Politico came under fire on Monday over a tweet announcing Chief Justice John Roberts pausing the midnight deadline to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to the wrong country.
While the story correctly referred to Roberts as Chief Justice, the article teaser on X referred to him as “judge.”
Just hours before a midnight deadline Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts gave the Trump administration a reprieve from having to immediately bring back to the U.S. a man who was illegally deported to El Salvador last month.
Roberts acted shortly after the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal of a district judge’s directive that U.S. officials return Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The administration deported Abrego Garcia despite an immigration judge’s 2019 ruling that he not be sent to his home country of El Salvador because he would likely face persecution there.
Roberts issued a terse administrative order indefinitely lifting the deadline of 11:59 EDT to return Abrego Garcia set by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis. The Trump administration had said that deadline was “impossible” to meet.
The chief justice’s order is not a ruling on the underlying legal issues in the case; it is intended to give the Supreme Court more time to consider what steps to take next.
The government has acknowledged that the deportation of Abrego Garcia was an “error” that violated the 2019 immigration’s judge’s ruling. But the administration argues that courts have no authority to order him returned to the United States now that he has been turned over to the government of El Salvador, where he is being held in a notorious mega-prison for gang members.
In a brief filed earlier Monday, Solicitor General John Sauer asked the justices to block Xinis’ order, which he called “unprecedented and indefensible.” (Politico)
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"A judge lifted a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to bring back a man who was illegally deported to El Salvador last month," the post said.
X users were quick to call Politico out for its description of Roberts.
He’s not a “judge.”
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) April 7, 2025
He’s the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Imagine if a conservative outlet referred to Ketanji Brown Jackson as a judge instead of a justice… we’d get multiple essays about racism or whatever. https://t.co/cFKseNFXGW
Literally the Chief Justice 🙄
— ScyfyLala (@SciFiMom13) April 7, 2025
“A judge”?
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) April 8, 2025
It was the Supreme Court.
It is impossible to parody you all.
Here's more of that invaluable subscprition journalism our federal employees need at all taxpayer costs, referring to the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court as "A judge" https://t.co/YxLMViaXnC
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 8, 2025
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