James Boasberg: “If the DOJ refuses, federal law empowers me to appoint a private attorney to prosecute the defendants for contempt…”

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’?

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

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

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