WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court judge has dismissed a Justice Department misconduct complaint against a judge who ran afoul of President Donald Trump’s administration over deporting people to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
On Dec. 19, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dismissed the complaint against U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, but the order was not made public until the end of the week.
The complaint stems from remarks Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the U.S. District Court, allegedly made to Chief Justice John Roberts and other federal judges at a judicial conference in March 2025, saying that the government’s disregard of federal court rulings would trigger a constitutional crisis. The meeting came days before Boasberg issued an order blocking the deportation flights, which Trump invoked wartime authority in 18th-century law to enforce the order.
In his dismissal order, Sutton said the Justice Department never provided the listed attachments to substantiate Boasberg’s remarks or the context for the alleged statements made in the closed-door meeting.
“Repeating unsubstantiated allegations without citing the source does not substantiate those allegations. Repeating unsubstantiated claims rarely provides the basis for a valid misconduct complaint,” Sutton said. Sutton was appointed by President George W. Bush to the circuit court of appeals covering Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Boasberg court did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Sutton said even if Boasberg made those comments, they would not be “far removed” from the topics discussed at the party and would not violate ethics rules. Sutton noted that Roberts’ 2024 year-end report raises widespread concerns about threats to judicial independence, concerns about the safety of judges and respect for court orders throughout the country’s history.
The misconduct complaint was filed with Judge Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but according to the dismissal order, Srinivasan asked Roberts to transfer it to another circuit because that court was still considering an appeal related to the deportation case. Roberts allegedly moved it to the Sixth Circuit.
