One retired federal judge is now sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump could be provoking a standoff between the executive and judiciary branches in an ongoing legal battle over his authority to deport immigrants.
Over the weekend, Trump deported two flights of Venezuelans who were allegedly members of a gang under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789. This was in direct defiance of an order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg (an appointee of former President Barack Obama). The administration argued that Boasberg's ruling didn't apply because the flights were over international waters.
In a recent interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar, retired U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III (who was appointed by former President George W. Bush), said that the administration's argument "just doesn't hold water." He doubted that the administration would win over Boasberg in a hearing later Monday evening to discuss the deportation flights.
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"When you talk about international waters, I don't get that, that he didn't have jurisdiction. I wonder if they even made that argument on Saturday. This is a government plane," he said. "You know, we're not talking about lack of jurisdiction just because it's out over international waters. Good luck with that argument."
Jones, who was a member of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania between 2002 and 2021, said Boasberg may choose to sanction the administration's lawyers over their client's refusal to abide by his order. He then told Keilar that there were few things that "fire up federal judges more than somebody just blatantly disregarding their court order."
"I have two words, you know? Constitutional crisis. That's what we're heading towards," Jones said, after slamming the administration for suggesting that a U.S. District Court judge didn't have the authority to check the executive branch. "This is kind of a slow-motion car crash analogy, you know, heading towards a real showdown here.
"It's as if to say, 'well, we might consider what the appellate court says. We might consider what the Supreme Court says, but we're not going to listen to a U.S. district judge who's appointed for life under Article III of the United States Constitution ... You can't pick and choose. you have you have the right to appeal orders that you don't agree with, but you don't have the right to disregard those orders."
READ MORE: Trump official 'doesn't care' about judges — one might make administration think twice
Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.