Why Judge Boasberg’s Deportation Order Is Legally Invalid

He failed to impose a bond on plaintiffs as the law requires. Other injunctions have the same deficiency. -Daniel Huff 

The Trump administration is locked in a standoff with Judge James Boasberg over deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act...

Yet the administration seems to be overlooking a critical legal tool—injunction bonds.

• The argument is rock solid: Under Rule 65(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party seeking an injunction needs to put up a bond to cover its costs. These bonds aren’t optional. They’re mandatory, unless the government is seeking an injunction. That means Judge Boasberg’s order, and dozens like it, may not be valid at all.

President Trump identified this legal off-ramp in a March 11 memorandum directing the Justice Department to demand bonds in future injunction cases. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley echoed the call. 

• But the Justice Department hasn’t pressed the issue, either in Judge Boasberg’s courtroom or other high-stakes cases in which activist judges have blocked major policies without requiring plaintiffs to put a single dollar at risk...