This is honestly a hell of a read.
If you want to read the transcript of the February 3 hearing where Julie Le had her "this job sucks" meltdown, now you can:
drive.google.com/file/d/1FnY2...
One thing that happens is that the attorney wants to say that the reason people aren’t released promptly is that it’s just complicated to move people around, it takes time, and the judge immediately notes that they can move people pretty fast when it comes to shipping them to Texas.
Judge also talks about how it’s unnecessarily complicated partly because judges have to keep specifying how people should be released—you can’t leave them thousands of miles from home, you can’t release them when it’s 15 below—and that adds time and hassle.
In other words, he kinda says “I’m having to specify that you can’t do things you should know you can’t do, which is slowing everything down a lot.”
Judge also makes clear that if you’re the DOJ lawyer and you say “it’s not our fault, it’s ICE,” he is not accepting that. He actually makes what I thiiiiiink is a bit of a joke about believing in the “unitary executive” in the sense that they’re all the executive branch and they’re all accountable.
Feb 4, 2026 21:20
