Trump Criminal Contempt Proceedings Resume

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2:32Michael Popok:The Trump administration, its Department of Justice and Homeland Security may be one step closer to criminal contempt proceedings against them. And we're talking criminal contempt. Somebody's going to jail because of a new ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. An 11-judge panel just said, we're going to take a closer look at whether Chief Judge Boasberg, the district court judge, was right or wrong to start and find probable cause of criminal contempt against the Trump administration. And then Director of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, in a decision that was probably 7-4, 8-3, they're setting a new briefing schedule.

3:20Michael Popok:I want everybody in their courtroom for an 11-judge panel, full en banc panel, to decide this case once and for all, subject to the United States Supreme Court. But that's the top line. But what is the prime mover? what moved this case forward? Former judges. 174 former judges, federal and state yoked together by our friend J. Michael Ludig, formerly of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. They just filed successfully a motion before Judge Williams in Miami, 35 federal judges imploring her to reopen her case to find fraud on the court perpetrated by Donald Trump, his lawyers, the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department, which is still pending.

4:09Michael Popok:And now right on the heels of that, right on time, 174 judges, including many of the same 35, have bound together with Judge Luttig to argue to the panel successfully that Judge Boesberg was right, that the inherent power of a federal judge cannot be disturbed to both issue orders, to issue orders when those orders are violated, to find contempt and to investigate it. I'll investigate it all right here. I'm Midas Touch at Legal AF. I'm Michael Popak back in my home studio. Glad to be back, everybody, and thank you for being here. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel. Take a minute. You know what to do.

4:47Michael Popok:Hit that free subscribe button. We've been following this case from the moment it got filed by our friends at the American Civil Liberties Union. In fact, I'll be working on getting league alert for the ACLU to come back on with me to brief our audience about this case. They represented a couple of hundred men who were in the middle of the night thrown onto airplanes, bound and destined for the torture prison of El Salvador under the command of Department of Homeland Security, the now resigned and defamed or embarrassed, sorry, Christy Noem. And in fact, when they heard about the planes at one o 'clock in the morning, they ran into court and got Judge Boesberg's attention.

5:35Michael Popok:He set immediate hearings. And that's when the contempt started. As Drew Ensign, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, started, what's the word for it? Not telling the truth to a federal judge. This is at around the same time that we know from Erez Ruveni, who was representing the Department of Justice in a case involving Kilmer Abrego Garcia. He came forward with the revelation that then number two acting of the Department of Justice, Emil Bovi, now a Third Circuit judge, gave them the instruction to tell judges to go F themselves, go F themselves and not comply. This was all going on around the time of Judge Boesberg's proceedings as they flew planes in violation of his temporary restraining order and his preliminary injunction, ordering them to turn back.

6:31Michael Popok:For those that don't remember the Seacott prison and Kristi Noem's cosplay, here's a clip. Here at Seacott today and visiting this facility. And first of all, I want to thank El Salvador and their president for their partnership with the United States of America to bring our terrorists here and to incarcerate them and have consequences for the violence that they have perpetuated in our communities. I also want everybody to know if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face. First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted.

7:04But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.

7:10Michael Popok:And then Emil Bovee was asked about telling federal judges to go F themselves in his confirmation hearing. Who could forget this exchange? Let me ask you, since you are under oath, in the complaint it says, Bovee stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts f*** you and ignoring any such court order. Did you say anything of that kind in the meeting? Senator, I have no recollection of saying anything of that kind. To the extent I use the... Wouldn't you recall, Mr. Bovee, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers that maybe they should consider telling the court, f*** you, it seems to me, that would be something you'd remember unless that's the kind of thing you say frequently.

7:56Well, I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard for valid positions that we have to take in defense of our clients. And have you frequently suggested that they say, f*** you and ignore court orders? Is that also something you frequently do, such you might not remember doing it on this occasion? No. And as I explained, I have never directed... So did you or did you not make those comments during that meeting? Which comments, Senator? You really need me to repeat it. Did you suggest, as Mr. Ruvani wrote, that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts, f*** you and ignore any such court order?

8:34I did not suggest that there would be any need to consider ignoring court orders. At the point of that meeting, there were no court orders to discuss. Well, did you suggest telling the courts, f*** you in any manner? I don't recall. You just don't remember that.

8:52Michael Popok:Now we've got Judge Bozberg. because last year around April of 2025, we did the reporting that the judge found probable cause to believe that criminal contempt had been perpetrated in his courtroom and eventually figured out it was probably Kristi Noem and ordered her to testify. And so began the appeal odyssey. It went up to the appellate court not once but twice. A Trump-dominated appellate panel with Katzis and Rayo, Judge Katzis and Judge Rayo. Judge Rayo, by the way, trying out hard to be on the United States Supreme Court. It's our audition. Always rules for Trump and against democracy and against the rule of law.

9:38Michael Popok:Well, they block Judge Boasberg's criminal contempt order and his fact finding grinds to a halt then. Then it kind of gets restarted, and then it dies again with all these various appeals. And then you've got the 174 former judges, state and federal, filing an abacus brief, reminding the panel, reminding the en banc panel, all 11 active judges. that this is a core power and principle of federal judges to be able to not only issue orders, but to investigate where there have been violations of that order and to do something about it in terms of sanctions. In a minute, I'll read to you from their memorandum of law that was so powerful that it opened the eyes of the en banc panel and at least six out of the 11 said, we're going to take a look at it again.

10:39Michael Popok:We have an important message to share from our friends at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The Trump administration's excessive Christian nationalist rhetoric is only building as we move toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. AU is highlighting a case involving federal workers caught in the crossfire. A multi-faith group of federal employees filed a new lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violating the separation of church and state and the religious freedom promised in our Constitution. Americans United received emails from multiple USDA employees saying the proselytizing Easter email sent by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to more than 100 ,000 USDA employees is an abuse of power that violates the separation of church and state promised in the First Amendment.

11:33Michael Popok:They are absolutely right. Government employees signed up to work for the USDA, not attend Brooke Rollins' Sunday service. The Constitution draws a bright line between personal faith and government power, and this lawsuit says she trampled right over it. Well, the hits keep on coming from this administration, and Americans United is doing their best to keep up the fight against Christian nationalism. If you want to help, head to au.org slash legal AF to learn more about their work and how you can get involved. Americans United, supporting everyone's right to live as they choose, so long as they don't harm others.

12:14Michael Popok:That's au.org slash legal AF. Here's a quick tutorial of what en banc means. And it's done differently in different places. But in this particular court, in a federal court, as a last gasp, you as the losing end of an appeal can ask for the, and not just the three-judge panel that was originally assigned, because all appeals are generally decided by three-judge panels randomly assigned, you can say, throw out that decision, vacate that decision, overrule it. And I want the entire appellate panel to rule on my case, because I think that group got it wrong. And that's effectively what this new order that I'll Post and Legal AF Substack for you says, which is the three-judge panel, Trump, Katzis, Trump, Rao, and Judge Walker, who was a Democrat appointed, who was in dissent, the 2-1 got it wrong.

13:13Michael Popok:Now, you got to show that they got it wrong. You got to then get the majority of the active-duty, non-senior status judges in your district to agree, and they did. So of these judges, Chief Judge Srinivasan, Judge Henderson, Millett, Pillard, Wilkins, Katsas, Rayo, Walker, Childs, Pan, and Garcia. You got three Trumpers there, Katsas, Rayo, Walker. My gut is it was at least eight to three to overturn the lower panels decision by Katsas and Rayo. And let's take another look and do it again. and then their decision finally rendered after oral argument and full briefing will be the decision in the case that the losing party will take up to the United States Supreme Court because you know that's where this is heading.

14:03But I wanted to focus first on the order and then

14:08Michael Popok:a very interesting observation by Chief, by Judge Ludig, who put this group together that I wanted you to hear. The order says, upon consideration of the petition for rehearing en banc and the responses, the unopposed motion for invitation to participate as a mici curi by 174 former judges. That means nobody objected. They looked at the brief and then they had the vote on en banc. And a majority of the judges eligible to participate voted for an en banc hearing. ordered that the motion for the 174 judges is granted. It is further ordered this case will be reheard. They then took the order of the appellate panel on April 14, 2026, and threw it out, kept the stay in place.

15:00Michael Popok:So they're not going to start sanctioning Donald Trump and the Department of Justice and Homeland Security just yet, although it's getting close. And then they want oral argument on September 29th with briefing throughout the summer. And we'll do a live stream with my commentary on Legal AF YouTube channel. Now, let me play you a clip from Judge Ludig in which he says emphatically, the only group of people in America who can save democracy and the rule of law are former judges being heard in court over the din of politics. Play the clip. Never before in American history has a group of judges, retired or otherwise, ever come together, much less to speak publicly against what they are witnessing in the United States of America, with respect to the corruption of the Constitution and the rule of law in this country.

16:11I could not be any prouder of this group of judges. Two or 300 former federal and state judges have come together over the past year and a half enthusiastic and willing to be heard collectively as that group on many of the issues that are facing America today, extraordinarily unprecedented. And this is why they have done it. There is not a question in the world that the only voices that can be heard today above the den of the political partisanship are judges, sitting active judges and even retired judges. They are the only people in this country, Michael, who can save America today. And these judges, both active and retired, are prepared to honor their oaths in trying to save America.

17:34Michael Popok:Well, that sounds you hear as a collective sigh of relief from our audience. I'm glad you're here. These cases are important. That's why we curate them for you. take a minute, hit the free subscribe button here and on Legal AF YouTube channel. And to read all of the filings in this case that are important, come over to Legal AF Substack for paid members to read our Legal AF filings. We call it Filings AF. Until my next report, this is Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack.

18:13Michael Popok:You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. All right.