Justice Dept. slaps Judge James Boasberg with misconduct complaint

The Justice Department on Monday filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg, who has sparred with the Trump administration for months over its deportations of Venezuelan men to El Salvador.

The complaint accuses Boasberg of "making improper public comments about President Trump and his Administration," according to a copy obtained by CBS News. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, to file the complaint, a Justice Department source told CBS News.

In the complaint, Mizelle cites Boasberg's attendance at a Judicial Conference of the United States on March 11, in which the judge warned that the Trump administration could "disregard rulings of federal courts" and trigger a "constitutional crisis."

Mizelle also cites Boasberg's handling of a case involving alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were flown to a Salvadoran prison earlier this year. Boasberg ordered the planes to turn around on March 15, after the Trump administration removed the men under the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg subsequently held hearings in the case in which he has lambasted the conduct of Justice Department attorneys and questioned whether the Trump administration is acting in good faith to guarantee due process for those it has removed from the U.S. or intends to remove.

"Throughout the proceedings, Judge Boasberg rushed the government through complex litigation, sometimes giving the Trump Administration less than 48 hours to respond and threatening criminal-contempt proceedings and the appointment of an outside prosecutor against senior Trump Administration officials for failing to comply with an order that had already been vacated," Mizelle wrote.

Bondi wrote in a post on X that the judge's remarks "have undermined the integrity of the judiciary, and we will not stand for that."

The complaint was addressed to the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Sri Srinivasan. Typically, complaints about judges are first reviewed by the chief judge of the appellate circuit, who can either dismiss them or refer them to a committee for investigation. After that, a council of judges decides whether to take corrective action, which can include reprimanding the judge and avoiding assigning new cases.

Judges can only be removed from the bench through impeachment proceedings, which requires two-thirds of senators to vote to remove them.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration filed a similar complaint against D.C. District Judge Ana Reyes for what they claimed was "hostile and egregious misconduct" during a hearing in February over the Trump administration's attempts to ban transgender servicemembers from the military. The D.C. Circuit has not yet addressed the Reyes complaint.

CBS News has reached out to Boasberg's chambers for comment.

In April, Boasberg said there was probable cause to find the Trump administration in criminal contempt over what he said was its defiance of his order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants bound for El Salvador.

Dozens were put on two planes on March 15, removed to El Salvador and placed in detention at CECOT, a maximum security prison, despite an order issued by Boasberg to stop the removals and turn around the planes.

Boasberg said in his April decision that the government's actions "demonstrate a willful disregard" for his order barring the government from transferring certain migrants into Salvadoran custody under the Alien Enemies Act, which previously had been invoked only three times in history, while the nation was at war.

He accused the government of "increasing obstructionism" and "stonewalling" over its refusal to answer basic questions that aimed to resolve whether noncitizens who were removable solely under Mr. Trump's proclamation were transferred out of U.S. custody after the judge issued his order forbidding their deportation.

"Defendants provide no convincing reason to avoid the conclusion that appears obvious from the above factual recitation: that they deliberately flouted this court's written order and, separately, its oral command that explicitly delineated what compliance entailed," Boasberg wrote.

Boasberg's handling of the case has drawn pushback from the administration. In March, Mr. Trump called the judge "Crooked" and called for his impeachment.

• United States Department of Justice
• Pam Bondi