#boasberg — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #boasberg, aggregated by home.social.
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A prosecutor handling the case conceded at a closed-door court hearing in March that the government hadn’t yet found any evidence of a #crime, & a judge subsequently quashed subpoenas issued to the #FederalReserve. The judge, James #Boasberg, said prosecutors had produced “essentially zero evidence” to suspect Powell of a crime. Boasberg said prosecutors’ justification for the subpoenas as “thin & unsubstantiated.”
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#Boasberg has said the #Trump admin may have acted in #BadFaith by trying to rush Venezuelan immigrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the admin “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #DualState #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
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#Boasberg has said the #Trump admin may have acted in #BadFaith by trying to rush Venezuelan immigrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the admin “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #DualState #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
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#Boasberg has said the #Trump admin may have acted in #BadFaith by trying to rush Venezuelan immigrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the admin “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #DualState #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
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#Boasberg has said the #Trump admin may have acted in #BadFaith by trying to rush Venezuelan immigrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the admin “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #DualState #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
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#Boasberg has said the #Trump admin may have acted in #BadFaith by trying to rush Venezuelan immigrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the admin “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #DualState #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
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…On March 15, 2025, #Boasberg issued a TRO barring the admin from transferring a group of Venezuelan immigrants to #ElSalvador under the #AlienEnemiesAct an 18th century #law. After the order was entered, 2 planeloads of immigrants protected by the order departed from the #US on their way to El Salvador, where they were locked up in #CECOT, one of the world’s most violent prisons. The admin said then DHS Secy Kristi Noem was responsible for the transfer decision.
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“#Criminal #contempt is available only for the violation of an order that is clear & specific. (#Boasberg’s March 2025 order) did not clearly & specifically bar the government from transferring plaintiffs into Salvadoran custody,” Rao wrote.
Lawyers for the deported immigrants will ask the full circuit court to review the panel’s decision, acc/to plaintiffs’ attorney Lee Gelernt of the #ACLU. Gelernt said the majority opinion is “a blow to the rule of law.”
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According to the [BS] majority opinion by a 3-judge panel from US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Chief Judge James #Boasberg abused his discretion in forging ahead with #criminal #contempt proceedings stemming from the March 2025 #deportation flights.
The ruling is the latest twist in a yearlong legal saga that has became a flashpoint in #Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The White House has portrayed Boasberg as a biased judge who overstepped his authority.
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A swing and a miss for human Wine Carrier and Whine dispenser, US Atty J. #Pirro, who again was slapped down by a federal judge. It’s like tv personalities didn’t really study law, or something.
District Judge James #Boasberg excoriated the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. for the case against #Powell, calling it political persecution aimed at pressuring the Fed chair to lower interest rates or quit.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Boasberg wrote in a decision unsealed Friday. “There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”
“On the other side of the scale,” Boasberg continued, “the Government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the president.”
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“There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass & pressure Powell either to yield to the president or to resign & make way for a Fed Chair who will,” Judge #Boasberg wrote. “On the other side of the scale, the government has offered no evidence whatsoever that Powell committed any crime other than displeasing the president.”
#Trump #MafiaState #law #LegalEthics #JeromePowell #FederalReserve #economy #RevengePolitics #WeaponizationOfGovernment
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In a blistering 27-page decision unsealed on Friday, the judge, James #Boasberg, derided the #USattorney’s office in Washington, led by the #Trump loyalist #JeaninePirro, for pursuing a case against #JeromePowell. It appeared that the only reason prosecutors had to do so, he added, was Trump’s desire to seek #vengeance against the #Fed chair. Powell has long resisted calls from the White House to adjust #InterestRates for political reasons.
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Trump's Weird Definition of
'#Alien #Enemies'Trump's invocation of the
"Alien Enemies Act" was dubious from the beginning.That rarely used 1798 statute applies when
"there is a declared war"
between the United States and a
"foreign nation or government"
or when a
"foreign nation or government"
has "perpetrated, attempted, or threatened"
an "invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States"
(even when a war has not been declared).In those circumstances,
the AEA authorizes
"restraint, regulation, and removal"
of "natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government,"
provided they are at least 14 years old.In a proclamation published on the evening of Saturday, March 15,
Trump implausibly claimed that members of the Venezuelan gang "Tren de Aragua"
qualified as
"alien enemies" under that definition.In addition to dubiously asserting that Tren de Aragua had "perpetrated, attempted, or threatened" an "invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,"
the proclamation counterintuitively implied that the gang was a
"foreign nation or government."Trump further stretched the language of the statute by implying that alleged Tren de Aragua members were
"natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects" of the gang.His initial use of the AEA was clearly designed
💥to avoid judicial review altogether.By the time he published his proclamation,
the Department of Homeland Security was already in the process of removing detainees and sending them to CECOT.Lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union got wind of the pending proclamation
and filed a complaint on behalf of five detainees in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.They also sought protection for a class consisting of similarly situated detainees,
and they filed an urgent motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO),
noting that the plaintiffs were
"at substantial risk of immediate, summary removal from the United States"
under the AEA.In light of "the exigent circumstances," #James #Boasberg, the district's chief judge, promptly granted a TRO aimed at
"maintain[ing] the status quo until a hearing can be set."That hearing convened via Zoom at 5 p.m. that Saturday,
which was still three hours before Trump's proclamation appeared on the White House website.In response to the concern that airplanes bound for El Salvador were about to take off,
Boasberg repeatedly asked Deputy Assistant Attorney General #Drew #Ensign what was happening.Ensign never gave Boasberg a straight answer.
https://reason.com/2026/01/01/3-areas-where-the-courts-pushed-back-against-trumps-attempts-to-avoid-judicial-review-in-2025/ -
More bad publicity coming for DHS and Noem (is that possible?)
Chief Judge of the federal court for the District of Columbia Boasberg re-starts investigation of DHS officials on a possible contempt charge - he said he must determine whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or anyone else “should be referred for potential contempt prosecution.” https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trump-officials-judge-face-off-flights-el-salvador-127957232 #DHS #Immigration #Deportation #Noem #Boasberg #FederalCourt #Contempt #Court #DueProcess
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#TimWu: "Tuesday’s ruling is clearly wrong on the merits. The government charged that #Meta, then called Facebook, broke the law when it bought up its competitors Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Judge #Boasberg threw out the case by concluding that Meta lacks #monopolypower now, when the relevant question should have been whether it had monopoly power at the time."
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#TimWu: "Tuesday’s ruling is clearly wrong on the merits. The government charged that #Meta, then called Facebook, broke the law when it bought up its competitors Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Judge #Boasberg threw out the case by concluding that Meta lacks #monopolypower now, when the relevant question should have been whether it had monopoly power at the time."
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#TimWu: "Tuesday’s ruling is clearly wrong on the merits. The government charged that #Meta, then called Facebook, broke the law when it bought up its competitors Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Judge #Boasberg threw out the case by concluding that Meta lacks #monopolypower now, when the relevant question should have been whether it had monopoly power at the time."
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#TimWu: "Tuesday’s ruling is clearly wrong on the merits. The government charged that #Meta, then called Facebook, broke the law when it bought up its competitors Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Judge #Boasberg threw out the case by concluding that Meta lacks #monopolypower now, when the relevant question should have been whether it had monopoly power at the time."
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#TimWu: "Tuesday’s ruling is clearly wrong on the merits. The government charged that #Meta, then called Facebook, broke the law when it bought up its competitors Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Judge #Boasberg threw out the case by concluding that Meta lacks #monopolypower now, when the relevant question should have been whether it had monopoly power at the time."
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“Judge #Boasberg has purposefully ignored the overwhelming evidence of how #Meta became a #monopoly—not by building a better product, but by buying its rivals to shut down any real competitors before they could grow. These deals let Meta fuse Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into one machine that #poisons our children & discourse, bullies publishers & advertisers, and destroys the possibility of healthy online connections with friends & family."
Who killed #socialmedia?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/meta-wins-monopoly-trial-convinces-judge-that-social-networking-is-dead/ -
“Judge #Boasberg has purposefully ignored the overwhelming evidence of how #Meta became a #monopoly—not by building a better product, but by buying its rivals to shut down any real competitors before they could grow. These deals let Meta fuse Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into one machine that #poisons our children & discourse, bullies publishers & advertisers, and destroys the possibility of healthy online connections with friends & family."
Who killed #socialmedia?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/meta-wins-monopoly-trial-convinces-judge-that-social-networking-is-dead/ -
“Judge #Boasberg has purposefully ignored the overwhelming evidence of how #Meta became a #monopoly—not by building a better product, but by buying its rivals to shut down any real competitors before they could grow. These deals let Meta fuse Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into one machine that #poisons our children & discourse, bullies publishers & advertisers, and destroys the possibility of healthy online connections with friends & family."
Who killed #socialmedia?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/meta-wins-monopoly-trial-convinces-judge-that-social-networking-is-dead/ -
“Judge #Boasberg has purposefully ignored the overwhelming evidence of how #Meta became a #monopoly—not by building a better product, but by buying its rivals to shut down any real competitors before they could grow. These deals let Meta fuse Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into one machine that #poisons our children & discourse, bullies publishers & advertisers, and destroys the possibility of healthy online connections with friends & family."
Who killed #socialmedia?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/meta-wins-monopoly-trial-convinces-judge-that-social-networking-is-dead/ -
“Judge #Boasberg has purposefully ignored the overwhelming evidence of how #Meta became a #monopoly—not by building a better product, but by buying its rivals to shut down any real competitors before they could grow. These deals let Meta fuse Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into one machine that #poisons our children & discourse, bullies publishers & advertisers, and destroys the possibility of healthy online connections with friends & family."
Who killed #socialmedia?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/meta-wins-monopoly-trial-convinces-judge-that-social-networking-is-dead/ -
Judge #Boasberg to resume #criminal #contempt inquiry into #Trump ofcls involved in #AlienEnemiesAct #deportation flights
A federal judge said Wed that he plans to “promptly” move ahead with an effort to find out which Trump admin ofcls were responsible for flouting his orders in a high-stakes #immigration case – & whether they will face punishment for their actions.
#law #StateSponsoredAbduction #DueProcess #CivilRights #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/19/politics/boasberg-contempt-of-court-alien-enemies-act-flights?cid=ios_app -
Separately, the chief judge of the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, James #Boasberg, made public on Monday material concerning fights over attorney-client privilege during the two grand jury investigations into #Trump
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/08f02277f737dafb/89c3d604-full.pdf
The #DOJ had curated & partly redacted that material, which includes motions, argument transcripts & rulings after Judge Boasberg, in response to a request by The NYT, ordered that they be unsealed.
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U.S. District Judge James #Boasberg found in April that #Trump officials could face #criminal #contempt charges for willfully disregarding his March 15 order barring the #deportations to #ElSalvador of alleged #Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 #AlienEnemiesAct without the chance to challenge their removals.
#law #judiciary #ContemptOfCourt #CourtOrder #immigration #deportations #Injustice #AbuseOfPower
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#Bondi files #ethics complaint against federal judge who reportedly expressed concern about 'constitutional crisis'
The complaint alleges that #Boasberg made improper comments at a March 11 meeting of the U.S. Judicial Conference when he expressed his belief that the #Trump admin would “disregard rulings of federal courts” & trigger “a #constitutional crisis.”
Boasberg allegedly made the comments to Chief Justice John Roberts and other federal judges at the conference.
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So #Trump & #PamBondi are trying to sanction #Boasberg for sharing his expert opinion, one of the primary functions of a federal judge.
Trump has called for Boasberg’s impeachment since March when he first ruled against the #deportations, & has continued to slander any judge who dares to rule against him…. The targeting of Boasberg is unfortunately par for the course now, as #judges will have to consider either capitulating to Trump or risking their safety, reputation, & livelihood.
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While #PamBondi has yet to actually specify what “improper public comments” #Boasberg made to elicit such an attack, both her chief of staff & the right-wing #FederalistSociety have reported that this huge, inappropriate mistake Boasberg made was simply expressing his (valid!) concern that the #Trump admin was liable to “disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a #ConstitutionalCrisis,” while at a judicial conference.
#law #Constitution #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers
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Judge James #Boasberg first
appeared on the #MAGA radar in March after blocking the Trump admin’s invocation of the wartime 1798 #AlienEnemiesAct to indiscriminately deport men #Trump claimed were Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador. The administration ignored Boasberg’s #CourtOrder, & he asserted he found probable cause for #contempt on the admin’s part, although the DC Circuit Court has paused proceedings.#law #Constitution #ConstitutionalCrisis #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers
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#PamBondi Takes Revenge on Judge #Trump Absolutely Hates
The #DOJ is targeting Judge #Boasberg.
Trump’s Justice Department is moving to retaliate against one of the federal #judges who stood up to Trump’s extrajudicial [illegal] #deportations.
#law #Constitution #ConstitutionalCrisis #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower
https://newrepublic.com/post/198540/pam-bondi-doj-targets-judge-boasberg -
Judge #Boasberg …has rejected that interpretation of his orders & found probable cause to initiate #contempt proceedings over potential defiance of his rulings. That process has been halted for now by an appeals court.
The messages also revealed tension between #DOJ attorneys & their counterparts at #DHS as they sought to mount a defense of the #Trump admin’s #deportation policies in court.
#EmilBove #law #corruption #judiciary #immigration #rendition #AmericanAutocracy
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The email indicates #EmilBove said it was OK to do so because the flights had left US airspace before #Boasberg, who initially delivered his order orally, followed up with a written order….
“I have been told…that the principal associate deputy attorney general advised DHS last night that the deplaning of the flights that had departed US airspace prior to the court’s minute order was permissible under the law & the court’s order,” Roth wrote to Reuveni & 2 DOJ colleagues on March 16….
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The messages show that in the hours after #Boasberg’s ruling, #ErezReuveni repeatedly relayed to colleagues that the #immigrants covered by the judge’s order should not be turned over to #ElSalvador. And he later expressed concern that they seemed to have been handed over anyway.
In one of the newly-disclosed emails, the acting head of #DOJ’s Civil Division, Yaakov Roth, told Reuveni & other ofcls that the men were unloaded based on #legal advice given by #EmilBove.
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Just prior to Boasberg’s decision, #DOJ officials worried that the effort might be stopped by a #court. That’s when, according to #ErezReuveni, #EmilBove told colleagues that they might have to consider telling the #courts “fuck you.”
After #Boasberg’s decision, Reuveni sent a text message to an unidentified colleague referring back to Bove’s alleged comment: “Guess we are going to say ‘fuck you’ to the court. Super,” he wrote. The colleague responded: “Well, Pamela Jo Bondi is. Not you.”
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…Many of the messages pertain to an extraordinary showdown on March 15, when #ImmigrantRights lawyers persuaded a federal judge in Washington, James #Boasberg, to order the admin to halt an in-progress #deportation [#rendition] of 130 #Venezuelans to #ElSalvador. Boasberg ordered that planes containing the men, whom #Trump deemed “alien enemies” under a wartime #law, be turned around, if necessary, & in any event that the men not be handed over to the Salvadoran govt.
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On March 17, Judge #Boasberg instructed the government to explain when the planes departed. After that order, Mr. Reuveni was told by his superiors “that leadership at #DOJ were reporting ‘down the chain’ that the government was not going to answer the court’s questions about anything that happened before 7:26PM on March 15, & so not to provide information about when the flights took off.”
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According to an email Mr. Reuveni received from Yaakov Roth, the acting assistant attorney general, “Bove had advised #DHS that under the court order it was permissible to deplane individuals on the flights that departed US airspace” before Judge #Boasberg’s written order appeared on the court docket.
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One of those cases involved the admin’s use of the #AlienEnemiesAct on March 15 to justify flying >100 #Venezuelans the admin declared were gang members to #CECOT, the #ElSalvador megaprison.
At a hastily convened hearing that day, a federal district judge in Washington, James #Boasberg, asked Mr. Ensign if any #deportations or removals were imminent “in the next 24 or 48 hours,” prompting Mr. Ensign to respond, “I don’t know the answer to that question.”
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It's beyond maddening to read articles & hear talking heads ponder IF we're at a #constitutional #crisis YET.
1) #Judge #Boasberg: "Turn the planes around" & they defy the #federal #court.
2) #SCOTUS 9-0(!) - "Bring him back" & they defy the #SupremeCourt. Miller repeats lies about our right to due process, now they want to #suspend #HabeusCorpus?!?
This is not an #administration, this is a #regime. Our #government is a #puppet state of #Russia. #OurPutin #PresidentMusk https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-stephen-miller-says-trump-administration-is-actively-looking-at-suspending-habeas-corpus -
#Boasberg: your stronger argument is justiciability, not the interpretation of the #AEA?
#DOJ: no, we do believe we have the better of [both arguments]
Boasberg: let's move on to remedy. Mr. Gelernt, Assume I find custody & find violation. for the #CECOT class, you've said remedy is to facilitate their return. But there's other remedies. giving them notice & hearings there. or moving them to #Guantanamo. but then we're back in INA land.(Conventional #Immigration & Nationality Act proceedings.)
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#DOJ: they did say it's largely #immune from #legal review.
#Boasberg: your clients are saying scotus upheld the proclamation
DOJ: it did allow the proclamation to take effect
Boasberg: [reading from #SCOTUS ruling] "we do not reach those arguments." It didn't decide one way or other.
DOJ: but did say there was very limited review.
Boasberg: so it's your view all these #judges are just wrong & #Trump did validly invoke #AEA?
DOJ: ... govt will appeal
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#Boasberg: you've essentially admitted their rights were violated. if they're in constructive custody, what's the remedy?
#DOJ: ...
Boasberg: now we've got #judges in #SDNY, #SDTex, #DColo, plus a circuit judge in #DC all finding that invasion & predatory incursion have #military connotations so proclamation did not properly invoke #AEA. agree that's where things stand?
DOJ: yes.
Boasberg: #SCOTUS never said AEA was properly invoked.
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#Boasberg: If i find proclamation did not properly invoke #AEA at all?
Gelernt: then they should all come back.
Boasberg turns back to #DOJ. You certainly agree w/ #SCOTUS they need to receive meaningful notice.
DOJ: Yes, that was prospective relief. from that moment onward.
Boasberg: agree they got no #DueProcess?
DOJ: i can't say it was the same as they'd get right now.
Boasberg: so transferring them to CECOT w/o process, scotus says due process required...
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#Boasberg: okay, [switching to the #CECOT class], did they get any notice at all?
Gelernt: we don't know. some may have gotten a notice ...but it said there was *no review*. that's what AG's guidance was ...
Boasberg: so #DueProcess does provide you w/meaningful opportunity to file #HabeasCorpus. are you getting that now?
Gelernt: we would have to have each individual at CECOT have opportunity to prove they weren't gang members, or for govt to prove they were.
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#DOJ: if going to be somewhere else in US, their #habeas has to be heard there. [But DOJ emphasizes that it's speculative what's going to happen to these criminal defendants down the road.]
#Boasberg now asking Gelernt, of ACLU, about irreparable harm.
Gelernt: the problem is, at 8pm tonight, they could move them from criminal custody to #ICE custody & they could be removed from country by 8am tomorrow morning.
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #Rendition #DueProcess #Judiciary #Trump
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#Boasberg: are there still 32 individuals in criminal custody with active detainers against them. [this refers to a proposed class relating to criminally confined aliens in the US.]
#DOJ: not sure.
Boasberg: let's assume for a minute that all these people will be removed after criminal proceedings run their course, & that those 32 could challenge their future rules for #habeas—then can we hear it?
#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #Rendition #DueProcess #Judiciary #AbuseOfPower #Trump
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#DOJ: boils down to whether #US has agency...
#Boasberg: you're saying if i find constructive custody, there's venue here in DC?
DOJ: [first] you have to determine you have venue
Boasberg: if there is constructive custody then venue's appropriate here?
DOJ: yes, your honor.
Boasberg: in looking at constructive custody … didn't #Trump say just last week that he could secure return of #KilmarAbregoGarcia by just picking up the phone? was he not telling the truth?
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Gelernt: right now we don't know where they're going to be. but my co-counsel will address that.
#Boasberg: explain more detail
Ashley Gorski: challenging future confinement ... defendants here wil have future #legal custody over the custody class.
Judge: got to be #habeas you're bringing ...
Gorski: yes.
Judge: …why Washington DC
Gorski: what we have is like Braden. he was able to bring habeas in kentucky though he was detained in alabama.
#lawJ: but he was going to be detained in KY.