Justice Department files misconduct complaint against judge in key deportations case

[LetMyPeopleVote]

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found cause to initiate contempt proceedings to determine whether the Trump administration violated court orders.

The attack by Trump's DOJ on Judge Boasberg is ominous, and merely the first step in what will be a four-year effort to intimidate and discredit any judges who displease the administration, laying the predicate for ignoring or evading their authority.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T13:10:08.814Z

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-misconduct-complaint-judge-james-boasberg-rcna221642

The Justice Department filed a complaint Monday alleging misconduct by a federal judge overseeing several cases involving the Trump administration, including a challenge to the legality of deportation flights to El Salvador in March.

The complaint against James Boasberg, the chief U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C., which was filed by Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, alleges that Boasberg made improper comments during a judicial conference in March.....

Boasberg is assigned to several notable cases involving the Trump administration, none more high-profile than the Alien Enemies Act case, which was filed in mid-March when three deportation flights took off from the United States en route to El Salvador. During an emergency hearing at the time, Boasberg ordered that any planes that were midair and bound for El Salvador return to the United States after Trump’s executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act for deportations was made public.

He later found cause to initiate contempt proceedings to determine whether the Trump administration was in willful violation of court orders. An appeals court has paused the process, however.

“Having assumed President Trump would defy court orders, Judge Boasberg issued a [temporary restraining order] and threatened sanctions—all on a false premise," the complaint says, noting that Boasberg spoke at the conference days before he ruled from the bench in the deportations case. "Such conduct violates litigants’ trust in an impartial judiciary and falls below the standards that safeguard the integrity of the judiciary and public confidence in that integrity.”

[Nictuku]

1. They have no shame

How dare they accuse ANYONE (let alone a Judge who ruled against them) of "Such conduct violates litigants’ trust in an impartial judiciary and falls below the standards that safeguard the integrity of the judiciary and public confidence in that integrity.”

That is ridiculous. Everyone knows it. I hope it is thrown out as frivolous.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. He didn't bow to Dear Leader

That's misconduct in their warped minds.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Pam Bondi Takes Revenge on Judge Trump Absolutely Hates

Pam Bondi Takes Revenge on Judge Trump Absolutely Hates newrepublic.com/post/198540/... via @newrepublic.com

— Blue Freedom Quest 💙🌊💙🌊 (@bluefreedomquest.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T13:34:53.324Z

https://newrepublic.com/post/198540/pam-bondi-doj-targets-judge-boasberg

Donald Trump’s Justice Department is moving to retaliate against one of the federal judges who stood up to Trump’s extrajudicial deportations.

Judge James Boasberg first appeared on the MAGA radar in March after blocking the Trump administration’s invocation of the wartime 1798 Alien Enemies Act to indiscriminately deport men Trump claimed were Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador. The administration ignored Boasberg’s order, and he claimed to have found probable cause for contempt on the administration’s part, although the D.C. Circuit Court has paused proceedings. Boasberg’s principled opposition quickly made him a villain to Trump, culminating in the DOJ’s most recent attack on him.

“Today at my direction, @TheJusticeDept filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg for making improper public comments about President Trump and his Administration,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote Monday on X. “These comments have undermined the integrity of the judiciary, and we will not stand for that.”

While Bondi has yet to actually specify what “improper public comments” Boasberg made to elicit such an attack, both her chief of staff and the right-wing Federalist have reported that this huge, inappropriate mistake Boasberg made was simply expressing his (valid!) concern that the Trump administration was liable to “disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis,” while at a judicial conference.

So Trump and Bondi are trying to sanction Boasberg for sharing his expert opinion, one of the primary functions of a federal judge.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Pam Bondi Gaslights The American People With a Bogus Complaint Against A Federal Judge

Link to tweet