ACLU urges full court of appeals to revive Judge Boasberg's 'courageous' contempt inquiry into deportation flights
Source: Law & Crime
May 6th, 2026, 4:49 pm
Attorneys representing a group of immigrants illegally sent to El Salvador are asking a federal court of appeals to reconsider a recent ruling that put a stop to a contempt inquiry into their treatment. That inquiry was previously initiated by a district court judge who has often frustrated President Donald Trump's immigration plans.
In mid-April, however, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling that stopped the investigation in its tracks – semi-poetically ordering a mandamus kibosh on that inquiry almost exactly one year to the day after the lower court order that arguably set the controversy in motion after the detainees filed habeas corpus petitions and asked for other relief.
On April 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a jurist who got his start under George W. Bush and who was later promoted by Barack Obama, found probable cause that the government was in contempt. That contempt finding was in response to the admitted violation of a March 2025 court order directing the Trump administration to turn two planes around containing 238 Venezuelan immigrants who were bound for a notorious prison in El Salvador under the auspices of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798.
On April 14, in a 2-1 ruling, the appellate court told Boasberg to back off. The opinion was penned and joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, respectively, who were appointed by Trump. In the minority was Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs, an Obama appointee. Now, led by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the detainees are imploring the full appeals court to take up the case.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/will-have-implications-well-beyond-this-case-aclu-urges-full-court-of-appeals-to-revive-judge-boasbergs-courageous-contempt-inquiry-into-deportation-flights/
Full headline - 'Will have implications well beyond this case': ACLU urges full court of appeals to revive Judge Boasberg's 'courageous' contempt inquiry into deportation flights
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42696/gov.uscourts.cadc.42696.01208847529.1.pdf
REFERENCE (has links to earlier references) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143650089