A look at the judge who blocked Trump’s deportations and is now facing calls for impeachment

WASHINGTON — The federal judge who ruled against Donald Trump’s deportation plans and is now facing calls for his impeachment is no stranger to politically fraught cases — including ones involving the president. In his 14 years on the federal bench, James “Jeb” Boasberg has resolved secret grand jury disputes that arose during the special counsel investigations into Trump, oversaw improvements after the Trump-Russia investigation in how the Justice Department conducts national security surveillance and handled his share of sentencings for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “Instead, they should follow the law and facts to whatever outcome they dictate.” Trump grand juries Boasberg’s position as chief judge of Washington’s federal court gave him a unique window on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump as witness after witness arrived at the courthouse for secret grand jury testimony. And during the sentencing of Ray Epps, who became the target of right-wing conspiracy theories and death threats for his role in the Capitol riot, Boasberg bluntly described the violence as an “insurrection by supporters of the former president and not some violent act instigated by antifa or the FBI.” Top job on surveillance court Boasberg is also well-known among Trump allies for his role as a judge on the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court during the period when the FBI was investigating whether Trump’s successful 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia to tip the outcome of the election. Later, as the surveillance court’s presiding judge, Boasberg chided the Justice Department for having “breached its duty of candor to the Court with respect to those applications” and said the frequency and gravity of the errors during the Russia investigation had “called into question the reliability of the information proffered in other FBI applications.” In response to the errors, he mandated that the Justice Department provide him with information about its efforts to implement reforms meant to improve the accuracy of warrant applications submitted to the surveillance court.