James Boasberg: The US judge that Trump wants to impeach for trying to stop deportation flights

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has been explosive and chaotic, to say the least. He has picked fights with world leaders — who can forget his showdown with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But it doesn’t stop there; the US president is now also taking on the judiciary in America, calling for the impeachment of a federal judge, identified as Judge James E Boasberg, who blocked his deportation plans.

Trump’s call for the judge’s impeachment also earned him a rebuke from the US Supreme Court’s Chief Justice John Roberts, who without naming the US president said in a statement, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

But who exactly is the judge in Trump’s line of firing? And more importantly, what caused him to earn Trump’s wrath?

Who is Judge James E Boasberg?

At the centre of it, is Washington judge James Boasberg, who also goes by the nickname of Jeb. The 62-year-old played basketball for St Albans School and Yale College, where he graduated with undergraduate and law degrees. He earned a master’s degree in history from the University of Oxford. In his Yale years, he lived with Brett Kavanaugh, a Supreme Court justice.

Boasberg began his career as a homicide prosecutor in Washington, DC and in 2002, then-President George W Bush gave him his first job on the bench as an associate judge of the DC Superior Court, where he served in the civil and criminal divisions and the domestic violence branch.

More from Explainers

Despite failure, Trump 2.0 continues raging against birthright citizenship, pushes SC to allow restrictions Trump likely to invoke wartime authority to speed up mass deportations

Nine years later, former US President Barack Obama nominated him to the federal bench in the capital, a position for which he was unanimously confirmed. Chief Justice John G Roberts Jr also named Boasberg as the presiding judge of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from January 2020 to May 2021.

In his years sitting on the federal bench, Boasberg is no stranger to high-profile and politically charged cases. In 2012, he ruled against the public release of photos of the deceased Osama bin Laden, finding there were reasonable national security grounds to keep them private.

Editor’s Picks

1

Can US deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder? 2

Over 1 lakh ‘dependent’ Indians in the US are fearing ‘self-deportation’. Here's why

Later, in 2016, Boasberg ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release nearly 15,000 emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, the former senator and presidential candidate. But he earned Trump’s ire when he dismissed lawsuits trying to force the State Department to recover more of her correspondence.

Boasberg also had a window into special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He oversaw secret grand jury disputes, including a ruling in 2023 requiring former Vice President Mike Pence to testify — a decision that directly shaped the case against Trump.

He also presided over dozens of January 6 riot cases; in one hearing, a Proud Boy s member berated him as a “clown” and “fraud”. Boasberg responded calmly before sentencing the man to six years in prison.

Why has Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment?

Boasberg has come in Trump’s line of fire since Saturday (March 15) when he blocked the US president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act , an 18th-century wartime law, to deport alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador.

On Saturday, when the matter reached the court, Boasberg ordered that the deportations of Venezuelans should be stopped and the planes brought back to the United States. But despite the judge’s order, the Justice Department (DOJ) proceeded with the deportation, with the Trump administration arguing that the flights were over international waters and therefore outside of the court’s jurisdiction.

But it seems that Trump’s move angered Boasberg, who on Monday, slammed the Trump administration, accusing it of intentionally rushing the flights to circumvent his orders. “The power of federal courts does not lapse at the water’s edge,” he said and demanded them to deliver a timeline of when the deportation flights took off, as well as other information about the events of Saturday night.

However, the DOJ refused to provide almost any details about the deportation operation, repeatedly invoking national security to defend the secrecy. “Why are you showing up today and not having answers to why you can’t even disclose it to me?” the judge asked.

Later, the Justice Department wrote a letter to the federal appeals court asking it to remove Judge Boasberg from the case, and arguing that he had engaged in “highly unusual and improper procedures.”

Trump also waded into the issue posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, “This radical Left lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected president. He didn’t win the popular vote (by a lot!), he didn’t win all seven swing states, he didn’t win 2,750 to 525 counties, he didn’t win anything! I won for many reasons, in an overwhelming mandate, but fighting illegal immigration may have been the number one reason for this historic victory. I’m just doing what the voters wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the crooked judges I am forced to appear before, should be impeached!!! We don’t want vicious, violent and demented criminals, many of them deranged murderers, in our country. Make America Great Again!!!”

What happens next?

When it comes to the deportation matter, it is far from over; Boasberg’s temporary ruling is expected to be challenged in higher courts. But it could set up a showdown between Trump and the American judiciary. In fact, Chief Justice John G Roberts of the Supreme Court admonished Trump for his remark, saying that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Other judges also spoke out against threats of impeachment. Judge Richard J Sullivan, whom Trump appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City, said: “Threats against judges are threats against constitutional government. Everyone should be taking this seriously.”

Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, also said: “Criticism is no surprise as part of the job. But I do think when it gets to the level of a threat, it really is about attacking judicial independence. And that’s just not good for the system or the country.”

Other judicial experts have also warned that Trump’s attack could undermine judicial independence.

Meanwhile, a Texas Republican, Brandon Gill, has introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg. But experts suggest that this won’t proceed as US Congress has rarely ever impeached judges.

The last such instance was in 2010 when G Thomas Porteous, who served in the eastern district of Louisiana, was removed on accusations of accepting bribes and issuing false statements.

With inputs from agencies