A federal judge in Washington D.C., James Boasberg, attempted to hold President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials in criminal contempt of court in April for allegedly violating an order he'd issued in March that was later vacated for lack of jurisdiction.

On Friday, a D.C. appeals court panel smacked down Boasberg for the effort, directed him to undo the proceedings, and vacated his probable cause for contempt order, according to Townhall.

While this is undoubtedly a big win that vindicates Trump and his administration, the saga is perhaps not yet over, as it remains possible that Boasberg could further pursue an appeal to the more favorable full D.C. appellate court, if not also the Supreme Court, though the overtly anti-Trump judge would likely find that to be an unfriendly venue.

Boasberg's contempt move against the administration

In March, Judge Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration from removing hundreds of Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador, and even demanded that any aircraft already en route must be turned around and returned.

However, two planes had already exited U.S. airspace before that TRO was issued and continued to their destination in Central America, where the deported gang members were turned over to Salvadoran custody, from where they were later transferred to Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner exchange.

Meanwhile, Boasberg's TRO was appealed and ultimately vacated for lack of jurisdiction by the Supreme Court, which ruled that under the relevant statute, the Alien Enemies Act, detainees could only challenge their removal in the jurisdiction where they were detained, which in this instance was South Texas.

Ignoring the inconvenient fact that his initial TRO was invalid, Boasberg nonetheless moved to have Trump and several senior officials held in criminal contempt for allegedly refusing to turn around the two aircraft that had already left the country before his invalid order was issued.

He even went so far as to assert that if the administration did not bow to his will and "purge" whoever had decided to violate his initial order, he would appoint a private attorney to proceed with a prosecutorial effort.

Contempt proceedings vacated

Townhall noted that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had initially paused Judge Boasberg's contempt proceedings shortly after it began in April, but now, several months later, has decidedly ended them altogether, except for any further appeals by the judge.

In a 110-page order, the three-judge panel ruled 2-1 against Boasberg and granted the Trump administration's request for a writ of mandamus, which serves as an order from a higher court that a lower court must comply with, and also vacated the probable cause order that launched the contempt proceedings.

The outlet noted that, had Boasberg succeeded in holding the administration in criminal contempt of court, he could have fined or even imprisoned several senior administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and other top officials from DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ruling will likely be appealed

According to Fox News, it appears "all but certain" that the panel's ruling will be appealed to the full D.C. appellate court, which has a strong Democratic majority that frequently rules against the Trump administration, and could ultimately be reviewed by the more friendly conservative-leaning Supreme Court.

It was also stressed in the decision that the ruling applies only to Judge Boasberg's contempt proceedings and does not address the underlying issue of the removal of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, which remains under dispute.

The outlet further noted that this is not the only conflict between the administration and Boasberg, who has ruled adversely against the administration in multiple other cases, and whom the administration has sought to have impeached, or at least removed from cases involving an administration that he has shown repeatedly that he holds bias and enmity toward.