The Trump administration is being saved again from its flagrant contempt of court in the original Alien Enemies Act case, this time by two Trump-appointed judges on the DC Circuit.
This is the second time that the contempt of court inquiry by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in D.C., has been stymied by the D.C. Circuit. The AEA deportations took place in March 2025 despite Boasberg’s orders to halt the deportations of Venezuelan migrants and turn around any deportation flights already in the air. He’s been trying to get to the bottom of who defied his orders for more than a year, with little to no help from the appeals court.
Today’s opinion is written by Judge Neomi Rao, concurred in by Judge Justin Walker, and dissented from by Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee. Rao’s tone toward Boasberg is sneering throughout the majority opinion.
