Update: As this and other orders have come down from judges, President Donald Trump, as Matt will cover, has issued several Truth Social posts about judges ruling against him. One in particular mentioned Judge James Boasberg.
Judge James Boasberg is doing everything in his power to usurp the Power of the Presidency. He is a local, unknown Judge, a Grandstander, looking for publicity, and it cannot be for any other reason, because his “Rulings” are so ridiculous, and inept. SAVE AMERICA!
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) March 21, 2025
Donald Trump…
Original: Although the Trump administration has moved forward with and plans to move forward with more flights to deport criminal illegal immigrants, Judge James Boasberg continues to be a thorn in the side. On Wednesday, he gave the Trump administration a mere one-day extension for providing flight information about deporting these gang members, despite how the Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed "state secrets." On Thursday, he lashed out even more against the administration.
As The Hill reported:
In a new order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the Justice Department refused to meet his Thursday deadline to hand over the flight information and instead submitted a declaration from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official informing that “Cabinet Secretaries are currently actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets privilege.”
The order came after Boasberg ordered the government to privately provide more details about the flights in a sealed filing, saying he was once again rebuffed by the government.
“The Government again evaded its obligations,” Boasberg wrote, noting that the filing from the ICE official included the same information about the flights.
“This is woefully insufficient. To begin, the Government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of the state-secrets privilege,” wrote Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama.
...
Boasberg gave the order to do so both verbally and in writing after the hearing. Both forms of orders are legally binding.
Nonetheless, the Justice Department continues to argue that it complied with Boasberg’s written order, suggesting they did not have to comply with the oral order.
They have also argued the matter is irrelevant, as the flights were already out of U.S. territory by the time Boasberg’s order landed on the docket.
The report also laid out that we have the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to thank for suing the administration for daring to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport gang members here illegally back to their home countries:
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued over the matter, has argued the government had the power to return the Venezuelan deportees from abroad up until the moment they were placed in the custody of a foreign government.
The judge has demanded more information about the timing of the flights and who was aboard so he can investigate whether the Trump administration defied his rulings, but the Justice Department has resisted.
The judge put forth several deadlines for the administration. Someone from the administration who is directly involved with the discussions must respond by Friday. On Tuesday, the administration must also respond in writing as to why they did not violate the court's orders.
Boasberg now thinks he’s entitled to obviously privileged information related to discussions over fighting his order on Venezuelan terror flights. Insane. pic.twitter.com/1QKqPM0nfs
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 20, 2025
LAWFARE: Obama judge is now acting like a special prosecutor and not an unbiased federal judge. Judge Boasberg is now conducting an evidentiary hearing demanding sworn testimony from a member of Trump's cabinet regarding state secrets. This is not normal. pic.twitter.com/CIWWkcjLeE
— @amuse (@amuse) March 20, 2025
Phil Holloway, in response to the new order from Boasberg, also joked that the judge will likely rule against President Donald Trump's executive order dismantling the Department of Education, given that Boasberg "runs the executive branch now."
Also on Thursday, around the same time that news of Boasberg's order came in, Trump signed the executive order following his remarks on education.
Any moment now, Federal District Court Judge Boasberg will order the Department of Education to be doubled in size
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) March 20, 2025
Since he runs the executive branch now pic.twitter.com/XStSwbG4B9
The post from Holloway is an amusing one, but there's also a serious point here about how out of control these district level judges have become. It ought to be a matter for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on, though Chief Justice John Roberts this week made a rare statement about disagreeing with judges.
Also this week, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) filed articles of impeachment against Judge Boasberg, a move he previewed on Sunday.
As for what's next for these deportation flights, the Trump administration communicated that Americans can "absolutely" expect such flights to continue. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made that abundantly clear during her exchange with Katie on Wednesday, as Townhall was in the New Media Seat for the day's press briefing. Leavitt also spoke out against these district judges in her response.
.@KatiePavlich: "Does the president plan to send new and additional flights of Venezuelan gang members...?"@PressSec: "Americans can ABSOLUTELY expect to see the continuation of the mass deportation campaign..." pic.twitter.com/izIbR9iIGj
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 19, 2025
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