Overview

• A Washington Post analysis found the administration defied or frustrated court oversight in 57 of 165 substantive adverse rulings, about 34 percent of the cases reviewed.
• Immigration policies account for most instances of noncompliance, including a high-profile case in which Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent back without court authorization, prompting Judge Paula Xinis’s admonishment.
• Obama-appointed judges such as James Boasberg and Amy Berman Jackson have publicly criticized willful delays and legal misrepresentations in both deportation and workforce reduction disputes.
• Courts have largely refrained from holding contempt hearings because enforcement of orders depends on the U.S. Marshals Service, whose leadership answers to the president.
• A DOJ whistleblower alleges senior officials instructed lawyers to ignore immigration-related rulings, while public polling reveals majority disapproval and House Speaker Mike Johnson has threatened sanctions against courts.