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Judicial Rulings are Not Enough
we need to find our way to personal accountability/consequences for unconstitutional actions
Joe is Wypoxic
February 16, 2026
A few days ago on Saturday Feb 13, the New York Times published an article detailing that DHS sent “administrative subpoenas” (hint: not real probable cause subpoenas) to social media companies to gather information on people posting anti-ICE sentiments.
In response, former Secretary of Labor Robert Riech wrote an open letter to Kristi Noem yesterday. It was substantive and defiant and courageous. Here are some excerpts:
Hello? Kristi Noem?
Robert Reich here. I hear you’re trying to find the names of people who are making negative comments on social media about ICE enforcement.
Look no further. I’ve done it frequently. I’m still doing it. This note to you, which I’m posting on Substack, is another example.
…
I’ve said and will continue to say that many of the things you and ICE are doing are unconstitutional.
For example: Pulling people out of their homes in the middle of the night without search warrants. Arresting people without giving them due process of law to defend themselves. Putting innocent people into detention camps. Not giving them adequate food or medical care. Not letting their families know where they are. Sending them out of the country to brutal prisons in other lands. Even jailing children. Arresting journalists reporting on protests against you. And murdering two innocent Americans and not allowing a full criminal investigation of those murders.
All this is forbidden by the Constitution of the United States, Madam Secretary. The federal courts keep telling you this, but you and your department keep defying the courts. This is unconstitutional, too.
You’re even violating the Constitution by sending administrative subpoenas to Google, Meta, and all the rest, seeking accounts like mine that criticize what you’re doing.
I have a right under the First Amendment to criticize you without fear of the consequences.
It’s my government, Madam Secretary. You see the possessive pronoun I’m using? My government. It’s your government because you’re a citizen of the United States, not because you’re a government official.
You and your boss are supposed to be working for me and every other American. You swore an oath. The people of the United States hired the two of you to do your jobs, which doesn’t including spying on us or jailing us or trying to intimidate us or murdering us.
I’d say those are pretty specific accusations of constitutional malfeasance. And he is right that judges have ruled against DHS repeatedly, and yet DHS continually fails to comply with such rulings. What we need to understand is DHS is not the sole responsible party. It is the appointed and hired leaders/staff in DHS who need to be held accountable and face consequences. Real consequences.
I read this recent judge’s ruling that set a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) against ICE. It is shocking, and I don’t use that word lightly. I know reading court rulings can be drudgery and dense, but everyone should read at least the parts of this that pertain to ICE’s specific treatment of individuals in its facilities (I was going to say “in its care” but there is clearly no “care” being taken with ICE detainees). Trust me - this opinion is worth reading though for a bit:
Link to entire opinion: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230969/gov.uscourts.mnd.230969.95.0.pdf
The common thread here is something I’ve pointed out before. We seem to have lost our will as a country to punish elected officials and the “elite” for wrongdoing. There are no actual personal consequences for violations of the Constitutional. There are no repercussions for individuals in positions of authority who order/oversee/tolerate/accept actions by subordinates that violate the Constitution. There are only orders by the judicial branch that lack any true explicit enforcement mechanism. This lack of consequences provides a perverse incentive for bad actors in positions of power to continue with their bad acts and even to double down on their actions, because the only likely way they will be personally held accountable is if they lose power.
I don’t have all the answers, but I know one of them is to push our Dem - and yes, Repub - electeds to put pressure - through the bully pulpit, molding public opinion, and any other means possible - to get the judicial branch to apply appropriate penalties including contempt of court for high level officials, as well as any other “personal consequence” remedies the judicial branch has available to it.
In other countries… Norway doesn’t seem to have a problem: Former Norway leader charged with corruption after probe into alleged Epstein ties, lawyers say
Norway Former prime minister
— it's Candy Love (@candylovely.bsky.social)2026-02-14T03:16:16.734Z
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