Summary
A federal judge criticized a Trump administration Justice Department lawyer who claimed they didn’t have to follow the judge’s oral order blocking deportations to El Salvador because it wasn’t in writing.
Judge Boasberg questioned why the administration ignored his directive to return immigrants to the US. The DOJ lawyer repeatedly refused to provide information about the deportations, citing “national security concerns.”
Frustrated, Boasberg ordered sworn declarations explaining what happened, quipping that he would issue a written order “since apparently my verbal orders don’t seem to carry much weight.”
Correct me if I’m wrong but what could the judge even do to these DoJ staff? Throw them in jail for a few days? Trump would just pardon them, wouldn’t he?
Public/private reprimand is the first step I think. The judge could also probably suspend their license, or possibly influence their getting disbarred if the lawyer fucks up enough. Probably couldn’t throw them in jail unless they were accused of a crime, but that would only be pardonable if it was a federal crime.