SCOTUS Halts Boasberg--For Now

The Supreme Court vacated Jeb Boasberg's orders banning the deportation of illegals covered by the Alien Enemies Act. But that's not the end of Boasberg's crusade to prove the Trump adm wrong.

Citing the wrong jurisdiction and the wrong measure of relief, the Supreme Court on Monday night vacated D.C. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg’s two temporary restraining orders prohibiting the immediate deportation of illegal Venezuelans tied to Tren de Aragua, a foreign terrorist organization according to the Trump administration.

In a 5-4 decision, the Court—with Amy Coney Barrett again siding with the three liberal harpies—determined it had limited authority to review President Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation, which permitted the removal of the suspected TdA illegals. Further, the Court concluded the ACLU lawyers representing the illegals should have filed habeas petitions in Texas, not a civil lawsuit in Washington, where the illegals had been and remain in U.S. custody.

All nine justices agreed the government must provide some level of due process for those subjected to the president’s AEA proclamation, which he signed on March 14 and was enacted on March 15: “[Today’s] order and per curiam confirm that the detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal. The only question is which court will resolve that challenge. For the reasons set forth, we hold that venue lies in the district of confinement.”

In a typically unhinged dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the president of violating the terms of the AEA—“There is, of course, no ongoing war between the United States and Venezuela,” Sotomayor stated as if it’s within her authority to make such a determination—and of planning a “covert preparation to skirt both the requirements of the Act and the Constitution’s guarantee of due process.”

Sotomayor then took the next mental leap for an intellectually and emotionally devoid Marxist by claiming the nature of the president’s proclamation down the road may apply to lawful Americans. “The implication of the Government’s position is that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal. History is no stranger to such lawless regimes, but this Nation’s system of laws is designed to prevent, not enable, their rise.”

The Department of Justice immediately asked Boasberg to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction and deny the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction, the next step after a temporary restraining order.

Defiant Judge Pursues Allegations of Defiance

Boasberg later cancelled a hearing set for 3:00pm today on the preliminary injunction motion, but with a caveat. In what can only be considered a stunning rebuke of SCOTUS’ ruling, Boasberg asked the ACLU to let him know by April 16 “whether they believe that they still have a basis to proceed on their Motion for Preliminary Injunction in this Court and, if so, proposing a briefing schedule.”

In other words: FU SCOTUS.

Boasberg also has not yet abandoned his attempt to prove Trump officials violated what he calls an “oral ruling” issued on March 15 to return planes carrying illegals being deported under the AEA. During a hearing that evening, Boasberg converted the original five unnamed plaintiffs into a class action suit and ordered all AEA subjects back to the United States. “[Any] plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States. However that's accomplished, whether turning around a plane or not embarking anyone on the plane or those people covered by this on the plane, I leave to you. But this is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” Boasberg said.

The DOJ, however, argues Boasberg’s verbal command—inexplicably not included in a written order posted about 40 minutes later—wasn’t legitimate. (Two planes carrying AEA subjects that departed during the hearing were not returned.) Boasberg insists his oral statements are as good as paper and has continued to interrogate DOJ lawyers to explain why his return order was not followed.

During a heated hearing on April 3, Boasberg accused the Trump administration of acting in “bad faith” and claimed “probable cause exists to believe that contempt has occurred.” His opinion on how, or whether, to proceed with a contempt investigation is expected in the next few days.

And since the Supreme Court only vacated the two written orders on the docket and not his “oral ruling,” a contempt inquiry appears to remain in play. Sotomayor, for her part, offered Boasberg an assist in her dissent: “[As] the Government well knows, courts routinely issue rulings from the bench, and those rulings can be appealed, including to this Court, in appropriate circumstances.”

That appears to represent the green light Boasberg needs, to the extent he believes he needs one from the highest court, to move forward with a contempt case against Trump officials. At the very least, the onetime Yale basketball player is not ready to walk off the court defeated by the Trump DOJ—and the Supreme Court.