WASHINGTON, DC—After months of delays, a federal judge is prepared to swiftly proceed with a contempt of court inquiry in the original Alien Enemies Act case.

In a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg signaled that he wants to begin taking testimony from Trump administration officials involved in the mid-March 2025 AEA deportations as soon as the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Boasberg already found probable cause for contempt of court in April after the Trump administration defied his emergency order to stop the AEA deportations of Venezuelan nationals and turn back any planes en route to El Salvador. But after an interminable delay, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his contempt finding in August.

For the next several weeks, the full appeals court deliberated over whether to reconsider the appeal before handing down a badly splintered decision last Friday that Boasberg today sardonically called “interesting.” While the full appeals court declined to take up the case, it managed to signal that a majority of the judges agreed that Boasberg has the authority to resume the contempt proceedings.

“I’m authorized to proceed just as I was in April …” Boasberg said Wednesday before taking a long pause and then carefully enunciating each word in staccato fashion, “seven … months … ago.”

When the DOJ lawyer Tiberius Davis objected that the appeals court decisions were not as clear-cut as Boasberg was making them out to be, the by-now-prickly judge swept aside those concerns. “I will be going forward,” he said. When Davis continued to object, Boasberg nudged him along: “I appreciate that you disagree with six judges on the appeals court.”

Without hesitation, Boasberg immediately suggested that it was time to bring in witnesses — including Trump DOJ lawyers — and put them under oath about what they did and didn’t do to abide by his court order. He singled out two witnesses he wants to hear from:

• Erez Reuveni, the career DOJ lawyer who was involved in the AEA case at the outset before being fired and becoming a whistleblower with a basket full of receipts in the form of internal administration communications that he went public with; and
• Drew Ensign, a Trump political appointee at the Justice Department who handled the AEA case in front of Boasberg that critical weekend in March.

“I certainly intend to find out what happened that day,” Boasberg said.

Boasberg indicated that he was prepared to begin the contempt inquiry immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend. He anticipated issuing an order for both sides to submit proposals in writing by Monday on how to proceed.

While Boasberg is gunning to get going, the convoluted appeals court ruling and the continued intransigence of the Trump administration make it very possible that the Justice Department will balk and go back to the appeals court again before allowing any officials to be put under oath.