We shouldn’t be shocked, and the Trump administration knew it would lose some of these battles, but Judge James Boasberg and his BS intrusion into the executive remain for now. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with him, upholding his injunction on using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to accelerate the deportation of criminal aliens. The Trump administration has argued that Tren de Aragua members, a Venezuelan gang which has been designated a foreign terror group, were invading the United States (via The Hill):
A federal appeals court in a 2-1 decision Wednesday refused to lift U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s order blocking the Trump administration from swiftly deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act.
The Justice Department had urged the three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to immediately block Boasberg’s order, casting it as an intrusion on the president’s executive authority over national security.
The case has attracted significant attention after the administration leveraged the rarely used law to quickly deport hundreds of migrants officials claim are Venezuelan gang members to a notorious El Salvador prison.
[…]
“The theme that rings true is that an invasion is a military affair, not one of migration,” U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, pushed back in her solo opinion.
Henderson joined U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of former President Obama, to form a majority against the administration, but Millett did so believing the court had no jurisdiction over the case given the temporary nature of Boasberg’s order.
Both stressed the preliminary nature of the case and noted that Boasberg is set to soon rule on whether to grant a longer injunction.
This case has become one of the most cumbersome in the Trump administration. Boasberg demanded classified information about the deportation flights. Attorney General Pam Bondi shut that down by invoking state secrets provisions. Boasberg’s unlawful ruling suggests that district judges can dictate federal immigration policy by signing off on who gets deported. That’s not how this works.
The good news is that there have been some significant victories against these rogue district judges:
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang on March 18 ruled that the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had likely violated the Constitution when it shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This came as the result of a lawsuit filed by more than two dozen current and former USAID employees and contractors challenging the Trump administration’s move.
[…]
The Fourth Circuit sided with the Trump administration, issuing a stay on the lower court’s injunction that will remain in place until the close of business on Thursday.
[…]
In another victory for the Trump administration, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals slapped a stay on a judge’s order, forcing the White House to begin admitting refugees again. This came after the White House filed another emergency motion to put a pause on the lower court’s preliminary injunction.
The court granted the Trump administration’s request to halt most of the injunction. This allows the White House to pause refugee admissions for those who applied after January 20. However, the president will still have to process those who were conditionally approved for refugee status before that date.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member