Appeals Court Stirs Awake in Long-Delayed Contempt of Court Case Over AEA Flights

INSIDE: Jeffrey Epstein ... Alina Habba ... Stephen Colbert

(Photo by Salvadoran Government via Getty Images)

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

What an Absurd Position to be in

More than three months after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals “temporarily” blocked contempt of court proceedings against the Trump administration in the original Alien Enemies Act case, it showed signs of life for the first time yesterday — but only after the detainees at CECOT were repatriated to Venezuela over the weekend.

Like a drunk after a bender, the appeals court wandered into the aftermath of its own misconduct with lots of questions and few answers. In a new order, the court insouciantly noted the weekend developments:

The [government] sought this Court’s intervention based, in part, on their view that the order impermissibly pressured the [government] to engage in diplomacy with El Salvador. … The [government] informed this Court that on July 18, 2025, El Salvador transferred the class members to Venezuela, which has made certain assurances to the U.S. government.

With events having long ago overtaken the court, it ordered the Trump administration to file a brief of no longer than 2,500 words by tomorrow “addressing whether and how these factual developments affect their position in this case.” It set what for this panel is a blindingly fast briefing schedule of about a week for the parties to address this and related issues in the case, including the government’s response to a motion that plaintiffs filed last week to try to nudge the court along.

It should be noted that only two of the three judges — Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao (Trump appointees) — agreed to grant the Trump’s administration’s request for an administrative stay in April. The third judge — Cornelia Pillard (an Obama appointee) — opposed the stay.

As Morning Memo noted last week, the unconscionable delay by the appeals court blocked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg from continuing with contempt proceedings after he found probable cause that the Trump administration had committed criminal contempt by continuing with the Alien Enemies Act removals in defiance of his orders to turn back the deportation flights.

To put a blunt point on it: If Boasberg’s order had been followed, there would have been no Venezuelan nationals imprisoned at CECOT, at least not until higher courts in the U.S. had weighed in. Given how courts have ruled subsequently, it’s not clear anyone would have been removed under this AEA proclamation. It’s hard to conceive of conduct in contempt of court more far-reaching, historic, and consequential.

In the three months since the appeals court stay went it effect, fired DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni turned into a whistleblower and released internal department communications that showed more starkly than ever before how purposefully and willfully defiant the administration had been in the face of Boasberg’s orders. DOJ official Emil Bove emerged as perhaps the central villain in the account provided by Reuveni, but by this time President Trump had nominated Bove to a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Still, the D.C. Circuit panel didn’t issue a ruling or move to lift the stay or otherwise bother itself with the case in any public way.

The inexcusable delays had compounding effects in other cases against the Trump administration. While Boasberg had a head start as the judge in the first AEA case, that advantage was squandered by the appeals court, with the result that the administration could engage in similar stonewalling and defiance with subsequent judges in various others challenges to executive power without the specter of a criminal contempt proceeding, let alone a contempt finding, hanging over its head.

With the new briefing schedule, it appears likely that the “temporary” administrative stay will have lasted from April until late July or early August. The world kept spinning while the appeals court dawdled.

Awaiting Big Decision I: Pro-Palestinian Int’l Students

Trial ended Monday in the case challenging the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian international students for their political views. U.S. District Judge William G. Young of Boston said he would need some time to render his verdict.

Awaiting Big Decision II: Harvard’s Case Against Trump

During a two-hour hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of Boston appeared receptive to Harvard’s arguments that President Trump has unlawfully targeted it with contingent funding cuts. Harvard is seeking summary judgment, meaning there are no disputed facts to be resolved at trial and the judge should rule now.

CBO: 10 Million Will Lose Health Insurances Under BBB

The CBO’s final tally on the centerpiece legislation of Trump II is in: 10 million people will lose health insurance coverage as the deficit balloons by $3.4 trillion over 10 years. The bulk of the deficit spending comes from the permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

Medicaid Cuts Will Hit Disabled Americans Hard

NYT: “Federal law deems most home- and community-based services as optional, so they are often targeted when states have to tighten their belts. When temporary Great Recession increases in Medicaid funding expired in the early 2010s, for example, every state reduced home care by limiting enrollment or lowering spending on existing recipients.”

Good Read

Wired: How Trump Killed Cancer Research?

Dems Use Epstein To Send House GOP Into Hiding

While President Trump plays all the old MAGA hits to try to woo back disillusioned right-wing conspiracists, House Republicans basically shut down the lower chamber rather than face votes on troll-y amendments by House Democrats calling for the release of more Epstein records. The upshot is that not much will get done this week before the House leaves for August recess.

Trump Punishes WSJ Over Epstein Letter

Thanks to a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last month that allowed President Trump to continue punishing the Associated Press for not using “Gulf of America” in its stories, there was nothing stopping him from retaliating against the WSJ for reporting on his letter to Jeffrey Epstein. The White House yanked the WSJ from the press pool covering the president’s upcoming trip to Scotland.

Good Riddance

Today is the last day on the job for interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba of New Jersey. The former Trump lawyer and hanger-on has been a disaster in the temporary role, and the federal judges in the state declined to extend her term.

Retribution Watch: Thomas Windom Edition

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) has issued a subpoena to former DOJ prosecutor Thomas Windom, who was deeply involved in the criminal cases against Donald Trump both before and after the appointment of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. The subpoena – part of the larger Trump-led retribution against prosecutors and investigators – comes after Windom declined to answer some committee questions in a private session last month. The subpoena calls for Windom to appear before the committee in September.

FEMA Search and Rescue Chief Resigns

Ken Pagurek’s, the head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue unit, resigned Monday after it took more than 72 hours for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to authorize deployment after the catastrophic flooding this month in Texas, CNN reports.

Dems Plot Counter To GOP Redistricting In Texas

Democratic leaders are considering mid-decade redistricting in five blue states – California, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and Washington state – to counter the GOP redistricting effort underway in a special session in Texas, according to CNN.

Colbert Mock-Relishes His Role As A Martyr On The Cross

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!