(CNN) — Despite the White House’s repeated attacks on federal Judge James Boasberg, the Trump administration remains confident it will prevail in ongoing litigation about the president’s use of executive power.
Even before President Donald Trump retook office, his advisers expected that his executive orders and other policy moves would face immediate legal challenges. It was expected that those challenges would be filed in districts that were friendly to challengers and would result in initial losses for the administration.
That has been the case. Over 160 lawsuits have been filed against various administration policies, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday on Fox News. They are often in jurisdictions with mostly or all Democratic-appointed judges such as Boston, Maryland, Seattle and Washington, DC, though that doesn’t guarantee success for the plaintiffs.
But the Trump legal strategy has always been a long game designed to get these questions before the conservative supermajority at the Supreme Court where his lawyers believe Trump will prevail in his expansive use of executive power. A recent string of court losses has not deterred the administration from continuing to pursue this strategy.
While the outcome of these cases can have immediate effects for the people at the center of each controversy, the Trump administration is playing a long game.
The Justice Department is also not going to change its approach despite a rare statement being issued by Chief Justice John Roberts condemning the president, without naming him, for suggesting a federal judge should be impeached. Administration officials believe that statement is about Trump’s social media posts – not the merits of their legal arguments, according to a source.
Trump responded to Roberts’ rebuke in an interview with Fox News Tuesday evening, saying that the chief justice’s comments were not directed at him and continued to attack Boasberg.
“Well, [Roberts] didn’t mention my name in the statement, and I just saw it quickly,” Trump said. “He didn’t mention my name – but many people have called for [Boasberg’s] impeachment, the impeachment of this judge.”
Top leaders at the Justice Department have also engaged in an unusual show of force behind the arguments being made in court about whether the administration defied a judge’s order to halt deportations of some migrants allegedly affiliated with a Venezuelan gang, adding their names to court filings ordinarily signed by line prosecutors.
According to an administration official, the show of force is meant to show support for and solidarity with prosecutors who are working on this case. Boasberg has suggested the government may have violated his order, which could result in sanctions against DOJ lawyers or even being held in contempt. The official said having all of the top leaders, including Bondi, sign onto the Justice Department’s arguments shows that they are not trying to leave one prosecutor out to get sanctioned.
Attacks continue
Despite confidence in the merits of his legal arguments, some officials and Trump allies have continued to ramp up attacks on Boasberg and other members of the judiciary.
“The district court has no ability to – in any way – restrain the president’s authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, or, as I believe, to conduct the foreign affairs the United States,” deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN’s Kasie Hunt regarding Boasberg’s ruling.
The legal battle over deportations comes amid other court fights the Justice Department is defending to protect the president’s agenda. On Tuesday, a DC District Judge Ana Reyes indefinitely blocked Trump’s ban on transgender service members, a controversial policy Trump brought back from his first term.
In Maryland, District Judge Theodore D. Chuang said that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency had overstepped their authority when trying to shut down USAID. The judge’s ruling indefinitely blocked the dismantling of the agency.
The administration’s show of force has continued publicly.
“These activist judges are trying to control our entire federal government,” Bondi said Wednesday on Fox News.
“It’s having baseless reasoning for these injunctions, and it’s a clear effort by these judges to slow roll this president’s agenda,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her press briefing Wednesday.
Following his interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to Boasberg as a “Radical Left Lunatic Judge.”
“If a President doesn’t have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
While the Justice Department owes more information on the deportation flights to Boasberg by noon Thursday, it will have another opportunity to present its arguments during a hearing next week before a federal appeals court in Washington, DC. The three-judge panel is made up of Trump, George H.W. Bush and Obama nominees.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
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