Judge faults US as 'woefully insufficient' in Venezuela case

David Voreacos and Greg Stohr, Bloomberg News on Mar 20, 2025

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The federal judge handling a lawsuit over the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members blasted the Trump administration’s latest filing as “woefully insufficient,” further escalating a high-profile standoff between the White House and the courts.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to say by Tuesday whether it is going to invoke the so-called state secrets privilege to avoid privately answering his questions.

Boasberg said the Justice Department had “evaded its obligations” to provide him with specific information about the flights last weekend deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang to an El Salvador prison.

He faulted the government’s submission from a Immigration and Customs Enforcement official that said cabinet secretaries are “actively considering” whether to invoke the state-secrets privilege but can’t properly do so “in just 24 hours.”

“This is woefully insufficient,” wrote Boasberg, the chief judge in Washington federal court. “The government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of state-secrets privilege.”

The state-secrets privilege is a longstanding doctrine that lets the government refuse to provide information in litigation on the grounds that it would harm national security or foreign relations.

Boasberg also demanded a sworn declaration by Friday morning from someone with direct knowledge of the administration’s deliberations on the privilege. He also directed a legal filing by March 25 on whether the U.S. violated his oral order on March 15 to have two planes to return from their flights.

Boasberg and the Trump administration are at odds over whether the U.S. defied his March 15 ruling temporarily blocking further use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove alleged gang members. The U.S. has asked a federal appeals court to take Boasberg off the case, saying his questioning is “flagrantly improper” and presents “grave risks.”

The order comes amid escalating tensions between the judge and President Donald Trump this week. Trump, in a social media post, without referring to Boasberg by name, called him a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator.” In response, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said the impeachment of federal judges is “not an appropriate response” to disagreement with their rulings.