A legal expert on Monday shredded newly-appointed CBS News chief Bari Weiss on social media for her flawed reasoning in holding a story about the CECOT megaprison, where President Donald Trump's administration has sent several deportees.
The move has triggered a revolt by CBS staff, with key reporters and anchors criticizing Weiss's move.
American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnic addressed Weiss's comments on X.
"The admin has argued in court that detainees are due 'judicial review' — and we should explain this, with a voice arguing that Trump is exceeding his authority under the relevant statute, and another arguing that he's operating within the bounds of his authority," wrote Weiss, a right-wing "anti-woke" commentator who was put in charge of CBS after a Trump administration-approved merger between parent company Paramount and Skydance. "There's a genuine debate here. If we cut down Kristi Noem's analysis, we'd have the time."
This isn't accurate, wrote Melnick, a legal observer who has frequently criticized the Trump administration, because Trump's attempts to deport people to CECOT under the Alien Enemies Act have already been ruled unlawful.
"This is complete nonsense. The Supreme Court already held, 9-0, that the process used to send people to CECOT violated due process. There wasn’t even a single dissent. Weiss is making up a 'debate' that has already been settled," wrote Reichlin-Melnick. "Also the entire CECOT process was deliberately carried out to avoid judicial review! They lied to the men about where they were going and initially told them they had no right to judicial review, and carried out the operation overnight in a huge rush to avoid losing in court!"
"There’s no way to do the issue of legality justice if you’re just going to do 'Trump says it’s legal, others say it’s not,'" added Reichlin-Melnick. "They broke SO many legal principles carrying out AEA. They lost at the Supreme Court TWICE! And yet Weiss wants to treat them with good faith?"
