U.S. District Judge James Boasberg gave the Trump administration a one-day extension to turn over information about deportation flights that left the country Saturday, as the government suggests it may invoke a state secrets privilege. 

Boasberg issued the extension minutes before the Justice Department’s Wednesday noon EDT deadline to provide the information. 

“Although their grounds for such request at first blush are not persuasive, the Court will extend the deadline for one more day,” Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama, wrote in a brief order. 

Boasberg drew Trump’s ire when he issued a Saturday ruling blocking the president from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport Venezuelan migrants the administration says are suspected gang members. 

The judge is demanding information about several deportation flights that left U.S. soil Saturday and whether they violated his order. The Justice Department insists it complied because the flights had left U.S. territory by the time the judge’s written order issued. 

The administration has asked Boasberg to wipe his information requests, insisting in a sharply worded filing earlier Monday that the judge was turning the case into a “picayune dispute” and that providing the information would implicate national security concerns. 

The judge’s latest order gives the administration until Thursday at noon EDT to either hand over the information or formally invoke the state secrets privilege. 

Though the extension is short, it provides an appeals court a window to intervene beforehand. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the Trump administration’s request to block Boasberg’s decisions and could rule anytime after the final brief is submitted late Wednesday afternoon. 

Tags Alien Enemies Act Donald Trump James Boasberg James Boasberg Obama

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