Mallory's Camera

The demise of the “presumption of regularity.” Federal prosecutors during the second Trump administration have made so many false statements in court and in court papers that many judges and grand jurors no longer trust the government’s evidence or arguments. The New York Times Immigration judges at the Justice Department are now holding mass hearings to try to quickly deport as many people as possible in a short time. Often those without lawyers are herded into these hearings. NPR Hundreds of federal judges have rejected elements of the White House’s mass detention and deportation program. Even some judges nominated by President Donald Trump have noted the injustice of the government’s position. Politico

A new “vindictive prosecution” claim. Citing pejorative statements by President Donald Trump and other top-ranking administration officials, the Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday asked a federal judge in Alabama to dismiss the Justice Department’s criminal case against it, calling the charges a case of “vindictive” prosecution. CBS News Such cases are difficult to win but a federal judge in Tennessee last week embraced a vindictive prosecution claim against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongfully deported Maryland man who was then charged with human trafficking. The New York Times Read the brief supporting the SPLC’s motion to dismiss the case. U.S. District Court, Middle District of Alabama

DHS is a train wreck. Department of Homeland Security investigators are looking into the Trump administration’s warehouse-to-immigrant detention facility program that has cost taxpayers $38 billion so far. The DHS’ inspector general is looking into the actions of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her advisor Corey Lewandowski. The Wall Street Journal DHS social media posts recruiting for ICE contain white supremacist themes that worry state law enforcement officials. The Intercept DHS was born in the ashes of 9/11. Critics said from the outset that it would be prone to abuse. Now there is bipartisan opposition to enabling the sprawling federal agency to implement some of Trump’s plans. NPR

Immigration nation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now trying to distance himself from the notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility in the Everglades as it winds down operations next month. The Guardian A federal judge appears to have penalized a private prison operator for destroying evidence in a wrongful death action brought by the family of a man who died in ICE custody in New Mexico in 2022. The Intercept There were at least 31 documented cases of people impersonating ICE, Border Patrol or DHS agents last year alone. NBC News Four immigration judges in Washington adopted a no-bond policy for immigrants years before the Trump administration sought to make it mandatory. The Associated Press

A 20-year music career in Texas prisons. Morgan White composed, sang and played drums and piano on at least five prison albums from 1964 until 1982. His song, “It’s Over,” which tells the story of the heartbreak of romance from behind bars, was part of an album sold at prison rodeos decades ago. White was released early from prison after winning an appeal, eventually joined a gospel choir in Washington and is now 86. TMP’s Maurice Chammah features White’s work in the latest edition of our limited-run newsletter, “Redemption Songs,” featuring music created or played behind bars. The Marshall Project

Brian O’Hara abruptly resigned as police chief in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday rather than face a disciplinary hearing over allegations that he tried to obstruct an investigation into his possible sexual misconduct with city employees. MPR News O’Hara took over as police chief in the city after the murder of George Floyd. The New York Times

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has faced criticism from the city’s conservatives for his approach to police reform. Now the mayor is getting criticized by justice reformers for not going far enough to rein in harsher police practices. Gothamist TMP Context: Don’t end “broken windows” policing. Fix it. The Marshall Project

Republican legislators in Indiana, backed by the gun lobby, finally killed a decades-old civil lawsuit brought on behalf of residents of Gary, a town wracked by gun violence. The city had sued gunmakers, hoping to hold them liable for guns sold to certain retail outlets that ended up being used in crimes in and out of the state. The lawsuit was filed in 1999. The Trace

Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers cleared out a camp for unhoused people in Norman last week but so far Gov. Kevin Stitt has failed to offer the city funding to help displaced residents. Such funding was made to Oklahoma City after a homeless sweep there. The Frontier TMP Context: There is a way to clear encampments and limit the damage to residents. Some cities are trying the approach. The Marshall Project

A sweetheart plea deal given to a Texas man accused of sexually abusing a young boy turns into a major political issue for state Attorney General Ken Paxton as he fights for a U.S. Senate seat this November. Prosecutors say they agreed to a deal with no meaningful prison time because the first trial of Adam Hoffman ended in a hung jury last year and the child did not want to testify publicly a second time. The Texas Tribune

“I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.” The Justice Department gets caught, again, weaponizing a prosecution targeting a perceived foe of the administration. Slate More: How journalists should frame stories about prosecutorial misconduct during the second Trump term. PressWatchers

A quest for justice and accountability in Minnesota. Good for Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty for trying to hold federal immigration agents responsible for excessive force. But it’s hard to see how ICE officials and agents will ever be held accountable for their waves of lies about the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The Watch

No one is above the law, except Trump and his family. The president’s former defense attorney, now installed as acting attorney general, has just handed his former client a preemptive pardon covering a huge swath of criminal conduct. The New York Times More: Trump’s judicial nominees cannot bring themselves to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. What hope is there that they can be impartial? Democracy Docket

The Roberts Court’s infamous voter suppression ruling. Louisiana v. Callais “is well on its way to becoming the Dred Scott of our time, a decision so reviled by civic society that it marks a before and after in our constitutional democracy. And like Dred Scott, which denied Black citizenship, and other anti-canons that live in infamy, the ruling will be remembered less for its full caption or precise legal holding than by the harm it caused Black and marginalized people, our body politic, and the idea of these United States.” New York Magazine

The virtues of Buddhism behind bars. “I can personally vouch for the fact that Buddhism continues to reach people inside of U.S. prisons. I found meditation the last time I was incarcerated while awaiting to go to trial. It was one of the most transformative experiences of my life.” Inquest

The feds are coming for legal immigrants, too. The Trump administration has recently stepped up efforts to reduce legal immigration into the U.S. The New York Times That’s causing worry and confusion for green card applicants who now must apply for permanent residency status from their home countries. The New York Times

The FBI fails to heed another warning of gun violence. Caleb Vazquez, one of two teenagers accused of killing three people at a San Diego mosque earlier this month, was flagged years ago by law enforcement agents who got an order permitting them to seize his father’s guns. The FBI was also alerted to the threat of right-wing violence that one of the teenagers posed. The New York Times

“We need to start thinking of wrongful conviction as an issue of public safety.” In a new book titled “Crime Fictions,” sociologist Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve argues that wrongful convictions based on coerced confessions in Cook County, Illinois, are a product of institutional racism. WBEZ

A preview of coming attractions. How Radnor Township High School in Pennsylvania responded to deepfake crimes involving teenagers and AI-generated nude photographs. The state criminalized malicious deepfakes in 2024. 404 Media More: Texas officials filed a lawsuit last week against the online message platform Discord, claiming the company exposes children to online predators. Three other states have recently sued Discord and “many private lawsuits” have been recently filed against it as well. The Texas Tribune

"We can't change what happened. We can only change what we do moving forward." A Tennessee nurse convicted in a medical error case finds a new calling as a speaker sharing her story as a cautionary tale to other medical caregivers. NPR