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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh answers questions during judicial conference, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Austin, Texas<\/span>Mother Jones illustration; Getty; Eric Gay\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The staff of\u00a0<\/em>Mother Jones\u00a0is,\u00a0once again<\/a>, rounding up the heroes and monsters of\u00a0the past year<\/a>. This is a non-exhaustive and totally subjective list, giving our reporters a chance to write about something that brought joy, discontent, or curiosity. Happy holidays.<\/em><\/p>\n The return of<\/span> President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of violent attacks by immigration officials, upon citizens<\/a> and noncitizens<\/a> alike. In city after city<\/a>, we\u2019ve seen that\u2014whether waiting<\/a> for the bus, sleeping<\/a> peacefully in your bed, or working<\/a> at the car wash that you own\u2014you can be seized, zip-tied, and detained because of the color of your skin.<\/p>\n Boldly, Kavanaugh let neither the law nor the truth stop him from writing many stupid sentences defending the indefensible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n This isn\u2019t the law, nor is it constitutional. And, until September, this indiscriminate racial profiling lacked a pithy descriptor. But, thanks to the Supreme Court, which legitimized this new regime, we have a name for this government-sponsored terror: Kavanaugh Stops.<\/p>\n When the administration\u2019s practice of racial profiling as part of its immigration enforcement operation in and around Los Angeles reached the Supreme Court this summer in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo<\/em>, Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted alongside his GOP-appointed colleagues to greenlight this racist policy. His colleagues hid their reasoning in uncanny silence. But Kavanaugh decided to pen an opinion<\/a>, called a concurrence, defending his decision. He then released his defense to the public (even though no other justice would sign onto it).<\/p>\n\n