and Cuomo have refused to end their campaigns so he will again face them—along with Republican candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa—in the general this November.

Image via Flickr under Creative Commons