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.
AdvertisementIn 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?”
AdvertisementThe 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.
Advertisement“This is what we in the industry like to call a “benchslap’,” Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, remarked on the judicial order.
The Supreme Court has already weighed in on the broader policy question, permitting the administration to continue invoking the Alien Enemies Act while legal challenges proceed.
Last week, the Department of Justice accused Boasberg of bias and asked the D.C. Circuit to remove him from the case entirely, arguing that his actions created a “strong appearance” of personal hostility toward administration officials.
The department claimed the judge’s “pattern of retaliation and harassment” had gone too far, particularly after he ordered testimony from current and former DOJ lawyers regarding the disputed deportations.
“This long-running saga never should have begun; should not have continued at all after this Court’s last intervention; and certainly should not be allowed to escalate into the unseemly and unnecessary interbranch conflict that it now imminently portends,” the Justice Department said in its filing.
Among those called to testify before Boasberg was Erez Reuveni, a former DOJ attorney turned whistleblower who claimed officials ignored court orders to halt deportation flights.
Reuveni alleged that former senior DOJ official Emil Bove had once remarked during internal meetings that the department might need to “tell the courts ‘f*** you’ and ignore any such court order”—an assertion Bove has flatly denied.
Boasberg’s critics, including Trump himself, have accused the judge of waging a political vendetta against the administration.
The president has called for Boasberg’s impeachment, and more than a dozen House Republicans have co-sponsored articles seeking his removal, citing what they describe as judicial overreach and “open defiance of executive authority.”
For now, the D.C. Circuit’s stay freezes all contempt-related proceedings, leaving Judge Boasberg unable to act until the panel reviews the issue early next year.
"Listen to me, boy: cure my twins and I'll adopt you." The billionaire laughed... and the street child only touched them; then a miracle happened..
"Listen to me, boy: cure my twins and I'll adopt you." The billionaire laughed... and the street child only touched them; then a miracle happened...

Richard Vale had everything the world admired: iron gates, private jets, a business empire built on numbers that never slept. His name opened doors. His firm ended wars in boardrooms.
But inside his mansion, silence reigned.
Since the accident, her twins—Evan and Elise—moved through life like fragile glass. Metal splints hugged their legs. Crutches scraped the marble floor. The doctors spoke in careful tones, avoiding words like “never” when they meant exactly that.
No laughing in the courtyard.
No running in the hallways.
Just medical appointments, tests, and a father drowning in guilt he couldn't buy to get out of it.
His wife, Margaret, had grown distant: not cruel, just empty. When she looked at the children, her eyes filled with a sorrow too heavy to speak aloud. When she looked at Richard, there was a question neither of them dared to ask.
Why weren't you there that day?
Then destiny arrived —not in a tailored suit, not in a luxury car.
But barefoot. Thin. Seven years old.
His name was Kai.
A child who slept under park benches and spoke to the sky as if the sky were answering him.
The gala night glittered like a lie. The chandeliers burned brightly. The champagne flowed. The donors smiled with rehearsed pity as the twins were wheeled into the ballroom: symbols of tragedy wrapped in wealth.
Richard smiled all night. He nodded. He thanked everyone.
Until something inside him broke.
He saw Kai near the back —silent, invisible— looking at the twins with an expression that was not one of pity.
And Richard, drunk with pain and arrogance, said the words that would either destroy him… or redeem him.
"Look, kid," she laughed loudly, her voice echoing through the room. "Heal my children and I'll adopt you. How about that? Now that would be a miracle, wouldn't it?"
Some guests giggled. Others froze.
Kai didn't laugh.
He advanced calmly, as if the marble floor belonged to him.
"Can I try?" he asked gently.
The room fell silent.
Richard made a dismissive gesture with his hand.
—Go ahead. Do me a favor.
Kai knelt before the twins. He didn't ask their names. He didn't touch the splints. He didn't say a word anyone would recognize.
She simply closed her eyes… and gently placed her hands on their knees.
The air changed.
Not dramatically. Just… strange. Like the moment before a storm.
So-
Evan's crutch slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a thud.
"I-I... I feel hot," Evan whispered, his eyes wide. "Dad... it doesn't hurt."
Elise stood up.
One step.
Then another.
A collective gasp tore through the room.
Margaret screamed.
Richard couldn't breathe.
The twins stood there—trembling, crying, standing—while the guests recoiled as if witnessing something forbidden.
And Kai?
Kai staggered.
He collapsed.
The doctors rushed toward him, shouting orders. Security panicked. Richard fell to his knees beside the child.
"What did you do?" she demanded, her voice breaking.
Kai smiled weakly.
—I shared.

That night, the tests showed the impossible: nerve activity restored, damage reversed beyond any medical explanation. The twins slept peacefully for the first time in years.
Kai lay unconscious in a private room at the hospital.
And Vivien Vale —Richard's sister— made her move.
He called lawyers. Doctors. Board members.
"It's a fraud," he insisted. "Or it's dangerous. We can't let it stay."
When Kai finally woke up, Vivien was alone by his bed.
"You don't belong here," he said coldly. "Tell me your price. I'll make you disappear."
Kai looked at her calmly.
—I already have a home.
—You live on the street.
—I used to live where I was needed —he replied—. Now I'm here.
Vivien smiled barely, her smile thin and sharp.
—Do you think my brother will choose you over the family name?
That night, Richard gathered everyone together.
To the council. To the press. To the doctors.
And to Kai.
Richard stood in front of them, his hands trembling—not from fear, but from clarity.
"I made a promise," he said. "In public. Cruelly. And a child kept it."
Vivien stepped forward.
—Richard, think about—
"No," he said firmly. "That's what I'm doing."
He turned to Kai and knelt down.
"I don't know what you are," Richard said, his voice rough. "But you saved my children. And I failed mine."
He extended his hand.
—If you accept us… we would like to be your family.
Kai looked at the twins —who were now running, still unsure, but laughing.
Then he nodded.
Years later, people were still arguing about Kai.
Angel.
Medical anomaly.
Inexplicable coincidence.
But Richard Vale didn't care anymore.
Because every night, as I passed by the twins' room, I heard laughter echoing in hallways that once felt like a tomb.
And sometimes… just sometimes… Kai still spoke to the sky.
Only now, the sky seemed to answer him.