The Justice Department, headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, has filed an official complaint regarding US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg. (Getty Images)
The complaint details two occasions on which Judge Boasberg made comments the Justice Department alleges undermine the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
"On March 11, 2025, Judge Boasberg attended a session of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which exists to discuss administrative matters like budgets, security, and facilities. While there, Judge Boasberg attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges by straying from the traditional topics to express his belief that the Trump Administration would "disregard rulings of federal courts" and trigger "a constitutional crisis." Although his comments would be inappropriate even if they had some basis, they were even worse because Judge Boasberg had no basis—the Trump Administration has always complied with all court orders. Nor did Judge Boasberg identify any purported violations of court orders to justify his unprecedented predictions."
TRUMP FOE BOASBERG ORDERS DOJ TO DETAIL STATUS OF CECOT MIGRANTS SENT TO VENEZUELA
The complaint details two occasions during which Boasberg allegedly made comments undermining the judiciary's integrity and impartiality. (DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images)
The DOJ is asking Chief Judge Srinivasan to refer the complaint to a special investigative committee as an inquiry is essential to determine whether Judge Boasberg’s conduct constitutes "conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts." The complaint also asks that Judge Boasberg be taken off the case involving Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador, "to prevent further erosion of public confidence while the investigation proceeds."
The case in question is J.G.G. v Trump.
This is the second time the Bondi DOJ has filed an official complaint against a federal judge. In late February, the DOJ filed a complaint about US District Judge Ana Reyes, concerning what the DOJ calls Judge Reyes’ "misconduct" during the proceedings in Nicolas Talbott et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al., which is a case brought by two LGBTQ groups challenging the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders barring transgender individuals from serving in the US military.
News of the complaint comes at a time when the Trump administration has excoriated dozens of so-called "activist" judges who have blocked or paused some of Trump's sweeping executive orders from taking force in his second White House term.
Judge Boasberg in particular found himself at the center of Trump's ire and attacks on so-called "activist" judges this year, following his March 15 temporary restraining order that sought to block Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador.
Boasberg had ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be "immediately" returned to U.S. soil, which did not happen.
WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP'S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?
WASHINGTON, DC- Judge James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the Federal District Court in DC, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Washington Post via Getty)
His emergency order touched off a complex legal saga that ultimately spawned dozens of federal court challenges across the country – though the one brought before his court on March 15 was the very first – and later prompted the Supreme Court to rule, on two separate occasions, that the hurried removals had violated migrants' due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.
Boasberg, as a result, emerged as the man at the center of the legal fallout.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly excoriated Boasberg both for his order and his attempt to determine whether they acted in good faith to comply with his orders, and Trump himself has floated the idea that Boasberg could be impeached earlier this year – prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare public warning.
The complaint, focused on months-old behavior and allegations surrounding Judge Boasberg— first tapped as a judge by then-President George W. Bush in 2002, comes at a time when he could again have a say in a major class action case brought by lawyers representing the former CECOT migrants.
Lawyers for the ACLU and others in the class asked Judge Boasberg earlier this month to reopen discovery in the case, citing allegations from a United Nations report regarding custodial status of migrants at CECOT, and the recent decision to remove the 252 migrants sent from the U.S. to El Salvador to Venezuela under the prisoner exchange.
Asked at a status hearing in court last week whether the Justice Department would comply with the court's orders, DOJ lawyer Tiberius Davis said they would, "if it was a lawful order."
They also said they would likely seek an appeal from a higher court.
In April, Judge Boasberg also ruled that the court had found "probable cause" to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return the planes to U.S. soil, in accordance with his March 15 emergency order, and said the court had determined that the Trump administration demonstrated a "willful disregard" for his order.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed his original motion in April, and has yet to move on the matter.
Jake Gibson is the Fox News Department of Justice and Federal Law Enforcement Producer.
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