Originally published at: Boasberg Issues Criminal Contempt Finding In Alien Enemies Act Case - TPM – Talking Points Memo
D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for defying his order last month to turn planes around that were removing people to El Salvador under an Alien Enemies Act invocation. In a Wednesday order, Boasberg gave the government a deadline of April 23 either to…
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This is meaningless because the DOJ will refuse to pursue such charges. Boasberg should have used civil contempt and locked up DOJ attorneys.
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Coming straight at you, John Roberts.
plonk.
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Thank you, Judge Boasberg. And Judge Xinis. And Harvard. And Hands Off.
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“Thank you, Judge Boas. And Judge Xinis. And Harvard. And Hands Off.” 
Not meaningless. Changes battlefield of the regime.
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Thanks, I guess. But, until April 23? Why? You’re playing into the hands of the delayer-in-chief.
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Exactly. NOT meaningless. And, to a poster below: IANAL, but even I know that April 23rd is shockingly fast.
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“Two things form the bedrock of any open society — freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have a free country." – Salman Rushdie
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Not exactly. The law allows the judge to appoint a prosecuting attorney for criminal contempt proceedings if DOJ declines to prosecute.
However, the more critical problem is that Trump can (and probably will) issue pardons.
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IANAL, but I believe the Courts have the power to appoint a prosecutor if the DOJ refuses to do so in cases of criminal contempt:
This is different from Congress, who has no independent authority to prosecute a case (outside of impeachment) and must rely on the DOJ to do so for contempt.
Edit: @sci_agent beat me to it.
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I’ll give it a shot: To retain legitimacy, Boasburg has to give the government reasonable time to return the prisoners sent to CECOT to the US, which would be complying with his original order.
ETA: I am mistaken. For clarification, see @seamus42 at post 24 below.
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Am I the only one sick of waiting? It is infuriating. I cannot imagine what his family is enduring.
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Great! Now how, exactly, is he going to be able to enforce this conviction if the Trump administration refuses to comply?
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Sadly, an eternity for the guy who is (I hope, still alive) in the gulag. But, yes, a huge thanks to the judge for pushing this along. No action is meaningless. Inaction is!
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He needs to start jailing DOJ attorneys for contempt. I don’t know what, if any, legal mechanisms are available to do that–but if they exist, he should use them.
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willful and forsworn would seem to capture the essence of Trumpist violations; criminal indeed.
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That’s next Wednesday. I never use the date to convey a point in time coming up so quickly. Don’t say April 17 if that is TOMORROW!
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Who wants to bet that since King Cur of Queens has court bestowed immunity it only stands to reason that such immunity extends to the entire maladministration?
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You do you. I’ll do me, 'mkay?
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Who will do this “jailing” you speak of? The FBI? The DOJ? They all work for Trump and, as you probably know, these departments are run by Trump loyalists now. Oh, and in case you’ve forgotten, Trump controls the military as well. Who, exactly, does this judge have to do his “jailing” for him?
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