Donald Trump 1, Judge James Boasberg, 0

It was a close-run race but Donald Trump and his Justice Department just managed to get hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gangsters out of the country heading for El Salvadore before Washington District Judge James Boasberg issued his suspension of all flights containing deported Venezuelans. By the time the court order was signed and ready to go, Trump's deportees were within about an hour and a half of landing in El Salvadore. Too late to turn them around even though the judge declared that any flights already in the air should turn back to the US. That was never going to be enforceable, especially with an administration determined to push ahead with its mass deportation programme, irrespective of what federal judges try to do to stop the flights. The basis of the confrontation between Trump and the courts is the president's use of an ancient war act to justify the deportations. The 1798 Alien Enemies Act was introduced specifically to deal with unwanted alien migrants during a war or invasion. Judge Boasberg said the US was not facing a war and, therefore, the deportation of the Venezuelans, albeit suspected members of drugs gangs, was not legal. A White House statement said otherwise and said an appeal would be made to a higher court. Either way, the judge lost this one. The near-300 Venezuelans, criminals or not, are now housed in El Salvador's notorious maximum security prison which can house up to 40,000 gang members for an indefinite time. There is no chance the president of El Salvadore, a fan of Trump's, is going to send them back to the US. There's not a lot Judge Boasberg can do, except fume.