The Trump Administration on Wednesday invoked the state secrets privilege to block the attempt to return MS-13 gang member and wife beater Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the Unites States.
The Trump DOJ invoked the State Secrets Privilege in response to a federal judge’s order demanding details on Abrego Garcia’s incarceration at El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
US District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, responded to the Trump Administration’s invocation of the state secrets privilege and ordered a formal briefing.
Both parties must submit briefs by Monday.
“The Court requires formal briefing of the Defendants’ invocations of privilege, principally the state secrets and deliberative process privileges, as discussed in ECF No. 112. Accordingly, by Monday May 12, 2025, the parties shall submit simultaneous briefs, not to exceed 25 pages exclusive of exhibits, addressing the legal and factual bases for the invocation of those privileges, including Plaintiff’s request for the Court to conduct in camera review of the withheld documents,” Judge Xinis wrote in a 2-page order reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
This is the second time the Trump DOJ has invoked the state secrets privilege to push back on a radical judge’s demands.
In March the DOJ said it was exercising the State Secrets Privilege and informed Judge James Boasberg it will no longer provide him with any information related to deportation flights.
Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has been grilling DOJ lawyers about the Trump Administration’s move to deport dangerous Venezuelan aliens under the Alien Enemies Act.
Judge Boasberg said Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport criminal aliens is “incredibly troublesome and problematic” and threatened the Trump Admin with consequences if they violate his order in the future.
The DOJ had enough of Judge Boasberg’s intrusive orders and invoked the State Secrets Privilege.
“The Executive Branch hereby notifies the Court that no further information will be provided in response to the Court’s March 18, 2025 Minute Order based on the state secrets privilege and the concurrently filed declarations of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security,” the DOJ wrote.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi told the judge that President Trump has plenary authority under Article II to remove from the homeland designated terrorists.
“This is a case about the President’s plenary authority, derived from Article II and the mandate of the electorate, and reinforced by longstanding statute, to remove from the homeland designated terrorists participating in a state-sponsored invasion of, and predatory incursion into, the United States. The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it. Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address,” the DOJ said.
“No more information is needed to resolve any legal issue in this case. Whether the planes carried one TdA terrorist or a thousand or whether the planes made one stop or ten simply has no bearing on any relevant legal issue. The need for additional information here is not merely “dubious,” or “trivial,” it is non-existent. The Executive Branch violated no valid order through its actions, and the Court has all it needs to evaluate compliance. Accordingly, the Court’s factual inquiry should end,” the DOJ said.
Boasberg has not yet issued a ruling on the Trump DOJ’s assertion of the State Secrets Privilege.
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