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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tore into Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday, accusing him of targeting DOJ attorneys, after an appellate court rebuked the Obama-appointed judge for a second time in an ongoing immigration case.
“Today’s decision by the DC Circuit should finally end Judge Boasberg’s year-long campaign against the hardworking Department attorneys doing their jobs fighting illegal immigration,” Blanche said in a statement.
The criticism from Blanche, newly appointed as acting AG by President Donald Trump, intensified scrutiny of a judge frequently in the president’s crosshairs after a D.C. federal appeals court panel issued a 2-1 decision blocking, yet again, Boasberg’s contempt investigation into Trump officials.
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Other Republicans and conservative legal experts echoed Blanche’s remarks, underscoring how Boasberg, chief judge of the D.C. federal court, has been a repeated thorn to Trump’s agenda.
“Another day, another reversal of Judge Boasberg,” wrote George Mason University law professor Rob Luther.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., resurfaced Republicans’ calls for Boasberg’s impeachment, an effort that is currently stalled in the House.
“The D.C. Circuit ruled Boasberg’s contempt crusade against Trump officials is an ‘improper investigation’ and ‘clear abuse of discretion,'” Schmitt said. “He tried to imprison Trump officials for deporting Venezuelan gang members. I’m calling on the House: Impeach Rogue Judge Boasberg.”
In addition to raising the possibility of criminal contempt against Trump officials, an offense punishable by fines, jail or other sanctions, Boasberg recently blocked the DOJ’s ability to subpoena Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, alleging the investigation’s “sole purpose” was to pressure the Fed to lower interest rates.
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The two judges who ruled against Boasberg on contempt were Trump appointees Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, while Judge Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, dissented. Rao, in her opinion, accused Boasberg of abusing his authority, bolstering the right’s broader concerns about judicial overreach.
“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Rao wrote. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion, as the district court’s order said nothing about transferring custody of the plaintiffs and therefore lacks the clarity to support criminal contempt based on the transfer of custody.”
The comment from Blanche, who Trump chose to replace Pam Bondi earlier this month, referenced the prolonged nature of the case, which has largely proceeded in Boasberg’s courtroom and has led to numerous adverse rulings by the judge and heated courtroom moments where he has grilled DOJ attorneys over their knowledge, or lack thereof, of immigration officials’ actions.
Boasberg had launched contempt proceedings last year after accusing the Trump administration of defying a temporary restraining order instructing the government to return Venezuelan migrants to the United States after they were flown under the Alien Enemies Act to the notorious, high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador over allegations they were members of the gang Tren de Aragua.
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Trump had made the controversial decision to invoke the act to bypass typical immigration proceedings and quickly deport the migrants. The Supreme Court tossed out Boasberg’s restraining order, saying that while the migrants’ due process rights may have been violated, the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of the migrants, should have brought habeas corpus claims in the courts where the migrants were last detained.
The D.C. Circuit Court shut down Boasberg’s initial contempt effort, but upon discovering that former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had allegedly ordered government officials to ignore Boasberg’s order, Boasberg opened a new, more narrowly tailored contempt probe, which the D.C. panel terminated on Tuesday.
The ACLU could appeal the decision to a full bench of judges on the appellate court while the broader case proceeds.
Fox News Digital reached out to an ACLU attorney and Boasberg’s chambers for comment.
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