TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Aug 19, 2025

A federal appeals court has overturned a judge’s finding of probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for sending accused Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador despite an order to halt the deportations, Bloomberg Law reports. In a 2-1 ruling, U.S. officials will no longer face a contempt investigation or possible prosecution. In April, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington said officials acted in “willful disregard” of his orders to turn around planes carrying Venezuelans. Judge Greg Katsas, writing in support of the appeals court’s decision, said there was ambiguity in Boasberg’s initial order and that the government reasonably believed the ruling applied only to migrants physically leaving the U.S., which had already occurred by the time the order was issued.