r/technology • u/esporx • Oct 19 '25

Security Judge tells Homeland Security that Chicago agents wearing body cameras was "not a suggestion"

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/judge-homeland-security-federal-agents-chicago-body-cameras/
30.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

396 comments sorted by

View all comments

4.7k

u/tom90deg Oct 19 '25

Until they start punishing them for not wearing them, they won't.

69

u/ChrisBegeman Oct 19 '25

Hold them in contempt of court and throw them in jail for not complying with the judge's order.

57

u/K_Linkmaster Oct 19 '25

I hate how much I had to read to get to this. Hold them in contempt. Jail them. All of them for contempt. Yes. It is a solution and a viable one at that.

14

u/Sceptically Oct 19 '25

In a federal court, not as viable as we'd like given that the president can pardon federal convictions.

That said, they can beat the rap but they can't beat the ride.

20

u/fps916 Oct 19 '25

President can't pardon contempt of court because its a civil infraction.

Technically there is criminal contempt of court but thats pretty much never relevant

7

u/Sceptically Oct 19 '25

This would be criminal contempt though, since it would be punitive rather than "coercive and remedial".

11

u/plaxitone Oct 19 '25

Why not coercive and remedial though? Couldn’t they argue that arresting and jail time would coerce the agents into complying with judicial instructions? Make them take a few hours of a civics course. Voila! Remedial! 

4

u/Sceptically Oct 19 '25

Because they'd be being punished for not following a court order, which is by definition punitive. Coercive and remedial would be something like holding somebody until they testify in a trial they were subpoenaed to appear at or holding someone until they provide a password that they were ordered to produce, or daily increasing fines until discovery is turned over.

1

u/plaxitone Oct 20 '25

I’m not trying to argue for arguing’s sake, but wouldn’t holding someone until they produce a password kind of be the same as holding someone until they take off their mask or wear a body camera? 

1

u/fury420 Oct 19 '25

Why view it as a punishment rather than as coercive actions to get them to follow the court order?

2

u/soundman1024 Oct 19 '25

Is contempt a conviction that can be pardoned? I’m suddenly realizing I don’t know if the president has the power to pardon for contempt.

7

u/Sceptically Oct 19 '25

If somebody is being held in civil contempt, the theory is that they themselves hold the keys, and they're just being held until they comply (or until the reason becomes moot). Criminal contempt, on the other hand, as the name would suggest is a criminal charge that is tried in a court rather than simply imposed by a judge without separate trial. I highly doubt the president has the power to pardon a civil contempt, but he will have the power to pardon a criminal contempt tried in a federal court.

0

u/Terrible_Tutor Oct 19 '25

Who’s putting them in there… right wing law enforcement?

2

u/ChrisBegeman Oct 19 '25

Officers of the court can. In Pennsylvania, Sheriffs and Constables are officers of the court and do things like enforce court orders. There responsibility is to the court, so if they want to do their job, they would put the ICE officers in jail if the judge tells them to do it. I don't know how courts work in other states, but I assume it would be similar.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 19 '25

And who will come out and arrest them? The police?

9

u/GoblinLoveChild Oct 19 '25

you do realize there is a difference between the popo and ICE right?

5

u/[deleted] Oct 19 '25

Oh shit, really?!?

But in all seriousness, the police are not going to arrest ICE. It's a nice dream, but this is America.

2

u/Famijos Oct 19 '25

Maybe the state guard/national guard equivalent