The #Trump admin appealed. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the government by a 2-1 vote.

"The District Court's order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy & the prosecution of criminal offenses," Circuit Judge Gregory #Katsas wrote in a [bullshit] opinion.

U.S. District Judge James #Boasberg found in April that #Trump officials could face #criminal #contempt charges for willfully disregarding his March 15 order barring the #deportations to #ElSalvador of alleged #Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 #AlienEnemiesAct without the chance to challenge their removals.

Judge James #Boasberg first
appeared on the #MAGA radar in March after blocking the Trump admin’s invocation of the wartime 1798 #AlienEnemiesAct to indiscriminately deport men #Trump claimed were Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador. The administration ignored Boasberg’s #CourtOrder, & he asserted he found probable cause for #contempt on the admin’s part, although the DC Circuit Court has paused proceedings.

Former #judges & other #legal experts said judges might be calculating that a confrontation over #contempt proceedings could result in the administration ordering #marshals to defy the #courts. That type of standoff could significantly undermine the #authority of judges.

…“The #courts can’t enforce their own rulings — that has to be done by the executive branch,” said Michel, the fmr judge & Watergate special prosecutor.

He was referring to US #Marshals, the #ExecutiveBranch law enforcement personnel who carry out court orders related to #contempt proceedings, whether that is serving subpoenas or arresting officials whom a judge has ordered jailed for not complying.

#Judges appointed by presidents of both parties have often agreed. None have taken punitive action to try to force #compliance, however, allowing the admin’s defiance of orders to go on for weeks or even months in some instances.

Outside #legal analysts say #courts typically are slow to begin #contempt proceedings for #noncompliance,
especially while their rulings are under appeal.

Judge #Boasberg …has rejected that interpretation of his orders & found probable cause to initiate #contempt proceedings over potential defiance of his rulings. That process has been halted for now by an appeals court.

The messages also revealed tension between #DOJ attorneys & their counterparts at #DHS as they sought to mount a defense of the #Trump admin’s #deportation policies in court.

#Senate #Democrats had been pressuring #GOP colleagues to take this out of the bill…. Not only does this provision appear to violate the constitutional #SeparationOfPowers, it also violates Senate rules. #Republicans are relying on a fast-track #legislative process known as budget #reconciliation to move the bill, which means everything in it must be related to #budget matters. Restricting #judges’ abilities to hand down #contempt orders has nothing to do w/budgets.

Translated, this provision would restrict the ability of any #court, including #SCOTUS, to enforce #compliance with its orders by holding people in #contempt. Contempt citations are an essential tool for the #courts; they allow #judges to threaten #fines, #sanctions or even #jail if people disobey their orders.

The text that Grassley released…doesn’t include this jarring, 1-sentence provision that #House #Republicans buried in their 1,116-page bill:

“No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a #contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued…, whether issued prior to, on, or subsequent to the date of enactment of this section.”

The proceeding, which has been unfolding in front of Judge James E. #Boasberg, the chief judge in Federal District Court in Washington, was one of the first #deportation cases to reach the courts & remains one of the hardest fought. Judge Boasberg tried to stop the deportation flights carrying the #Venezuelans shortly after they took off, but the admin went ahead anyway, prompting him to threaten #Trump ofcls with #contempt proceedings.

UPDATE:

Meanwhile, in Djibouti, the originally South Sudan-bound immigrants have the ability to contact attorneys to try to stop their transfer to the war-torn, human rights-abusing country."
-A Klasfeld

#DueProcess #Deportations #Contempt #ICE #DHS #USPol
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282404/gov.uscourts.mad.282404.153.0.pdf

Doc https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282404/gov.uscourts.mad.282404.153.0.pdf
Background:
https://www.allrisenews.com/p/south-sudan-violation

Those were whether #KilmarAbregoGarcia had received #DueProcess when he was plucked off the streets without a warrant & expelled days later to a prison in #ElSalvador, in what even #Trump officials have repeatedly admitted was an error. And, moreover, whether administration officials should be held in #contempt for repeatedly stonewalling a #judge’s effort to get to the bottom of their actions.