Divided D.C. Circuit Panel Nixes Judge Boasberg’s Criminal Contempt Order Against Trump Administration
Today, in J.G.G. v. Trump, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals vacated Judge Boasberg’s order finding probable cause that Administration officials were in criminal contempt of court for failing to prevent government officials from transferring alien detainees from U.S. custody. Judge Katsas and Judge Rao agreed that the government’s petition for a writ of mandamus to vacate the order was justified, albeit on separate grounds. Judge Pillard dissented. All told, the opinions span over 100 pages.
After the jump are excerpts and summaries of the relevant opinions.
Here is how Judge Katsas sees the issues:
This case involves an extraordinary, ongoing confrontation between the Executive and Judicial Branches. On March 15, 2025, the Executive sought to implement a presidential proclamation mandating the swift, wholesale removal of adult members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua (TdA)—a designated foreign terrorist organization. This operation required precise coordination among at least three different sovereign nations, as planes carrying more than 100 alleged TdA members flew from Texas to Honduras to El Salvador. The operation also involved a transfer of physical custody over these detainees from the United States to El Salvador, accomplished at a Salvadoran airport with Salvadoran security forces assembled en masse. But while this operation was ongoing, five alleged TdA members sued in Washington, D.C. to prevent the removals, and the district court urgently attempted—within a matter of hours—to preliminarily assess their lawfulness. After flights carrying some of the alleged TdA members had exited United States airspace, the court, through a minute order, temporarily restrained the removals. According to the Executive Branch, the removals had already occurred before the TRO was entered. According to the district court, the Executive carried out the removals in defiance of the TRO.
In response to these events, the district court initiated a criminal-contempt proceeding. The court found probable cause that some federal officials willfully violated the TRO, and it ordered the government to identify who. The court offered to stand down if the Executive Branch chose to purge the putative contempt by asserting custody over the removed individuals—Venezuelan nationals then being detained by the Salvadoran government in El Salvador. If necessary, the court promised to appoint a private attorney to prosecute the responsible Executive Branch officials. And it did all this to vindicate a TRO that the Supreme Court had vacated for lack of jurisdiction. The district court’s order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses. And it implicates an unsettled issue whether the judiciary may impose criminal contempt for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction.
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