Judge Boasberg says "justice requires" him to continue contempt inquiry into Trump admin

“I certainly intend to find out what happened on that day,” Boasberg said of the March 15 Alien Enemies Act flights. He plans to begin hearings on Dec. 1.

Chief Judge James Boasberg of the D.C. District Court announced that he will be continuing with contempt proceedings against the Trump administration, planning to hold hearings beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving over the March 15 flights that took people to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.

“I certainly intend to find out what happened on that day,” Boasberg, who heard the original case brought on March 15 against President Donald Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation and is still hearing an amended challenge related to those sent to, and now released from, CECOT.

The flights — which were in the air when Boasberg issued a classwide temporary restraining order blocking deportation of anyone under Trump’s AEA proclamation — have been the subject of significant questions and damning revelations since before Boasberg had even issued his order.

The brief discussion was added on November 17 to a previously scheduled Wednesday hearing in the case following the November 14 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that had the effect of sending jurisdiction over the contempt proceedings back to Boasberg’s district court.

“Justice requires me to move promptly on this,” Boasberg announced minutes into Wednesday’s hearing.

Noting all that had changed — and been learned about the administration’s actions — since his initial April finding of “probable cause” that the administration was in contempt with the March 15 flights, Boasberg asked the lawyers for those removed and the Trump administration how he should proceed.

Boasberg started the discussion off by saying that he believed the proceedings will likely include testimony from people involved in the decision.

Lee Gelernt from the ACLU, and representing the challengers, mostly agreed with Boasberg’s comments and plans.

Because the D.C. Circuit’s mandamus order tosses out his April order related to his “probable cause” finding, Boasberg noted that he might need to do that over as well — which Gelernt noted is all the more clearly called for now in light of information learned since that April ruling.

Both Boasberg and Gelernt also essentially agreed that offering the Trump administration a way to purge any contempt — action taken to eliminate or reverse whatever had caused the contempt — is now off the table, both practically and due to the fact that Judge Neomi Rao at the D.C. Circuit had heavily criticized the purge option in Boasberg’s April “probable cause“ order.¹

When the Justice Department attorney, Tiberius Davis, got up, however, he initially began by arguing that Boasberg should not be continuing contempt proceedings at all.

Boasberg interrupted him, saying, “I will be going forward with it,” noting that six judges of the full D.C. Circuit and two judges of the three-judge panel believed he had authority to hold contempt proceedings.

The question, Boasberg said, is, “What steps do you think I should take?”

Davis ultimately maintained his opposition to Boasberg proceeding at all, but mostly stated that his decisions about further steps would depend on whether people were called to testify and who was called to testify.

Boasberg offered up that the administration might be able to start by providing declarations in some instances, at least to start, but Boasberg specifically mentioned Erez Reuveni — the lawyer who was fired from his role in the Justice Department following his appearance at a hearing in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and later became a whistleblower — and Drew Ensign — the lawyer from the Justice Department who was in Boasberg’s court for the administration on March 15 — as people he expected to be witnesses.

The Trump administration and challengers are to provide Boasberg with proposals on how to proceed, including potential witnesses to testify, by Monday, November 24.

Not named at Wednesday’s hearing: Emil Bove, who is alleged to have played a key role the week of the AEA proclamation and is now a federal appeals court judge. It will be interesting to see if his name is in either on Monday because it absolutely should be.²

At the conclusion of the hearing, which also included other matters relating to the ongoing lawsuit over those sent to CECOT on those March 15 flights, Boasberg returned to the contempt question.

“My intent is to begin the Monday after Thanksgiving,” December 1, Boasberg said, with the contempt proceeding.

1. This sentence was clarified after initial publication, with the final update at 6:05 p..m.

2. This paragraph was added shortly after publication, at 3:45 p.m.