Whole court should rethink 'dangerous' DC Circuit ruling that helped Trump admin avoid contempt

Source: Law & Crime

Aug 29th, 2025, 10:05 am


Three weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit took the "drastic" and "extraordinary" step of nuking a federal judge's criminal contempt probable cause finding against President Donald Trump's administration, attorneys for Alien Enemies Act (AEA) deportees are asking the whole appellate court to hear the case again and to repudiate the "dangerous" 2-1 decision led by Trump-appointed circuit judges.

The ACLU attorneys in J.G.G. et al. v. Trump state that an en banc rehearing is needed, not just because the case is "rife with open legal questions" but also because Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg should be permitted to take into account "significant whistleblower evidence" about what the DOJ knew of his initial March 15 restraining order blocking (AEA) deportations and when the government knew it.

"Review by the full Court is warranted because the ruling creates an intra-Circuit conflict over the proper standard for mandamus relief. More fundamentally, the ruling raises an issue of overriding importance going to the heart of the Judiciary's authority to enforce its orders," said the petition for a rehearing en banc, calling U.S. Circuit Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas' ruling "dangerous" in its implications.

"It is hard to imagine a more direct blow to the authority of the federal courts than undermining their ability to enforce their orders. Here, the panel's ruling is even more dangerous because it undermines the district court's authority even to inquire into possible willful disobedience of its order—a step well short of pursuing any particular remedy, much less a criminal referral."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/whole-court-should-reevaluate-dangerous-dc-circuit-ruling-that-helped-trump-administration-petition-says/