The Week Evening Review
Impeaching judges, changing March Madness, and an El Salvador megaprison

 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

MAGA's push to impeach federal judges 

President Donald Trump isn't much interested in being checked or balanced by the judicial branch. He's calling for the impeachment of federal judges who have blocked or slowed his administration's efforts to shut down government programs and deport migrants. 

House Republicans have "unleashed an unprecedented flood" of impeachment charges aimed at judges who have raised Trump's ire, said Axios. Judge James Boasberg, who ruled against the government's deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans, is "at least the fifth federal judge" to face impeachment after ruling against the president. 

Trump is mounting a "stunning frontal assault" on the independence of the judicial system, former Judge J. Michael Luttig said at The New York Times. Boasberg "doesn't want to assume the role of president," but Trump does want to "assume the role of judge."

'The judge is not the president'
Even before Trump started calling for impeachments, his supporters "seeded the ground" for a campaign against the judicial branch, said The Washington Post. After District Judge Carl Nichols blocked the firing of international aid workers, a right-wing influencer known as Catturd weighed in: "The judge is not the president. Ignore. Fire them all. Keep going," he wrote on X. Such arguments have "little legal basis" but may be potent in persuading a pro-Trump audience primed by years of messages about "election fraud and 'deep-state' corruption."

Congress has "impeached only a handful of federal judges" in American history, said Courthouse News Service. Just 15 judges have been impeached, and only eight have been removed from office. The Constitution allows judges to hold office for life, to be removed by impeachment only in cases where they have committed "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Impeachment is not 'appropriate'
Chief Justice John Roberts is pushing back, issuing a "rare statement" defending federal judges, said CBS News. Throughout American history, he said, "it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision." The "normal appellate review" exists to correct any mistake. 

House Republicans are looking to advance a bill that would "crack down on the ability of lower-court judges to issue far-reaching injunctions," said Politico. Such "sweeping decisions" by federal judges are worthy of "serious scrutiny," said Clare Slattery, a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Republicans will be "exploring potential legislative solutions."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older.'

Trump complaining about a portrait put up by the governor of Colorado in the State Capitol that the president says was "purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before"

 
 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

How is the NCAA changing in the era of NIL and betting?

College sports have experienced a revolution in the last few years, all of which is currently on display during March Madness. "Name, image and likeness" (NIL) payments are letting players get paid, the transfer portal is letting them change schools more easily, and the rise of sports betting has brought new pressures. 

The NCAA tournaments are not "just about basketball anymore," said Forbes. Instead, March Madness is the "biggest branding stage" in college sports. Amateur players used to have to wait for graduation or to turn pro before (legally) making money from their on-court exploits. Now tournament time is the "prime earning window" for college hoopsters.

What did the commentators say?
The influx of money and never-ending player transfers were "supposed to destroy men's college basketball," said Will Leitch at The Washington Post. The opposite occurred. Now, the sport is entering a "new era of excitement" because of the changes. 

Sports wagers are "fun, and March Madness shows us why," said Jason Russell at Reason. "Tens of millions" of Americans make NCAA brackets, which is good for the game. There's "more interest" in March Madness because "more people are making brackets." A lot of folks who criticize sports betting are "going to make a bracket," said Russell. "Hopefully, they realize how much fun it is and get over themselves."

What next?
Women's college basketball is in a "historic growth period" after Caitlin Clark's stardom in 2024, said The Athletic. It nonetheless remains "hard to bet on women's college basketball." 

That will probably change. Experts no longer expect a "stark disparity between men's and women's college basketball betting" five years from now, but the existing gap suggests gaming operators do not "value women's college basketball enough."

Money is not everything, though. The Saint Francis men's team made the NCAA "First Four" play-in games with "$0 in NIL" money to pay players, said CBS Sports. That made it "one of the best stories" of the tournament. But it's not a Cinderella story. Saint Francis' Red Flash lost its opening game to Alabama State 70-68.

 
 

Statistic of the day

$6 million: The value of a gold toilet stolen from a British palace in 2019. Two of the people involved in the theft have been convicted in a U.K. court, while a third has pleaded guilty. The toilet was an 18-karat art installation titled "America."

 
 
the explainer

Inside the El Salvador prison winning over Trump

Hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members awaiting deportation from the U.S. have been transferred to a high-security megaprison in El Salvador as part of President Donald Trump's vow to crack down on illegal migration. The move is part of a $6 million deal between Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who has taken a hardline stance on gang-related crime and looks to be "positioning himself as a crucial regional ally" to Trump, said The New York Times.  

What is this megaprison? 
The Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, known as CECOT, is the "crown jewel" of the Central American country's "aggressive anti-crime strategy," said The Associated Press. El Salvador's government has since released "slickly produced videos" of officers in riot gear receiving the detainees, whose heads were shaved and hands and feet shackled. The country's justice minister has said those held at CECOT would "never return to their communities."  

Why has Trump sent prisoners to El Salvador? 
The Trump administration, citing no evidence, has alleged that the hundreds of men sent to CECOT are members of a gang called Tren de Aragua, which originated in Venezuela's prisons. To transfer the detainees to El Salvador, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a law passed in 1798 that has been used only three times before. The act confers "extraordinary powers to detain or remove foreigners" during times of war who otherwise would have legal protections, said the AP. Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang was "invading the U.S." A federal judge issued an order to pause the deportations, but it came too late, as the men were already en route to CECOT.  

What is the Trump-Bukele relationship? 
After the judge ordered the delay, Bukele, who has dubbed himself the world's "coolest dictator," posted on X, "Oopsie … Too late." Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reshared the post, while Trump thanked Bukele directly. Bukele's role in the Trump administration's immigration policy "signals a new level of power and global visibility" for the young president, who was "reelected by a landslide last year," said The New York Times.

 
 

Good day 🥦

… for eating your veggies. Forget food prep. Parents and kids are grabbing and chomping on raw vegetables to the "Jurassic Park" theme song in a TikTok trend called dinosaur time. The no-fuss approach has kids feeling like "mighty prehistoric reptiles" while parents "rejoice that the hardest part of mealtime (serving vegetables) is over," said Today.

 
 

Bad day ⚖️

… for a German company. A Georgia jury ordered Bayer, the corporation that acquired Monsanto, to pay almost $2.1 billion in damages to a man who said the German chemical and pharmaceutical company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, according to his attorneys. The verdict marks "one of the largest legal settlements reached in a Roundup-related case to date," said The Associated Press.

 
 
Picture of the day

Lighting up Cuba

Cubans set off fireworks during the annual Parrandas de Camajuaní. Locals spent months preparing for these parrandas — traditional carnival-like street parties — and building floats amid repeated power outages, as the island battles its worst economic crisis in 30 years.
Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

Oh, the majesty of spring — the fields and farms are popping off, and the weather shifts from frigid to brisk. Maybe you start craving the best of spring's produce bounty; maybe you want to explore flavors from East Africa; or maybe you want to experience how far a kitchen can push the heritage ingredients of New England. Your spring dining roadmap is ready for you.

Baobab Fare, Detroit
The mission: Bring East African cuisine to the Motor City. Stew beef with tomatoes and serve with fried ripe plantains and spinach long-cooked with peanuts. Fry fish and serve with zippy sautéed onions, and you have met samaki. Baobab Fare's fans are legion, and the restaurant has "launched a spinoff product line and food truck, and a forthcoming second location is planned soon," said Resy.

Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California
Glazed turnips, roasted spring onions, huckleberry ice cream and Meyer lemons everywhere — spring at the country's most famous farm-to-table restaurant means the greenest, brightest ingredients will be all over the venue's two menus. Dine upstairs for a casual à la carte experience for lunch or dinner, or book downstairs for an elegant dinner of three or four sublime courses.

Smithereens, New York City
A freewheeling interpretation of New England cooking, Smithereens stars the sea in many guises. The centerpiece of the restaurant's martini is seaweed gin, abalone is skewered and served with shiitake mushrooms, and for dessert, seaweed is candied and plated with licorice and citron. In the wrong hands, these flavor combinations implode. Here, the seas sing.

 
 

Poll watch

A majority of people (71%) say they are happy while 29% say they are unhappy, according to an Ipsos survey. The poll of 23,765 adults in 30 countries found that people in India are the happiest, with 88% saying they are "very" or "somewhat" happy, followed by the Netherlands at 86% and Mexico at 82%. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

What people 'really need is not DEI, but PFJ — power, freedom and justice'
Perry Bacon Jr. at The Washington Post
Although the "right's war on DEI has gone way too far, liberals shouldn't seek" to "restore it when Democrats regain power," says Perry Bacon Jr. The right's "identity-blindness is deeply flawed, but the concepts of diversity and inclusion" have "shortcomings too." Diversity "suffers from vague and even conflicting interpretations," and "individuals who get the spoils from a focus on diversity often don't share the interests of the broader group."

'AI is a powerful and efficient tool for addressing the problem of government waste'
Jon Husted at The Wall Street Journal
Ohio has had great success "using artificial intelligence to cleanse its regulations of outdated, conflicting or redundant content," says Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio). The state is now "on track to reduce its regulatory code by about a third," making it "easier for people and businesses to comply with the law." Congress should "work with the Trump administration to cull inefficiencies and redundancies from the federal government" using AI tools, which "don't replace government workers but can empower them."

'Why I got the measles vaccine at age 63'
Margaret Renkl at The New York Times
While "today there's absolutely no reason to believe that the measles vaccine causes autism," vaccination rates "continue to fall," and now a measles outbreak is "raging in unvaccinated communities," says Margaret Renkl. "My own safety wasn't my chief concern. Doing everything I can to protect my fellow human beings who cannot be vaccinated" seems to be the "only moral thing to do for anyone living in close community with other people."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

PINK1

A protein linked to young-onset Parkinson's disease. Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Parkinson's Disease Research Centre in Australia have just "solved the decadeslong mystery" of how the protein looks and how it "binds to mitochondria, the powerhouse of a cell, and stops it functioning properly," said The Independent. This may one day lead to new treatments.

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Anahi Valenzuela and Abby Wilson, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images; Salvadoran government via Getty Images; Alexander Spatari / Getty Images