Your humble summarist finds it outrageous—indefensible!—that some judges brazenly repeatedly used the phrase "Hobson's choice" to refer to mere dilemmas. In perhaps more significant news, the D.C. Circuit (over dissent) has granted mandamus relief to the Trump administration, which was facing a criminal contempt inquiry for removing people it alleged, without evidence, are members of the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador in defiance of a TRO telling them not to. One judge argues the TRO was ambiguous. Another argues that there are serious separation-of-powers concerns. Both were appointed during Trump’s first term. And the dissent (appointed by President Barack Obama) is not having any of it, writing that her colleagues had “cut short an entirely lawful and regular process to determine accountability for violation of a court order.”
The cases are J.G.G. et. al. v. Trump, 25-5124 and 25-5217 (DC Cir. Aug. 8, 2025).