Overview

• On July 28, the Justice Department filed an official ethics complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg, accusing him of misconduct for comments made at a Judicial Conference.
• The complaint, signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff Chad Mizelle, alleges Boasberg improperly influenced Chief Justice Roberts and other judges by predicting that the Trump administration would flout court orders.
• Boasberg is overseeing a challenge to deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, which he halted for lack of due process.
• After finding the government likely in criminal contempt for disobeying his deportation halt, Boasberg’s contempt proceedings were paused by a D.C. appellate panel in April without resolution on the merits.
• Legal observers warn that the DOJ’s move to discipline a sitting judge may deepen tensions over separation of powers and deter judges from speaking out against executive overreach.