“I would just like to point out that the judge in this case is essentially trying to say that the president doesn’t have the executive authority to deport foreign terrorists from our American soil,” Leavitt began. “That is an egregious abuse of the bench.”
This was not a good start. Indeed, if the administration is convinced that the hundreds of people that Team Trump flew to El Salvador were “foreign terrorists,” they could present some evidence along those lines to the courts and/or the public. That hasn’t happened.
Nevertheless, Leavitt kept going, condemning Boasberg as “a Democrat activist” who was “appointed by Barack Obama.” The White House press secretary then complained about the judge’s wife’s campaign contributions before concluding that Boasberg has “consistently” shown “disdain” for the Republican administration.
If Leavitt thought this was persuasive, she was mistaken. For one thing, to simply assume that Obama-appointed jurists can’t be impartial is ridiculous. For another, that the White House is talking about the private decisions of a federal judge’s wife is inherently sketchy.
As for the suggestion that Boasberg’s record is one of a Democratic “activist,” reality tells a very different story.
But if that weren’t quite enough, NBC News’ Garrett Haake took a moment to remind Leavitt that Boasberg was first made a judge by George W. Bush — who, if memory serves, was not exactly a far-left Democratic partisan — before Obama elevated him to the federal district court. (What’s more, it’s worth noting for context that Boasberg was also appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who has also never been mistaken for a liberal ideologue.)