The Department of Justice declined to answer specific questions from U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg after he ordered answers in writing by noon on Tuesday.
At a court hearing on Monday, Boasberg made demands of DOJ lawyers after they refused his directive turn turn around planes deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members under the guise of a little-used 18th Century law.
Boasberg said he wanted to know how many planes departed based on President Donald Trump's executive order, how many people were on the planes, what countries the aircraft landed in, and timeline information regarding the flights.
In its response on Tuesday, the DOJ simply refused to answer the direct questions.
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"The Government maintains that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate, because even accepting Plaintiffs' account of the facts, there was no violation of the Court's written order (since the relevant flights left U.S. airspace, and so their occupants were "removed," before the order issued), and the Court's earlier oral statements were not independently enforceable as injunctions," Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote.
"The Government stands on those arguments," the filing continued. "If, however, the Court nevertheless orders the Government to provide additional details, the Court should do so through an in camera and ex parte declaration, in order to protect sensitive information bearing on foreign relations."
