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Dec 18, 2025

Appeals Court Thwarts Boasberg’s Contempt Proceedings Against Trump Officials

Appeals Court Thwarts Boasberg’s Contempt Proceedings Against Trump Officials

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A federal appeals court has intervened to halt U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s contempt proceedings against the Trump administration, directing all parties to pause until 2026 while the court reviews whether Boasberg has any authority to pursue contempt at all.

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In a December 15 order, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals—Judges Neomi Rao, Justin Walker, and Michelle Childs—granted the administration’s request to delay the matter and ordered both sides to submit detailed legal arguments on the scope of a district court’s contempt powers.

The order came amid escalating tensions between the judiciary and the administration over Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The appellate court’s directive requires the respondents to file a response by December 29, 2025, and the administration to reply by January 5, 2026.

The panel instructed the parties to specifically address whether a district court has the legal authority to investigate and delay a criminal referral in a case of so-called “indirect contempt.”

Quoting the order, the panel wrote: “Federal law recognizes that criminal contempt may be direct or indirect. … A court may initiate criminal proceedings for indirect contempt through notice and a referral for prosecution. … In seeking information about decisions made outside the presence of the court and referencing the possibility of a referral for prosecution, the district court appears to contemplate indirect contempt proceedings. … On what legal basis may a district court (1) investigate possible grounds for indirect contempt and (2) delay a referral for prosecution until it finds probable cause that indirect contempt occurred?”

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The appellate order effectively postpones Judge Boasberg’s planned contempt hearings and punts the matter into next year, adding yet another delay in a high-profile legal battle that has already drawn national scrutiny.

Boasberg, an Obama appointee and chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has been locked in a months-long dispute with the administration over whether federal officials violated his March order temporarily halting deportation flights to El Salvador.

The flights were part of Trump’s enforcement of the Alien Enemies Act—a 1798 law allowing the removal of non-citizens from hostile nations during periods of conflict.

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