The Trump administration is celebrating a new ruling from the DC circuit court today: “Appeals court tosses judge’s contempt order in case over Venezuelans sent to El Salvador.” In a 2-1 ruling, the two Trump-appointed judges in the three-judge panel resorted to absurd arguments to justify their opinions.

One of them (Katsas) argued that the issue at hand was not about the lawfulness of the removals themselves, but rather an “extraordinary, ongoing confrontation between the Executive and Judicial Branches,” and that stopping this confrontation right here and right now by siding with the administration against the very thoughtful rulings of the very patient judge Boasberg, somehow solves the problem (I guess by sweeping it under the rug).

He also wrote that Boasberg’s contempt finding “raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses.” I am not going to call this a world salad out of respect to the judiciary, but there was nothing involving foreign policy here, other than the Trump administration renting some prison space in El Salvador, and hiring some prison guards to watch the prisoners sent to be kept in that space. If the executive branch can claim snatching people, mostly randomly, from the streets and sending them to another country to be a matter of conducting foreign policy that cannot be questioned by the judiciary, don’t you think that will provide a very convenient way for the administration to ” handle” its perceived enemies “from within?”

As for the prosecution of criminal offenses, isn’t the judicial control or involvement or whatever you want to call it, the most important ingredient in the process? Does this statement of the circuit judge mean that the judiciary should not get involved in or question the lawfulness of the prosecution of the criminal offenses brought by the Executive?

I will write about the concurring opinion of the other Trump-appointed judge in a separate note, as, while being shorter, it is even more alarming, and sounds even more like legal gymnastics to please the administration or just that one person, maybe even out of fear of retribution.

Both of these judges know that this ruling is not likely to stand when appealed to be reviewed by the entire panel of DC circuit judges. The Trump administration and the DoJ know that too. Politicians from both sides of the aisle know that too (at least a good number of them do). But that doesn’t matter. What matters to this administration is PR and PR stunts, to keep the base riled up. They will use this opportunity to continue attacking judge Boasberg every which way they can. They will call him lunatic, accuse him of playing politics, even threaten him, officially by asking for his impeachment, and unofficially by sending unsolicited pizza orders to his home, that, yes, we know where you live.

This all will pass too. It’s been only six months. Who knows if the oldest and strongest democracy in the world is strong enough to withstand the constant beatings from this authoritarian administration over the next three and half years. But if it is and if it does, it will all be because of courageous judges like judge Boasberg. Judiciary is now the last line of defense. I hope that it will not bend under the enormous pressure and threats from this administration.