Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Tuesday that she directed the Justice Department to file a misconduct complaint against a federal judge who has clashed with the Trump administration over immigration.
“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,” Bondi wrote in a post on X. “These comments have undermined the integrity of the judiciary, and we will not stand for that.”
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 Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 28, 2025
These comments have undermined the integrity of the judiciary, and we will…
The complaint alleges that US District Judge James Boasberg violated judicial ethics by making politically charged comments about President Donald Trump during a Judicial Conference session that took place on March 11, 2025.
Boasberg told Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and other federal judges that the Trump administration would “disregard rulings of federal courts” and cause a “constitutional crisis.” The Justice Department alleges that Boasberg “attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges” by making this claim.
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The complaint argues that Boasberg’s remarks violated judicial ethics that require judges to remain impartial and neutral — especially since the White House was litigating dozens of pending cases at the time.
The agency contends that Boasberg’s comments were more than idle speculation. They revealed his bias against the president. Only days after making the remarks, he granted a temporary restraining order barring the administration from deporting Venezuelans to El Salvador. He expanded the order to the national level “within hours of the complaint being filed and without affording the United States even a chance to appear,” according to the complaint.
Even after the Supreme Court vacated his order, Boasberg sought to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his injunction. The Justice Department claims Boasberg “issued erroneous rulings based on that preconceived notion, which the Supreme Court had to vacate,” the complaint read. The judge’s conduct meets “the classic definition of failure to ‘promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary’ under Canon 2(A).”
Boasberg, like other federal judges, has fought tooth and nail against the Trump administration’s policies. He has received widespread criticism from Republicans who accuse him of being an activist judge.
Now that the DOJ has submitted the complaint, the chief judge of the DC Circuit will have 90 days to review the complaint and decide whether to dismiss it, take corrective action, or appoint a special committee to investigate the allegations.
If the chief judge appoints a committee, it will interview witnesses, review court records, emails, or transcripts, and solicit an explanation from Boasberg. After the investigation is concluded, the Judicial Council of the DC circuit will decide whether to take action against the judge.
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