DOJ lawyer in El Salvador deportation case joins VA appeal of homeless vet lawsuit
Yaakov Roth, a Federalist Society member and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, joined the Justice Department in February and has extensive appellate experience.
Ahead of today’s appeal by the VA challenging a landmark ruling by a federal judge that chastised the government for its response to LA’s homeless veteran crisis, the Department of Justice has added Deputy Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth to its legal team.
A former partner at Jones Day, Roth last week defended the Trump Administration’s deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national with legal protected status. Alleging he was a member of the MS-13 gang, the government sent the Maryland man to a prison in El Salvador. A judge ordered Abrego Garcia to be released April 7 by midnight, but he remains in the foreign prison — despite an admission by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official that he was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” — while the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates over whether to take his case.
“While there may be allegations of abuses in other Salvadoran prisons — very few in relation to the large number of detainees — there is no clear showing that Abrego Garcia himself is likely to be tortured or killed in CECOT,” Roth wrote in a memo filed March 31 opposing Abrego Garcia’s request for a temporary restraining order.
In overseeing the VA appeal, Roth is taking on a case some five decades in the making. In the class action lawsuit Powers v. Collins (previously Powers v. McDonough) a group of unhoused, disabled veterans argued the VA has discriminated against them by not providing access to housing on the West LA VA campus. The property was donated to the federal government in 1888 specifically to house disabled veterans, and by 1958 as many as 5,000 vets lived on the land. Following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, the VA evicted veterans from the land. Today, fewer than 400 permanent supportive housing units exist on the campus.
The federal posture towards spending and services has changed significantly since September 2024, when the lawsuit was initially decided in the veterans’ favor. Regardless of the hearing’s results, a dramatic change could yet overtake the West LA VA and its approach towards veteran care, as the Trump administration and its newly established Department of Government Efficiency look for ways to reduce government spending.
Get the whole story: An epic government scandal hiding in plain sight
Home of the Brave is an award-winning, multimedia feature documenting the unhoused veteran crisis at the West LA VA campus, a 388-acre property deeded to the U.S. government in 1888 specifically to house disabled soldiers. Over the last 50 years, the land was carved up and leased to private interests, including UCLA and the Brentwood School, while development for veteran housing has been painfully slow. A land grab dating back to the U.S. Civil War, the history of this land is a story bursting with government malfeasance, neglect, graft, and even death.
This newsletter reports on how veterans are fighting to reclaim the land through Powers v. McDonough, now Powers v. Collins, a class-action lawsuit filed against the Department of Veterans Affairs. Get updates on the case here:
Long fraught, LA’s unhoused veterans crisis came to a head during 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak, when dozens of veterans camped on the sidewalk in front of the West LA VA after they were not allowed to take shelter on the lawn of the property. Though the initial eviction of veterans from permanent housing on this land took place during the Nixon administration, a group of veterans had previously sued (and settled with) the Obama administration before Trump’s VA barred their pandemic encampment. The veterans then filed a class action lawsuit in 2023 against the Biden administration, and though the Trump administration is appealing the district court ruling, it’s worth noting that 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris lives less than a mile from the campus in the adjacent neighborhood of Brentwood.
DOJ’s appeal challenges an August 2024 ruling by Judge David Carter, who found that the VA had violated federal law by entering into illegal land-use agreements with Brentwood School, UCLA, Bridgeland Oil, and Safety Park. As a result, the court invalidated those leases. Judge Carter also ordered the VA to immediately construct temporary and permanent housing for disabled and homeless veterans on the West LA VA campus, an order that the VA has defied.
Shocking but true: 6 wild facts from LA's unhoused veteran crisis
In 1888, wealthy landowners donated prime Los Angeles real estate to the U.S. government to house military veterans. Today the 388-acre property abuts the Brentwood neighborhood and the UCLA campus, is some of the coun…
Today’s hearing begins at 9 a.m., with a panel of three Ninth Circuit judges hearing oral arguments. Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, joins two Biden appointees: Judge Roopali Hardin Desai and Judge Ana Isabel de Alba.
Whichever party prevails in the appeal, it’s likely this case will be petitioned to the Supreme Court, where Roth has significant experience.
According to Bloomberg Law, Roth is serving as the interim head of Justice’s Civil Division. He boasts many high-profile legal victories on his LinkedIn page, specifically pointing to appellate-level wins including a “First Amendment challenge to an Ohio law prohibiting ‘false’ campaign statements, seeking disclosure of a Justice Department policy manual concerning criminal discovery, and protecting the religious freedom rights of Death Row inmates.” A Federalist Society member and one-time clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Roth represented Sen. Bob Menendez in his conviction on corruption and bribery charges in January, prior to joining the Justice Department.
In addition, Roth has experience arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court, including overturning a jury conviction of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on corruption charges, and West Virginia v. EPA which, according to Bloomberg Law, “restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to cut down on power-plant emissions.” He also worked on the unanimous Supreme Court decision overturning the DOJ’s “Bridgegate” conviction of Bridget Kelley, a former deputy chief of staff to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, for federal property fraud.
Today’s hearing on the VA appeal is set to begin at 9 a.m. in Pasadena, California.
 | A guest post by
|