President Donald Trump’s MAGA base has expressed skepticism after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg—who presided over the migrant deportation case—was also assigned to a new lawsuit involving high-ranking Cabinet officials’ messaging of military activity via the Signal app.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) via online form Wednesday for comment.
Why It Matters
Boasberg has been at the center of MAGA fury this month as he has presided over the case involving the Trump administration’s speedy deportation of migrants through his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The act is a wartime law that grants the commander in chief authority to detain or deport non-citizens. The implementation was blocked in federal court and has thus sparked a contentious legal back-and-forth with Boasberg, a chief judge.
The Trump administration this week also faced intense scrutiny after a report in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said he was added to a thread on the encrypted app Signal that included Cabinet officials discussing military action against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
What To Know
In the wake of the Signal scandal, the administration was hit with a lawsuit on Tuesday by nonpartisan watchdog group American Oversight.
The lawsuit accuses Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others of defying the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Records Act. The case was assigned to Boasberg on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Reports of Boasberg’s new assignment sparked MAGA reaction across social media.
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What People Are Saying
Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio on Tuesday, on Benny Johnson’s podcast The Benny Show: “You’re right it’s supposed to be random,” Jordan said responding to Johnson. “Supposed to be random, but Judge Boasberg could recuse himself from this case … if there’s a preceded bias, a potential for bias, if there’s a conflict.”
Jordan continued: “Well I think there’s a lot of people who think there’s a bias. After all, as you mentioned Benny, this is the guy who said, ‘turn the flight around, bring all the bad guys, the hardened criminals who were here illegally who did terrible things, bring those folks back to America.’ This is the judge who was there on the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] court when they issued the warrants to spy on President Trump’s campaign eight years ago. So, there’s a history there and yet no, no recusal, he’s going to get the case.”
Jordan went on the blast attorney and CNN analyst Norm Eisen, who regularly bashes Trump, adding: “They had that lawsuit ready to go, go figure.”
Trump ally Mike Davis on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday: “Dear House Judiciary Chairman @Jim_Jordan: Order Chief DC Obama Judge Jeb Boasberg to come explain his court’s ‘random’ assignment of cases.”
Activist and author Jack Posobiec on X, on Wednesday, reacting to Boasberg’s new assignment: “Heavy artillery moving into position. The Op is on”
Conservative influencer Nick Sotor on X, on Wednesday: “🚨 WTF?! Judge Boasberg, the activist judge BLOCKING Trump from deporting violent gang members, intentionally DELAYED the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails until after the 2016 election He’s also now ‘coincidentally’ presiding over the Signal case This is RIGGED! How do people not see that?”
What Happens Next
The administration’s appeal in the deportation case was rejected on Wednesday afternoon in a ruling of 2-1.
