Politics
Appeals Court Slaps Down Notorious Activist Judge In Unanimous Ruling
A three-judge D.C. appellate panel unanimously ruled against U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg in his latest attempt to provide “due process” for Tren de Aragua gang members who were deported to El Salvador.
Boasberg has gained national attention over his efforts to prevent President Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal aliens who belong to gangs or criminal organizations. Boasberg, an Obama appointee, was eventually overruled in a 5-4 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The judge has been undeterred by the high-court ruling, however, as evidenced by numerous court challenges against the administration since the ruling was handed down. Boasberg was previously overruled by a D.C. appeals court when he tried to hold Trump Administration officials in contempt despite the fact that his initial ruling, which formed the basis for contempt proceedings, was overturned.
On Tuesday, Boasberg was overruled once again, when a federal appeals court unanimously ruled that the Trump Administration did not have to comply for now with a judge’s order to give due process to Venezuelan nationals who were deported to El Salvador under the wartime law.
The ruling came one day before the administration was supposed to argue before a lower court judge on how to allow nearly 140 deported Venezuelans to challenge their expulsion. The Venezuelan nationals are all suspected of belonging to the ultra-violent Tren de Aragua street gang and were deported to El Salvador after Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro refused to take them.
Judge James Boasberg speaks at the ABA conference on April 2, 2025
The men were deported under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, which gives the federal government expanded powers to detain and deport foreign nationals suspected of belonging to foreign criminal or terrorist organizations.
Tuesday’s unanimous ruling is not a final decision on the merits of the case, though it does implement an administrative pause in order to give appellate judges more time to consider the validity of the underlying order.
It also reverses an order handed down by the D.C.-based Boasberg last week, which directed Trump officials to give the men the “due process” in order to appeal their deportations. The Supreme Court previously ruled that illegal aliens deported under the act can appeal their cases, but only in the jurisdiction they were arrested in.
The Department of Justice filed an appeal to Boasberg’s Wednesday deadline, arguing that he lacked the jurisdiction to tell the U.S. government what to do with men in the custody of a foreign nation, saying that his original order interfered “with the president’s removal of dangerous criminal aliens from the United States,” the New York Times reported.
Lawyers for the deported Venezuelans have continued to dispute aspects of the Supreme Court’s ruling, claiming that the Trump administration had what is known as “constructive custody” over them because they were being held in El Salvador under an agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
