BREAKING: A federal judge smashes the emergency glass by announcing a criminal contempt investigation into Trump administration officials for defying his order by deporting Venezuelan migrants without due process.
The legal rubber is finally meeting the road...
Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C. stated the the administration's decision to proceed with removal flights despite his order not to do so demonstrated "a willful disregard … sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."
The MAGA Justice Department removed 130 Venezuelans and forced them into a brutal mega-prison in El Salvador, denying them due process. The DOJ performed the blatantly illegal act just hours after Judge Boasberg forbade them.
The judge had also told them that any planes already in the air must be turned around and returned to the U.S. They were not.
Judge Boasberg wrote that the administration's "willful disobedience of judicial orders" will make a "solemn mockery" of "the Constitution itself" if consequences are not enforced.
Trump officials have doubled down on their lawlessness by refusing to provide Boasberg with detailed explanations of the timing of the flights and have tried to argue that the order didn't need to be enforced once the planes had left American airspace.
During the latest hearing, the judge accused the DOJ of acting in "bad faith" by rushing to load up the planes and fly them out of the country before the operation could be halted.
"Who made the decision either not to tell the pilots anything or to tell them to keep going?" asked the judge.
"Your honor, I don’t know that," claimed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign.
Readers will recognize Ensign's name, as he is also involved in the court proceedings around the deportation of innocent Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Ensign is quickly carving out a place in the history books as a craven and willing enforcer of this fascist regime.
"The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders -- especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote Boasberg. "To permit such officials to freely 'annul the judgments of the courts of the United States' would not just 'destroy the rights acquired under those judgments'; it would make 'a solemn mockery' of 'the constitution itself.'"
The judge added that the "most obvious way" for the administration to "purge" potential contempt findings would be for them to obey the original order by "asserting custody of the individuals who were removed in violation of the Court's classwide TRO so that they might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability through a habeas proceeding."
Judge Boasberg went on to state that if the administration does not wish to purge the contempt finding, he will "identify" the individuals responsible for the "contumacious conduct."
He will demand declarations from the administration and if that proves insufficient he will "proceed either to hearings with live witness testimony under oath or to depositions conducted by Plaintiffs."
As a final step, Boasberg threatened to appoint an independent attorney to prosecute the administration.
Please like and share!
The legal rubber is finally meeting the road...
Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C. stated the the administration's decision to proceed with removal flights despite his order not to do so demonstrated "a willful disregard … sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."
The MAGA Justice Department removed 130 Venezuelans and forced them into a brutal mega-prison in El Salvador, denying them due process. The DOJ performed the blatantly illegal act just hours after Judge Boasberg forbade them.
The judge had also told them that any planes already in the air must be turned around and returned to the U.S. They were not.
Judge Boasberg wrote that the administration's "willful disobedience of judicial orders" will make a "solemn mockery" of "the Constitution itself" if consequences are not enforced.
Trump officials have doubled down on their lawlessness by refusing to provide Boasberg with detailed explanations of the timing of the flights and have tried to argue that the order didn't need to be enforced once the planes had left American airspace.
During the latest hearing, the judge accused the DOJ of acting in "bad faith" by rushing to load up the planes and fly them out of the country before the operation could be halted.
"Who made the decision either not to tell the pilots anything or to tell them to keep going?" asked the judge.
"Your honor, I don’t know that," claimed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign.
Readers will recognize Ensign's name, as he is also involved in the court proceedings around the deportation of innocent Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Ensign is quickly carving out a place in the history books as a craven and willing enforcer of this fascist regime.
"The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders -- especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote Boasberg. "To permit such officials to freely 'annul the judgments of the courts of the United States' would not just 'destroy the rights acquired under those judgments'; it would make 'a solemn mockery' of 'the constitution itself.'"
The judge added that the "most obvious way" for the administration to "purge" potential contempt findings would be for them to obey the original order by "asserting custody of the individuals who were removed in violation of the Court's classwide TRO so that they might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability through a habeas proceeding."
Judge Boasberg went on to state that if the administration does not wish to purge the contempt finding, he will "identify" the individuals responsible for the "contumacious conduct."
He will demand declarations from the administration and if that proves insufficient he will "proceed either to hearings with live witness testimony under oath or to depositions conducted by Plaintiffs."
As a final step, Boasberg threatened to appoint an independent attorney to prosecute the administration.
Please like and share!
Topic Live
