POTUS 47, THE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT, JAMES BOASBERG, AND SCOTUS

The Bait Is Cast And Taken

I am certain that all of you are now well aware of President Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport — without individual administrative hearings — more than 200 members of the transnational, criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TDA) to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. The President has designated TDA to be an International Terrorist Organization that poses a national security threat to the United States. The administration’s action was met with a injunction against their removal issued by Judge James Boasberg, a former Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA Court) judge who is now the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In theory, his jurisdiction is limited. That is unless he decides that it isn’t which is exactly what he did on March 15, 2025.

On that day Boasberg determined that his authority was nationwide and not limited to the area in which he was appointed to serve and that he could hear a case brought to him by someone from another state 1,500 miles from the District of Columbia. Boasberg also reasoned that he had jurisdiction over the actions of the President of the United States.

On March 15, 2025, the day of deportation, Boasberg was presented with a complaint filed by the ACLU. The complaint stated that certain members of TDA who were on aircraft headed to El Salvador had not been given their Fifth Amendment rights to due process. Boasberg agreed and verbally ordered the President to stop deporting the criminals under the AEA. But the government refused since the order was not in writing. Boasberg then issued his order in writing. The order demanded that the planes be turned around and the deportees brought back to the comfort of U.S. prisons until HE, Boasberg, could hear from the government as to why they thought they had the authority under the AEA to summarily remove violent, organized, criminal gang members with known association to the Venezuelan government — without giving them individual hearings.

The Government responded by noting that the aircraft were in international airspace and not subject to the judge’s order because entry into international airspace meant the the criminals removal from the US was completed. The government also argued that if it was to comply with Boasberg’s order the President would be forced to knowingly break the law by returning known terrorists back to United States soil. Boasberg then demanded that the government immediately provide him with operational details of those flights. The response was an immediate “No” based on matters of national security privilege. Boasberg is big mad. Trump is grinning all the way to SCOTUS, which is where he wanted to be all the time. But first there was a necessary stop at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The D.C. Court of Appeals is a three judge panel comprised of a Bush appointee, an Obama appointee, and a Trump appointee. In the realm of the District Court system who appointed you matters. Why? Because those appointments have become deeply politicized. Presidents who hold strong ideological differences with the Constitution have found that they can have a lasting impact on the future of the nation by appointing activist judges who are unafraid of exerting authority that reaches far beyond their geographical and judicial districts.

In that last decade 2016-2025 (to date) in his tenure as POTUS Donald Trump’s official actions have been the object of 79 injunctions by District Court judges across the nation. Of those, 64 were issued during his first term and a stunning 15 in just 9 weeks of his second term. Seventy-nine times a local, district judge has exerted national authority not granted in the Constitution.

And how do President Trump’s 79 District Court injunctions compare to those imposed on other Presidents? During Joe Biden’s four years he was the subject of 14 injunctions, George W. Bush faced 12, Barack Obama 20.

Recapping, District Court Injunctions of national application:

Trump 79
Bush, Obama, Biden combined 46

IF you are President Donald J. Trump whose presidencies have been beset by unknown District Court judges who have been using the their local authority to interfere with your overriding Executive Branch authority what do you do? How do you overcome a constant setting of judicial barriers to prevent your conservative/populist agenda from being implemented?

If your Donald Trump you subtly remind people of this:

“I’m a counterpuncher. I don’t start fights, but if somebody hits me, I hit back—harder. That’s how I’ve always been.”

Mohammed Ali perfected the “counter punch” turning a response into a tactic called “Rope-a-Dope”. And that I contend, is what Donald Trump has done here.

Trump never does anything without purpose. Never. Like announcing his intent to use a 227 year old, seldom used law to rid the Nation of a dangerous scourge.

How do you end the tyranny of lowly District Court judges constantly interfering with your constitutionally established executive authority? Easy. You take their’s away and you do it quickly. You find a circumstance, say the expulsion of alien criminals from the US and you find an attention getting law to expedite their removal in a loud and gaudy way which wraps itself in a claim of National Security so that its journey to the Supreme Court is lightening quick and its outcome is an almost certain win. THEN you dangle that bait in public not once but at least 25 times while you are campaigning for the Office of POTUS. Twenty-five times on the campaign trail Trump made a point of announcing his intent to use the AEA to rid the nation of TDA, MS-13, and the Mexican drug cartels.

And then after you are elected, after you’ve found and placed an Attorney General, an FBI Director, an Homeland Security Director, and a seasoned Border Czar — all tough as nails — you “put your feet up” on the Resolute Desk and watch the fish rise to the bait.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is just that loud and gaudy to be the irresistible bait that Trump needed. It is a 227 year old law seldom used except in wartime BUT the application of which has been determined by SCOTUS to be “nonjusticiable”; that is the application of the AEA of 1798 is “not capable of being decided by legal principles or by a court of justice”.

The bait is dangled.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (50 U.S.C. §§ 21–24), grants the president broad authority to detain, deport, or otherwise restrict the activities of non-citizens from a foreign nation during times of declared war or when the president proclaims an "invasion or predatory incursion" by that nation or its agents. Trump declared TDA to be an international terrorist organization with ties to the government of Venezuela.

“Jeb” Boasberg rises and takes the bait.

The Trump “Rope-a-dope” has worked.

Six of nine Supreme Court Justices are on record expressing concern about the overreach of District Court judges. AND a Republican Congress has had enough as well. Legislation that would limit the authority of District Court judges is in the works. The odds are in Trump’s favor.

This is Trumps best case and best timing for ending “judicial activism” or “legislating from the bench.” But predicting SCOTUS is often not different from predicting the weather in the Ohio valley — ya’ never know.

Pray and then pop some more corn.

Union, Kentucky

27 March 2025