
Boston Review | D McNew/Getty
For just one example out of dozens, consider Ziglar v. Abassi, a case that the Center for Constitutional Rights—where I now serve as legal director—filed in 2002, suing the architects of the brutal, discriminatory post-9/11 roundups and detention of Muslim men in New York. After fifteen years of litigation, the Supreme Court not only ruled that the victims could not sue; it broadly neutered the power to sue federal officials for damages arising from constitutional violations. When families of those murdered by ICE have no legal recourse, you can thank national security exceptionalism and the imperial court.