Full Breakdown
Appeals Court Weighs Contempt Probe Over Trump-Era Deportation Flights
By Drooid · · How we work
The hearing and its immediate stakes
On September 29, a Justice Department attorney asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to end a district-court inquiry into whether officials from the Trump administration willfully defied a judicial order halting deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador. The three-hour oral argument was part of a prolonged clash between President Donald Trump’s former officials and U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who seeks to determine why his order was ignored.
Legal backdrop of the deportations
The flights were carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a rarely invoked statute that grants the president broad authority to detain and deport non-citizens deemed enemies. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued on behalf of Venezuelan men who had been transferred in a U.S.–brokered prisoner swap and later returned to Venezuela. Boasberg concluded that the administration acted “in bad faith” by scheduling three flights while he was conducting emergency court proceedings on their legality. Earlier this year, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit blocked Boasberg’s contempt probe in a 2-1 decision, but all 11 sitting judges voted to rehear the case. The panel comprises seven Democratic appointees and four Republican appointees.
Positions of the Justice Department and the district court
Justice Department lawyer Brett Shumate described the contempt investigation as “unlawful, unnecessary, and futile,” arguing that the district judge was exceeding judicial authority. Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs (appointed by President Joe Biden) and Circuit Judge Patricia Millett (appointed by President Barack Obama) countered that Boasberg was conducting permissible fact-finding to identify who provided advice on the flights.
ACLU’s criticism of the executive branch
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt praised Boasberg’s resolve, saying the administration’s actions were unprecedentedly disrespectful to the judiciary and warning that failure to uphold the district court’s order would send a “horrible message.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “The district court judge here is going beyond the judicial role,” — Shumate
- “The district court has to find out what happened and who was in the room providing the advice,” — Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, said circuit judge
- “No prior DOJ or administrator has ever taken these kinds of egregious actions and been so disrespectful to the judiciary,” — Lee Gelernt, ACLU lawyer