{"id":25534,"date":"2025-04-19T16:59:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=25534"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:59:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:59:39","slug":"appeals-court-halts-judge-boasbergs-contempt-proceedings-against-trump-officials-in-deportation-flights-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=25534","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court halts Judge Boasberg\u2019s contempt proceedings against Trump officials in deportation flights case"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked District Court Judge James Boasberg from moving forward with\u00a0contempt proceedings<\/a>\u00a0against Trump administration officials over deportation flights to El Salvador last month.<\/p>\n

In a 2-1 ruling, a\u00a0panel of judges\u00a0<\/a>on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit \u201cadministratively stayed\u201d Boasberg\u2019s April 16 order \u201cpending further order of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal or a writ of mandamus and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,\u201d read the appeals court\u00a0ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"President4<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
President Donald Trump speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of Mehmet Ox as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Oval Office of the White House on April 18, 2025.Will Oliver\/POOL via CNP\/INSTARimages.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"US4<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
US District Judge James E. Boasberg stands for a portrait at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington DC on March 16, 2023.AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Trump-appointed Judges Gregory G. Katsas and Neomi Rao ruled in favor of the pause, while Obama-appointed Judge Cornelia Pillard opposed the stay.<\/p>\n

Boasberg, who sits on the District Court for the District of Washington, DC, ruled earlier this week that there was \u201cprobable cause\u201d to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for\u00a0defying his March 15 order<\/a>\u00a0to halt deportation flights carried out under the Alien Enemies Act.<\/p>\n

The Obama-appointed jurist determined that the White House showed \u201cwillful disregard\u201d for his order demanding that two flights transporting suspected Venezuelan gang members to a megaprison in El Salvador be turned around to bring the detainees back to US soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,\u201d Boasberg wrote. \u201cThe Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders \u2014 especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Venezuelan4<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Venezuelan migrants hold their hands in the air as they arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport after being deported from the US back to Venezuela on April 10, 2025.REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"plane4<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>
Detainees are transferred from buses to a US ICE plane at King County International Airport on April 15, 2025.Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boasberg asked the Trump administration to either \u201cpurge their contempt\u201d by retaking custody of the deported migrants or turn over the names of executive branch officials who defied his order.<\/p>\n

Trump administration lawyers claim that the planes were out of US airspace by the time Boasberg\u2019s order came down.<\/p>\n

Boasberg\u2019s contempt ruling hinted that he would appoint an outside prosecutor to refer the case to if the Justice Department refuses to act on it.<\/p>\n

The appeals court ruling came on the same day Boasberg\u00a0denied a petition<\/a>\u00a0from the American Civil Liberties Union urging him to block future deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act unless detainees are given 30 days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked District Court Judge James Boasberg from moving forward with\u00a0contempt proceedings\u00a0against Trump administration officials over deportation flights to El Salvador last … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25536,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25534\/revisions\/25536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}