Lawfare Daily: Katherine Pompilio on Tracking Government Non-Compliance in Habeas Corpus Cases
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does it look like when the government violates court orders in more than 350 separate immigration habeas cases?
On today’s episode, Lawfare Senior Editor Molly Roberts sits down with Lawfare Associate Editor Katherine Pompilio to discuss Lawfare’s new interactive tracker, which documents what is known about instances in which the Trump administration has failed to comply with federal court orders in immigration habeas corpus proceedings.
The two discuss why Lawfare built this tracker and why the project matters beyond any individual case, what the dataset reveals about a broader pattern of government non-compliance, the absence of institutional record-keeping, holding the government accountable, and more.
To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What we're really trying to do is establish first that pattern, that yes, this is a bigger issue than just, you know, a one-off violation in one case in Minnesota or even just a Minnesota problem, even just a New Jersey problem. |
| 0:15.0 | We have, I believe, 20 jurisdictions now that we've added to the tracker and we're looking at adding more. |
| 0:22.0 | But this is a widespread, countrywide issue. |
| 0:26.0 | It's the Lawfare podcast. |
| 0:28.5 | I'm Molly Roberts, a senior editor at Lawfare, here with Catherine Pompilio, |
| 0:33.2 | associate editor at Lawfare. |
| 0:35.2 | This is not just failure to file issues. |
| 0:37.4 | These are, you know, it's a pattern that includes deporting people in violation of orders. associate editor at lawfare. This is not just failure to file issues. |
| 0:41.3 | These are, you know, it's a pattern that includes deporting people in violation of orders, failing to free people that the courts have ordered to be released, |
| 0:45.9 | failing to return people's property and then moving them out of state to a different |
| 0:51.0 | jurisdiction in violation of, again, a court's order. |
| 0:56.7 | Today, we are talking all things habeas noncompliance. |
| 1:01.9 | So, Catherine, last week, you and Benjamin Wittes published a piece called 300 habeas |
| 1:09.4 | cases in which the government has defied court orders. |
| 1:13.1 | So tell me a little bit about what this project is exactly and how it came about. |
| 1:20.5 | Yeah, so the project is like what says in the title. |
| 1:24.2 | We are trying to count and collect all of the instances of noncompliance |
| 1:30.9 | in habeas corpus cases in immigration proceedings. So issues of noncompliance look like anything |
| 1:38.3 | from failure to file to failure to provide a bond hearing, to even deportation despite an order against removal. |
| 1:50.4 | The project came about because a few, I guess, months ago, I'll say weeks ago, |
| 1:57.1 | Judge Schultz in Minnesota released a list, I think the initial list was somewhere around 60 to 70 cases of instances in which the government had failed to comply with court orders in Minnesota. |
| 2:10.3 | And I saw that and obviously thought, hey, that's pretty bad. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.