... @aclu.org says it wants to ensure parties can’t evade even answering questions about their possible defiance of court orders. Here, DOJ attys “chose to ignore the order & then retroactively manufacture ambiguity”—“remarkable step for any litigant, much less the DOJ" ... /3
... “That is especially so where there is evidence not only that DOJ attys understood the order at the time but that a high-ranking DOJ official [i.e., then-ADAG Emil Bove] had also indicated in advance that DOJ might ignore a court order" [i.e. say ‘fuck you’ to courts]. ... 4/5
... .@aclu.org stresses that, whatever obstacles to a criminal contempt action might lie ahead, Judge Boasberg could also still choose remedies short of those, including referrals for bar and court “disciplinary proceedings.” DOJ response is due 9/8. 5/5-end
Not just the substantive evidence that Bove'd encouraged in advance a possible saying fuck you, but that he'd specifically communicated an arguably contemptuous reading of Boasberg's oral order to DHS.