The case also made the administration seem like a joke as a federal agent wearing a bulletproof vest tried to claim a sandwich that remained intact in its wrapper “exploded” against his chest. Punsters had a field day all week. This afternoon, the jury acquitted Dunn.
“He beat the wrap,” one poster wrote.
Trump’s immigration policies were in court in Chicago today, too, where U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis issued a broad injunction to stop federal agents’ undisciplined use of tear gas, pepper balls, and other “less-lethal” crowd control measures. As Heather Cherone of WTTW reported, Ellis found that federal agents had violated protesters’ First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly while preventing the free exercise of religion by using force against clergy members. Ellis repeatedly called out federal agents for lying.
And, in the District of Rhode Island, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell found the administration had ignored his order to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this week. He accused the administration of withholding SNAP benefits “for political reasons” and called out Trump’s social media post saying SNAP would be funded only after the shutdown ends as “an intent to defy the court order.” McConnell ordered the administration to make full SNAP payments to the states by tomorrow for distribution to beneficiaries.
The Trump administration immediately appealed.