Jeb Boasberg, the chief judge of the D.C. District Court, sure has a knack for timing.
As the national conversation this week revolves around accusations the Trump administration is defying court orders by refusing to return an illegal El Salvadoran, er “Maryland father,” back to the U.S., Boasberg swooped in Wednesday afternoon with a lengthy opinion accusing the administration of “criminal contempt” for ignoring a set of orders he issued on March 15. (I first wrote about Boasberg’s contempt trap on March 19.)
In a series of hasty decisions that day, Boasberg, in another instance of fortuitous timing for foes of the Trump administration as I explained here, halted the deportation of illegal Venezuelans covered by the president’s Alien Enemies Act (AEA) proclamation, which Trump had been signed the night before. Boasberg issued two written temporary restraining orders—one prohibiting the deportation of five unnamed illegal Venezuelans represented in the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and another one turning the five plaintiffs into a class action suit protecting anyone in custody subject to the AEA.
And during an emergency hearing held that Saturday evening, Boasberg also issued what he describes as an “oral command” at around 6:45 p.m. to return planes carrying the newly-designated class of illegals. “[Any] plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” Boasberg told the Department of Justice attorney present at the hearing. “However that’s accomplished, whether turning around a plane or not embarking anyone on the plane or those people covered by this on the plane, I leave to you. But this is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately.”
The problem, as Boasberg appears to have known at that time, is that two planes carrying the AEA subjects had already departed and were out of U.S. territory. His “oral command” was impossible to obey or to enforce. (Complicating matters further is Boasberg did not include the “oral command” in his written order published about 40 minutes later.)
The alleged defiance of the two written orders—which were both vacated on April 7 by the Supreme Court after a majority concluded Boasberg’s courtroom was the wrong jurisdiction and the ACLU sought the wrong type of relief—and his “oral command” represent the basis of Boasberg’s contempt allegations. And Boasberg appears prepared to name a court-appointed attorney if the Trump DOJ refuses to bring charges against the yet-unidentified officials he accuses of contempt.
Hellbound and Down 