Latest news with #GregoryKatsas
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court ruling will let Trump administration cut billions in foreign aid
A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court's ruling, clearing the way for the Trump administration to cut billions in foreign aid funding this year. In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overruled a lower court's decision that prohibited the Trump administration from making drastic cuts to USAID funding that had already approved by Congress. The court sidestepped the substantive question of whether the cuts were constitutional, instead deciding that the nonprofits that sued the Trump administration lacked the standing to bring a case. MORE: Supreme Court rules Trump administration must unfreeze foreign aid payments Judges Karen Henderson and Gregory Katsas -- appointed by Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively -- determined that only the head of the Government Accountability Office has the authority to sue under the Impoundment Control Act. "The district court erred in granting that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action to press their claims," the majority wrote. The lawsuit over USAID funding had been one of the first major legal successes for nonprofits challenging the Trump administration, which ordered the suspension of grants that didn't comply with the president's priorities. After U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary restraining order in February blocking Trump's executive order from taking effect, both the D.C. circuit court and the United States Supreme Court sided with the nonprofits, denying a request from the Trump administration to block an order enforcing the TRO. In a dissenting opinion issued with Wednesday's ruling, Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, criticized her colleagues for ignoring the concern that the funding cuts were unconstitutional and thus harmed "the rule of law and the very structure of our government." "At bottom, the court's acquiescence in and facilitation of the Executive's unlawful behavior derails the 'carefully crafted system of checked and balanced power' that serves as the 'greatest security against tyranny -- the accumulation of excessive authority in a single Branch," she wrote.
The Herald Scotland
09-08-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump officials dodge contempt ruling over Venezuelan deportations
The Trump administration appealed. On August 8, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the government by a 2-1 vote. "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," Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas wrote in an opinion. More: Judge weighs disciplinary action for DOJ lawyers in Venezuelan deportations The Venezuelans were deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador built to hold terrorists. Boasberg, a prominent Washington, D.C., judge who has drawn President Donald Trump's ire, said during a court hearing that a recent whistleblower complaint had strengthened the argument that Trump administration officials engaged in criminal contempt of court by failing to bring deportation flights back to the United States. Contributing: Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY
Reuters
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump officials will not face contempt over Venezuela deportations, appeals court rules
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court overturned on Friday a lower court's ruling that found probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in contempt of court over their handling of the deportations of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants under a centuries-old wartime law. The decision was a win for Republican President Donald Trump and his allies, who have argued some judges are overstepping their authority and thwarting the executive branch's broad power to conduct foreign policy and law enforcement as it sees fit. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found in April that officials could face criminal contempt charges for willfully disregarding his March 15 order barring the deportations to El Salvador of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act without the chance to challenge their removals. That ruling marked a dramatic escalation in a confrontation between the administration and the judiciary. Trump's critics say his administration has demonstrated a willingness to ignore unfavorable orders from the courts, a co-equal branch of government under the U.S. constitution. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government in its appeal of Boasberg's ruling by a 2-1 vote. "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," Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, who was appointed by Trump during his first term as president, wrote in an opinion. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, also a Trump appointee, wrote a concurring opinion, with Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, dissenting. "Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them," Pillard wrote. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the migrants, had no immediate comment. The contempt ruling stemmed from Boasberg's order that the administration return to the U.S. hundreds of Venezuelans who had been swiftly deported to a prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, used to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two. That ruling was meant to preserve Boasberg's jurisdiction as he weighed the ACLU's challenge to the legality of the deportations. Trump administration officials argued that the order to return migrants who had already been deported improperly interfered with U.S. foreign policy. Last month, the 252 deported Venezuelans being held at El Salvador's notorious CECOT maximum security prison were released and sent home to Venezuela as part of a coordinated prisoner exchange in which 10 Americans held in Venezuela returned to the United States.
News24
08-08-2025
- Politics
- News24
No contempt for Trump officials over Venezuela deportations, appeals court rules
A US appeals court overturned on Friday a lower court's ruling finding probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in contempt of court over their handling of the deportations of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants under a centuries-old wartime law. US District Judge James Boasberg found in April that officials could face criminal contempt charges for willfully disregarding his 15 March order barring the deportations to El Salvador of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act without the chance to challenge their removals. The Trump administration appealed. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit US Court of Appeals sided with the government by a 2-1 vote. '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 offences,' Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas wrote in an opinion.
New York Times
08-08-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Appeals Court Ends Judge Boasberg's Contempt Inquiry of Trump Officials
A federal appeals panel on Friday terminated a district-court judge's plan to assess whether Trump administration officials were guilty of criminal contempt for sending flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, despite the judge's verbal order that they turn around and return to the United States. The ruling by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will make it far more difficult for Judge James E. Boasberg to determine the details of who was made aware of his order in March, and why the planes continued on to El Salvador. Judge Boasberg had ruled in April that there was probable cause to believe the administration had committed criminal contempt by ignoring his order. But the administration appealed. The brief order was accompanied by 57 pages of concurrences by Judges Gregory G. Katsas and Neomi Rao. It represents a victory for Mr. Trump and a brushback of a judge who had sought to curb Mr. Trump's second-term agenda, earning his ire. Judge Katsas wrote that any order to turn planes around midair would be 'indefensible,' comparing it to a district-court judge who had ordered President Richard M. Nixon's administration to stop bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which was quickly stayed. In a 49-page dissent, Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote that government officials 'appear to have disobeyed' Judge Boasberg's order and that she would have let Judge Boasberg move forward with criminal contempt proceedings. 'The rule of law depends on obedience to judicial orders,' she wrote. Judge Katsas and Judge Rao were nominated by Mr. Trump. Judge Pillard was nominated by President Barack Obama. Judge Boasberg was nominated first by President George W. Bush to the D.C. Superior Court and then to the Federal District Court bench by President Barack Obama. Judge Boasberg's initial order was issued on March 15, shortly after he received an urgent request from lawyers representing five Venezuelan migrants to block Mr. Trump if he invoked a wartime authority, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport them and others without notice or a hearing. When Judge Boasberg convened a hearing at 5 p.m., the government was in the process of loading more than 200 other Venezuelans onto planes. At 6:48 p.m., the judge verbally ordered the government not to deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act and to bring back any planes that had taken off. Shortly after, he ordered the government not to remove the Venezuelan detainees but left out the explicit requirement for airborne planes to turn around. Despite Judge Boasberg's order, the planes flew to El Salvador, where the Venezuelans were taken to a maximum-security prison. When the judge asked why on March 17, the government argued it had complied with his written order, which they claimed superseded the verbal one.
