Morning Report

January 5, 2026 — Morning Report

Jan 5, 2026

0105 AM TT·0105 AM YT

J.G.G. v. Trump · 25-cv-00766

Before Christmas, Judge Boasberg ruled that the government violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of Venezuelans it deported to El Salvador without due process — and gave the DOJ until 5 p.m. today to file a plan to fix it. They asked for seven more days. He said no.

J.G.G. v. Trump was already a procedural tangle: the 252 Venezuelan men deported to CECOT on March 15, 2025 had been released in a prisoner swap and returned to Venezuela, leaving much of the original lawsuit moot. But Chief Judge Boasberg wasn't done. In a pre-Christmas ruling, he found that the US held the men in "constructive custody" even while they sat in a Salvadoran prison — applying the four-factor test from Abu Ali v. Ashcroft (2004) — and that they were entitled to immigration due process hearings they never received. He granted final summary judgment for the plaintiffs, declared their constitutional rights violated, and left it to the executive branch to design the remedy. The DOJ responded by requesting a seven-day extension citing "the situation in Venezuela"; Boasberg denied it for failure to consult opposing counsel under Local Rule 7M.

Habeas corpusFifth Amendment due process

Constitutional question: Whether the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause reaches non-citizens outside US territory whose detention was arranged and controlled by the US government — and whether "constructive custody" over persons held by a third country at US request is sufficient to establish federal habeas jurisdiction in the District of Columbia.

January 7, 2026 — Morning Report →