In a jaw-dropping report out of court proceedings involving US District Court Judge James Boasberg and the Trump Administration, Obama-appointed Judge Boasberg was alleged to have been rolling his eyes and smirking as the Trump Administration made its arguments before him, raising serious questions about his impartiality.
As background, the hearing, which occurred on Thursday, April 3, was over whether there is probable cause for contempt proceedings to move forward against the Trump Administration over its refusal to comply with Judge Boasberg’s emergency injunction demanding it stop deporting MS-13 and Tren de Argua gangsters to El Salvador and turn the planes around in midair. The Trump Administration argued it had no need to comply, as the judge had no jurisdiction over the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
It was during the hearing over the matter that Judge Boasberg reportedly made the demeaning and dismissive gestures toward the Trump Administration’s lawyers, as was reported on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) by courtroom reporter Julie Kelly.
Beginning her two-post report on the matter, Kelly accused the judge of being on a huge “power trip,” writing, “After quite the performance, Jeb Boasberg says he believes probable cause exists to initiate contempt proceedings against Trump adm for disobeying his “oral ruling” to return planes March 15. He is on a massive power trip and shocking to watch while Congress does nothing.”
Continuing, Kelly sarcastically said that Boasberg would win an Emmy for his sneering performance during the hearing, writing, “What didn’t come across on audio line was Boasberg’s physical theatrics. Glasses on and off, scowling at DOJ lawyer over his glasses, rolling eyes, smirks, etc. Emmy award winning stuff.”
Legal analyst Phil Holloway, commenting on Kelly’s post, asked what Boasberg thinks he is doing and why the DOJ hasn’t taken more action against him, Holloway wrote, “Does he think he’s going to jail someone in the administration? Because if he does, he’s biting off way more than he can chew. And by the way – why hasn’t the DOJ moved to recuse Boasberg? He’s more than demonstrated his bias and lack of impartiality. I can’t understand why the DOJ hasn’t moved to recuse these activists.”
Responding, Kelly noted that Boasberg had no authority to jail anyone in the Trump Administration in this situation and that the DOJ had taken some steps toward removing him, saying, “Good question as to contempt investigation. Pretty sure he can’t throw an executive branch employee or official in jail on a contempt allegation especially since his written TROs are under review at SCOTUS. And DOJ did ask DC circuit to reassign to a different judge.”
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Another commenter on Kelly’s post argued that Judge Boasberg’s ruling was entirely unjustifiable and showed no knowledge of how the government operates, saying, “I also attended Judge Boasberg’s hearing. He indicated that the only inference that could be drawn from the short time between Trump’s publishing the AEA proclamation and the flights was an attempt to evade judicial review before the flights started. This unjustifiable conclusion by Boasberg is egregiously judge-centric in its view of the world and how government operates.”
That commenter concluded by noting that there are a great many explanations other than those Judge Boasberg considered, saying, “Clearly, other possible explanations of the short time jump out at you such as Administration concerns over security, the sensitivity of international agreements, and and leaks to political and media opposition.”
Watch Fox News Channel’s report on the hearing here:
Featured image credit: By United States District Court for the District of Columbia – http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/content/district-judge-james-e-boasberg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59245238