Under Trump federal judicial contempt is hollow punishment
by Bob Schwartz
“Minnesota’s top federal judge has summoned the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him on Friday, warning he may be held in contempt for allegedly defying court orders.”
Many in the Trump administration, including phony U.S. Attorneys like Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan, have defied federal judicial orders and been threatened with contempt of court.
There is an overwhelming problem with enforcing such contempt, which is issued at the discretion of a federal judge.
Look closely at the seal above. Federal contempt is enforced by the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Marshals Service is a division of the Department of Justice. Marshals work for Pam Bondi at the Department of Justice, who works slavishly for Trump.
Meaning: From Trump down to the lowest official in the federal government, anyone who defies a court order and is found in contempt has no worries, since the U.S. Marshals Service can be ordered to stand down by Pam Bondi and not enforce those orders.
I would include this as a footnote to any coverage that includes possible contempt of an administration official or worker for defying a federal court order.
Bob Schwartz 
And how frustrating that must be for federal judges with a conscience.
Thanks for the comment. In a number of posts I’ve discussed the role of lawyers in so many of our difficult situations. Here’s one from 2019:
That post references earlier posts about lawyers in Watergate and lawyers in Nazi Germany. And now lawyers in Trump America.
Judges are a rarefied subset of lawyers. Lawyers work within the tensions of law, morals, ethics, and personal beliefs. Only judges are able to review and reverse their actions. Judges work within those same tensions, with the added power they have over those lawyers. And to the extent that conscience operates at both levels, it is literally the conscience of The Nine at the top that matters in much of what is going on.
Ultimately history is the judge.