Judge Jeb Boasberg's "Criminal Contempt" Finding Makes Mockery of Separation of Powers
Can the Supreme Court Hold Boasberg in Contempt?
Boasberg’s 46-page opinion reads more like a petulant grudge against people who refused to bow to his sense of superiority rather than a cautious, reasoned judgement during a fraught time of conflict between the judiciary and executive branches of government.
“[The] Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote. “The Court does not reach such a conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
Boasberg, as he has in other orders and hearings, once again blasted the Trump administration for failing to anticipate what he would decide and preemptively halt the deportation flights before he could act. “From the opening hours of Saturday, the Government’s conduct betrayed a desire to outrun the equitable reach of the Judiciary. Hustling class members to an airport before the Proclamation had even been published and in the face of a suit that sought a TRO was bad enough. The decision to launch planes during the afternoon hearing was even worse. The Government knew as of that morning that the Court would hold a hearing on whether anyone in its custody could, consistent with the law, be removed pursuant to the Act — and yet it nonetheless rushed to load people onto planes and get them airborne. Such conduct suggests an attempt to evade an injunction and deny those aboard the planes the chance to avail themselves of the judicial review that the Government itself later told the Supreme Court is ‘obviously’ available to them.”
In other words: the president and his Cabinet members needed my approval before commencing with authorities strictly under the purview of the executive branch. Wild stuff.
But that wasn’t the extent of Boasberg’s megalomaniacal rant. He said the Trump administration could “purge” or remove their contempt of court by “coming into compliance” with the class wide temporary restraining order that has been vacated by the Supreme Court. “Per the terms of the [nonexistent] TRO, the Government would not need to release any of those individuals, nor would it need to transport them back to the homeland. The Court will also give Defendants an opportunity to propose other methods of coming into compliance, which the Court will evaluate.”
According to Boasberg, the Supreme Court’s nullification of his orders is irrelevant.
“[The] fact that the Supreme Court determined that this Court’s TROs suffered from a venue defect does not affect—let alone moot—the compliance inquiry presently teed up here.”
Something tells me the Supreme Court might have a word or two on that question. |
