Kambli and Flentje refused to answer some of the judge’s questions, saying they were “not at liberty” to discuss “operational issues

Kambli and Flentje refused to answer some of the judge’s questions, saying they were “not at liberty” to discuss “operational issues” such as how many planes departed the United States Saturday carrying deportees who were subject to the president’s Alien Enemies Act invocation.

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act Saturday for only the fourth time in all of American history. The law gives the president power to imprison and deport non-citizens without due process during wartime. Trump claims the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which he’d previously designated a terrorist group, is actually “conducting irregular warfare” and working with the Venezuelan government to destabilize the United States through migration. The DOJ attorneys said Monday that some of Saturday’s deportees were removed from the U.S. under other authorities rather than the Alien Enemies Act.

Pressed by Boasberg about whether they couldn’t discuss the details because they were classified — he offered to turn off courtroom microphones and huddle privately with the attorneys — the Justice Department lawyers sought to avoid the question.

“All I can say is that I’m authorized to say what we said in the public filing and to the extent that there’s anything more, that’s not relevant, because we do believe that we complied with the court order, which is that no flights took off from U.S. territories after the written order,” one of the Justice Department attorneys said. (Poor audio quality on the court’s phone line made it difficult to differentiate the two DOJ attorneys.)

“That does not comply with my order,” Boasberg shot back, adding that his order was “broader than that. It’s not a question of ‘taking off’ from U.S. territory, as anyone who reads a transcript of the hearing knows.” He said the administration would have to provide a specific reason why it wanted to exclude information from court.

Boasberg didn’t issue any rulings, but set a noon Tuesday deadline for the administration to lay out its position in writing, as well as provide various facts the Justice Department lawyers said Monday that they couldn’t.

I will memorialize this in a written order, since apparently my oral orders don’t seem to carry much weight,” Boasberg said.

The hearing punctuated the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive position toward courts, which has raised fears that the administration will begin regularly ignoring court orders.

Gelernt said at one point that “I think we’re getting very close” to a constitutional crisis.

On Sunday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally, mockingly wrote “Oopsie… Too late 😂” in reference to Boasberg’s order. Secretary of State Marco Rubio then reposted Bukele, and Elon Musk called for the impeachment of the judge.