Judge James Boasberg got gutted last night: the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can deport illegal aliens, they can invoke the Alien Enemies Act, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. The little judge got owned, but Boasberg was mulling contempt hearings for Trump officials over the deportation flights, which is absurd. His rulings were vacated, but it seems he is hell-bent on holding this administration in contempt and beyond (via WaPo):
ALIEN ENEMIES ACT NOW IN FULL EFFECT. THE FOREIGN TERRORISTS WILL BE ARRESTED AND EXPELLED. https://t.co/bfPc14dgFG
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) April 7, 2025
At an emergency hearing, Boasberg temporarily blocked the administration from deporting alleged gang members to El Salvador without due process. Trump and his allies soon began calling for the judge’s impeachment. Online influencers, Republican lawmakers and the White House spokeswoman joined the attacks, drawing warnings from constitutional scholars about the need to respect the independence of the legal system.
Boasberg’s next decision may be one of his most fraught: whether to begin proceedings to potentially hold Trump officials in contempt for defying one of his orders in the deportation case.
[…]
In court … the judge grilled a Justice Department lawyer for answers, his eyebrows raised and eyes wide as he suggested government officials had acted in “bad faith” and intentionally rushed to load migrants onto planes and out of the country before he could order them to stop.
“You’re telling me you had no knowledge whatsoever that the planes were in the air or shortly would be in the air,” Boasberg said.
[…]
In a subsequent hearing, the judge demanded that the government explain why it had nevertheless deported more than 130 Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador that day. He sounded incredulous after a Justice Department lawyer said that the planes were already out of U.S. airspace and asserted that the judge’s oral order to turn the planes around would have had force only if he put it in writing.
“A heck of a stretch,” Boasberg said.
At a tense hearing … to determine whether to open contempt proceedings against Trump officials, Boasberg calmly pressed the government’s lawyer, who repeatedly struggled to respond, saying he did not have the information the judge was seeking.
“Who made the decision either not to tell the pilots anything or to tell them to keep going?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, I don’t know that,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said.
“You’re standing here telling me you have no idea who made the decision not to bring the planes back,” Boasberg said, shaking his head from a high-backed black chair beneath a large U.S. District Court seal.
The core of his argument has been smashed into dust, but one can still be held in contempt of rulings on appeal. The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland had more:
2/ Here we have the added nuance that it is called "jurisdiction" when you are speaking of where to bring a case in habeas but courts also call it "venue," so does that matter. Assuming it is "jurisdiction", the argument is the court lacked power so order was void ab initio.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) April 8, 2025
4/ Best cases DOJ will find will be that orders entered in cases without jurisdiction are void ab initio and then it will argue that means there can be no violation. I don't know what they'll find with venue.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) April 8, 2025
6/6 If I were an angry leftist judge, that's what I would do to try to "punish" Trump Administration while avoiding reversal. We'll get a better sense tomorrow.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) April 8, 2025
Congress must move to rein in these judges, either by impeachment or by dissolving the district courts that are knowingly activist. These judges could then submit their rulings to The New York Times or other liberal newspapers—it would not be a stretch from what they would’ve written in their unlawful rulings.
Dear Jeb Boasberg:
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) April 8, 2025
I predict a 0% chance your contempt order will get enforced.
Just like there was a 0% chance those planes full of foreign terrorists were coming back.
Take the loss, dude. https://t.co/XoKuC6VQdc
***
This man is out of control:
Translation:
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) April 8, 2025
Jeb Boasberg is hellbent on holding Trump officials in contempt.
Which must get ignored.
And further escalate a constitutional crisis.
It’s time for House Republicans to open an impeachment probe on Boasberg.
His orders are lawless and dangerous.
He’s unhinged. https://t.co/xkjRoQlL8G
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