Chief Justice of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia James Boasberg is caught in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs after ordering a two-week halt on deportation flights of Tren de Aragua gang members.
Without directly stating his name, Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment, prompting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to release a rare statement condemning calls for judges to be impeached solely based on disagreements with decisions.
So who is Boasberg? And how has his past led him to the precarious position where Trump and his allies want him impeached?
Who is James Boasberg?
Boasberg has served as chief judge on the District Court since March 17, 2023. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the court in 2011, receiving unanimous approval from the Senate.
He also served a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, presiding over it from January 2020 to May 2021.
In 2002, Boasberg became an associate judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court, serving in the Civil and Criminal Divisions and the Domestic Violence Branch.
He is a 1990 graduate of Yale Law School and a 1985 graduate of Yale University where he played basketball.
Has he ruled on cases involving Trump before?
Since Boasberg’s tenure on the district court, he has made several rulings in cases involving Trump’s legal battles.
In 2023, Boasberg ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to testify to a grand jury regarding Trump’s attempts to pressure him into throwing out the 2020 election results and certifying the election in Trump’s favor. His testimony played a key role in the Biden Justice Department’s case against Trump, which asserted he was seeking to overturn the election. The criminal case against Trump has since been dismissed.
Boasberg also dismissed a lawsuit brought forward by a Trump aide against the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In his opinion, Boasberg made reference to a Star Trek catchphrase, writing, “Plaintiff may resist this conclusion, but as Star Trek’s Dr. Spock intoned, ‘Resistance is futile.’”
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLAN
However, Boasberg has ruled in Trump’s favor before.
In 2017, when Trump began his first term, he kept the president’s tax records private from an advocacy organization seeking to obtain them. He also ruled in favor of conservative advocacy groups that were seeking to make Hillary Clinton’s emails when she was secretary of state public, ordering the federal government to review them. The emails became a major source of controversy for the Democrat when she was running against Trump in the 2016 election.