A federal appeals court hearing on Tuesday could determine whether a judge can continue investigating if Trump administration officials knowingly defied his order to turn around deportation fights to El Salvador, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman warned.
Writing for The New Republic, Litman, a senior legal columnist, said the case has taken a “long, tortuous path” to Tuesday’s hearing. Now, the full D.C. Circuit will hear arguments on whether Judge James Boasberg can continue probing the administration’s actions.
It began in March 2025, when Boasberg ordered planes carrying Venezuelan migrants returned to the United States. Instead, the planes landed in El Salvador.
“Eighteen months later, the only question before the court is narrow, and worth stating precisely, because the government has spent great energy twisting it into something else,” Litman told readers. “May Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James Boasberg continue to inquire into whether the administration knowingly defied his order?”
Litman joined 11 other former Justice Department officials in a brief urging the full D.C. Circuit to let the inquiry proceed. He stressed that Boasberg has made no finding of contempt.
“The D.C. Circuit should stand behind Boasberg’s doggedness,” he wrote in Monday’s analysis.
The hearing also put renewed attention on an allegation from former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, who told Congress that then-senior DOJ official Emil Bove said the planes would leave “no matter what.”
For Litman, the stakes extend beyond the flights. He accused the administration of an “Orwellian project of whitewashing history” and said the hearing could help answer whether Trump officials believe they could ignore a judge’s order.
“It is vital for us to know as a country whether the administration came into office determined to elevate presidential will over the rule of law, to land the planes ‘no matter what,’” he concluded. “Unless Boasberg is permitted to finish the job he started well over a year ago, we may never learn the answer.”
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