Court pauses Judge Boasberg’s criminal contempt pursuit of Trump officials

A federal appeals court put on hold Judge James Boasberg’s plans to hold hearings next week to see if he should hold Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in criminal contempt, with the judges saying they need more time to figure things out.

The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to issue a “stay” of the hearings, which were to begin Monday and go into Tuesday. They said it will last until they can more fully consider the issues.

It’s at least a temporary win for the Justice Department, which hours earlier had pleaded with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to step in and shut down Judge Boasberg’s effort.

Justice Department lawyers said Judge Boasberg is upending the separation of powers between government branches with the hearings, which he called to get to the bottom of the events of March 15, when, despite the judge’s directives, Ms. Noem continued three deportation flights to El Salvador.

In addition to crossing constitutional lines, it also trods on attorney-client privilege, Tiberius Davis, another DOJ lawyer, told the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

“This court must take action to stave off a looming and entirely unnecessary ‘constitutional confrontation’ between the Executive and Judicial Branches,” Mr. Davis wrote in his brief urging the appeals court to get involved.

Judge Boasberg had planned to hear from a fired Justice Department lawyer who turned whistleblower, and he has also said he wants to hear from a current Justice Department lawyer.

At issue are the flights of Venezuelan migrants the government said were members of Tren de Aragua, as well as some Salvadorans, who were flown to El Salvador on three flights on March 15. The Venezuelans were deported under the Alien Enemies Act, a shortcut to the usual immigration law.

Among the deportees was Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Judge Boasberg, in a hearing that day, had ordered the planes to be grounded.

The government says two of the planes were already in the air, and so those migrants had already technically been removed from the U.S. The third flight departed after the judge’s orders, but the Justice Department says everybody on that plane was being deported under the normal immigration law and so wasn’t covered by the judge’s ruling, which dealt with the Alien Enemies Act.

The Supreme Court later ruled that Judge Boasberg didn’t have jurisdiction over the flights.

But he has determined that doesn’t cancel out his concern about his belief that his orders were intentionally defied.

Fueling that belief is the claims by Erez Reuveni, a now-fired Justice Department lawyer, who said he was part of a meeting where senior officials strategized about ignoring any judge who would try to ground the flights.

Mr. Reuveni had been slated to testify on Monday. That is now on hold.

Judge Boasberg had also wanted to hear on Tuesday from Drew Ensign, who was the government lawyer representing Ms. Noem and her department on March 15.

Mr. Ensign has submitted a declaration to Judge Boasberg saying his only involvement was providing legal advice, which is protected from disclosure by attorney-client privilege.

Ms. Noem, meanwhile, has filed a declaration saying she was the decision-maker, and she acted after hearing the advice of lawyers. The government has objected to having her testify, calling that another possible violation of the separation of powers.

Mr. Davis, in earlier court briefs, had told Judge Boasberg to either file his criminal contempt referral or drop the matter. Mr. Davis said it was beyond the purview of a judge to conduct this sort of investigation.