WOW! THIS IS HUGE! THE GOVERNMENT JUST ADMITTED THAT NOEM GAVE THE COMMAND TO IGNORE THE TURN-AROUND ORDERS IN THE PLANES IN THE AIR CASE! (Documents Included)
Remember waaaay back in March, when Trump decided to try to use the Alien Enemies Act (‘AEA’) to deport immigrants, and he had a bunch loaded up on planes bound for El Salvador? (Because he’s of the “It’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission, and then to say ‘screw it, I’m not going to ask forgiveness either’ ” school of thought.)
As you may recall, way back then (was it really only been 8 months ago? It seems like 8 years!), there was an emergency hearing during which Judge James Boasberg issued an emergency order, ordering that the planes *not* take off, and when he learned that there were two planes already in the air, he ordered that they *turn around* and *return to the U.S.*.
Remember that?
I believe that conversation, which happened in the court *during the hearing*, went something like this:
Government Attorney: “Your honor, some of the planes have already taken off.”
Judge Boasberg: “Get on the horn and *turn them around* and *bring them back to the U.S.*, and that’s an order, Skippy!”
Ok, he probably didn’t say ‘horn’ or ‘Skippy’’, but you get the idea.
THEN a THIRD plane took off *after* he issued that order!
Now, this was all happening in real-time, so the timeline was very tight. It was, in fact, plausible that the third plane had taken off before the just-issued order grounding any further flights had been relayed up the chain of command. However, regardless, all three planes in the air were covered by the Court’s order to turn around and return to the U.S. and land.
Only they didn’t.
They went on and landed in El Salvador, consigning (the perfect word here) the most-likely terrified immigrants to the custody of the notorious CECOT prison.
Even if you hadn’t heard about all this, you almost certainly have heard of at least one of the men on the flights who ended up at CECOT: Kilmar Abrego Garcia. His legal team made a big noise, and news, because he had an active order saying that the *one* place to which he could *not* be deported was.. you guessed it.. El Salvador.
Well, the government came up with all sorts of excuses to explain their (in)actions and apparent defiance of the court order, including that while Judge Boasberg’s order to “turn those planes around” had been said *directly to the government’s attorneys IN COURT*, it wasn’t in the written order issued later by the Court.
(Well of course it wasn’t in the court order, because it had been said in urgency, in court, hours before, you can’t say in a written order after the fact “go back in time and turn those planes around.” It’s a *ballroom*, not a Tardis.)
So, can you spell “contempt”? I knew you could.
And now we find ourselves in the “deciding whether to hold them in contempt” phase, with Judge Boasberg issuing a minute order* on Monday, which said:
“'[T]he Court ORDERS that each side shall file by November 25, 2025, its proposals on how the Court’s inquiry regarding a potential contempt referral should proceed, including names of possible witnesses and dates for hearings. So ORDERED by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg on November 24, 2025.”
(*A minute order is an order issued orally from the bench and inserted into the minutes of the proceedings.)
On Tuesday the government submitted a responsive filing (included for Notes from the Front members) explaining the events of that day (March 15) from their perspective. In Paragraph 4 the government explains:
“Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the Court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara. Mr. Mazzara then conveyed that legal advice, as well as his own legal advice, to Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. After receiving that legal advice, *Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador.*
Did you catch that last sentence? The Court ordered the planes to be turned around; Noem said “Naaah, they can still be sent to El Salvador.”
They then go on to say that her decision was legally defensible, and so this should be the end of it.
But Judge Boasberg said, yesterday, “Nuh uh, not so fast” and then ORDERED the government to submit declarations (like an affidavit, a statement sworn under penalty of perjury) “from all individuals involved in the decision not to halt the transfer of class members out of U.S. physical custody on March 15 and 16, 2025. Such declarations shall detail their roles in such decision.”
Whaddaya think? Do you think that everyone in that chain is going to pass the buck, saying that the buck stops with Noem? Or do you think that some of them will fall on their swords to spread the blame around so that Noem doesn’t take the full hit?
The Court ordered those declarations to be submitted by December 5th (this coming Friday).
In the meantime, I’m off to buy stock in Orville Redenbacher.
P.S. Some of you may remember that they tried to pull the *same stunt*, only this time with *unaccompanied immigrant children*, several weeks ago, only this time the plaintiffs were in court so fast that the planes didn’t even have a chance to start taxiing down the runway.
Notes from the Front members: the government’s admission submission, and Judge Boasberg’s order, are in your inbox.
To protect myself from legal claims of impermissible public republication, and attacks by trolls, among other things, I don’t share documents I find publicly, I make them available privately to Notes from the Front members, along with explanations and insights. You can join below for immediate access – it’s $5 a month and it’s fine to join and then cancel if you only want certain documents.
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