The Department of Justice (DOJ) has moved to block current and former federal officials from testifying in a rapidly escalating contempt probe launched by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
The Democrat aligned activist judge is an Obama appointee, whose actions the DOJ now says show “strong” signs of bias and retaliation.
Boasberg has scheduled contempt hearings for next week to investigate whether the Trump administration willfully violated his March order directing planes carrying alleged members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to turn around.
The Supreme Court later vacated that order after determining the case was filed in the wrong venue, yet Boasberg ruled in April that “probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.”
On Friday, in its motion to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ urges the court not only to block the compelled testimony but also to reassign the case to another judge, writing that Boasberg has “developed too strong a bias to preside over this matter impartially.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted Boasberg’s latest moves as an overreach designed to punish the Trump administration for removing dangerous criminals.
“His latest order threatens attorney-client privilege and the separation of powers underpinning our government — all because this Administration dared to remove Venezuelan Tren de Aragua terrorists from this country,” Bondi wrote on X.
“This radical, retaliatory, unconstitutional campaign against the Trump Administration will not stand.”
Today, @TheJusticeDept filed a new mandamus petition in the D.C. Circuit to stop Judge James Boasberg's lawless judicial activism and defend @POTUS's agenda.
His latest order threatens attorney-client privilege and the separation of powers underpinning our government — all…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 12, 2025
Boasberg Targets Former DOJ Attorneys, High-Level Officials
Boasberg has ordered testimony from former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign.
Reuveni recently made headlines in a whistleblower disclosure alleging that Emil Bove, formerly a senior DOJ official before becoming a federal judge, suggested the department may need to “consider telling the courts ‘f**k you’ and ignore any such court order.”
Bove has denied telling anyone to violate a court order.
Boasberg has also demanded written declarations from senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, expanding the inquiry into a sweeping examination of internal decision-making during the deportation effort.
DOJ: Judge Has No Authority to Pursue a Criminal Probe
In its filing, the government sharply rebukes Boasberg’s attempt to force testimony from administration lawyers, warning that the judge is openly threatening to dismantle basic legal protections.
The motion states:
“In short: Absent this Court’s intervention, the district judge plans to compel wide-ranging testimony from government lawyers starting on Monday, with cross examination by opposing counsel who have a partisan interest in attacking the Government and its officials, with no meaningful protections in place to protect privilege despite overt threats to vitiate all such protections, and to do so in service of a putative criminal investigation that the court has no constitutional authority to undertake, and that a judge of this Court has already determined is fundamentally flawed as a matter of law, even though these witnesses have no knowledge relevant to the sole question that the court seeks ostensibly to investigate.”
The DOJ argues the entire proceeding lacks constitutional grounding, noting that federal courts cannot unilaterally conduct criminal investigations, and pointing out that a D.C. Circuit judge already deemed Boasberg’s theory “fundamentally flawed.”
A High-Stakes Clash Over Immigration Enforcement and Judicial Power
The controversy centers on the Trump administration’s deportation flights carrying alleged Tren de Aragua members, a violent transnational gang U.S. intelligence agencies have identified as a growing security threat.
The administration has repeatedly argued it acted within lawful authority to expel violent foreign nationals.
Boasberg’s insistence on pursuing contempt, despite the Supreme Court’s intervention, has triggered a rare institutional showdown between the executive branch and a federal judge.
If the D.C. Circuit declines to intervene, senior officials could be forced onto the witness stand under threat of sanctions, setting up an unprecedented confrontation over separation of powers.
READ MORE – Judge Kicks Charlie Kirk Assassin Tyler Robinson’s Family Out of Courtroom
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