Furious Judge Unleashes Hell on Trump in Final Order

Summary

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Legal AF (MeidasTouch) – Episode Summary

Title: Furious Judge Unleashes Hell on Trump in Final Order
Date: December 27, 2025
Host: Michael Popok (with attribution to Ben Meiselas & Karen Friedman Agnifilo)
Main Topic: Chief Judge Boasberg’s Ruling Lambasting the Trump Administration Over Secret Removal of Venezuelan Migrants

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into an explosive ruling by Chief Judge Boasberg, who delivered a scathing final order against the Trump administration for the secret deportation of 250 Venezuelan men. The episode unpacks the legal drama, the underlying governmental misconduct, the role of whistleblowers, and what this precedent means for due process, the writ of habeas corpus, and the future of executive power over immigration enforcement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Boasberg’s Final Ruling Against the Trump Administration

[00:30-02:30]

• Michael Popok reacts to Chief Judge Boasberg’s newly issued order, noting its importance in drawing a line against executive overreach on mass deportations.
• Context: The Supreme Court had just restricted Trump's use of the National Guard for migrant crackdowns. Now Boasberg is pushing back on unlawful deportations.
• Main finding: The Trump administration violated due process and habeas corpus rights by secretly deporting 250 Venezuelans, labeling them as enemies under the Alien Enemies Act, and shipping them out during active legal hearings.
• Judge Boasberg ruled that even after removal to Venezuela/El Salvador, these individuals retain U.S. due process rights and ordered the government to remedy the deprivation.

2. Timeline & Secrecy: How the Government Evaded Judicial Oversight

[02:45-05:20]

• The government secretly designated these men as Trend Aragua members (while 90% had no real connection) and coordinated their removal before the public proclamation of the policy.
• The ACLU filed a last-minute action at 1:12 am after some detainees managed to alert their lawyers.
• Government executed secret flights during ongoing court hearings, deliberately evading judicial review.
• Judge Boasberg relied on a critical UN report confirming the U.S., not El Salvador, retained “constructive custody” over the deportees.

3. The Whistleblower Bombshell – Erez Reveni

[05:30-07:40]

• Erez Reveni, a veteran DOJ immigration litigator, blew the whistle in a formal complaint, revealing DOJ officials’ willingness to ignore court orders.
• Judge Boasberg cited Reveni’s testimony (and supporting media) directly, including the now-infamous directive from DOJ’s Amiel Bovey: “go tell judges like Judge Boasberg to go fuck off.”
• The order used this language to underscore the administration’s contempt for legal process.

Notable Quote:

“He made statements about the fact that he was told by a chief official now on the Third Circuit Court, Emil Bovey, that he should go tell judges like Judge Boasberg to go fuck off. That phrase is actually in this order.”
— Michael Popok [05:54]

4. On-the-Record Testimony: Disregard for Court Orders

[08:58-12:24]

• Excerpts played from a “60 Minutes” interview and a Senate hearing confirm Reveni’s claims.
  • Bovey explicitly prioritized “those planes need to take off no matter what” and suggested courts could be told to “fuck off” if they intervened.
  • Senator Adam Schiff grilled Bovey about his recollection of these statements, marking a rare public confrontation about executive contempt for judicial authority.

Notable Exchange:

Senator Schiff [11:15]:
“Wouldn't you recall, Mr. Bove, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers maybe they should consider telling the court ‘fuck you’?...”
Bovey:
“Well, I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard...”

Schiff:
“And have you frequently suggested they say ‘fuck you’ and ignore court orders?...”

Bovey:
“No... I have never directed...”
[11:11–12:16]

5. Judge Boasberg’s Remedy & Message to the Executive Branch

[12:24–16:30]

• Boasberg issues a “final judgment,” not a temporary order—the administration must create a process for the 250 deportees (or at least 132 in Venezuela) to access the courts and assert rights under the writ of habeas corpus.
• Cites parallel Supreme Court cases, especially referencing Justice Sotomayor (“the remedy must adapt to meet the injury”).
• Warns that deportation can’t nullify constitutional protections:

  “If secretly spiriting individuals to another country were enough to neuter the Great Writ, then the government could snatch anyone off the street, turn them over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action.” [15:30]

• Popok describes the tone of the order as “F me? No, F you. And I’m wearing a black robe.”

6. Next Steps & Broader Implications

[16:30–16:50]

• Popok predicts immediate administration appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court, notes the presence of partisan judges could make the path rocky.
• Ultimately, expects the case may land back before the Supreme Court, given Judge Boasberg’s stature and the gravity of constitutional issues involved.
• Notes personal connections among the judiciary (Boasberg and Kavanaugh were law school roommates, Boasberg respected by Chief Justice Roberts).

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Timeline of Key Moments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:30–02:30 | Popok introduces Judge Boasberg’s ruling, gives urgent context | | 02:45–05:20 | Explains the timeline of secret removals and the ACLU’s legal scramble | | 05:30–07:40 | Highlights Erez Reveni’s whistleblower revelations and judge’s reliance on them | | 08:58–12:24 | Plays 60 Minutes interview & Congressional testimony on DOJ contempt for judicial process | | 12:24–16:30 | Details the ruling’s prescribed remedy and larger message to the executive branch | | 16:30–16:50 | Discusses the expected appeals process and importance of the ultimate SCOTUS review |

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Trump Administration’s Evadance:

  “Plaintiff's hasty and secretive removal from the United States was certainly intended to deprive them of an opportunity to secure prior judicial review.”
  — Michael Popok, citing Judge Boasberg, [05:00]

• Whistleblower’s Description of DOJ Orders:

  “He [Bovey] also told all in attendance, ‘if some court should issue an order preventing [the deportations], we may have to consider telling that court, you know, fuck you.’”
  — Erez Reveni, [10:19]

• Judge Boasberg’s Message to Executive Power:

  “If secretly spiriting individuals to another country were enough to neuter the Great Writ, then the government could snatch anyone off the street, turn them over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action.”
  — Michael Popok, quoting Judge Boasberg, [15:30]

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Conclusion

Legal AF’s deep-dive into Judge Boasberg’s order against the Trump administration highlights not only the egregious efforts to evade judicial oversight and deny due process, but also the robust pushback from the judiciary upholding constitutional rights. The episode is a compelling account of rule of law under stress, whistleblower courage, courtroom jaw-droppers, and the continuing tension between branches of government as high-stakes appeals loom.

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Transcript

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[Michael Popak]

Never count a chief federal judge out. Chief Judge Boasberg, in breaking news, has just issued a new order lambasting the Trump administration. I got to come up with new vocabulary words for the scorn that's being heaped on the Department of Justice and federal courts on a regular basis. But this one's very important. This has to do with another major aspect of Donald Trump's disappearing mass migration, mass deportation and removal process. We just have the United States Supreme Court, six to three say, and take away from him the National Guard as a tool in his toolbox to use against migrants on the streets, at least in the current version of it. But now we've got Chief Judge Boasberg, who, relying on a whistleblower in the Department of Justice, has ruled in favor of 250 Venezuelans who were imperial, impossibly labeled trend Aragua war combatants disappeared off the streets of America while a hearing was going on about their due process rights and sent to the dark, dank torture prisons of El Salvador. Now the judge has ruled and I'm going to get into the detail, the nitty gritty of it here on the Midas Touch Network. Judge Boasberg has ruled that they are entitled to due process. They're entitled to use the quote, unquote, great writ, which is the writ of habeas corpus, even though they're now in Venezuela, having been secreted there in a trade by Donald Trump and his Department of Justice. They have due process and habeas corpus rights in America. And by this new summary judgment, final judgment order by the judge, the Trump administration is going to have to find out a way to give them due process rights, get them in front of a federal judge for oversight, and hopefully this draws a line in the sand against Donald Trump and its Department of Justice and their depraved lawless activities. What I love about the fact that it's Judge Boasberg is that he's already been rejected a couple of times by the United States Supreme Court and even by the D.C. circuit Court of Appeals. Because if you remember, about two weeks ago he tried to bring criminal or start criminal contempt proceedings and continue criminal contempt proceedings related to this very same case. While that got shot down, he still has the heart of the case, the substance of the case in front of him. And now he's ruled for the American Civil Liberties Union, who's one of our partners on legal AF and for these 250 people and beyond the civil rights of all of us and I cover it. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Legal AF and Midas Touch networks. Take a moment. Hit the free subscribe button for legal AF YouTube. Help us get to our next million. We already got 1 million subscribers. Let's get to 2 million. And here on Midas Touch as well. Case is called jgg. We're talking about it since March. Let me read you the highlights from this decision by by the judge, particularly about evading evading judicial review and by the Trump administration on purpose and how he relies on a whistleblower Erez revenue to make his point. Here's what he says in his recitation of the background of the facts. He says on page three that unbeknownst to them, the government had deemed them, meaning the 250 men, all members of Trend Aragua, and sought to remove them immediately pursuant to a proclamation of the under the Alien Enemies act, these men were given no advance notice of their removal. The only reason that this court was made aware of their removal was because a few of the men moved to El Valle had been able to contact their lawyers the day before, who rightly surmised that such a proclamation either had secretly issued or was about to issue and thus filed their action at 1:12am in the morning to shout out to the American Civil Liberties Union for getting on this, because they hadn't all of them would be in Venice, in El Salvador, away from federal oversight just an hour before the hearing. The proclamation was made public. Less than two hours after the proclamation was published and while the emergency hearing was ongoing in front of Judge Boasberg, the government flew 252 Venezuelan men out of the United States. Rather than heading to Venezuela, they were sent to El Salvador. Now. But it gets, it gets better. The judge had to make a determination whether the United States still had constructive control over the prisoners in El Salvador. In other words, is El Salvador just a subsidiary of the Bureau of Prisons in America because America has continued control over them and they rely on A UN Report that El Salvador participated in, in which the UN top official told, or the El Salvador top official told the UN that the US Controls their own detainees here in El Salvador for which they're paying five to six million dollars. And that was contained as relates to on page 12 of the report, plaintiff's counter, with a report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was made available to this court after it started looking at constructive custody. In a statement to the UN Office, El Salvador expressly disclaimed responsibility for the detainees, contending that the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these people exclusively laid with the competent foreign authorities, which is the United States. Then he brings up the whistleblower for the first time, Erez Reveni. I'm going to show you a clip of Erez Reveni to remind you who that whistleblower is. And the judge says that the plaintiffs also submitted a copy of a June whistleblower complaint by Erez Reveni, who used to be in the Department of Justice justice for four different administrations. An immigration litigation head, he made statements about. About the fact that he was told by a chief official now on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals named Emil Bovey that he should go tell judges like Judge Boasberg to go fuck off. That phrase is actually in this order. I'm going to read it to you in a moment. Then the judge does a deep dive into whether the Trump administration tried to evade judicial review, which we know they've been doing, to try to secrete these people away from US Jurisdiction of federal courts in the middle of the night and send them out of the country. And so in the section Starting on page 18, he, the judge recites these facts. He's a fact finder. Plaintiff's hasty and secretive removal from the United States was certainly intended to deprive them of. Of an opportunity to secure prior judicial review. First, the President invoked the Alien Enemies act, but waited to publicize the proclamation. Plaintiffs were put then on flights leaving the country before the proclamation was ever announced. And they were kept in the dark as to the reason for their removal. Over to page 19. As the government has conceded, plaintiff had no opportunity to contest their designation as Trend Aragua members before removal. 90% of them are not Trend Narago, by the way, despite having tattoos. Then they were flown out of the country, literally, as this court conducted an emergency hearing on the validity of their removal. This was also the grounds for the contempt, criminal contempt proceeding to try to put Kristi Noem in jail. But that was spiked by two Trumpers on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia or the D.C. circuit Court of Appeals. They were flown out of the country literally during the emergency hearing. For what reason? The court posits plaintiffs were already detained as there was no threat that they so there was no threat that the announcement of the proclamation would lead to them evading capture. Rouveni's whistleblower statements corroborate the court's conclusion. Now we're on to the whistleblower. According to this disclosure, the principal assistant deputy attorney general, that would be Amiel Bovey, now a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals judge, stated in a meeting that if the courts attempted to stop the removals, DOJ would need to consider telling the courts fuck you and ignore the court order. In fact, you don't have to believe the judge. We have Erez Reveni's testimony in the way of a 60 Minutes report and Emil Bovey being cross examined by Senator Adam Schiff about this very issue. The let's play the clips back to back.

[Interviewer]

At the beginning of the second Trump administration, you were promoted again.

[Erez Reveni]

That's right. Very soon into the administration, I was selected to be the acting deputy director of the Immigration section, overseeing about 100 attorneys and every case that arose in the federal district courts.

[Interviewer]

But it was the very day of that promotion, Friday, March 14, that he and others were called to a fateful meeting with with Emil Bovey, President Trump's newly appointed number three, at the Justice Department, who was once Trump's criminal defense attorney.

[Erez Reveni]

And we were told at this meeting that over the weekend the president of the United States would be signing a proclamation invoking something called the Alien Enemies Act. This is a wartime law from 1798, invoked three times in the nation's history during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

[Interviewer]

The Alien Enemies act allows rapid expulsion from the U.S. of the citizens of enemy nations during a war, but without a declared war. Trump used it against more than 100 Venezuelans that the government said were terrorists. They were to be denied their right to be heard by a judge. Rouvainy says Bovey expected a challenge.

[Erez Reveni]

Bovey emphasized those planes need to take off no matter what. And then after a pause, he also told all in attendance and if some court should issue an order preventing that, we may have to consider telling that.

[Interviewer]

Court you and when you heard that.

[Erez Reveni]

You thought what felt like a bomb had gone off. Here is the number three official using expletives to tell career attorneys that we may just have to consider disregarding federal court orders.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

Let me ask you, since you are under oath in the complaint, it says Beauvais stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts you and ignoring any such court order. Did you say anything of that kind in the meeting?

[Emil Bovey]

Senator? I have no recollection of saying anything of that kind to the extent I.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

Wouldn'T you recall, Mr. Bove, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers maybe they should consider telling the court you. It seems to me that would be something you'd remember unless that's the kind of thing you say frequently.

[Emil Bovey]

Well, I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard for valid positions that we have to take in defense.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

And have you frequently suggested that they say you and ignore court orders? Is that also something you frequently do, such you might not remember doing it in this occasion?

[Interviewer]

No.

[Emil Bovey]

And as I explained, I have never directed.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

So did you or did you not make those comments during that meeting?

[Emil Bovey]

Which comment, Senator, you really need me to repeat it?

[Senator Adam Schiff]

Did you suggest, as Mr. Rouveni wrote, that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts you and ignore any such court order?

[Emil Bovey]

I 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.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

Well, did you suggest telling the courts you in any manner?

[Emil Bovey]

I don't recall.

[Senator Adam Schiff]

You just don't remember that.

[Michael Popak]

Now when we heard about the whistleblower 30 page whistleblower complaint by Erez Rivetti after he was fired and he's now working. Wait, wait for it, everybody. He's now a lawyer for Democracy Forward with Sky Perryman. Go over to Legal AF YouTube channel. Democracy Forward works closely with Legal AF and we have an exclusive playlist of my interviews of people at Democracy Forward like Sky Perryman. That's just a little P side note, but when we heard about it, we saw the 60 Minutes interview. I said two judges, we're going to find this very interesting. Judge Boasberg and Judge Zinnis. Judge Zinnis, who's dealing with Abrego Garcia and Judge Boasberg on this case because it explains why nobody was was complying with his orders, why the Trump administration was defying his orders because Amel Bovey go told the Trump basically judges to go f off. There's one way to interpret this order. This is Judge Boasberg's response. F me. No f you. And I'm wearing a black robe, so. And he continues analyzing the control that the Trump administration had over the C cop prison. He eventually concludes. Now it brings us full circle to Abrego Garcia's case in front of Judge Zinnis in the United States Supreme Court. He says the only remedy now I'm granting final judgment. This is not temporary restraining order. This is. This is final judgment. And the remedy is the government is now going to have to create a pathway, a process for these 250 people in a class I've now certified, or 132 of them anyway in Venezuela to have access to the federal court system, due process, and the habeas corpus writ. He says that is the only way. In fact, he cites to the Abrego Garcia case on page 41, and particularly Judge Justice Sotomayor. He says on page 41, Judge Boasberg, the remedy must adapt to meet the injury. The court finds the only remedy that would give it effect to its granting of the motion for final judgment would be to order the government to undo the effects of their unlawful removal by facilitating a meaningful opportunity to contest their designation and the proclamation under the Alien Enemies Act's validity. You got to have a court, you got to have a writ to do it. And the writ of habeas corpus is the Great Writ. Otherwise, a finding of unlawful removal will be meaningless for plaintiffs who have already been sent back to Venezuela against their wishes and without due process. They were sent there in a prisoner exchange that Donald Trump just did with a country we're at, quote, unquote, war with. Expedited removal cannot be allowed to render this relief toothless. If secretly spiriting individuals to another country were enough to neuter the Great Writ. That's a, that's a reference to the habeas corpus writ, then the government, quote, could snatch anyone off the street, turn them over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action. Citing to JG his case, which cites to Abrego Garcia's case in front of Judge Zinnis with the United States Supreme Court in a statement by Judge Justice Sotomayor. Now, I'm sure the Trump administration is going to appeal or has appealed to the first level of Appeal, the D.C. circuit Court. If they get a couple of Trumpers, you know, they get like Rao and they get, and they get a couple of other. There's like three Trumpers that happen to be on that particular Circuit Court. If they get any of those, a Katzis, Rao, that group, it's going to be a bumpy ride for the, for the judge here. But ultimately, this is going to land at the doorstep of the United States Supreme Court, which is where he is well respected. He was the roommate of Brett Kavanaugh in law school, Judge Jeb Boasberg, and he's very good friends with Chief Justice Roberts, who puts him on all sorts of panels like the FISA panel. So we're gonna see what happens next. I wanted to cover it here on Midas Touch hit the free subscribe button. Follow all things Legal AF YouTube until my next report, I'm 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 subs. Find the court filing in the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called Wait for it Morning af. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AO 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 Want a secret to free holiday gifts? TikTok slash and free makes it real. 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