Judge reprimands 'disrespectful' Trump administration attorneys in Alien Enemies Act case [View all]

Source: The Independent

Friday 21 March 2025 17:12 EDT


During a high-stakes hearing over Donald Trump’s use of a centuries-old wartime law to swiftly deport suspected Venezuelan gang members, a federal judge rebuked lawyers for the Department of Justice for their “intemperate and disrespectful language” in their responses to court orders.

Trump and his allies have threatened to impeach Judge James Boasberg after he temporarily blocked the administration from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act and questioned whether the government intentionally defied his court orders to turn planes around before they emptied out dozens of people into a prison in El Salvador last week.

A standoff between the judge, who has ordered the administration to respond to several questions about the flights, has reached a boiling point, and legal scholars and critics of the administration have warned that Trump’s apparent defiance has reached a dangerous constitutional crossroads.

“Did you not understand my statements in that hearing?” Boasberg asked Justice Department lawyers during Friday’s hearing in Washington, D.C. “You did tell them that it was an order from me to turn the planes around … to bring back people to the United states. You understood that?” Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign suggested that he believed that conversation is covered under attorney-client privilege. Boasberg cut him off. “I’m asking what you understood,” Boasberg said. “Did you think it was hypothetical, not serious, was going to be modified?”

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/boasberg-hearing-trump-deportation-flights-b2719635.html