For the second time in two days, Trump admin becomes the subject of a federal judge's contempt inquiry -- again driven by lack of due process

Judge James Boasberg (NY Times)

 

For the second time in two days, a federal judge has announced plans to begin a contempt inquiry into the Donald Trump administration's defiance of court orders. Both judges acted on deportation cases. The most recent such action came yesterday when James Boasberg, chief U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, stated in court documents that he found sufficient grounds to hold the government in contempt.

The news comes with irony, given that Trump is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist -- with his status in both cases having been widely reported long before the 2024 presidential election last winter. That race ended with Trump defeating Democratic contender Kamala Harris, allowing him to return to the White House for a second term after serving from 2017-2021. Less than three months into his second term, Trump finds himself involved in a case that could involve criminal contempt.

That is the Boasberg matter, where the contempt issue came to light one day after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis announced in Greenbelt, MD, that she was beginning an inquiry into the Trump administration's defiance of her orders in the deportation to El Salvador of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Xinis has scheduled two weeks of discovery in the case and appears to be considering both criminal and civil contempt.

Details on the contempt issue come from a jointly published article at AFP.com and Yahoo! News under the headline "US judge says 'probable cause' to hold Trump admin in contempt." Susan Stumme writes:

A US judge said Wednesday he had found "probable cause" to hold President Donald Trump's administration in contempt in a deportation case, raising the stakes in the White House's confrontation with the justice system.

The White House said it planned an "immediate" appeal to the decision by District Judge James Boasberg, who had ordered the government to halt flights of more than 200 alleged gang Venezuelan members to El Salvador.

Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order on March 15 to halt the deportations, which were carried out under an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which strips away the usual legal due process.

Boasberg stated that signs of probable contempt were "obvious" from examination of the case record. Stumme writes:

In a written opinion, the judge cited evidence that the government had engaged in "deliberate or reckless disregard" of his order when it proceeded with the flights.

"Defendants provide no convincing reason to avoid the conclusion that appears obvious... that they deliberately flouted this Court's written Order and, separately, its oral command that explicitly delineated what compliance entailed," he wrote.

The administration's actions were "sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt," Boasberg wrote.

The judge said the government would be offered a final chance to "purge such contempt" or face further court action.

Trump's dissatisfaction and anger with judges has been apparent for months, and the administration apparently is prepared to continue with a defiant stance, Stumme reports:

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has flirted with open defiance of the judiciary following setbacks to his right-wing agenda, with deportation cases taking center stage.

"We plan to seek immediate appellate relief," White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement after the judge's ruling.

"The President is 100 percent committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country."

As with the case before Judge Xinis, Boasberg has voiced concerns about the administration's history of detaining and deporting residents without due process -- in the form of a court hearing, with the protections such a proceeding provides. For the moment, Team Trump does not seem to be concerned that the law requires due process before a  deportation is executed. But Boasberg seems serious about making sure the administration takes such issues into consideration. From the AFP/Yahoo! report:

In invoking the Alien Enemies Act -- which had only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II -- Trump said he was targeting transnational gangs he had declared foreign terrorist organizations.

That included the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, but lawyers for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not gang members, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.

Trump has routinely criticized rulings that curb his policies and power, and attacked the judges who issued them, including Boasberg.

The Republican president said Wednesday that US courts are "totally out of control," writing on his Truth Social platform: "They seem to hate 'TRUMP' so much, that anything goes!"

His administration is also under fire over its admission that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to an "administrative error."

A judge has ordered Trump to "facilitate" his return, an order upheld by the Supreme Court, but the government has said the court did not have the authority to order it to have him returned.

Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia is "an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador," while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that he was "engaged in human trafficking."

The man has never been charged with any crimes.