President Donald Trump’s issues with the judiciary are continuing as U.S. District Judge James Boasberg extended his temporary restraining order to halt deportation flights using the Alien Enemies Act on Friday.
The order was set to expire on March 29, but Boasberg extended it to April 12, “or until further order of the Court,” Newsweek reported.
“The continued interference by an unelected activist judge in the foreign policy of the United States is a clear obstruction of President Trump’s constitutional authority and threatens the safety and security of all Americans,” a spokesperson for the Department of Justice told Newsweek.
On Thursday, after Boasberg was assigned a lawsuit regarding a journalist being added to a Signal chat with high-ranking defense officials, Trump lashed out at the judge.
“How disgraceful is it that ‘Judge’ James Boasberg has just been given a fourth ‘Trump Case,’ something which is, statistically, IMPOSSIBLE. There is no way for a Republican, especially a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, to win before him,” the president said on his TruthSocial account the day before Boasberg extended his order halting deportation flights.
“He is Highly Conflicted, not only in his hatred of me — Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome! — but also, because of disqualifying family conflicts. Boasberg, who is the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court, seems to be grabbing the ‘Trump Cases’ all to himself, even though it is not supposed to happen that way,” the president said.
“Is there still such a thing as the ‘wheel,’ where the Judges are chosen fairly, and at random? The good news is that it probably doesn’t matter, because it is virtually impossible for me to get an Honest Ruling in D.C. Our Nation’s Courts are broken, with New York and D.C. being the most preeminent of all in their Corruption and Radicalism. There must be an immediate investigation of this Rigged System, before it is too late!” he said.
Also Friday, the administration requested that the U.S. Supreme Court intervene in the contentious legal dispute, which involves Trump’s invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law he utilized to swiftly deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang deemed a terrorist organization.
The filing asks justices to reverse Boasberg’s order and uphold Trump’s use of the law to justify the rapid deportations. It is, thus far, arguably the most important case currently pending on the court’s docket, CNN reported.
“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country – the President, through Article II, or the judiciary,” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the Supreme Court. “The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President. The republic cannot afford a different choice.”
The Trump administration’s argument, like that of other recent appeals, focused mainly on grievances about subordinate courts obstructing his path and issuing temporary orders that, while not resolving the president’s power challenges, have at least temporarily put some of his agenda on hold.
More than 200 Venezuelans were loaded onto three planes and flown to El Salvador, where they are being held in a maximum security prison, shortly after Trump invoked the law. Since then, the government has stated that some of those individuals were deported under laws other than the 18th Century Act.
The men were allegedly connected to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, according to the Trump administration.
The filing comes days after Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to criticize Trump directly after the president suggested that Congress could remove Boasberg by way of impeachment.