The judicial branch is in a civil war. The outcome will change America for forever.
And President Trump just received massive news from an attorney about a hot fight headed to the SCOTUS.
Trump’s Immigration Showdown: Why Federal Judges Can’t Stop the Deportation Train
The Trump administration is locked in a high-stakes tug-of-war with the judiciary, and the battlefield is America’s immigration policy. On Wednesday, noted legal scholar Alan Dershowitz threw his weight behind the administration, predicting that a federal judge’s audacious threat to slap criminal contempt charges on Trump officials would crash and burn. This clash, centered on the deportation of Venezuelan gang members, is more than a legal skirmish—it’s a test of who truly holds the reins of power in Washington.
United States District Judge Boasberg, an Obama appointee presiding in the District of Columbia, fired a shot across the bow with an opinion accusing the Trump administration of thumbing its nose at his March 15 injunction. That order demanded the administration turn around two planes carrying members of the brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) bound for El Salvador. According to Politico, Boasberg went so far as to threaten appointing a special prosecutor to pursue contempt charges—a move Dershowitz dismissed as a judicial overreach doomed to fail.
“He’s threatened, essentially criminal contempt,” Dershowitz said. “What he said was, ‘Look, I said you gotta turn those planes back and you didn’t turn those planes back, some of them in the air, sure, but you could turn them back, and the others, one of them at least, was on the ground and you shouldn’t let it take off.’” Dershowitz, with his decades of legal expertise, pointed out the fatal flaw in Boasberg’s gambit: a federal judge lacks the authority to strong-arm the Department of Justice into prosecuting a criminal case or to appoint a prosecutor out of thin air.
The administration’s defense is rooted in a technical but potent argument. Dershowitz explained: “The administration comes back and says, wait a minute, you said that orally, but then you wrote an opinion and in the opinion you didn’t say they have to be brought back and we were taught law school, that when a judge renders two decisions, one orally and the other in writing, the subsequent written opinion governs, not the earlier oral opinion.” This legal nuance could be the administration’s ace in the hole, exposing Boasberg’s order as ambiguous and unenforceable.
The backdrop to this drama is the Trump administration’s aggressive push to secure America’s borders, a cornerstone of the president’s agenda since day one. On April 7, the Supreme Court delivered a 5-4 ruling affirming the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act—a law dating back to the John Adams era—to fast-track the deportation of TdA members. President Trump, wasting no time, invoked this historic legislation to expel gang members, signaling a no-nonsense approach to criminal aliens.
Dershowitz, never one to shy away from colorful commentary, took a moment to jab at the inflated egos of some federal judges. After sharing a quip about God having a mental breakdown and fancying himself a federal judge, he got serious: “Federal judges think they are above the law and above morality. They think that, because they’re wearing robes, not all of them, I know a lot of them and most of them are very decent people.” He recounted a personal anecdote about a judge demanding his Alzheimer’s-afflicted, Orthodox Jewish father remove his hat in court—an example of judicial arrogance run amok.
The legal showdown is set to reverberate for years, Dershowitz predicted. “We’re gonna see this conflict between the judicial branch and the executive branch carry forward for the next several years, so I’m gonna make some predictions again,” he said. “Judge Boasberg will not hold the Trump administration in contempt and the Trump administration’s not gonna back away. It will assert government secrecy, it will assert government privilege. Ultimately, he will back away or he will issue some order that is short of contempt, and that will be appealable, and the appellate courts will not give him the power to hold the president of the United States or the administration in contempt.”
Trump’s resolve was evident from the moment he took office on January 20, 2025. With a flurry of executive orders, he designated Mexican drug cartels, TdA, and the El Salvadoran gang MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations. The administration also laid bare the rap sheet of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a confirmed MS-13 member, whose ties to the gang were cemented by immigration court findings. These moves point to a broader strategy to dismantle criminal networks exploiting America’s borders.
Dershowitz, with his finger on the pulse of the Justice Department, vouched for the administration’s backbone. “They’re not backing away and I know the attorney general of the United States quite well, and I know the number two and number three person in the Justice Department. They’re not going to be cowed by a judge’s threatening them with contempt, or even if they’re held in contempt, they’re not gonna be imprisoned, nobody is,” he said. The administration’s top brass, he suggested, are ready to dig in their heels.
Boasberg’s threat to appoint a special prosecutor if the Justice Department refuses to act is, in Dershowitz’s view, a judicial fantasy. “And by the way the judge already announced, he said I will hold these people in contempt and if the Justice Department refuses to prosecute them for contempt, I will appoint a lawyer to be a special prosecutor to prosecute these people. That won’t stand, either. No!” Dershowitz declared. The separation of powers, a bedrock of the Constitution, ensures that prosecution decisions rest with the executive branch—not a judge’s gavel.
“Under the system of separation of powers it’s the United States government that decides who to prosecute, not the judiciary. The judiciary doesn’t have the power to prosecute,” Dershowitz continued. This principle, he argued, will be the administration’s shield as it fends off Boasberg’s threats. Appellate courts, Dershowitz predicted, will likely side with the administration, curbing the judge’s ambitions and reinforcing the executive’s authority.
The Alien Enemies Act exists for a reason, and the Supreme Court got it right siding with President Trump.
This isn’t about immigration. It’s about national security. If we can’t deport violent foreign gang members, what kind of nation are we? pic.twitter.com/daGBeErJk0
— Daniel Cameron (@DanielCameronKY) April 14, 2025
As this saga unfolds, the Trump administration stands poised to press its advantage. With the Supreme Court’s blessing and a clear mandate from voters, the president’s immigration crackdown is gaining steam. Dershowitz’s predictions paint a picture of an administration that won’t blink in the face of judicial pushback. For now, the planes carrying TdA members are a symbol of a larger fight—one where the executive branch is determined to call the shots, and rogue judges may find themselves grounded.
One thing is certain: the Trump administration is confident that if these cases end up on the footsteps of the U.S. Supreme Court, they’ll have the legal advantage and the historical precedence advantage in their corner. Not only that, but the SCOTUS still has an inherent 6-3 conservative majority even if some of the conservative Justices like Amy Barrett aren’t always reliable with their rulings.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
