Federal Judge James Boasberg should be suspended pending impeachment hearings for his sweeping campaign-like rulings against Republicans and conservatives, says Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt.
“No more delays. Judge Boasberg must be suspended immediately,” Schmitt posted on X Monday. “Impeachment is underway. He should not get to hear another case – this afternoon I led the effort to make that suspension happen.”
Indeed, Schmitt’s is the lead signature on a letter Monday from him and five Republican Senate colleagues to D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan “calling for the administrative suspension of Chief Judge James Boasberg while Congress considers Articles of Impeachment for abusing his judicial authority to target the Trump administration, sitting Republican Senators, and conservative organizations,” a Schmitt press release says.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg Nov. 4 “for his abuse of judicial authority used to target conservative Members of Congress, organizations, and patriotic Americans,” a Gill press release explains.
The filing came after additional documents indicated Biden special counsel Jack Smith’s belated “Arctic Frost” investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protest may have been used as a pretext for widespread spying on conservatives: 197 subpoenas to 34 individuals and 163 businesses covering “at least 430 named Republican individuals and entities.”
Smith also is said to have spied on eight Republican U.S. senators and one GOP congressman.
“Judge Boasberg was an accomplice in the egregious Arctic Frost scandal,” Gill’s press release argues. “His lack of integrity makes him clearly unfit for the gavel.”
Schmitt has noted on more than one occasion that Boasberg somehow ended up ruling in cases against Trump even though he wasn’t in line to do so.
“He wasn’t the assignment judge,” Schmitt told a press conference Oct. 31. “He’s on vacation – somehow gets these cases at 1:00 in the morning. Was he tipped off? Did somebody tell him these cases against President Trump and his agenda were coming? I don’t know. We should find that out.”
In the meantime, the senators argue in their letter to the circuit chief judge, Boasberg should be suspended administratively pending impeachment proceedings.
The Department of Justice filed a formal complaint against Boasberg July 28 alleging he made inappropriate, disparaging remarks about the Trump administration’s respect for the rule of law at a March 11 judicial conference – only days before entering a ruling against the administration on its deportation flights. The ruling was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The senators’ letter asks Judge Srinivasan, a Barack Obama appointee, what actions he’s taken on that complaint.
“Rogue Judge Boasberg needs to be suspended TODAY,” Schmitt also posted Monday.
“Impeachment is coming—but we don’t have to wait for the House. Precedent allows suspension from judicial misconduct.
“Proud to lead this effort laying out the path for his suspension. The D.C. Circuit would be wise to take it.”
Schmitt called for hearings on rogue judges in the Oct. 31 press conference.
“We should have Watergate style hearings on this for months,” he said emphatically. “If we’re ever gonna root this out, we have to be serious about it, and consequences have to follow. Resignations, firings, criminal prosecutions. You simply can’t, in this country, use the justice system to throw people in jail because they have a red jersey on. Or a blue jersey on.”
