REFILE: Dispute escalates over Trump response to order on deportations as legal experts weigh in

Record ID: 1984530

  • Title: REFILE: Dispute escalates over Trump response to order on deportations as legal experts weigh in
  • Date: 20th March 2025
  • Summary: HOUSTON, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (MARCH 19, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAW PROFESSOR AT SOUTH TEXAS COLLEGE OF LAW HOUSTON, JOSH BLACKMAN, SAYING: “I think judges who issue these emergency orders have to have a little bit of grace to give the president a chance to appeal. What we're seeing now is these judges issuing these rulings, not giving a chance to appeal and
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Donald Trump alien enemies act courts immigration
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA008015119032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: President Donald Trump's administration's response to a judicial request for more details on the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants was "woefully insufficient," a judge said on Thursday (March 20).
    Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is weighing whether administration officials violated his order intended to temporarily block the expulsions. In an order on Thursday (March 20), the judge told officials to explain by March 25 why their failure to bring the deported migrants back to the United States did not violate his order.
    Thursday (March 20) marked the first time the judge directly ordered officials to address whether they had violated his order by issuing what is known as an order to show cause.
    Boasberg's order escalates a dispute between the judge and Trump's administration has raised concerns among Trump critics and some legal experts about a potentially looming constitutional crisis if his administration defies judicial decisions. Under the U.S. Constitution, the executive and the judiciary are co-equal branches of government.
    Trump has said he would not defy any court orders.
    Josh Blackman, a professor of law at South Texas College of Law Houston, told Reuters on Wednesday (March 19), “I think judges who issue these emergency orders have to have a little bit of grace to give the president a chance to appeal.”
    “If we get to the point where the U.S. Supreme Court makes a ruling and it's clear and there's time to enforce, and the government says, you know, I'm not going to do it. I think that would be the crisis.”
    Leah Litman, a professor of law at the University of Michigan and author of the forthcoming book “LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court runs on conservative grievance fringe theories and bad vibes,” told Reuters on Wednesday (March 19), “In my view, we are already in a constitutional crisis”.
    “The government's unwillingness to answer any questions that the judge has about their conduct and compliance with the order is deeply concerning, and I think signaling some sort of confrontation between, you know, the executive branch and the courts,” Litman added.
    (Production: Alexandra Sarabia)
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