Judge #Boasberg has set a hearing date for April 3 at 3PM to hear #Trump admin’s argument for why they shouldn't be held in #contempt for violating his order to turn the planes around that were *deporting* supposed #Venezuelan gang members to a prison in #ElSalvador w/o #DueProcess.
Keep 'em coming
Via Kyle Cheney:
JUST IN: Judge #Boasberg sets a Thursday hearing on his efforts to determine whether the Justice Department violated his orders restraining removals under the Alien Enemies Act.
Keep 'em coming!
Via Kyle Cheney:
JUST IN: Judge #Boasberg has extended his restraining order against Alien Enemies Act removals through April 12. #Trump
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.66.0.pdf
WTAF??
The #Trump admin says in its #SCOTUS filing requesting a stay of #Boasberg’s #AlienEnemiesAct #TRO that it can't confirm or deny whether #ElSalvador is complying with #UNCAT [#UnitedNations Convention Against #Torture] because doing so might damage its relationship with El Salvador.
AYFKM???
The #DOJ in a filing asked #SCOTUS to lift DC-based US District Judge James #Boasberg's March 15 order calling for a temporary halt of the summary removals of the #Venezuelans while a legal challenge to #Trump’s invocation of the #AlienEnemiesAct to justify the #deportations plays out. The 18th century #law historically has been used only in wartime [& expressly states the #US must be at #war w/a foreign #nation for its use].
#immigration #DueProcess #CivilRights
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25872803-24a931/
As agreed by the parties in today's #TRO hearing, the Court ORDERS:
1) Defendants shall promptly make best efforts to preserve all #Signal communications from Mar 11-15, 2025;
2) By Mar 31, 2025, Defendants shall file a Status Report w/declarations setting forth the steps they have taken to implement such preservation; &
3) This Order shall expire on Apr 10, 2025, in the event that Defendants' measures are satisfactory to the Court.
So ORDERED by Chief Judge James #Boasberg on Mar 27, 2025.
American Oversight v. #Hegseth (#Houthi #Signal Group Chat)
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Chief Judge James E. #Boasberg: Motion Hearing held on 3/27/2025 re 6 MOTION for Temporary Restraining Order filed by AMERICAN OVERSIGHT. Oral arguments heard. Order forthcoming. (Court Reporter Tammy Nestor) (znbn)
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69788832/american-oversight-v-hegseth/
Keep 'em coming
Via Scott MacFarlane:
ALERT: After 30 minute hearing here in DC, Judge James #Boasberg orders #Trump national security team to preserve all Signal communications between March 11 and March 15. #SignalGate
#Boasberg was randomly assigned the #Signal federal records destruction case
https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/114229547645832968
#Musk #DOGE #BigBalls used to work for #cyber #criminals
(summary pt2)
Appeals court sides w/ #Boasberg & denied Trump stay request in #AlienEnemiesAct case
https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/114230595357683804
#Trump #immigration #gestapo arrests yet another student w/legal status, #RumeysaOzturk, because their viewpoint differs from his
https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/114228732340388688
#YunseoChung’s case was scheduled for May 20 waaay too long requiring her to remain in detention
Woo hoo!!!!
NEW: The US Court of Appeals for DC just DENIED #Trump's request to stay Judge #Boasberg's halt on the use of the #AlienEnemiesAct.
The decision is 2-1, w/ Trump appointee Judge Walker dissenting [shocker] on jurisdictional [technical, not merits] grounds, arguing the lawsuit should have been brought in Texas.
The lawsuit seeks to make sure the ofcls are not using the app to get around federal record-keeping requirements.
“Messages in the #Signal chat about ofcl govt actions, including, but not limited to, #NationalSecurity deliberations, are federal records & must be preserved in accordance w/federal statutes, & agency directives, rules, & regulations,” the plaintiffs argue.
Oh snap!
The judge who the govt has argued can't be trusted w/sensitive information in the #AlienEnemiesAct case has been assigned to a case about top govt officials' appearing to share sensitive information on the commercial messaging application #Signal.
US District Court Judge James #Boasberg in the DC has been assigned to oversee the case of American #Oversight against top ofcls involved in the Signal group chat about an attack on Yemen.
Via Kyle Cheney:
JUST IN: Judge James #Boasberg has been assigned to the Signalgate lawsuit.
You really can’t script this. The same week the #Trump admin invokes the state secrets privilege to deny Boasberg info, he is assigned the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s apparent carelessness with state secrets. #SignalGate
Perhaps consistent with an administration that knows it's breaking the law and violating the constitution under wholly false pretenses, the Trump regime has invoked the “state secrets” privilege to dodge a federal judge's demand for more information about Downmarket Mussolini's fascist clusterfuck operation to ship 250+ migrants it claims, without evidence, are members of a notorious Venezuelan gang, to slave labor prisons in El Salvador:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/trump-deportation-state-secret
Trump administration claims details of mass deportations are state secrets
"According to a court filing submitted by justice department officials on Monday evening, “no further information will be provided” to the federal court in Washington DC based on the state secrets privilege. The filing said the case deals with Trump’s complete and absolute authority to remove “designated terrorists participating in a state-sponsored invasion of, and predatory incursion into, the United States”.
In response to the Trump administration’s invocation, the federal judge in the case said that if the administration would like to provide more information about the Alien Enemies Act operation, they should do so by 31 March.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on 15 March to expel Venezuelan immigrants in the US. That day, 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadoran men were placed on planes and sent to El Salvador, where they were then quickly detained in a massive “terrorism” prison run by the Salvadoran government. For over a week, a federal judge has attempted to compel the Trump administration to release information about the operation."
This story can be difficult to get a handle on because we're ultimately talking about multiple instances of unlawfully activity by the government, and the contemptuous, often clearly false arguments the fascist Trump regime is deploying to avoid consequences for, or in this case even having to explain, those unlawful, often baldly unconstitutional activities. The first question, whether or not the regime can invoke an 18th-century wartime law to conduct "deportations" without due process (which would include a hearing before a judge, the presentation of evidence, and legal representation for the accused), has already been answered in the short term. US district judge James Boasberg blocked the regime's invocation of the act and ordered the government to turn any planes carrying migrants around immediately.
As you may have heard, the Trump regime did not obey the judge's order, and then proceeded to play a series of nazi word games to justify why they didn't have to, that were so devoid of respect for both the judge and the law, Boasberg may end up holding Trump officials in contempt of court. The judge then ordered the Trump administration to explain why the government's actions didn't represent an open violation of his court order. All of which brings us to today, where after threatening to impeach Boasberg, repeatedly arguing in the media that the regime either didn't, or had the right to, violate the US Constitution, and petulantly dragging their feet in an act of open defiance, the Pork Reich has announced that they don't intend to provide Boasberg with any more details about the operation because it would expose "state secrets" and harm America's national security.
Although the Trump regime's "throw buckets of bullshit at the wall and see what sticks" approach to defending its fascist activities makes it hard to pin down the administration's justification for invoking its "state secrets" privilege, we do have two major clues to work with. First the government's filing continues to push the fact-free idea that they are acting to oppose a state-sponsored (by Venezuela) invasion by gang members who are also terrorists, and thus imply everything they're doing is part of an actual war; which means their actions are not subject to judicial review due to the President's legally-established wartime authority to defend America. The number of things objectively wrong with, or false about this argument is literally too staggering to unpack here, but let's just be clear that this is absolute fascist fuckery and bullshit. Our second clue comes from the mouth of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio:
"The rapid expulsion of nearly 300 immigrants came about via a “nonpublic, sensitive, and high stakes negotiation”, secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a separate Monday declaration. The “sensitive” negotiation was likely with the Salvadoran government headed by President Nayib Bukele."
Of course the regime is legally within its rights to invoke its "state secrets" privilege, but that doesn't mean anyone with two braincells to rub together has to believe Trumpworld when it argues that it's fighting a war that doesn't exist, or that telling a court about its activities will damage US relations with El Salvador. These nazis are full of shit.
If Judge #Boasberg finds that the gov't did violate his orders, "Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court order that class members be returned promptly to the United States."
In a separate brief filed yesterday, plaintiffs argue that Judge #Boasberg already has enough undisputed information in the record to find that the govt violated his order.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.55.0_2.pdf