Today is Wednesday, April 16, 2025. In a long-hoped-for response to this lawless government, a U.S. judge has now ruled that “probable cause exists” to hold Dump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the rarely used Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. An online CNN article entitled “Boasberg finds ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump administration in contempt for violating orders on deportation flights,” by Devan Cole and Katelyn Polantz, delivers a somewhat coup de grace to the ongoing lawlessness of the Dump administration that is burgeoning ever since the convicted felon got back into the White House on January 20.

This long-awaited decision today from a poor judge that these felons have attacked because of his opposition to them might be a flashpoint in this bent toward authoritarianism taken early on in the Chump administration. This situation occurred in mid-March when it sent three planeloads of migrants to a megaprison in El Salvador. That same day, Boasberg held an emergency hearing and told the administration to pause the migrant removals and order the return of deportation flights back to the United States. But the administration, as anyone knows, flagrantly ignored the judge’s order.

In a 46-page ruling, Boasberg wrote, “The court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.” Bravo, Judge Boasberg! He added, “The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions.”

CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck said these moves are rare, but we’re dealing with the most brazenly contemptuous president of Constitutional norms that we’ve ever seen in the form of the Orange Turd, that we shouldn’t be shocked at all. Said Vladeck, “Holding federal executive branch officials in contempt is just about unheard of, once in a blue moon.” Vladeck is a professor at the University of Georgetown School of Law.

Skye Perryman, an attorney with Democracy Forward, which, along with the ACLU, brought the case before Boasberg, said today’s ruling “affirms what we have long known: the government’s conduct in this case is unlawful and a threat to people and our constitution.”

So as of today, the die has been cast between the rogue executive branch and the judicial branch of government. Let’s see who wins this fight to save democracy!

The judge fighting back against the Dump administration says he wants sworn statements first from people who can attest to the officials making the decisions not to turn the planes around as they carried migrants to El Salvador on March 15.

Then, Boasberg says, if those statements aren’t satisfactory to him, he will ask for live witnesses to testify at hearings or depositions. The judge could then, he says, ask the Justice Department to prosecute Drumpf administration officials, or he could appoint an attorney as a general prosecutor.

It will be amazing if people within this administration are actually charged with criminal contempt in their bungling of this migrant crisis. It serves them right! And maybe it might cause this lawless administration to proceed with less aggressiveness in their dismantling of institutions.

Tomorrow Elliot and I are waking up relatively early to drive up to Sullivan County to see Elliot’s old friend “Serina” who lives in what is left of the bungalow colony where Elliot frequented as a boy many years ago. She is the last occupant standing, it seems. She lives there all-year round and is almost at the point of selling her interest in the property. If she eventually sells, Elliot will definitely be plunged into a state of deep melancholy. As of now, she hasn’t received a satisfactory offer yet, so we’ll see her maybe one last time tomorrow. Thus I may not be here tomorrow if we come home late. It’s about a 90-minute – or longer – drive upstate with stops along the way.

If I’m not here tomorrow, have a good Thursday.

And so it went!

It seems that Atticus has a new place to call home: our bathroom sink. Our cat sitter mentioned that he would sit in the sink when she took care of him lately, but he never did it for us – until now. He found his new niche at 1:28 a.m. this morning. I was getting ready to go into the bedroom to read when he snuck into the sink.