On Saturday, November 8, 2025, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee currently serving as chief judge of the D.C. District Court, is facing an ethics complaint alleging “political bias” against President Donald Trump and his administration.

The complaint stems from Boasberg’s approval of nondisclosure orders in 2023, which prevented nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress from being informed that their cell phone records had been secretly obtained by the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ). The existence of these orders was recently revealed by Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the ethics complaint, which the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively obtained. The complaint asserts that Judge Boasberg facilitated what it describes as a potentially significant scandal. CASA alleges that weaponizing the DOJ to surveil political opposition not only violates the rights of those targeted but also the American people, who were kept unaware of the investigation due to its secrecy.

The phone records were subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of the “Arctic Frost” investigation, which later became the 2020 election case against Donald Trump. Smith sought detailed records of inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect communications, and voicemail messages between January 4 and January 7, 2021.

While Verizon complied with the subpoena, AT&T reportedly declined to do so after raising concerns about its legal basis.

CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told the DCNF that Boasberg’s approval of the nondisclosure orders “could be a constitutional violation.” Fitzpatrick stated that Boasberg should be immediately investigated and, if found to have violated judicial canons, disciplined to maintain the integrity and independence of the federal judiciary.

Republican Texas Representative Brandon Gill filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg, alleging that Boasberg violated a federal law protecting communications providers for Senate offices, ensuring they “shall not be barred, through operation of any court order or any statutory provision, from notifying the Senate office of any legal process seeking disclosure of Senate data.” Gill’s articles state that Boasberg demonstrated a lack of understanding of basic statutes and contributed to legal inquiries that violate the law, rendering him unfit to serve as Chief Judge.

Gill had previously filed articles of impeachment in March after Boasberg ordered the government to turn around planes carrying alleged gang members to El Salvador. The DOJ also filed an ethics complaint against Boasberg for “improper” comments he made at the judicial conference in March.

CASA’s complaint also highlights comments Boasberg made in March at The Judicial Conference of the United States, where he expressed concern “that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis,” according to The Federalist. The complaint states that at the time of these statements, Trump and his administration were already defendants in dozens of federal lawsuits, including some within the District of Columbia, and that Trump had complied with every order to that date.

 

 

Source: Daily Caller News Foundation