On Monday, a federal judge ended a hearing without ruling on whether the Trump administration willfully refused to comply with a court order to stop the deportation of migrants accused of gang activity to a prison in El Salvador on Saturday. A verbal order had been issued by Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg barring the flights from taking off on Saturday, in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward challenging the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act. The verbal order in court was followed by a written one, both of which were not followed by the Trump administration, completing the deportation flights to El Salvador. In a briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to parse a difference between the two in defending the administration’s actions: “there are questions as to whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a written order, and our lawyers are determined to ask and answer those questions in court.” As a general matter, judges’ orders are considered official the moment they are delivered verbally.
Despite the lack of a ruling on the matter, Boasberg excoriated the administration’s lawyers in Monday’s hearing. A CNN reporter who was in the court room noted that the judge was “frustrated” and “shaking his head” as the government lawyers’ arguments. When they claimed that the order was not enforceable as the plane was already in international waters, the judge told them that his “powers do not lapse at the continent’s edge.” At one point, he also reportedly told the Justice Department lawyers that their argument amounted to: “we dont care, we’ll do what we want.”
The crux of the issue relates to the timing of the written order to stop the flights that the judge issued on Saturday, with the Trump administration claiming that the planes had already taken off when it was entered in the court. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing on Monday afternoon that “the administration will of course be happily answering all of those questions that the judge poses in court later today.” The Justice Department lawyers, however, did not elucidate any further on the matter to Judge Boasberg. The hearing concluded with an order for the information – including how many planes were involved, how many people deported, what foreign countries were involved, what time the flights took off, what time they left U.S. airspace, what time they landed etc. – to be delivered to the court by noon on Tuesday. The judge told the DOJ lawyers that he would make sure the order was in writing, to ensure that it would be followed.
