Appeals court blocks federal judge from conducting contempt probe of Trump deportation flights
In a 2-1 decision, an appeals court blocked a federal judge from conducting a contempt investigation into the Trump administration’s removal of Venezuelan detainees from the United States to El Salvador, despite a court order to turn around.
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On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote that the court’s order “is again appropriate to prevent unwarranted judicial intrusion into executive branch decision-making regarding matters of national security.”
The justices said U.S. District Judge James Boasberg did not need more information than a contempt hearing would provide.
“The harm caused by further judicial investigation cannot be repaired by subsequent appeal,” Circuit Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker wrote in the majority opinion, adding that courts must recognize the “paramount need to protect the executive branch from vexatious litigation.”
Dissenting, Judge J. Michelle Childs wrote that Boasberg should be able to pursue contempt proceedings.
“We do not review a contempt judgment entered by the trial court, or even a referral for contempt proceedings,” she said.
Instead, the judge’s order “simply attempts to understand the events of a single weekend in March, including actions that may have led to the willful violation of one of his orders,” Childs wrote.
This is the second time that Boasberg has been prevented from continuing this investigation into the events that occurred in March 2025.
Last August, the federal appeals court ruled that Boasberg abused his authority by pursuing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials over deportation flights conducted under the Alien Enemies Act.
In that ruling, Rao called Boasberg’s contempt order “particularly egregious” because it implicated high-ranking government officials. Her decision also constitutes an “intrusion into the president’s foreign affairs authority,” she said.
Rao and Walker were appointed by President Donald Trump during his first administration. Childs was nominated by President Joe Biden.
