Justice Dept. Dares Anti-Trump Judge to Hold Admin Officials In Contempt
The Justice Department is urging U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to move ahead with criminal contempt proceedings if he remains unsatisfied with the administration’s explanation for the controversial March deportation flights to El Salvador — a direct escalation in a dispute that has increasingly pitted the judiciary against the executive branch.
According to The Washington Times, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed under oath that she personally ordered the flights to proceed, even as Judge Boasberg insists he had given “clear instructions” to ground them. Two senior government attorneys — one from DHS and one from the Justice Department — acknowledged they provided legal guidance to Noem but declined to disclose the substance of those conversations, citing privileged communications.
Justice Department attorney Tiberius Davis reiterated to the court that the administration continues to believe Boasberg’s directive was ambiguous, and that Secretary Noem did not intentionally violate a court order. But he made clear that if the judge disagrees, he should not attempt to compel testimony from top executive branch officials.
“Accordingly, if the court continues to believe its order was sufficiently clear in imposing an obligation to halt the transfer of custody for detainees who had already been removed from the United States, the court should proceed promptly with a referral,” Davis wrote.
He warned that forcing Noem to testify at this stage would violate separation-of-powers principles:
“It would be prejudicial and constitutionally improper to compel testimony in advance of a referral for prosecution, particularly when all of the facts that are necessary for a potential referral are already known and have been presented under oath.”
At the center of the fight are three March 15 flights carrying Venezuelan migrants — including suspected members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang — along with Salvadoran nationals. One of those Venezuelans, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, had a lengthy history of immigration violations and an existing removal order signed by multiple judges.
The administration maintains that Judge Boasberg’s instruction to halt the planes came after two of the aircraft were already outside U.S. jurisdiction and the migrants aboard had been legally removed under the Alien Enemies Act. A third flight left later in the day, but the Justice Department says that plane carried migrants processed under ordinary immigration law — and thus was not subject to Boasberg’s order.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Judge Boasberg lacked jurisdiction to block the flights at all. But the judge has suggested that the high court’s ruling does not resolve his lingering concerns about whether his directives were openly defied.
Those concerns were fueled by incendiary testimony from Erez Reuveni, a former Justice Department attorney, who alleged he witnessed senior officials discussing plans to disregard any judge who attempted to interfere with the deportations. Reuveni singled out Emil Bove — a former personal attorney to President Donald Trump who later held a senior DOJ position and has since been appointed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lawyers representing the migrants are demanding that Judge Bove be compelled to testify, and they want Reuveni put under oath as well.
During a hearing last month, Judge Boasberg said he is deciding whether to require live testimony or accept written declarations from key officials. He noted that he intended to begin by soliciting statements from those “involved in the decision.”
According to Davis, that description applies to Secretary Noem — the ultimate decision-maker — and the legal advisers who guided her.
The standoff now places the Biden-era judiciary in direct conflict with President Donald Trump’s current administration, raising profound constitutional questions about judicial overreach, executive authority, and the limits of a district judge’s power over national security–related deportation actions already executed outside U.S. airspace.