U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg said Wednesday he is reopening a contempt inquiry after a seven-month pause to determine whether Trump administration officials authorized deportation flights to land in El Salvador in March even after he ordered them to turn the planes around.
Boasberg moved to restart the proceedings after the full D.C. Circuit Court on Friday declined to rehear the Trump administration’s appeal, leaving in place a panel decision that vacated his earlier "probable-cause" contempt finding.
With that order no longer operative, Boasberg said he would re-examine the matter under a fresh legal framework.
"Justice requires me to move promptly on this," Boasberg said, according to Politico, during a hearing on a lawsuit brought on behalf of the men deported under President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. "I will be going forward with it."
Boasberg launched the contempt inquiry in April after issuing a temporary restraining order that barred authorities from transporting a group of Venezuelans to an anti-terrorism prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act so as to give them a chance to contest their removals in court.
Two flights with migrants were in the air when Boasberg gave an oral ruling from the bench on March 15, and they were not recalled.
Two more flights departed the next day, Boasberg said, hours after he had issued the temporary restraining order in writing.
Boasberg said he intends to receive testimony from former Department of Justice attorney Erez Reuveni, who was fired in April and has since accused his superiors of flouting court orders related to the deportation flights, according to Politico.
Boasberg also said he wants to hear from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign, who represented the DOJ during the March 15 proceedings and told Boasberg he wasn’t aware of any plans for deportation flights — even as the planes were in the air or about to take off.
"I certainly intend to find out what happened that day," Boasberg said, according to Politico, "and the government can assist me to whatever degree it wishes."
Boasberg has increasingly become a political flash point over the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative.
Trump has repeatedly criticized him for blocking deportation flights and has called for his impeachment, labeling the judge a partisan actor.
Several Republicans in Congress have echoed those calls and have introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg over his rulings.
DOJ attorney Tiberius Davis told Boasberg at Wednesday’s hearing that the government continues to object to the contempt proceedings.
Boasberg responded that a majority of judges on the appeals court had effectively given him the green light to continue by declining to revisit the case.
The Supreme Court ultimately voided Boasberg’s temporary restraining order, and the Venezuelans were eventually transported from El Salvador to Venezuela.
But a contempt inquiry was warranted, Boasberg said, because administration officials defied his order before the Supreme Court issued its ruling, and "such disobedience is punishable as contempt, notwithstanding any later-revealed deficiencies," according to The Washington Post.
Boasberg said in his April opinion that Trump administration officials could avoid the contempt proceedings by giving the Venezuelans an opportunity to challenge their deportations in court, according to the Post.
Otherwise, he said, he would require that the officials who flouted the court order be identified.
He said he could also seek sworn witness statements and "refer the matter for prosecution."
And if the DOJ declined to prosecute the contempt of court, Boasberg said, he would appoint an attorney to do it.
Boasberg told attorneys in the case to submit court filings by Monday proposing witnesses and next steps.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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