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NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Major victory: US appeals court dismisses contempt finding against Trump admin in deportation case
A US federal appeals court has dismissed a contempt finding against President Donald Trump's administration over its summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturns a ruling by a federal district judge
UPI
3 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Appeals court dismisses contempt order against Trump admin. officials
U.S. President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister of the Republic of El Salvador Nayib Bukele in April. Trump secured a court victory Friday that said he was not in contempt of court by allegedly ignoring a district court judge's order. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court ruled Friday dismissed a lower court's order that Trump administration officials could be held in contempt for efforts related to deporting hundreds of Venezuelans. The case stems from a district judge's order finding probable cause that federal officials committed criminal contempt by violating an order to turn around planes full of detainees on their way to El Salvador. Two of the three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the administration. Trump has denounced U.S. District Judge James Boasberg for overstepping his authority by beginning criminal contempt proceedings in April. The opinion issued Friday was unsigned. Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao -- who were both appointed by Trump -- agreed to toss out Boasberg's order. Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented. She was appointed by President Barack Obama. "The district court's order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses," Katsas wrote in an opinion. "And it implicates an unsettled issue whether the judiciary may impose criminal contempt for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction." In her dissent, Pillard wrote that the administration should have dealt with the contempt charges instead of ignoring them. "Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them," Pillard wrote. "That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt." Boasberg's order to stop the deportation planes comes from immigration officials trying to deport Venezuelans that the administration said were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. In March, Trump used the Alien Enemies Act to remove the Venezuelans quickly. A group of migrants challenged the deportations in court, and Boasberg temporarily blocked the deportations, issuing an oral order to return them. Then he issued a written order to prevent the administration from conducting deportations under the Alien Enemies act. On July 28, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a misconduct complaint was filed against Boasberg "for making improper public comments" about Trump amid his administration's targeting of the U.S. judicial system. The complaint focused on comments made by Boasberg to Chief Justice John Roberts and some two dozen other judges who attended a March 11 judicial conference. According to the document, Boasberg said he believed that the Trump administration would "disregard rulings of federal courts," which would trigger "a constitutional crisis." Boasberg ruled on June 4 that at least 137 migrants sent to El Salvador on flights in mid-March must be allowed to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act. He issued a 69-page ruling that the Department of Homeland Security had "improperly" sent migrants on flights from Texas to El Salvador's maximum security prison without giving them a chance to challenge their designation as "alien enemies."
NBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Appeals court blocks contempt proceedings against Trump officials over deportations
WASHINGTON — A federal judge abused his authority in pursuing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials for removing alleged Venezuelan gang members from the United States in violation of a court order, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was split 2-1, with two Trump appointees in the majority and an Obama appointee dissenting. The decision overturns Washington-based Chief Judge James Boasberg's finding of probable cause that officials could be held in criminal contempt. All three judges on Friday wrote separate opinions to explain their reasoning. 'The district court's order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses. And it implicates an unsettled issue whether the judiciary may impose criminal contempt for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction," Judge Greg Katsas, one of the Trump appointees, wrote in his opinion. In her separate opinion, Judge Neomi Rao, the other Trump appointee, said Boasberg had no authority to pursue contempt findings because the Supreme Court had in April vacated his underlying ruling against the government. She described Boasberg's contempt order as 'especially egregious' because it implicated senior government officials. His ruling also constituted an 'intrusion on the president's foreign affairs authority,' she added. Judge Nina Pillard, the Obama appointee, wrote in her dissent that government officials 'appear to have disobeyed' Boasberg's order. 'Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them. That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt,' she wrote. The underlying dispute concerns Trump's aggressive and unprecedented use of presidential power in invoking a rarely used 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act. In March, Boasberg issued his first decision preventing the administration from deporting alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang using the Alien Enemies Act. Critics immediately raised concerns about whether the administration had violated a verbal order from Boasberg in court that planes carrying alleged gang members turn around and return to the United States. Two flights subsequently landed in Honduras and El Salvador. On April 7, the Supreme Court then threw out Boasberg's original decision, saying he had followed the wrong legal process, although it made clear detainees are required to be given due process. Litigation on that point has continued in other courts. After that, Boasberg nevertheless moved forward with contempt proceedings, which is the only matter at issue in Friday's appeals court decision. The case had been paused for months, leading to complaints from Democrats that the court was inappropriately delaying action on the case in part because a key figure, then-Justice Department official Emil Bove, was under consideration by the Senate for a position as a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove was narrowly confirmed on July 29.
Daily Maverick
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
US appeals court will not lift limits on Associated Press access to White House
AP access limited for continuing to use Gulf of Mexico AP says it will remained focused on free speech rights Trump executive order changed name to 'Gulf of America' By Mike Scarcella The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit kept in place a June 6 decision by a divided three-judge panel that the administration could legally restrict access to the AP to news events in the Oval Office and other locations controlled by the White House, including Air Force One. The D.C. Circuit order denied the AP's request that it review the matter, setting up a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Associated Press in a statement on Tuesday said it was disappointed by the court's decision and will remain focused on free speech rights as the case continues. 'As we've said throughout, the press and the public have a fundamental right to speak freely without government retaliation,' the AP said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. In a lawsuit filed in February, the AP argued that the limitations on its access imposed by the administration violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections against government abridgment of free speech. Trump in January signed an executive order officially directing federal agencies to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The AP sued after the White House restricted its access over its decision not to use 'Gulf of America' in its news reports. The AP Stylebook states that the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. AP said that as a global news agency, it will refer to the body of water by its longstanding name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. Reuters and the AP both issued statements denouncing the access restrictions, which put wire services in a larger rotation with about 30 other newspaper and print outlets. Other media customers, including local news outlets with no presence in Washington, rely on real-time reports by the wire services of presidential statements, as do global financial markets. The Trump administration has said the president has absolute discretion over media access to the White House. The AP won a key order in the trial court when U.S. District Judge Treevor McFadden, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, decided that if the White House opens its doors to some journalists it cannot exclude others based on their viewpoints, citing the First Amendment. The D.C. Circuit panel in its 2-1 ruling in June paused McFadden's order. The two judges in the majority, Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, were appointed by Trump during his first term in office. The dissenting judge, Cornelia Pillard, is an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama.
Hindustan Times
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
US court pauses ruling allowing Venezuelans to challenge deportations to El Salvador
-A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday temporarily paused a judge's ruling holding that hundreds of Venezuelans the Trump administration deported to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law must be given the chance to challenge their detentions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative stay to give itself more time to consider an appeal filed by the government earlier on Tuesday. Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on June 4 also ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate their legal challenges, though he stopped short of expressly ordering the government to bring the Venezuelan migrants currently being held at a mega-prison in El Salvador back to the U.S. Boasberg, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, gave the government one week to detail how it would facilitate the deportees' challenges, known as habeas corpus petitions. The Venezuelans were deported in March after President Donald Trump, a Republican, invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without going through normal immigration procedures. The appellate court panel that paused Boasberg's ruling included U.S. Circuit Judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, all of whom were appointed to the court by Trump during his first term in office. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the Venezuelans in the case, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
