President Trump has been elected as President. He is the head of the Executive Branch of government. That position has authority over the Justice Department and the Departments in the Justice Department.
On January 22, Red State reported:
A day after President Trump issued pardons or sentence commutations for all January 6 defendants (Promise Kept: With the Stroke of a Pen, President Trump Issues Mass Pardons for J6 Defendants – RedState), a large number of them remained confined in the DC jail.
…The authority to hold these prisoners expired at midnight on Monday. The Fourteenth Amendment clearly states that the government can’t “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Instead, they were subject to unlawful detention that is nearly indistinguishable from kidnapping or abduction.
This is from RedState columnist and former contributor Bill Shipley, who represented several dozen January 6 defendants and who is not given to hyperbole:
I’m just now getting up to speed on the problems at DOC in the District.
This is UNBELIEVABLE.
These defendants now have a civil rights suit against DC.
The pardon’s were dated yesterday – 1/20. Any lawful authority to keep a defendant in custody ended at 11:59 pm.
Beyond that it was an “unlawful seizure” in violation of the 4th Amendment.
Defendants are housed at DOC under a contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service because there is not U.S. Govt holding facility in DC.
The U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia is a Presidential Appointee, and the USMS is part of the Justice Department. So, what is apparently happening now is the Trump DOJ has directed the USMS to go into the DOC and physically remove those J6 defendants still being held.
If I was giving the instructions, I would have DOC officials removed in handcuffs and taken across the river to EDVA to be held pending a investigation into Sec. 242 violations.
As Sen. Lee posted yesterday — maybe it is time for Congress to revisit “Home Rule” in DC.
People in our government are not laws unto themselves–they are subject to the laws of the land and the chain of command.