A divided appeals court panel ordered District Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday to end a contempt probe into Trump administration officials involved in migrant deportation flights – determining the jurist abused his discretion in launching the criminal inquiry.
In a 2-1 ruling, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals found the Obama-appointed judge overstepped his authority by pursuing possible contempt charges against former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other top executive branch officials involved in the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last March.
Boasberg sought to investigate whether the Trump administration officials willfully violated his emergency court order blocking the deportation flights.
“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Judge Neomi Rao, an appointee of President Trump, wrote in the majority opinion. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion.”
Rao further described Boasberg’s contempt investigation as “intrusive” and a “legal dead end,” arguing the judge’s order “said nothing about transferring custody” of the Venezuelan migrants to Salvadoran authorities.
“In our constitutional system of government, criminal liability cannot turn on the unstated intentions (or post hoc assertions) of a district court judge,” Rao wrote.
Judge J. Michelle Childs, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, authored a blistering 80-page dissent.
“Contempt of court is a public offense, and the fate of our democratic republic will depend on whether we treat it as such,” Childs wrote.
“Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands,” she added.
In siding with the Trump administration, the majority “stymied the district court’s inherent and statutory powers and done so in a way that will affect not only these contempt proceedings but will also echo in future proceedings against all litigants,” Childs argued.
Appeals court rules Judge James Boasberg abused his power, ordered to end criminal contempt probe against Trump officials: --->READ MORE HERE
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling on House Republicans to impeach James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, after a federal appeals court halted Boasberg’s contempt investigation into Trump administration officials.
Accusing Boasberg of judicial “abuse,” Schmitt, an outspoken proponent of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies, is urging House Republicans to impeach Boasberg, even though there’s little chance any effort to remove him from the bench would get the 67 votes needed in the Senate.
Schmitt vented his outrage over Boasberg’s efforts to find Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in criminal contempt for flouting his order to stop deportation flights to El Salvador.
“The D.C. Circuit ruled Boasberg’s contempt crusade against Trump officials is an ‘improper investigation’ and ‘clear abuse of discretion.’ He tried to imprison Trump officials for deporting Venezuelan gang members. I’m calling on the House: Impeach Rogue Judge Boasberg,” Schmitt posted on X, the social media platform.
Schmitt called for Boasberg’s removal after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision Tuesday quashed Boasberg’s investigation into whether Trump administration officials violated his order not to deport immigrants to El Salvador without giving them due process to challenge their removal orders. --->READ MORE HERE
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