A panel of federal judges handed President Trump a major victory Friday, overturning a ruling that threatened to hold the administration in contempt over migrant flights to El Salvador earlier this year.
A panel of federal judges handed President Trump a major victory Friday, overturning a ruling that threatened to hold the administration in contempt over migrant flights to El Salvador earlier this year.
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Chief US District Judge James Boasberg’s April 16 order finding “probable cause” to hold executive branch officials in criminal contempt for allegedly ignoring his March 15 order to stop deportation flights to Central America.
In a split decision, appellate Judge George Katsas — a Trump appointee — said Boasberg’s decision represented an “improper use of the contempt power” since the US Supreme Court had already lifted Boasberg’s ban on the flights before the district judge ordered the feds to “purge their contempt.”
Boasberg — a Barack Obama appointee — ordered Trump administration lawyers to either retake custody of the deported migrants so they could continue fighting their immigration case in the US or identify the officials who had defied his order.
