There’s a New Lawsuit Against “Kavanaugh Stops.” It’s Absolutely Devastating.

In the short time since Kavanaugh wrote that opinion, his assertions have been proved demonstrably, almost laughably false too many times to count. As Sherrilyn Ifill notes, the justice’s claims were already belied by the factual record in that case, which showed ICE agents violently harassing and detaining American citizens for extended periods simply because they are Latino. Now the agency, freed from constitutional restraints by SCOTUS, has stopped pretending to be engaged in anything other than racial profiling. Bovino’s admission only confirms what we already knew: These detentions, far from the “brief” inconvenience Kavanaugh described, are often lengthy, violent, and dangerous. Ifill and Anil Kalhan, a professor of law at Drexel University, have proposed calling these detainments “Kavanaugh stops,” a label that’s quickly catching on.

Perhaps the most comprehensive account of Kavanaugh stops so far arrived last Thursday, in the form of a new lawsuit against the Trump administration brought by victims of racial profiling in the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs, a group of citizens and legal residents, describe ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents detaining them for hours—or even overnight—because they happen to be Latino. These accounts make a mockery of Kavanaugh’s insistence that these stops are brief and painless for those who have a right to live in this country.