Alan Feuer

The panel said that while further argument was needed, lawyers for the migrants would likely succeed in their claims that the Venezuelans had been denied due process.

The move to disqualify the judge was emblematic of the Trump administration’s broader attacks on the federal judiciary, which in recent weeks has pushed back against executive actions.

The extraordinary move by the Justice Department was an escalation of its conflict with the judge in the case and, by extension, the federal judiciary.

The department employed a maneuver that could protect the president from legal and financial consequences in a series of civil suits.

A hearing on Friday afternoon could also include some discussion about the Justice Department’s repeated recalcitrance in responding to the judge’s demands.

In an angry order, the judge, James E. Boasberg, told the Trump administration to explain why he should not find that officials had violated his instructions for the flights to return to the United States.

Trump Administration Highlights: Justice Dept. Stonewalls Judge on Deportation Fights

Judge James Boasberg has asked the government to tell him what time two planes took off from U.S. soil and from where, what time they left U.S. airspace and what time they landed in El Salvador.

The sole offense of those President Trump singled out in remarks at the Justice Department appeared to have been trying to hold him accountable for his actions.

The attacks on the judge, James E. Boasberg, elicited a rare public rebuke by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who essentially told critics to knock it off.