WASHINGTON — The Justice Department asked an appeals court Friday to block a contempt investigation of the Trump administration for failing to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador in March.

The department also is seeking Chief Judge James Boasberg’s removal from the case, accusing him of a “radical, retaliatory, unconstitutional campaign” against the Trump administration.

It marks a dramatic escalation in the Justice Department’s lengthy feud with the judge appointed to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, setting the stage for a showdown over the judiciary’s power to serve as a check on an administration that has pushed the boundaries of court orders.

The department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rule on its requests before Monday, when Boasberg is scheduled to hear testimony from a former government attorney who filed a whistleblower complaint.

A three-judge panel from the appeals court agreed to temporarily suspend Boasberg’s contempt-related order. The panel, composed of two judges nominated by Trump and one nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, said its administrative stay isn’t a ruling on the merits of the government’s requests. But it casts some doubt on whether Monday’s hearing will proceed as planned.

Department officials claim Boasberg is biased and creating “a circus that threatens the separation of powers and the attorney-client privilege alike.”

“The forthcoming hearing has every appearance of an endless fishing expedition aimed at an ever-widening list of witnesses and prolonged testimony. That spectacle is not a genuine effort to uncover any relevant facts,” they wrote.

Boasberg has said that a recent ruling by the appeals court gave him the authority to proceed with the contempt inquiry. The judge is trying determine if there is sufficient evidence to refer the matter for prosecution.

Boasberg, who has been chief judge of the district court in Washington, D.C., since March 2023, has said the Trump administration may have “acted in bad faith” by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country in defiance of his order blocking their deportations to El Salvador.

In an April 16 order, the judge said he gave the administration “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”

“The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” Boasberg wrote.

The Trump administration has denied any violation, saying the judge’s March 15 directive to return the planes was made verbally in court but not included in his written order.