What happens if Trump did ignore court order on deportation flights?

(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump has temporarily prevailed successful his conflict with a national justice implicit the usage of an 18th-century instrumentality to resume deportation flights, but questions stay connected whether his medication violated an archetypal tribunal bid stopping the departures and what happens if they did. 

The Supreme Court granted the administration's request connected Monday to scrap U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's orders which had temporarily blocked deportation flights nether Trump's usage of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.  

Trump said aft the ruling it was a “GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” successful a Truth Social post.

Boasberg had been locked successful a conflict with the Justice Department for weeks implicit the matter, and portion the Supreme Court whitethorn person settled connected the usage of the law, the contented is acold from over. 

The national justice inactive indispensable measurement successful connected whether the Trump medication failed to instrumentality 2 deportation flights that were successful the aerial erstwhile helium issued his March 15 ruling telling officials to crook them around. 

In a proceeding past week, Boasberg said determination was a "fair likelihood" the medication violated the order.

While not wholly unprecedented, the escalating ineligible showdown could inactive bring the 2 branches of authorities to a head. 

Has the Trump medication defied tribunal orders connected deportation flights?

No 1 has the close to defy a tribunal order, not adjacent the president, David Cole, a prof of instrumentality astatine Georgetown University, told NewsNation.

But Trump nor his medication has, astatine immoderate constituent truthful far, said they person oregon tin disregard tribunal orders, he noted.

“It remains to beryllium seen whether they defied the court's order, but they are not arguing they person the authorization to bash so, they are arguing that they did not," helium said.

That enactment of defence is utilized often by defendants, including authorities bodies and officials, Cole added. 

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 27: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the White House Iftar Dinner March 27, 2025 successful Washington, DC. Iftar is the evening repast that Muslims person aft fasting passim the time during Ramadan, a month-long play of fasting, communal supplication and reflection. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The medication had antecedently argued that the tribunal bid had its limits and that determination were peculiar circumstances arsenic to wherefore those deportation planes didn’t crook back,

One of their arguments asserts the "state secrets privilege," which allows the authorities to artifact the merchandise of accusation successful a suit that could harm nationalist security.

The Justice Department has besides said the judge’s verbal directions to halt flights did not count. It argued lone his written bid needed to beryllium followed and that it couldn’t use to flights that had already near the U.S. 

“They're going to effort to work orders narrowly and spot if they tin bash things that they judge are extracurricular the order. Every medication does that,” Saikrishna Prakash, a prof astatine the University of Virginia Law School, said. "They are not openly going to accidental they're going to disregard a tribunal order."

But if astatine immoderate constituent the medication does accidental they'll disregard the order, the U.S. would deed a “constitutional reddish line,” Cole said. 

“A law ideology rests connected the proposition that the governmental branches are bound by the Constitution, that the courts person the authorization to accidental what the Constitution means, and if you suffer earlier the court, you person to travel the law,” helium said. 

“Otherwise, you don't person a strategy of regularisation of law.” 

What happens erstwhile a tribunal bid is ignored? 

If a suspect does not abide by a tribunal order, the tribunal tin clasp them successful contempt, which whitethorn beryllium punishable with fines oregon jailhouse time. In the lawsuit of the enforcement branch, they would astir apt beryllium held nether civilian contempt versus criminal. 

Boasberg has already said helium would marque a determination arsenic soon arsenic imaginable connected whether to prosecute civilian contempt proceedings against Trump medication officials for defying his archetypal order.

For contempt proceedings against the national government, fines whitethorn people a noncompliant bureau arsenic a whole, oregon the caput of the bureau whitethorn look idiosyncratic fines oregon imprisonment, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

But portion national courts are sometimes consenting to clasp national agencies and officials successful contempt, they seldom enforce sanctions of fines oregon imprisonment owed to issues of sovereign immunity, which limits the quality to writer a authorities without its consent.  

Even successful the cases wherever a authorities bureau is held successful contempt, appellate courts person often halted the proceedings, the study noted. 

Shawn Donahue, a governmental subject prof astatine the University astatine Buffalo, said Trump himself wouldn’t beryllium held successful contempt, but alternatively an bureau oregon an authoritative due to the fact that a sitting president cannot beryllium prosecuted. 

FILE - U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, main justice of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, stands for a representation astatine E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse successful Washington, March 16, 2023. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP, File)

How does the tribunal enforce sanctions? 

Another contented that whitethorn complicate the substance is that tribunal sanctions are enforced by the U.S. Marshals Service, which falls nether the Department of Justice. 

This has led to some interest that if the enforcement subdivision chose to defy a tribunal order, it mightiness besides question to forestall the U.S. Marshals from enforcing contempt sanctions. 

Outside of contempt, there’s not overmuch much a tribunal tin do, Donahue said. 

“The agelong and abbreviated of it is that the courts person to number connected immoderate benignant of buy-in from officials that they're going to travel tribunal orders,” helium said. 

Have courts held national agencies successful contempt before? 

While rare, this benignant of ineligible fastener betwixt national courts and agencies is not unprecedented. 

In 1999, a national justice held the secretaries of the Treasury and Interior departments successful contempt of tribunal for repeatedly failing to nutrient court-ordered records successful the largest suit ever brought by Native Americans. The authorisation the justice imposed was constricted to paying the fees of the plaintiff's attorneys.

In 2001, a national justice held then-Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton successful contempt aft a proceedings for misleading a justice and for filing inaccurate reports regarding wealth owed to tribes. 

A national justice successful Louisiana held the Interior Department in contempt again successful 2011 implicit what helium called “dismissive conduct” by blocking offshore lipid drilling aft an lipid spill.