{"id":147204,"date":"2026-03-26T14:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/26\/jay-claytons-sdny-throws-ice-under-the-bus-to-save-face-in-court\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:51:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:51:59","slug":"jay-claytons-sdny-throws-ice-under-the-bus-to-save-face-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/26\/jay-claytons-sdny-throws-ice-under-the-bus-to-save-face-in-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Clayton\u2019s SDNY Throws ICE Under The Bus To Save Face In Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a March 24 letter <\/a>to Judge P. Kevin Castel, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York, led by Jay Clayton, did something rather remarkable. Clayton let the court know that the government\u2019s representations about a material fact was wrong. Like, completely erroneous. Yikestown.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s relationship with the truth <\/a>in the Trump II era when standing in front of a federal judge continues to be, let\u2019s say, flexible<\/a>. In African Communities Together v. Lyons<\/em>, the government had repeatedly represented in both briefing and oral argument, that ICE policy restricted immigration arrests in or near courthouses. That position leaned heavily on a 2025 ICE guidance memo. The only problem with that? According to ICE, that policy never actually applied to immigration courts regardless of where they\u2019re located.<\/p>\n

The SDNY is now \u201ccorrect[ing] a material mistaken statement of fact,\u201d which basically involves a litigation reset as the government has to withdraw chunks of its prior filings and conceded that the court\u2019s earlier decision (which relied on those representations) will now have to be revisited.<\/p>\n

According to Clayton, it was only after months of litigation, briefing, and a judicial opinion already on the books that SDNY learned of the \u201cregrettable error\u201d that \u201cappears to have occurred because of agency attorney error.\u201d Back. That. Bus. Up. Seriously, Clayton is not being subtle. This is Jay Clayton tossing ICE under the nearest available bus in a move that reads like reputational self-preservation.<\/p>\n

And, to be fair, you can see why. SDNY\u2019s brand is built on credibility. When that starts to crack, the whole enterprise is in trouble.<\/p>\n

Clayton\u2019s move here is both savvy and revealing. By documenting that SDNY lawyers relied on ICE\u2019s representations \u2014 and even got sign-off from ICE counsel \u2014 he\u2019s building a record that attempts to shield his office from judicial ire. It\u2019s a preemptive strike against the inevitable question\u2026 How the fuck did you let this happen?<\/p>\n

But the cost of that strategy is obvious. It publicly exposes a breakdown inside the federal government so severe that one component can mislead another into misleading a federal judge.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Trump administration discussing flagrant misconduct https:\/\/t.co\/oHDWD8o5oP<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NlSLRQde9j<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Patrice (@JosephPatrice) March 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Judge Castel\u2019s reaction to this debacle remains to be seen. Despite Clayton\u2019s best effort to save the SDNY\u2019s hide, it may not be enough\u2026 because someone sure has to pay for the wild disrespect of the judicial process.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Jay Clayton\u2019s SDNY Throws ICE Under The Bus To Save Face In Court<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWho is to blame for this material misstatement of fact? Not the SDNY! (image via ChatGPT)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a March 24 letter <\/a>to Judge P. Kevin Castel, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York, led by Jay Clayton, did something rather remarkable. Clayton let the court know that the government\u2019s representations about a material fact was wrong. Like, completely erroneous. Yikestown.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s relationship with the truth <\/a>in the Trump II era when standing in front of a federal judge continues to be, let\u2019s say, flexible<\/a>. In African Communities Together v. Lyons<\/em>, the government had repeatedly represented in both briefing and oral argument, that ICE policy restricted immigration arrests in or near courthouses. That position leaned heavily on a 2025 ICE guidance memo. The only problem with that? According to ICE, that policy never actually applied to immigration courts regardless of where they\u2019re located.<\/p>\n

The SDNY is now \u201ccorrect[ing] a material mistaken statement of fact,\u201d which basically involves a litigation reset as the government has to withdraw chunks of its prior filings and conceded that the court\u2019s earlier decision (which relied on those representations) will now have to be revisited.<\/p>\n

According to Clayton, it was only after months of litigation, briefing, and a judicial opinion already on the books that SDNY learned of the \u201cregrettable error\u201d that \u201cappears to have occurred because of agency attorney error.\u201d Back. That. Bus. Up. Seriously, Clayton is not being subtle. This is Jay Clayton tossing ICE under the nearest available bus in a move that reads like reputational self-preservation.<\/p>\n

And, to be fair, you can see why. SDNY\u2019s brand is built on credibility. When that starts to crack, the whole enterprise is in trouble.<\/p>\n

Clayton\u2019s move here is both savvy and revealing. By documenting that SDNY lawyers relied on ICE\u2019s representations \u2014 and even got sign-off from ICE counsel \u2014 he\u2019s building a record that attempts to shield his office from judicial ire. It\u2019s a preemptive strike against the inevitable question\u2026 How the fuck did you let this happen?<\/p>\n

But the cost of that strategy is obvious. It publicly exposes a breakdown inside the federal government so severe that one component can mislead another into misleading a federal judge.<\/p>\n

Judge Castel\u2019s reaction to this debacle remains to be seen. Despite Clayton\u2019s best effort to save the SDNY\u2019s hide, it may not be enough\u2026 because someone sure has to pay for the wild disrespect of the judicial process.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a March 24 letter to Judge P. Kevin Castel, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York, led by Jay Clayton, did something rather remarkable. Clayton let the court know that the government\u2019s representations about a material fact was wrong. Like, completely erroneous. Yikestown. The federal government\u2019s relationship with the truth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":147205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-SkV6zf.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}