James Boasberg

Perhaps the biggest question surrounding these cases is whether the Supreme Court will stand behind the judges enforcing its rulings on the ground.

If the DOJ refuses, federal law empowers me to appoint a private attorney to prosecute the defendants for contempt instead, as the interest of justice requires.

The Trump administration’s willful and knowing actions here constitute probable cause for a finding of contempt.

Worse, the government defied the court’s order deliberately and gleefully.

The government was already hustling migrants onto planes, betraying a desire to outrun the equitable reach of the judiciary.

The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders—especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it.

Judges should not work from a desired outcome in assessing the law and facts.

The idea that because my written order was pithier it could be disregarded, that’s one heck of a stretch.

Wouldn’t it have been a better course to return the planes around the United States as opposed to going forward and saying, ‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want’?

We don’t care, we’ll do what we want.