Lai Changxing returned to China

After 12 years of struggling to avoid deportation, Lai Changxing finally lost his last court battle and was deported to China. Whatever one might think about the case, it's rather remarkable that the judge found that “Mr. Lai has failed to establish that he will suffer irreparable harm if he were returned to China.” Say what? Of course, irreparable harm is not and cannot be the only consideration; the same could be said of the guiltiest criminal ever, to be tried under the fairest procedures ever. Here's Jerome Cohen's commentary.