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[quote=Anonymous]Just a couple of snippets that shows how the Government is treating itself as the trier of fact.  No evidence.  No attempt to present evidence.  The fact that an attorney has the cajones to show up in court like that is impressive insofar as it shows a complete disregard for everything that person knows about our legal system.

"This case does not arise in isolation.

The court is aware that similar seizures and detentions are occurring increasingly across
the country.  Individuals are stopped during ordinary civilian activity, taken into custody for civil
immigration purposes, and confined in local jails without prompt hearings, without individualized
findings, and often far from counsel, family, or community. That broader context matters,
especially when assessing constitutional risk.

Of course, this court does not supervise immigration enforcement. It does not adjudicate
removability. It does not weigh policy choices committed to the political branches. This court does,
however, maintain a narrow, unavoidable duty to ensure that custody itself is lawful.

It is not the vigilance of detainees or the speed of their lawyers that determines what is and
what is not constitutional. Nor does the United States Constitution require habeas petitions to
activate its protections. Liberty is not a prize for procedural persistence. It is the baseline.
That is why the court’s duty to scrutinize custody is more acute than ever, as liberty is
administratively restrained. Every day it happens—outside the criminal process, in facilities
designed for punishment, and lacking the ordinary safeguards that must accompany arrest and
prosecution.

And while judicial restraint is often the right answer in a system of checks and balances, it
does not mean that courts should subscribe to judicial passivity. Instead, courts must draw and
hold clear lines in every case. Here that line is a simple proposition: the government may not
confine a person in a jail without promptly justifying that confinement before a neutral
decisionmaker in a manner the person can meaningfully access.

The court began the January 27, 2026 hearing by informing the parties of the hearing’s sole
purpose: to determine whether Petitioner’s arrest and continued detention complied with the
Constitution of the United States. That, the court said, was the singular inquiry when a petition for
writ of habeas corpus challenges an unlawful detention. The court further stated—without
objection—that the burden of proof rested on the Government to justify custody. Because the
Government is the custodian and controls the relevant information, it bears the burden to produce
evidence and articulate lawful authority justifying continued detention once a credible due process
challenge is raised.

The Government, however, did not meet that burden.

B. The Government’s Failure to Present Evidence

The Government presented no witnesses. It offered no affidavits. It introduced no
testimony. The Government put no one on the stand: not an arresting officer or an immigration
officer or a custodian or a decisionmaker. It offered no warrant, of any kind, nor did it offer
evidence that any warrant was sought or obtained. And despite the court’s inquiry, the Government
could produce no evidence that the Petitioner presented circumstances of exigency, flight, or necessity.

In fact, the Government could not show that the Petitioner had even been evaluated
under that criteria or any other criteria.

Basic questions about Petitioner’s detention were also left unanswered. When asked who
ordered the stop, why the vehicle was stopped, what legal authority was invoked, what facts were
known at the time, what statements were made, what notice was given, what process was available,
and when any hearing would occur; the Government repeatedly answered: “I don’t know.”"

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wvsd.242900/gov.uscourts.wvsd.242900.23.0.pdf[/quote]

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