Oooo, our man has decided, and we can high-five and cheer! The decision has been made, and the process has started! I was so hoping for this, and hope you were, too. It’s gone back to the beginning. The ball is rolling, and it needs to squash a whole bunch of people underneath it. From, one more time, Raw Story:
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an order on Friday demanding the Trump administration file affidavits from every official involved in the decision to carry out mass deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, despite Boasberg’s standing order to turn the planes around. The order, which gives the administration one week to comply, is a major step toward a potential criminal prosecution of Trump administration officials for contempt of court.
Yes, sir, here we go. And maybe, just maybe, someone will actually get convicted. The judge had the beginning of this whole deportation mess. It’s probably too much to hope for, but we can certainly watch them scramble! He doesn’t mess around, and they will be back in *his* court. Kinda wish he’d given them less time to bring in the documentation, though.
“Defendants … maintain, relying heavily on Judge Katsas’s concurring opinion for the D.C. Circuit panel, that [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s] decision was proper and not contumacious [Edit: Stubbornly disobedient, rebellious, or stubbornly resisting authority. As a result, the Government posits that ‘no further steps are warranted’ because ‘Defendants did not violate this Court’s order,’ wrote Boasberg. However, he continued, “Given that the other two panel members (plus the majority of the en banc court) did not agree with J. Katsas, the Court is not prepared at this juncture to terminate its inquiry.”
Ha. Nice try, kiddies. Too bad, so sad, it did not work! When the majority says no, they *mean* no. This is a major government error. (Yes, I had to go look up that word.) We know damn well that they *did* disobey his orders and then lied about it. These people seem to think they’re untouchable and then find out nothing could be further from the truth. If *we* haven’t forgotten about it, the judge certainly did not either.
“Instead, it must determine whether Secretary Noem or anyone else should be referred for potential contempt prosecution,” Boasberg continued. This comes as Republicans in Congress allied with Trump have launched a series of misconduct allegations against Boasberg, questioning his impartiality and even trying to get him removed from office. Earlier this month, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg for his role in authorizing nondisclosure orders for special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation, which involved seizing phone records from various GOP U.S. senators who were in contact with Trump over his coup plot in 2020.
If I remember correctly, Justice Roberts actually slapped some people down who were trying to impeach Judge Boasberg on the grounds of “this isn’t going to happen because your feelings were hurt”. If I am not, please feel free to correct me. These people think they’re going to come up with some nonsense excuse and get patted on the head, “there, there, it’s okay” because it *isn’t* okay. They have a tiger by the tail. It will be fascinating to watch and see what happens. H0, h0, h0.
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Trump and cronies will continue to disregard court orders and judgements until a judge follows through. It looks like Boasberg will follow through. Certainly that is my hope.
Maybe a fun fact: contumacious is the adjective formed from contumely, one of the few nouns to end in “ly.” Odd what random junk one remembers, especially since one often forgets where he put his keys.
I’m sure one of the lawyers here will correct me if I’m wrong but when a judge holds someone in Contempt of Court his/her ruling take primacy. No superior can “undo” or overrule it. Someone cited by a judge can a) pay whatever fine the judge metes out, b) sit in a cell until they do, c) do whatever amount of time the judge decides for their contempt, or d) apologize in open court for having defied the judge and swear, under penalty of the fine/jail time (including new ones) to correct their action(s) that got them hit with the ruling and never do it again.
I’d love to see Boasberg tell Noem and others to sit and cool their smug asses in a plain jail cell eating jail food for dinner and breakfast with only water to drink for even a single night. Again, the lawyers can correct me if I’m wrong but not even a President’s pardon powers can overrule a contempt citation and punishment. It would sure be an interesting Constitutional test.