alt Hacker Newshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol_in...
> The U.S. Border Patrol has stated: "Although motorists are not legally required to answer the questions 'Are you a U.S. citizen, and where are you headed?' they will not be allowed to proceed until the inspecting agent is satisfied that the occupants of vehicles traveling through the checkpoint are legally present in the U.S."
I'm not convinced "the law says you can't do that" is super meaningful in 2026.
Replies
> I'm not convinced "the law says you can't do that" is super meaningful in 2026.
Exactly. Everyone reading extremely fine distinctions into the relevant laws should at least do the work of also showing that those laws are currently applied in the manner they imply. To do otherwise is to speculate on how the law would be applied in a country operating under the rule of law, and that’s of little immediate application.
> I'm not convinced "the law says you can't do that" is super meaningful in 2026.
In fact, we're finding out very quickly that "what the government can do" is in practice, only limited by the rest of the government's willingness to push back. The set of things grows every time the government tries something new and receives no push back from the other two branches of government that are captured by the same political party.