On Friday, after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan nationals and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his decision, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to step in.
In her message to the Supreme Court, U.S. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said the “flawed” orders from Boasberg “threaten the government’s sensitive negotiations with foreign powers” and risk “serious and perhaps irreparable harm if not immediately reviewed” by the Supreme Court, Fox News reported.
Boasberg had blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members, calling for the return of more than 250 illegal aliens deported to El Salvador and ordering the planes to be turned around. The Trump administration immediately appealed the ruling; the administration said its actions were not subject to Boasberg’s order “because the presidential actions they challenge are not subject to judicial review,” adding that their actions were not violative because “the relevant flights left U.S. airspace” before the order and the planes were over international waters when it was issued.
Boasberg ordered the administration to provide additional information on the first two flights to El Salvador, such as the time the planes left U.S. airspace and when they landed. He ordered the government to respond.
The DOJ responded, contending, “Continuing to beat a dead horse solely for the sake of prying from the Government legally immaterial facts and wholly within a sphere of core functions of the Executive Branch is both purposeless and frustrating to the consideration of the actual legal issues at stake in this case.” The DOJ also argued that complying with Boasberg’s order exposed negotiations with other nations “to serious risk of micromanaged and unnecessary judicial fishing expeditions and potential public disclosure.”
The Trump administration then appealed Boasberg’s ruling, stating, “The district court’s hasty order enjoining — on a nationwide basis — the President’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (‘AEA’) against a designated foreign terrorist organization linked to the Venezuelan government represents an extraordinary intrusion upon the president’s constitutional and statutory authority to protect the Nation from alien enemies.”
Later that day, Boasberg gave the government one more day to respond while threatening “consequences,” writing:
To begin, the Court seeks this information, not as a “micromanaged and unnecessary judicial fishing expedition,” but to determine if the Government deliberately flouted its Orders issued on March 15, 2025, and, if so, what the consequences should be …
On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold Boasberg’s decision.
