It
was
just
last
month
that
Brett
Kavanaugh
gave
his
explanation
for
why
it
was perfectly
okay
for
Homeland
Security
goons
to
profile
brown
people and
detain
them
based
on
nothing
more
than
the
color
of
their
skin.
While
his
cowardly
colleagues
in
the
majority
on
that
shadow
docket
decision
refused
to
explain
their
thinking,
Kavanaugh
actually
wrote
a
concurrence
that
was
so
out
of
touch
with
reality
as
to
be
embarrassing.
But
at
least
it
was
an
explanation.
The
key
bit
from
him
that
has
stood
out
is
this:
Importantly,
reasonable
suspicion
means
only
that
immigration
officers
may
briefly
stop
the
individual
and
inquire
about
immigration
status. If
the
person
is
a
U.
S.
citizen
or
otherwise
lawfully
in
the
United
States,
that
individual
will
be
free
to
go
after
the
brief
encounter.
Only
if
the
person
is
illegally
in
the
United
States
may
the
stop
lead
to
further
immigration
proceedings.
It’s
this
weird,
privileged,
out-of-touch
statement
that
if
ICE
or
CBP
stop
you
for
being
brown,
they’ll
let
you
go
as
soon
as
you
show
them
that
you’re
an
American
citizen.
Of
course,
we
knew
at
the
time
that
wasn’t
true.
Hell,
there
were
details
that
Kavanaugh
ignored
in
that
very
lawsuit,
which
Justice
Sotomayor
called
out
in
her
dissent.
But
literally
in
this
very
lawsuit
was
the
documentation
of
how
it
wasn’t
so
simple:
To
give
just
one
example, Plaintiff
Jason
Brian
Gavidia
is
a
U.S.
citizen
who
was
born
and
raised
in
East
Los
Angeles and
identifies
as
Latino.
On
the
afternoon
of
June
12,
he
stepped
onto
the
sidewalk
outside
of
a
tow
yard
in
Montebello,
California,
where
he
saw
agents
carrying
handguns
and
military-style
rifles.
One
agent
ordered
him
to
“Stop
right
there”
while
another
“ran
towards
[him].” The
agents
repeatedly
asked
Gavidia
whether
he
is
American—and
they
repeatedly
ignored
his
answer:
“I
am
an
American.” The
agents
asked
Gavidia
what
hospital
he
was
born
in—and
he
explained
that
he
did
not
know
which
hospital.
“The
agents
forcefully
pushed
[Gavidia]
up
against
the
metal
gated
fence,
put
[his]
hands
behind
[his]
back,
and
twisted
[his]
arm.”
An
agent
asked
again,
“What
hospital
were
you
born
in?”
Gavidia
again
explained
that
he
did
not
know
which
hospital
and
said
“East
L.A.” He
then
told
the
agents
he
could
show
them
his
Real
ID.
The
agents
took
Gavidia’s
ID
and
his
phone
and
kept
his
phone
for
20
minutes.
They
never
returned
his
ID.
Drexel
law
professor Anil
Kalhan
quickly
dubbed these
bullshit
pretextual
stops
of
US
citizens
as
“Kavanaugh
stops”
and
the
name
has
stuck.
While
there
is
an
effort
to challenge
these
further
in
court,
for
now
the
goon
squad
known
as
ICE
is
unleashed
even
more
than
usual.
We
now
know
that there
are
at
least
170
US
citizens who
have
been
held
by
immigration
officials,
and
there
are
probably
even
more
not
yet
accounted
for.
It
feels
like
every
day
we
hear
about
another
few:
https://embed.bsky.app/embed/did:plc:bz3idwc6jcvidvyb476l2cqk/app.bsky.feed.post/3m47aacheo22c?id=44700577306563627&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.techdirt.com%252F2025%252F10%252F29%252Fthe-kavanaugh-stops-legacy-50-days-170-detained-citizens-zero-answers%252F
These
Kavanaugh
stops
are
a
stain
on
the
American
concept
of
civil
liberties
and
due
process,
and
they
should
be
a
stain
on
Brett
Kavanaugh’s
legacy.
Legal
journalist
Chris
Geidner
just
ran
a
piece
on 50
days
of
Kavanaugh
stops,
and
what
a
shameful
moment
this
is
of
American
bigotry.
Geidner
has
directly
submitted
questions
to
Kavanaugh
to
see
how
he
feels
about
all
of
these
Kavanaugh
stops
that
show
his
claim
of
“brief
encounters”
with
law
enforcement
were
bullshit:
I
asked
Justice
Kavanaugh
on
October
14,
“Do
you
have
any
comment
on
the
ICE
stop
of
Maria
Greeley,
a
U.S.
citizen,
who
was
reportedly
stopped,
ziptied,
and
told
she
didn’t
‘look
like’
a
‘Greeley’
despite
being
a
U.S.
citizen?“
On
both
occasions,
I
also
asked
Kavanaugh
whether
he
still
thinks
he
was
correct
when
he
wrote
that
these
stops
are
“typically
brief”
and
that
all
of
this
is
fine
because
“individuals
may
promptly
go
free
after
making
clear
to
the
immigration
officers
that
they
are
U.
S.
citizens
or
otherwise
legally
in
the
United
States.”
Finally,
I
asked
Kavanaugh
if
he
was
aware
of
the
“Kavanaugh
stop”
terminology
and
whether
he
had
any
comment
on
it.
[….]
So,
I
asked
Justice
Kavanaugh
on
October
16,
“Do
you
have
any
comment
on
the
Pro
Publica
report
that
found
‘more
than
50
Americans
who
were
held
after
[immigration]
agents
questioned
their
citizenship’
during
2025.
‘They
were
almost
all
Latino,’
per
the
report.“
In
addition
to
the
other
questions
previously
raised,
I
also
asked
Kavanaugh
whether
“the
possibility
of
after-the-fact
‘excessive
force’
claims”
is
“a
sufficient
answer
to
this
ongoing,
regularly
occurring
problem?”
Did
you
guess
what
happened?
Of
course
you
did!
I
have
not
received
a
response
from
him
or
his
chambers.
You
can
already
see
the
horrific
legacy
that
is
forming
around
the
concept
of
Kavanaugh
stops.
This
is
a
legacy
that
doesn’t
go
away
easily.
It’s
like the
Dred
Scott
decision,
the Korematsu
decision,
or Buck
v.
Bell.
Supreme
Court
decisions
that
nearly
everyone
now
looks
back
on
in
horror.
These
are
all
horrible,
hateful
decisions
by
out-of-touch
bigots,
who
can’t
even
fathom
a
world
in
which
those
less
fortunate
themselves
even
matter,
and
thus
their
rights
and
dignity
are
barely
given
a
second
thought.
The
Supreme
Court
still
has
a
chance
to
fix
this,
since
Kavanaugh
stops
were
only
defined
by
Justice
Kavanaugh
in
a
shadow
docket
concurrence.
While
those
other
cases
all
took
decades
for
everyone
to
realize
how
fucked
up
they
were,
this
one
we
can
see
in
real
time
what
a
stain
it
is
for
anyone
who
believes
that
America
respects
basic
civil
liberties
like
due
process
and
concepts
like
probable
cause.
But,
for
now
at
least,
that
stain
should
stick
to
Brett
Kavanaugh.
He’s
justified
this.
He’s
insisted
these
kinds
of
stops
are
no
big
deal,
even
as
there
was
evidence
then,
and
even
with
more
mounting
evidence
now,
that
immigration
officials
don’t
give
a
shit
if
you
are
an
American
citizen.
If
you’re
darker
skinned,
they
can
treat
you
like
shit,
lock
you
up,
beat
you
up,
ignore
your
protestations
and
even
evidence
of
American
citizenship.
It
is
a
deep,
dark
stain
on
America
as
a
supposed
land
of
freedom,
and
it
should
be
tied
up
with
Brett
Kavanaugh’s
legacy
forever.
The
Kavanaugh
Stop’s
Legacy:
50
Days,
170+
Detained
Citizens,
Zero
Answers
More
Law-Related
Stories
From
Techdirt:
Study:
AI
Models
Trained
On
Clickbait
Slop
Result
In
AI
‘Brain
Rot,’
‘Hostility’
As
Social
Media
Restrictions
Spread,
Is
The
Internet
Entering
Its
Victorian
Era?
Trump
FCC
Votes
To
Make
It
Easier
For
Your
Broadband
ISP
To
Rip
You
Off