President Donald Trump demanded Thursday that courts stop blocking his agenda, edging closer to a constitutional showdown after a judge suggested the administration ignored an order to block summary deportations.
A federal judge, in a strongly worded order, gave the Justice Department until Tuesday to explain why it went ahead with flights to prison in El Salvador of Venezuelan migrants, some of whom say they committed no crime and were targeted only for their tattoos.
Trump, in a scathing attack on the judiciary that would have been unthinkable coming from most presidents, demanded that the Supreme Court intervene.
"It is our goal to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and such a high aspiration can never be done if Radical and Highly Partisan Judges are allowed to stand in the way of JUSTICE," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post aimed at Chief Justice John Roberts.
"STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," Trump wrote in all capital letters.
"If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!"
Roberts, who was nominated by Republican George W. Bush, a day earlier issued a rare rebuke by the country's top justice to remarks by the president after Trump called for the impeachment of the judge who ruled on the immigration case.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a brief statement.
"The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, on Saturday had issued an emergency order against the deportation of Venezuelans as they sought legal recourse.
He said that two flights in the air needed to turn around. El Salvador's President Nayyib Bukele, who has offered to take in prisoners on the cheap in Latin America's largest prison, responded on social media: "Oopsie... Too late."
In a new order on Thursday, Boasberg said that an acting field office director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained that the Trump administration was considering justifying its actions by saying the issue was a matter of "state secrets."
"This is woefully insufficient," Boasberg wrote, saying that "the Government again evaded its obligations."
He said that a regional official in charge of immigration enforcement was not in a position to attest to cabinet-level arguments against a federal court.
He gave the Trump administration until Tuesday to explain why it did not violate his restraining order.
It was unclear if contempt of court charges or other remedies might be on the table.