The story of two jurists in the Trump era

last month, James Boasbergexperienced federal judge and Justice Department attorney Emil Bove III, a metaphor about the rule of law during Donald Trump’s second term. On July 28, the Justice Department announced a complaint of misconduct against Boasberg, which was accused of having personal bias against the president. The next day, Bauffe, who Trump nominated a judge in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, was confirmed by Republicans in the Senate. Boasberg “destroys the integrity of the judiciary and we will not represent it for that.” Pam BondiTrump’s attorney general wrote on X. By contrast, Boff said: “Will be an outstanding judge.”

Apart from their former prosecutor and baldness, the two men seem to have little in common. Boasberg was appointed judges by George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the early 1960s. The Senate confirmed his current position by a 96-to-zero vote. 2014 John RobertsThe Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appointed Boasberg as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, giving him a senior security permit. “You know when you’re in court with him, he’s going to follow the rules,” a former Justice Department attorney Tell CNN. “He was foreseeable because he followed the law.”

Bove, 44, served as assistant U.S. attorney for the southern region of New York from 2012 to 2021, but his main certificate comes two years later: Bove joined his criminal insurance team after Donald Trump faced thirty-four people who forged business records in Manhattan. (Trump was convicted on all charges and appealed the results.) When Trump was re-listed to the White House, Bauff received the top position at the Justice Department, where he immediately stood out as a law enforcement officer. Three prosecutors in southern New York last winter Resign As the government finally succeeded in dismissing the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams, Bow was the center of the controversy. The Justice Department has ordered prosecutors to drop the charges, apparently in order to enable Adams to enforce the government’s immigration policy. Bove scolded them for taking notes at a key meeting, and he ended up “guiding the collection of those notes”, according to a prosecutor. (Bove denied any Quid-Pro-Quo deal, claiming that he ended Adams’s prosecution because it was politically motivated – Adams insisted that he had no wrongdoing – and restricted notes to prevent leaks.)

The high contrast between Boasberg and Bove’s current position is a direct result of the case, which tied its political fate together due to accidents in timing and circumstances. On Friday, March 14, Trump signed a declaration citing the Alien Enemy Act of 1798 to secretly authorize the evacuation of more than 200 Venezuelans from the highest security prison in El Salvador. As federal policy, this is a radical move. With despicable evidence, the government has not allowed these people to participate in the competition defendant They belong to a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua. According to reports, based on the basis that immigration and customs law enforcement officers told them during their detention, the people believed they were deported to Venezuela. Most of them have not committed any crimes, and some have actually been in the case of people who have not committed crimes, many have legal status To be done Immigration judge’s previous case.

Shortly before Trump’s signing announcement, a group of Justice Department lawyers met to discuss what would happen if the judge issued an order to stop the removal. One of them is Bouf. The other is Erez Reuvenia senior government litigant just promoted to acting deputy director of the Immigration Litigation Office. According to Reuveni, the complaint of the whistleblower was later filed, and Bauf told lawyers that once Trump signed the announcement, one or more planes would “regardless” that weekend, he continued saying that if a judge tried to reject the flight, he continued that the department “needed to “reject the court,” consider telling the court.” (Bove denied that.)

Within hours of the announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal immigration custody on behalf of the Venezuelans to prevent evacuation flights under the Foreign Enemy Act. On the morning of March 15, around eight o’clock, Boasberg learned that he was randomly assigned. Boasberg wrote in his subsequent comment that he received no response when he first “reached out to find a government lawyer.” Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s attorney reported that at least one of their clients was sitting on a plane that could take off at any time. Boasberg issues temporary restriction order yes He said he had to “freeze the status quo until a hearing could be held.”

The hearing began at 5:00 that night, more than an hour after Trump’s public release. Government lawyers insist that Boasberg should not prove a broader class (that is the five plaintiffs) to prevent evacuation under the Alien Enemy Act. When Boasberg asked if there were any flights “within the next twenty-four or 48 hours,” government lawyer Lieutenant Drew replied, “I don’t know the answer to this question.” However, according to Reuveni, the Lieutenant attended the meeting the day before, and Bove said the evacuation flights would depart over the weekend.

Eventually, Boasberg convened a forty-minute recess and instructed the lieutenant to get more information from the Department of Homeland Security. During this period, two aircraft (each with about 80 detainees) left Texas for Honduras. They were on the transit when the hearing reunited, but the lieutenant said he learned nothing. Boasberg, about 55/6, issued a verbal order that prevented the government from deleting anyone under the Alien Enemy Act. “It’s something you need to follow immediately,” he said.

Ruveni has been listening to the on-site feed for the hearing. He immediately sent several emails to officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the state department, and made clear what Boasberg said. “Sorry, all emails,” he wrote in 6:48. afternoon “The judge specifically ordered us not to delete anyone in the class and return to anyone in the air.” Ruweni and Boasberg were also ignored. At 7:36 afternoonthe third plane will head to Honduras. Between the thirty-thirty-nine and twelve-thirty-nine planes of the night, all three flew from Honduras to El Salvador, carrying more than 200 Venezuelans, a group of El Salvadors and a Nicaragua.

On March 28, the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court for it to lift Boasberg’s ban. Ten days later, through a 5-4 vote, the Justice ruled that the plaintiff in the case, known as JGG v. Trump, chose the wrong place and wrong litigation principles. Instead of breaching administrative proceedings in the District Court of Washington, the court found that they should file a petition under the personal protection of Texas and were detained before Texas was removed from office. Nevertheless, the ruling was clear at some point: Anyone detained under the Alien Enemy Act must notify them before being deleted and have a chance to sue their deportation.

The result effectively unraveled Boasberg’s ban on evacuation on March 15, but it strengthened some aspects of his ruling. The court effectively said that the constitution prohibits the government from doing exactly that Saturday, when it secretly loads people on planes, places many of them in the darkness of their destination and runs before they can invoke the right to the legitimate process. “In this view, he also found that there were “probable reasons” to believe that the Trump administration could tempt the court announcement because he ignored his initial order.

By then, the government had arranged two other aircraft to transport detainees to the same El Salvador prison. The Trump administration no longer invokes the Alien Enemy Act, but does not share the names of detainees. No official record. On March 31, the State Council announced that 17 immigrants had been sent to prison. Ten are El Salvadorians, the rest are Venezuelans. Two weeks later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio Posted On X, “Last night, another 10 criminals from MS-13 and Tren de Aragua foreign terrorist group arrived in El Salvador.”

When Boasberg wrote that there were “probable reasons” to believe that the government had ignored his orders, he actually conducted a more ongoing investigation into what happened on March 15. But that’s not the only situation where Bove seems to contradict the judge’s instructions. The Department of Homeland Security plans to deport people arrested on U.S. soil to a third country, often without sufficient procedures or legal defense. Several such cases prompted another judge in the lawsuit to determine whether the Convention Against Torture correctly determines that immigrants will not be tortured after dismissal. After that judge temporarily blocked the removals, Rouvini raised questions within the Justice Department about whether the government would once again ignore the judge’s injunction. According to Reuveni, on April 1, he received a call from an acting assistant attorney general who told him: “Bove contacted Mr. Reuveni with lawyers from various agencies to determine if the Justice Department violated the court order.” He directed Reuveni to stop sending emails and limiting his future communications to the phone.