Judge Boasberg misconduct complaint dismissed over El Salvador deportation

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A federal appeals court judge has dismissed a misconduct complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department against U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, court records described in the decision say. The dismissal came after Boasberg, who serves as the chief judge in the nation’s capital district court, issued an order blocking deportation flights that the Trump administration was carrying out by invoking wartime authorities from an 18th century law. The ruling was signed on Dec. 19, according to the order, but it did not become publicly visible until the weekend.

Jeffrey S. Sutton, the chief judge of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, dismissed the complaint in an order that addressed what the Justice Department submitted to support its allegations. The complaint itself targeted Boasberg’s conduct, according to the description of the case, and it rested on alleged remarks made during a judicial conference.

The Justice Department’s misconduct complaint stemmed from what it alleged Boasberg said in March 2025 to Chief Justice John Roberts and other federal judges at a conference held behind closed doors. The alleged comments, as described in the dismissal order, were that the Trump administration would trigger a constitutional crisis by disregarding federal court rulings.

Boasberg’s alleged comments were raised in a dispute that unfolded alongside the administration’s approach to deportations to an El Salvador prison. The order blocking deportation flights, the decision said, came after Boasberg invoked wartime authorities from an 18th century law.

Sutton’s dismissal order said the Justice Department never provided a listed attachment that would have supplied proof of what Boasberg said, as well as context for the alleged statement at the closed-door meeting. Sutton also concluded that the allegations were not sufficiently corroborated for the misconduct complaint to proceed.

“A recycling of unadorned allegations with no reference to a source does not corroborate them. And a repetition of uncorroborated statements rarely supplies a basis for a valid misconduct complaint,” Sutton wrote, according to the account in the order, noting that he was appointed to the appeals court circuit that covers Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee by President George W. Bush.

The decision also addressed the likely substance of the alleged comments in relation to what judges discussed at the conference. Sutton said that even if Boasberg had made the comments, it would not be “so far afield” from topics discussed at the gathering, and he said it would not violate ethics rules.

The dismissal process began with a filing before Judge Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, according to the order’s description. The order said Srinivasan asked Roberts to transfer the complaint to another appeals court circuit because it was still considering appeals related to the deportation case, and that Roberts transferred it to the 6th Circuit.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department and for Boasberg’s court did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment, according to the report describing the decision.