Who is James Boasberg? Judge cleared of DOJ misconduct complaint after ruling against Trump administration

A federal appeals court judge has thrown out a judicial misconduct complaint filed by the US Justice Department against Chief US District Judge James Boasberg, 62, who had opposed President Donald Trump’s administration in its effort to deport several Venezuelans to El Salvador, according to Reuters.

In July, US Attorney General Pam Bondi took the unusual step of filing the complaint against Boasberg in Washington, DC, claiming he made inappropriate remarks about Trump during a meeting of the judiciary’s policymaking body, the Judicial Conference.

In a newly released order dated December 19, Chief US Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, stated that the alleged statements, even if true, would not breach judicial ethics rules.

The complaint, lodged by Bondi, came days after Boasberg indicated he might pursue disciplinary action against Justice Department lawyers over their conduct in a lawsuit filed by Venezuelans contesting their removal to a Salvadoran prison.

In April, Boasberg had determined that the administration seemed to have acted "in bad faith" when it quickly organised three deportation flights on March 15, coinciding with his emergency court proceedings to evaluate the legality of the effort.

The DOJ’s complaint centered on remarks attributed to Boasberg by the conservative outlet The Federalist during a March meeting of the US Judicial Conference, with Chief US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts present. The department claimed that Boasberg voiced concerns to Roberts and others that the administration might ignore court rulings and provoke “a constitutional crisis".

The DOJ argued that these statements violated the judicial code of conduct and that Boasberg had improperly acted based on his views regarding the litigation involving the Venezuelans, who were deported under the Alien Enemies Act.

Citing possible conflicts among DC judges, Chief Justice Roberts referred the complaint to the Cincinnati-based Judicial Council of the 6th Circuit. Judge Sutton ruled that the DOJ had not provided evidence that Boasberg made the statements, and noted that even if he had, they would not have been inappropriate in the closed-door meeting of the judiciary’s policymaking body.

After completing his studies at St. Albans in 1981, Boasberg enrolled at Yale University, where he joined the undergraduate society Skull and Bones. He played forward for the Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team. He graduated magna cum laude in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

The following year, he earned a Master of Studies degree from St Peter’s College, Oxford. Between 1986 and 1987, Boasberg taught history and coached women’s basketball at Horace Mann School in New York City. He later attended Yale Law School, graduating in 1990 with a Juris Doctor degree.

Boasberg previously served as a judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2002 to 2011, having been appointed by former president George W. Bush.

In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), where he later served as presiding judge from 2020 to 2021. That same year, he was appointed to the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court and designated as its chief judge.

(With inputs from agency)