U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has drawn national attention after he ruled on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, issuing a finding of probable cause that the government violated his direct order.
The move has highlighted Boasberg’s trajectory through the federal judiciary.
What We Know
On April 16, Boasberg ruled that the federal government may be held in criminal contempt for ignoring a court-ordered pause on deportations issued under the Alien Enemies Act.
President Donald Trump had used the 1798 law on March 15 to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang. Boasberg, who currently serves as the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a temporary restraining order halting the deportations—but the planes carrying deportees still took off and landed in El Salvador.
“The Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote Wednesday. “The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
Who is Judge James Boasberg?
James Emanuel Boasberg, a native of Washington, D.C., was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by former President Barack Obama in 2011 and became its chief judge in 2023, per the U.S. District Court.
Boasberg previously served as an associate judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court from 2002 to 2011. In his earlier legal career, he specialized in the Civil and Criminal Divisions and the Domestic Violence Branch until his appointment to the federal bench in 2011.
Boasberg earned his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale College, where he played basketball, followed by a Master of Studies in Modern European History from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. He clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before entering private practice and then federal service.
Per the Federal Judicial Center, he also served on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2014 to 2021, presiding over it during his final year.
Boasberg on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department’s claim that he had overstepped his authority when he issued the restraining order.
“Those individuals were on planes being flown overseas, having been spirited out of the United States by the Government before they could vindicate their due-process rights by contesting their removability in a federal court, as the law requires,” Boasberg wrote, as reported by NPR.
What’s Next
Judge Boasberg has ordered the federal government either justify its actions or identify who approved the deportations in defiance of his ruling by April 23. He stated that responsible officials could be referred for prosecution.
Read the full article here
