A federal appeals court has paused a district judge's order that could have led to contempt proceedings against the Trump administration.
The new order pauses a controversial case in which the judge ordered the Trump administration turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. The Trump administration did not comply, which led U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg to warn he could refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not "purge" its contempt by voluntarily obeying his order.
"The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," Boasberg wrote.
The new ruling, issued Friday, comes from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It places an administrative stay on the lower court's proceedings so that the appeals court can consider an emergency motion to further stay the case, which the Trump administration filed on Wednesday. The appeals court makes clear that the new stay is not a ruling on the merits of the lower court's motion.
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The developments are a further escalation in a battle between the judicial and executive branches of government over a president's powers to carry out key White House priorities. The Republican president has called for Boasberg's impeachment while the Justice Department has accused the judge of overstepping his authority.
Boasberg, who was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, ordered the administration last month not to deport anyone in its custody under the Alien Enemies Act. Trump invoked the 1798 wartime law over what he claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration has argued it did not violate any orders, noted the judge did not include the turnaround directive in his written order and said the planes had already left the U.S. by the time that order came down.
