Miraculously, another case aiming to choke off President Donald Trump’s executive authority has landed in the lap of U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg.
The activist judge in the Washington, D.C., federal court worked overtime this weekend overreaching his power in a failed attempt to stop Trump from deporting alleged members of Tren de Aragua, which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security deported 238 alleged members of De Aragua. A Sunday White House statement said they were “extracted and removed to El Salvador.” A riveting video of their arrival there was posted Sunday by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Last year, President Joe Biden’s administration designated Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization, meaning this was not just a Trump thing. Everyone agrees, Tren De Aragua are bad hombres. Who could be opposed to removing terrorists from the U.S.? Hardcore Democrats who passed the bar exam and are still hellbent on seeing Trump fail. Even if it means a few more daughters are raped and killed by terrorist gangs.
By Saturday, opposition to terrorist deportation surfaced from the anti-American ACLU and the far left lawfare firm, Democracy Forward, led by Marc Elias (he has an entire page at The Federalist). The meddling attorneys whipped up a complaint and went to Old Faithful, Judge Boasberg. They asked for a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump Administration from the deportation.
Boasberg agreed immediately. No hearing. No opposing voice. He ordered the administration not to remove anyone for 14 days and prepare for a hearing.
However, some of the terrorists had already been removed, and Attorney General Pam Bondi told Boasberg, in a Notice to the Court, that his court does not have jurisdiction over the president’s exercise of powers and that the administration, “Will continue to protect the United States.”
Boasberg seems to think he is the president. He was not elected; he was appointed in 2011 by former President Barack Obama. District judges don’t have the authority to block the president’s moves. They have authority over their jurisdiction, not the entire nation. Trump is not obligated to check in with this district dude when he is carrying out the mandate voters elected him to enact.
Congress and the president should explore how to curb the judicial branch’s frequent interference beyond its boundaries.
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Boasberg was appointed to a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in Feb. 2014.
Between August 2016-June 2017, four FISA applications were requested and approved, launching the Russia collusion hoax that attacked Trump for years. Former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith later pleaded guilty to lying on one of the FISA applications, a serious violation that carries a maximum five years in prison. As “luck” would have it, Boasberg was also the judge in Clinesmith’s case, and he served no prison time.
Boasberg has handled dozens of Jan. 6 cases and has sent many Trump supporters who were at the Capitol that day to prison, a harsh outcome compared to his Tren De Aragua gang ruling.
In 2012, Judicial Watch was in court seeking the public release of CIA photos of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden’s death. Boasberg ruled the terrorist’s photos should remain private.
In 2018 Boasberg ordered the Trump Administration stop the so-called “arbitrary detention” of asylum seekers and give them humanitarian parole (release illegal immigrants into the U.S.) instead of detention.
In 2019 Boasberg ruled to protect a 5,000-square-mile part of the Atlantic Ocean designated by Obama in 2016 as national monument, protecting the ocean ecosystem, and destroying the livelihood of fishermen.
In 2020, Boasberg ordered the Dakota Access pipeline halted and emptied of oil.
In 2023, Boasberg ordered Former Vice President Mike Pence to testify in front of a grand jury about his experience related to the aftermath of the 2020 election. Pence argued he had executive privilege. Boasberg ruled that while Pence did have immunity, it did not apply in this case.
As inept as former President Joe Biden was, the right did not keep him constantly tied up in court. Democrats are holding Trump’s agenda hostage while they continue to wage lawfare from every angle with their secret weapon, activist judges. They have yet to realize that while Trump will engage in negotiation, he will never back down from a court battle.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
