Erez Reuveni worked as a lawyer for the Department of Justice for nearly fifteen years, largely on immigration cases. After refusing to make claims that he considered unsupported about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, he was fired. Now he’s speaking out. Plus:
• Lena Dunham’s “Too Much” revitalizes the rom-com genre
• What should a museum smell like?
• The state of love and sex in an era of crisis
Illustration by Nicholas Konrad; Source photographs from Getty
Why a Devoted Justice Department Lawyer Became a Whistle-Blower
In the first Trump Administration, “they didn’t say ‘Fuck you’ to the courts,” Erez Reuveni said.
By Ruth Marcus
In the early days of the first Trump Administration, Erez Reuveni, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, went to court to defend the new President’s travel ban on foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. He told the federal judge hearing the case to ignore the unpleasant fact that, as a candidate, Donald Trump had argued for a travel ban on Muslims; those statements, he said, didn’t justify interfering with Trump’s authority to take actions that he deemed necessary to protect national security. Second-guessing a President in that way, Reuveni argued, would place the court and the President “in an untenable position.” As the Administration’s efforts to restrict immigration and deport noncitizens continued in the months that followed, Reuveni defended the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to turn up at court hearings to arrest undocumented immigrants. He argued in support of the Administration’s decision to eliminate asylum protections for victims of domestic violence, and he defended its rule denying asylum to migrants at the southern border unless they first sought asylum in Mexico or a third country.
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Remembrance of Scents Past
A forthcoming exhibit on Marie Antoinette’s style will attempt to re-create the doomed French queen’s aroma, using, in part, receipts from her makeup purchases. Margaret Talbot reports on the museum curators who are using scents in their exhibits to enhance the emotional experience for visitors. Read or listen to the story »
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How Bad Is It?
President Trump is threatening to slap a fifty-per-cent tariff on Brazil, citing, in part, the treatment of the former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently on trial over allegations of an attempted coup, which purportedly included plans to poison his successor.
How bad is it?
It’s terrible, Jon Lee Anderson, a New Yorker staff writer, argues. “This has nothing to do with trade,” he added, pointing out that, unlike many other countries targeted by tariffs, Brazil maintains a trade surplus with the U.S. “It has everything to do with expanding this idea of a MAGA base. There’s no political figure in Latin America more MAGA—more Trumpian—than Bolsonaro, who is probably headed for prison and whom they would like to see in as President again.” Bolsonaro is facing some very serious allegations in court. That a U.S. President would weigh in like this—by threatening tariffs—during another country’s judicial process, is, according to Anderson, “the ultimate act of Ugly Americanism.”
Read more: Anderson’s reporting on the Brazilian judge targeted by Trump and Elon Musk »
Our Culture Picks
Read: “How We Grow Up,” by the New York Times reporter Matt Richtel, enters the long-running debate about kids and smartphones.
Watch: Lena Dunham’s new show, “Too Much,” is out today, and our TV critic Inkoo Kang calls it “one of the best shows of the year.”
Listen: Will “What I Want,” by Morgan Wallen and featuring Tate McRae, be 2025’s song of the summer?
Daily Cartoon
“Honey, come here—it’s a shipment of new adjectives to describe how messed up everything is!”
Cartoon by Lars Kenseth
Puzzles & Games
P.S. Today marks the hundredth anniversary of the start of the Scopes “monkey trial,” in which a high-school teacher in Tennessee was prosecuted for giving lessons on evolution. The New Yorkerjust months old at the time, offered a dispatch from the surrounding legal and media circus.
Shannon O’Connor and Caroline Mimbs Nyce contributed to today’s edition.
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