Appeals court tosses judge's contempt finding against Trump
administration in prison deportations
[August 09, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — A split appeals court panel tossed out a judge’s
contempt finding against President Donald Trump's administration on
Friday in a case over deportations to an El Salvador prison.
The decision comes after planes carrying Venezuelan migrants landed at
the prison even after U.S District Judge James E. Boasberg said in court
they must return to the United States.
Boasberg found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in
criminal contempt of court. The ruling marked a dramatic battle between
the judicial and executive branches of government.
But the divided three-judge panel in the nation’s capital found that
Boasberg had exceeded his authority and intruded on the executive
branch’s foreign affairs powers.
Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both of whom were nominated by
Trump in his first term in the White House, agreed with the unsigned
majority opinion.
“The district court’s order attempts to control the Executive Branch’s
conduct of foreign affairs, an area in which a court’s power is at its
lowest ebb,” Rao wrote.
Judge Cornelia Pillard, who was appointed by President Barack Obama,
dissented. “The majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by
overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial
authority that is our shared trust,” she wrote.
The 250 migrants have since been released back to their home country in
a prisoner swap with the U.S. after months at the mega-prison known as
the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
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President Donald Trump departs an event to mark National Purple
Heart Day in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 7,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Boasberg had accused Trump administration officials of rushing
deportees out of the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act before they
could challenge their removal in court and then willfully
disregarding his order that planes already in the air should return.
The Trump administration has denied any violation, saying the
judge's directive to return the planes was made verbally in court
but not included in his written order.
Last month, the Justice Department filed an unusual judicial
misconduct complaint against Boasberg over comments he allegedly
made at a closed-door meeting of judges as well as his actions in
the deportations case. The complaint calls for the case to be taken
away from Boasberg while an investigation proceeds.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the appeals court ruling,
calling it a “MAJOR victory defending President Trump’s use of the
Alien Enemies Act” in a social media post and vowing to “continue
fighting and WINNING in court.”
Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who
represented the migrants, said there was “zero ambiguity” in
Boasberg's order about the planes.
“We strongly disagree with today’s decision regarding contempt and
are considering all options going forward," he said.
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