Split Federal Court Upholds Block on Trump Administration
A panel of three federal judges ruled on Wednesday to uphold a restriction preventing the White House from transferring Venezuelan gang members to prisons in El Salvador.
The divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia chose not to overturn a March 15 order by Judge James Boasberg, which had blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to deport the individuals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, according to an Associated Press report.
Judges Karen Henderson, appointed by George H.W. Bush, and Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, opposed the Justice Department’s request to lift the deportation ban.
Millett emphasized that Boasberg’s order simply maintained the “status quo” until “weighty and unprecedented legal issues can be addressed.”
“There is neither jurisdiction nor reason for this court to interfere at this very preliminary stage or to allow the government to singlehandedly moot the Plaintiffs’ claims by immediately removing them beyond the reach of their lawyers or the court,” she stated.
Henderson, for her part, warned that “lifting the injunctions risks exiling plaintiffs to a land that is not their country of origin.”
She further noted, “Indeed, at oral argument before this Court, the government in no uncertain terms conveyed that — were the injunction lifted — it would immediately begin deporting plaintiffs without notice.”
The sole dissent came from Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee.
“The Government has also shown that the district court’s orders threaten irreparable harm to delicate negotiations with foreign powers on matters concerning national security,” he argued.
Walker expressed concern that Boasberg’s ruling was disrupting “an ongoing, partially overseas, national-security operation,” as cited by the New York Post.
“The district court ‘commanded an unprecedented action’ from the bench: The district judge ordered aircraft to be turned around mid-flight in the middle of this sensitive ongoing national-security operation,” he added.
Boasberg has faced significant backlash over his ruling.
Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill responded by introducing articles of impeachment against Boasberg.
Gill accused the judge of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by allegedly pursuing “political gain” while obstructing the executive branch’s “constitutional prerogatives and enforcement of the rule of law.”
“By making a political decision outside the scope of his judicial duties, he compromised the impartiality of our judicial system and created a constitutional crisis,” Gill contended.
According to the resolution, Boasberg violated “his oath to the Constitution and duty of impartiality to the people of the United States.”
The document also argued that Boasberg disregarded Supreme Court rulings regarding executive authority and “illegitimately tried to substitute his own judgment for that of the elected President of the United States, thereby usurping the role of the Executive and unilaterally taking upon himself the power and authority of the President.”