Editor's Notes: The New Fugitive Slave Controversy Is Already Upon Us

On Thursday, ICE agent Christian Castro was released from custody in Texas.

In the course of the invasion of Minneapolis, Castro and his fellow thugs chased an innocent man down, and then Castro—with no threat to his person whatsoever—discharged his firearm into a home, thereby injuring an uninvolved bystander. Castro then lied about the incident and the feds attempted to charge the two victims with crimes.

That predictably fell apart, and after a video surfaced, Castro found himself in legal trouble. The feds did not press charges but the Minnesota AG pressed charges and applied for extradition from Texas, where Castro had been arrested. Texas Governor Greg Abbott then proceeded to stonewall the extradition request, claiming he needed more time to consider the case, until the clock ran out on the 90 day statutory limit for holding fugitives.

Abbott pocket-vetoed Castro's extradition to Minnesota, in short, and it is unclear that he will be compelled to do otherwise. Odds are that Castro will flee the country will before the matter is resolved legally.

That is just the latest in a series of breakdowns of the basic functioning of our federalist system. This has been extremely pronounced in the Trump era, but in many ways finds its origin in 15 years of Roberts Court case law.

The result is a return to form for our system: the form of the fugitive slave controversy.