Judge Boasberg suggests Trump admin is acting in ‘bad faith’ — hints at contempt proceedings in Alien Enemies Act case 

US District Court Judge James Boasberg suggested Thursday that he could hold Trump administration officials in contempt for allegedly violating his court order blocking the use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign was pressed by Boasberg during the hearing in Washington, DC, about who in the Trump administration was involved in ignored his verbal order for the planes to be turned around. 

“You maintain that the government was in full compliance with the court’s order on March 15, correct?” Boasberg asked the DOJ official. 

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When Ensign responded that he believed the Trump administration did comply with Boasberg’s order, the judge shot back: “It seems to me there’s a fair likelihood that that is not correct, in fact that the government acted in bad faith throughout that day.”

“If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and could survive a court challenge, I can’t believe you ever would have operated the way you did,” Boasberg added.

The Trump administration maintains that it complied with a 7:27 p.m. written order from Boasberg on March 15 halting the use of the 18th-century law to swiftly deport alleged migrant gang members, but has sidestepped whether it violated his oral order that day, which was issued at approximately 6:45 p.m.

The administration has refused to provide a timeline for the flights, citing national security privileges. 

“Who made the decision to either not tell the pilots anything, or to tell them to keep going? I’d like to know who that was,” Boasberg asked Ensign, before floating the possibility of contempt proceedings. 

“How should I determine who the contemnor or contemnors are?” the judge continued. 

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Ensign said he did not know who was tasked with making the call. 

“You standing here have no idea who made the decision to not to bring the planes back or have the passengers not be disembarked upon arrival?” Boasberg asked again. ”As we proceed with potential contempt proceedings, that may become relevant.”

At another point in the hearing, Ensign acknowledged that the flight information sought by the judge was unlikely to be classified — a response that left Boasberg miffed. 

The judge asked the DOJ official to name “one instance” where the government has invoked state secrets privileges to withhold unclassified information. 

“Pretty sketchy,” Boasberg said, after Ensign couldn’t answer his question. 

The hearing comes a week after Boasberg extended his temporary restraining order on the use of the Alien Enemies Act until April 12. 

President Trump has slammed the Obama-appointed jurist as an “activist” judge and has suggested that he is “highly conflicted.”

The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court last week to strike down Boasberg’s temporary restraining order.