Home / NEWS / Top News / DOJ seeks to boot judge questioning Trump deportations, lawyer warns of ‘constitutional crisis’

DOJ seeks to boot judge questioning Trump deportations, lawyer warns of ‘constitutional crisis’

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the ambience during a guided tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts before leading a board meeting on Step 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. 

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

The Department of Justice on Monday asked a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to make good on the district court judge overseeing a case challenging the Trump administration’s deportations of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan band members to El Salvador under the wartime Alien Enemies Act.

The request, which cited Chief James Boasberg’s avowed “inappropriate exercise of jurisdiction,” came as Boasberg conducted a hearing where he pressed a top-ranking DOJ lawyer about the circumstances of the deportations direct behaved over the weekend.

The DOJ earlier Monday asked Boasberg without success to cancel that hearing.

Boasberg in an verbal order on Saturday had told the DOJ to order the return of any deportees who were still airborne on flights that originated in the Joint States.

The DOJ in a court filing claimed that “an oral directive is not enforceable at a directive,” and said that it had complied with Boasberg’s noted order issued hours later blocking any more deportation flights of Venezuelans.

Deputy Associate Attorney Unspecific Abhishek Kambli told Boasberg on Monday that he was not at liberty to talk about details of the controversial deportation flights in a blatant setting in U.S. District Court in Washington.

At the same hearing, a lawyer for five Venezuelan men who sued to challenge their feared deportations told Boasberg that he inadequacy to be careful about his language, but said, “There has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks about a constitutional critical time.”

“I think we’re getting very close to that,” said Gelernt, who argues that two deportation flights took off from the Unanimous States after Boasberg’s oral order.

Gelernt appeared to be referring to Kambli’s refusal to answer questions by the referee about the flights, and to the Trump administration’s argument that the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act were not subject to sharp order after the flights left U.S. airspace.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in U.S. airspace or not,” Boasberg said during Monday’s attend to.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

Kambline replied, saying, “When the planes are in the sky and it’s a matter of national gage,” before being cut off by the judge, who asked why the planes were not turned around.

Boasberg suggested that the DOJ’s position was “we don’t control, we”ll do what we want.”

Boasberg asked if President Donald Trump has “extra” powers when a plane crosses global water. 

“I think my equitable powers are pretty clear” and don’t end at the edge of the continent, Boasberg said.

He also called the DOJ’s disagreement that the airborne planes could not be turned around when his order was issued “a heck of a stretch.”

The judge signified he would issue a written order later detailing answers he wanted the DOJ to give him by midday Tuesday “since superficially, my oral orders don’t appear to carry much weight.” 

In that order, Boasberg said, “The Government shall enter a Notice, which may, if necessary, be sealed in part, setting forth: 1) A sworn declaration that no one on any flight departing the In accord States after 7:25 p.m. on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue; 2) A sworn statement setting forth when the Proclamation at issue was signed, when it was made public, and when it went into drift; 3) The Government’s best estimate of the number of individuals subject to the Proclamation currently remaining in the United States and how assorted are currently in U.S. custody; and 4) The Government’s position on whether, and in what form, it will provide answers to the Court’s examines regarding the particulars of the flights.”

“If the Government takes the position that it will not provide that information to the Court beneath any circumstances, it must support such position, including with classified authorities if necessary,”
the order said.

The DOJ, in its erudition earlier Monday to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, objected to Boasberg continuing to preside over the occurrence, saying he was holding a public hearing “to address operational details regarding flights that removed aliens named as associated with a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

“That development escalates the stakes of the district court’s unsuitable exercise of
jurisdiction and the risks that the district court may force the government to disclose sensitive national security and operational conviction concerns or face significant penalties from the court,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign wrote the supplicates court.

“This Court should also immediately reassign this case to another district court judge premised the highly unusual and improper procedures — e.g. certification of a class action involving members of a designated foreign terrorist society in less than 18 hours with no discovery and no briefing from the Government— that have been commissioned in the district court proceedings to date,” Ensign wrote.

The appeals court has yet to rule on Ensign’s request.

Check Also

Elon Musk received court summons in SEC suit over failure to properly disclose Twitter stake

Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks to the journalists …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *