On Monday, March 13, 2023, James Boasberg, the incoming judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, USA.
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The Justice Department on Monday called on the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. to replace a district court judge overseeing a lawsuit challenging the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the wartime Chinese enemy laws.
The request cited Judge James Boasberg's “inappropriate exercise of jurisdiction” came when Boasberg held a hearing close to top-ranked DOJ attorneys on the circumstances of his deportation over the weekend.
The DOJ asked Boasberg early on Monday without a success cancelling the hearing.
Boasberg ordered the DOJ to return the exile who was still in the air on a flight that began in the US.
The court filed DOJ argued that “oral orders cannot be enforced by directives,” and said it complied with a written order issued several hours later by Boasberg.
Assistant Deputy Attorney General Abhhishek Kambli told Boasburg on Monday that he was not free to talk about the details of the controversial deportation flights in the public environment of the U.S. District Court in Washington.
At the same hearing, Lee Gererund, the lawyer for five Venezuelan men who sued to challenge a terrifying deportation, told Boasberg he wanted to be aware of his language, but “we had a lot of talk in the last few weeks of the constitutional crisis.”
“I think we're very close to that,” Jererund said. He claimed that two deportation flights took off from the United States after Boasburg's oral orders.
Gelernt appeared to refer to the Trump administration's argument that Kambli's refusal to answer judge questions about the flight and his alien's deportation under the enemy laws would not be subject to a judicial order after the flight left US airspace.
“It doesn't matter if you're in US airspace or not,” Boasberg said at a hearing Monday.
Kambli replied, “When the plane is in the air and it's a national security issue.”
Boasberg suggested that the DOJ's position is “we don't care, we do what we want to do.”
Boasberg asked if President Donald Trump had “extra” power when the plane crossed international waters.
“I think my fairness is pretty clear,” Boasberg said, “Don't end at the edge of the continent.
He also sparked the DOJ's argument that he could not oriented an airplane when his orders were issued “What the heck.”
The judge said, “Obviously my oral order doesn't seem to be too heavy and I would issue an order with detailed information later on the answer he wanted the DOJ to give him.
In that order, Boasberg said, “The government shall submit a notice that may be partially sealed if necessary. 1) After 7:25pm on March 15, 2025, no one on the flight departing the United States, declared when it was declared when it was declared when the matter was issued, estimates the number of individuals currently subject to the declaration remaining in the United States, and the number of declarations currently in US detention.
“If the government takes the position that it will not provide that information to the court under any circumstances, it must support such positions, including confidential authorities, if necessary,” the order said.
The DOJ opposed Boasburg's continued primary side of the lawsuit, saying in an early letter Monday to the District of Columbia's Court of Circuit Court of Appeals, “we are holding a hearing to address operational details regarding flights that have removed aliens identified as related to designated foreign terrorist organizations.”
“The development escalates the interests of the inappropriate exercise of the district court.
There is a risk that jurisdiction and district courts could force the government to clarify sensitive national and operational security concerns and to force the court to face serious penalties, Deputy Attorney General Drew Ensign wrote in the Court of Appeal.
“This court should also immediately reassign this case to a judge in another district court, taking into account the very unusual and inappropriate procedures. For example, it should establish a class action litigation involving members of designated foreign terrorist organizations within 18 hours, without a briefing from the government adopted in previous district court cases,” Ensign wrote.
The Court of Appeals has not yet governed Ensign's request.
