Facilitate

It wasn't easy, but this was the government lawyer's brief:
The word facilitate. A novel argument about its meaning
Where it applied and, indeed, how and to whom
And whether it was of solely domestic applicability

And if it seemed obvious to the Court that there was a plain meaning
His own job was to fully explain the proper, legal interpretation
For he evinced great concern for the separation of powers and its extent
And a justifiable worry for an unseemly constitutional precedent

That the judiciary in the shape of the present court
Was arrogating for itself the realm of executive power was self-evident
Overreaching and inserting itself where it should not
Infringing wholesale on the prerogative of the president

...

These were strange days of ever more outrageous claims
Stretching past the outer bounds of plausibility and shame
When norms were being shattered daily, and rules broken with impunity
Regulations glossed and discarded willy-nilly, testing the very limits of propriety

The government lawyer advanced his preferred reading
That his clients were in full compliance with the court's ruling
For their actions, after all, made it exceedingly clear
They would "remove any domestic obstacles
That would otherwise impede the alien's ability to return here"

But it turned out that further discretion was for the weak
And so the government attorney stuck to his emphatic brief
He concluded, the most powerful government in the world couldn't do a thing
As a matter of law, and in practice, the word facilitate didn't mean anything

Facilitate, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Can't do nuttin' for ya man by Public Enemy
• Easier said than done by Angie Stone
• Time's a wastin by Erykah Badu
• Ain't that easy by D'Angelo
• Gettin in the way by Jill Scott
• Obey by Dwele
• Not up to me by Frida Farrell
• Obstruction by Gabo Rio
• It don't mean a thing by Omar

Bonus beats: Objection overruled by Gregory Isaacs and My prerogative by Bobby Brown


After: Trump administration says it is not required to help wrongly deported man return to US

...

I seem to be departing from my normal practice of delayed publishing. I suppose the above will not be as topical if it were to be published as initially scheduled in 2036. Let me know if I should continue preempting the vault. I am somewhat tickled that the previous piece, entitled Expulsion Orders, written three years ago, mined somewhat similar terrain

File under: language, law, humour, satire, rogues, politics, USA, huhudious, culture, observation, perception, hatchet job, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: April 16, 2025