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Trump Turns Fight Over Deportation Flights Into a Constitutional Showdown

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WSJ

Mar 20, 2025 09:39 AM IST

The clash with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., could be headed to the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration is framing a legal fight over flights deporting alleged gang members as a constitutional showdown pitting the vast power of the executive branch against a judiciary determined to thwart it.

Trump Turns Fight Over Deportation Flights Into a Constitutional Showdown PREMIUM

Trump Turns Fight Over Deportation Flights Into a Constitutional Showdown

The clash with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., which could be headed to the Supreme Court, has emerged as an early top test case for the president’s sweeping assertions of executive authority.

The Trump administration has faced more than 100 lawsuits since it took office this year, and a string of injunctions and orders have paused or halted some of its priorities. This week, President Trump and his administration have singled out Boasberg as the face of its attacks on what it describes as activist, Democratic-appointed judges who are seeking to derail Trump’s agenda and undermine his authority on critical issues such as immigration and national security.

A court filing Wednesday signed by Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, accused the judge of “continued intrusions into the prerogatives of the Executive Branch.”

Trump went so far as to call for Boasberg’s impeachment on Tuesday, triggering a rare rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday accused Boasberg of “undermining the will of the American public.”

Boasberg has remained undeterred in demanding answers, in writing and under oath, from Trump officials about two weekend flights that deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members, despite his order that the airplanes turn around and return to U.S. soil.

He was appointed to the bench by both a Republican and a Democrat—first to DC’s Superior Court by George W. Bush before being tapped for the federal bench by former President Barack Obama.

Police at El Salvador International Airport escort alleged Venezuelan gang members, deported by the U.S. government, to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.

Boasberg initially gave the Justice Department a Wednesday deadline to provide information about the flights, but extended that to Thursday so the department could determine whether it is invoking the “state secrets doctrine,” which allows the government to withhold information in litigation when disclosure would compromise national security.

The Justice Department has largely stonewalled Boasberg’s requests for information about when the deportation flights took off and who was on board. The department said those repeated demands represent “grave encroachments on core aspects of absolute and unreviewable Executive Branch authority relating to national security, foreign relations, and foreign policy,” according to Wednesday’s brief.

Boasberg rejected the notion that he is exceeding his authority, while pushing back at the government’s characterization of his actions.

“To begin, the Court seeks this information, not as a ‘micromanaged and unnecessary judicial fishing expedition,’ but to determine if the Government deliberately flouted its Orders issued on March 15, 2025, and, if so, what the consequences should be,” Boasberg wrote when he granted the extension.

The standoff, which began Saturday, has quickly come to a head. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward, challenged the president’s move to invoke powers under the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang

The ACLU lawsuit said it is an abuse of emergency powers to accelerate mass deportations, sidestepping procedures and protections in immigration law.

The Trump administration has asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s restraining order, a request that could end up with the Supreme Court.

During an emergency hearing on Saturday, Boasberg issued a restraining order that temporarily blocked Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans. He said his restraining order wasn’t a final ruling on whether Trump’s proclamation was lawful, but would preserve the status quo until he could consider the legality of Trump’s move.

“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” Boasberg said during the hearing.

About 30 minutes later, Boasberg issued a written order that blocked deportation flights but made no mention of his directive to turn around flights. The Justice Department has argued that the written order is what matters, and that “the Court’s earlier oral statements were not independently enforceable as injunctions.”

Boasberg has yet to rule on that argument, but called it a “heck of a stretch” during a hearing on Monday. His order on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department’s arguments that he should back off his demands for information until the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has had a chance to weigh in.

The Trump administration has asked that court to lift Boasberg’s restraining order, and then reassign the lawsuit to another judge. The appeal will likely ultimately end up with the Supreme Court, where Trump has appointed three of the court’s nine justices and where his administration hopes to find a majority sympathetic to his view of executive power.

Asked about the administration’s legal setbacks during a Fox News interview on Wednesday, Bondi said, “We’re moving fast. We will get to the Supreme Court as fast as we can, and we will prevail.”

Write to Jan Wolfe at jan.wolfe@wsj.com

Trump Turns Fight Over Deportation Flights Into a Constitutional Showdown

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