A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday threw out Chief Judge James Boasberg’s order launching criminal-contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials who deported Venezuelan detainees under the Alien Enemies Act. In a 2-1 decision, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao said Boasberg’s April finding of probable cause must be vacated, effectively shielding the officials from potential prosecution. Boasberg had ruled that the government may have willfully defied his March 15 temporary restraining order by proceeding with charter flights that sent roughly 250 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang from Texas to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. The Supreme Court later stayed and then voided that TRO, but the district judge pressed ahead with a contempt inquiry that could have required the Justice Department to identify and possibly charge decision-makers. Katsas wrote that the underlying TRO was ambiguous about whether it barred removing the migrants from U.S. territory or relinquishing custody abroad, and that ambiguities must be resolved in favor of the accused. Rao called Boasberg’s move an “egregious” intrusion on executive authority over foreign affairs. Dissenting Judge Cornelia Pillard countered that courts cannot allow litigants to “defy court orders with impunity.” The ruling halts the contempt case unless the full D.C. Circuit elects to rehear the matter en banc, a step legal observers say is possible given the split opinion and Boasberg’s continued concerns about executive compliance with judicial orders. The decision does not address the legality of President Donald Trump’s invocation of the 1798 law, which remains the subject of separate litigation.