Overview
- U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign to testify on Dec. 16 and ex-DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni to appear a day earlier.
- Boasberg said Kristi Noem’s sworn declaration was too cursory, noting he cannot yet find probable cause that her actions constituted criminal contempt.
- Noem stated she relied on privileged legal advice from DHS’s acting general counsel and, through him, from senior DOJ leadership when she decided not to return the planes.
- DOJ has said Ensign promptly conveyed the judge’s oral instruction and subsequent written order, while the administration argues no violation occurred because the directive was verbal and the planes were already beyond U.S. territory.
- The judge is resuming fact-finding after an appellate pause, weighing a possible contempt referral over flights that nevertheless landed in El Salvador, where migrants were held for months before later releases.