In an opinion issued on Wednesday, a federal judge found that the evidence "strongly support[s]" the conclusion that the Trump administration "willfully disobeyed" a March 15 order temporarily barring the removal of suspected Venezuelan gang members as "alien enemies." James Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says the government's actions "demonstrate a willful disregard" for that order, "sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."
Boasberg's temporary restraining order (TRO) in J.G.G. v. Trump initially applied to five named plaintiffs threatened with immediate deportation under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Later that day, he expanded the TRO to cover anyone subject to removal under President Donald Trump's March 15 proclamation invoking the AEA against members of the Venezuealan gang Tren de Aragua. Although the Supreme Court subsequently vacated the TRO, Boasberg says, that does not affect his contempt inquiry because "it is a foundational legal precept that every judicial order 'must be obeyed'—no matter how 'erroneous' it 'may be'—until a court reverses it."
The Supreme Court concluded that the plaintiffs should have filed habeas corpus petitions in Texas, where they were detained, rather than seeking relief under the Administrative Procedure Act in the District of Columbia. But the Court's "later determination that the TRO suffered from a legal defect," Boasberg says, "does not excuse the Government's violation."
