U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media after attending a board meeting at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 17, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump threw a "tantrum" and "jumped the shark" with his administration's latest request — asking an appeals court to yank a federal judge from hearing the case over the Alien Enemies Act.
The Trump administration asked an appeals court to remove Judge James Boasberg from overseeing its deportation case Monday. The Justice Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reassign the case to a different district court judge, citing "highly irregular and inappropriate procedures" in Boasberg's handling of the case. This included his swift certification of a class action involving people associated with a designated foreign terrorist group.
“The Government cannot—and will not—be forced to answer sensitive questions of national security and foreign relations," the administration wrote, according to Camilo Montoya-Galvez, an immigration and politics reporter for CBS News.
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The Trump administration's request came just before a scheduled hearing where Boasberg was set to weigh in on whether the administration violated his order by sending deportation flights to El Salvador. The administration said immediate relief from the appeals court is necessary to prevent further interference with Trump's constitutional powers, including the management of foreign relations.
But legal experts panned the argument on social media.
"This is the equivalent of a small child throwing themselves on the ground and having a tantrum," chided Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
In separate posts on X, he added: "Basically, Judge Boasberg is treating this like a fairly normal immigration-related case. The government makes arguments, he decides whether they are valid, and things proceed normally. Meanwhile the Trump admin is suggesting it's like ordering the president not to kill Hitler."
Boasberg was "literally Chief Judge of FISC, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where the government presents arguments about real terrorists," added Reichlin-Melnick. "He's dealt with far more serious national security issues than this before."
"Think the administration *really* jumped the shark with this," quipped Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. "Judge Boasberg is no bleeding-heart liberal or national security law skeptic; he's the former presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court."