Trump admin escalates its war with the courts — this time targeting Judge Boasberg

Politico

29-07-2025

Boasberg's remarks at the conference came after weeks of Trump allies inside and outside the administration suggesting judges who rule against the president should be impeached and disfavored court orders should be ignored. Judges at every level — including justices of the Supreme Court — have raised the specter of defiance by the administration and urged officials to respect court orders regardless of which court or judge issues them.
Jeffrey Sutton, the chief judge of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals who briefed journalists after the conference that day, said several lawmakers were in attendance, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), as well as Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). It is unclear whether the lawmakers heard Boasberg's remarks.
A spokesperson for Boasberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mizelle's complaint falls to Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, who oversees judicial disciplinary matters for judges in that circuit.
Federal judges are ordinarily barred from making out-of-court public comments about pending or impending matters. It's unclear whether Boasberg's remarks at the judges' meeting qualify and whether he was speaking about any case he knew to be pending or imminent. The complaint also makes more general claims that his statements undermined 'public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.'
Mizelle also filed a complaint earlier this year against Washington-based U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes for her sharp-elbowed comments about the Justice Department's arguments in a lawsuit seeking to block Trump's transgender military ban.
In March, the Justice Department asked the D.C. Circuit to remove Boasberg from the deportation case and reassign it to another judge, an extraordinary step. The appeals court never acted on that request but has paused his orders related to potential contempt proceedings. After Boasberg's March ruling, Trump called for the judge's impeachment, labeling him a 'troublemaker and agitator.'
The new complaint again asks for Boasberg's removal from the deportation case and for him to be reprimanded publicly. It also raises the prospect of his fellow judges calling for his impeachment over the remarks.
The administration has recently escalated its fight with the judiciary in two other arenas. The Justice Department sued the entire federal bench in Maryland over a policy granting an automatic 48-hour hold on deportation cases. And the administration publicly attacked judges in New Jersey for appointing a veteran federal prosecutor as the state's U.S. attorney — an effort to push aside Trump's pick for the post, his former personal attorney Alina Habba.