James Boasberg
Official portrait, 2016
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Assumed office
March 17, 2023
Preceded byBeryl Howell
Chief Judge of the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court
Assumed office
January 1, 2020
Preceded byRosemary M. Collyer
Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
In office
January 1, 2020 – May 19, 2021
Preceded byRosemary M. Collyer
Succeeded byRudolph Contreras
Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
In office
May 18, 2014 – May 19, 2021
Preceded byReggie Walton
Succeeded byAmit Mehta
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Assumed office
March 17, 2011
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byThomas F. Hogan
Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
In office
September 2002 – March 14, 2011
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byGregory Mize
Succeeded byJohn F. McCabe[1]
Personal details
Born
James Emanuel Boasberg

(1963-02-20) February 20, 1963 (age 61)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
EducationYale University (BA, JD)
St Peter's College, Oxford (MSt)

James Emanuel "Jeb" Boasberg (born February 20, 1963)[2] is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He served as the presiding judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2020 to 2021 and is a former associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Early life and education

Boasberg was born in San Francisco, California, in 1963,[3] to Sarah Margaret (née Szold) and Emanuel Boasberg III.[4][5] The family moved to Washington, D.C. when Boasberg's father accepted a position in Sargent Shriver's Office of Economic Opportunity, a Great Society agency responsible for implementing and administering many of Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty programs.[6][7]

After high school, Boasberg attended Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones[8] and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude. The following year, he received a Master of Studies degree from St Peter's College, Oxford.[9] From 1986 to 1987, Boasberg was a history teacher and women's basketball coach at the Horace Mann School in New York City. He then attended Yale Law School, where he was a classmate of future Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. He graduated in 1990 with a Juris Doctor.[9][10]

Clerkship and legal career

After completing law school, Boasberg served as a law clerk for Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1990 to 1991.[9] He then went into private practice, working in San Francisco at Keker, Brockett & Van Nest (now Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP) from 1991 to 1994 and then in the District of Columbia at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick from 1995 to 1996.[11] In 1996, Boasberg joined the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia where he would spend 5.5 years as a prosecutor, specializing in homicides.[11][10]

Judicial service

In September 2002, Boasberg became an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. He served in the civil and criminal divisions, and the domestic violence branch, until his appointment to the federal bench in 2011.[11] During the 111th Congress, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton recommended Boasberg to fill a judicial vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.[12] On June 17, 2010, President Barack Obama formally nominated Boasberg to the district court for the District of Columbia.[9] Boasberg was confirmed on March 14, 2011 by a 96–0 vote.[13] He received his commission on March 17, 2011. He became the chief judge on March 17, 2023.[10]

Boasberg is considered a feeder judge, sending numerous clerks to the Supreme Court.[14]

Appointment to United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

On February 7, 2014, Chief Justice John G. Roberts announced that he would appoint Boasberg to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a term starting May 18, 2014 to a seat being vacated by Reggie Walton.[15][16] His term began May 18, 2014.[10] On December 20, 2019, the FISC announced he will replace the presiding judge FISC January 1, 2020[17] and elevated to preside. His term as presiding judge and judge of the FISC ended on May 19, 2021.

Appointment to Alien Terrorist Removal court

In 2020, he was appointed to the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court and designated chief judge.[10]

Notable rulings

Osama Bin Laden photos

On April 26, 2012, Boasberg ruled that the public had no right to view government photos of a deceased Osama bin Laden. Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but were unsuccessful in convincing Boasberg that FOIA rights outweighed national-security factors.[18]

Hillary Clinton emails

On August 22, 2016, Boasberg ordered the release of over 14,000 emails found in the United States Department of State correspondence of Hillary Clinton by the FBI during an investigation of Clinton's private server.[19] These emails were requested by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, because the FBI had indicated that emails were work-related and not entirely private as Clinton had previously said.[19]

Trump tax returns

On August 18, 2017, Boasberg dismissed a lawsuit from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which had sued the IRS under FOIA seeking President Donald Trump's personal tax returns from 2010 to the present to be released. Boasberg concluded that because personal tax returns are confidential, they may only be obtained either by permission from Trump himself or if Congress' joint committee on taxation signed off to allow the disclosure.[20]

Medicaid work rules

On March 27, 2019, Boasberg blocked a work requirement for recipients of Medicaid in Arkansas and Kentucky.[21]

Dakota Access Pipeline

On March 25, 2020, Boasberg ordered a sweeping new environmental review by the Army Corps of Engineers of the Dakota Access Pipeline.[22]

In a subsequent decision on July 6, 2020, he vacated an easement to cross the Missouri River pending completion of the environmental review and ordered the pipeline to be emptied within 30 days.[23] On August 5, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the ruling regarding the easement; however, the judges vacated the order to empty the pipeline and asked the Army Corps of Engineers to submit a follow-up brief on whether they would allow continued pipeline operation without the easement.[24]

North Atlantic Right Whale

On April 9, 2020, Boasberg issued an opinion finding that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it issued a biological opinion in 2014 allowing for the accidental killings of North Atlantic right whales, of which only about 400 remain as of April 8, 2020; by the American lobster fishery, which consists of seven areas spanning the east coast from Maine to North Carolina.[25]

Personal life

Boasberg married Elizabeth Leslie Manson in 1991.[4] His brother, Tom Boasberg, succeeded Michael Bennet as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools after Governor Bill Ritter appointed Bennet to the United States Senate in January 2009.[26][27]

He is an aficionado of William Shakespeare's plays. In February 2018, he played a crown prosecutor in The Trial of Hamlet that was presented at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ Report of District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
  2. ^ U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs (2002). Hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, on the nomination of James "Jeb" E. Boasberg to be an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, June 26, 2002 (Volume 107, Issue 561 of S. hrg, United States Congress ed.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O. ISBN 9780160689093. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  3. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (January 5, 2011). "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: James Emanuel Boasberg" (PDF). Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Elizabeth Leslie Manson Is Married To J. E. Boasberg in New Hampshire". The New York Times. August 26, 1991. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  5. ^ "Sally Boasberg, landscape designer and advocate for District's green spaces, dies at 74". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Nancy (January 9, 2009). "Boasberg sole finalist for DPS superintendent job". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009.
  7. ^ Meyer, Jeremy P. (January 21, 2009). "Boosters say Boasberg's the man to lead DPS". The Denver Post. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  8. ^ Robbins, Alexandra (July 2004). "Powerful Secrets". Vanity Fair. p. 116.
  9. ^ a b c d The White House: Office of the Press Secretary (June 17, 2010). "President Obama Names Three to United States District Court". whitehouse.gov. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017 – via National Archives. Alt URL
  10. ^ a b c d e James Boasberg at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  11. ^ a b c U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "Official Biography". Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Palazzolo, Joe (February 8, 2010). "White House Vetting OPR Chief for Federal Judgeship". Main Justice. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  13. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation James Emanuel Boasberg, of the District of Columbia, to be U.S. District Judge)". Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  14. ^ Lat, David (2015-08-20). "Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Ranking The Non-Traditional Feeder Judges - Above the LawAbove the Law". Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  15. ^ "FISA Court Appointments, Potential Reforms, and More from CRS". Secrecy News. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  16. ^ "Two Judges Appointed to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  17. ^ Savage, Charlie (December 20, 2019). "Surveillance Court Orders Review of Actions by Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer". The New York Times.
  18. ^ "Federal judge blocks release of bin Laden death photos". cnn.com. 26 April 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  19. ^ a b Reid, Paula (August 22, 2016). "Judge orders expedited release of 15,000 Hillary Clinton documents found by FBI". CBS News. New York City, New York. Retrieved August 22, 2016. Initially, the State Department attorney would not answer Judge James Boasberg's repeated questions about the number of emails recovered by the FBI. The judge urged the State Department to expedite its review of what is called "Disc 1," which is one of two discs handed over from FBI to the State Department in late July.
  20. ^ Seipel, Brooke (2017-08-18). "Federal court can't force IRS to release Trump's tax returns". The Hill. Retrieved 2017-08-19.
  21. ^ "Federal judge blocks Medicaid work rules in blow to Trump". Associated Press. March 27, 2019.
  22. ^ Friedman, Lisa (March 25, 2020). "Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Wins a Victory in Dakota Access Pipeline Case". The New York Times.
  23. ^ Wamsley, Laurel (6 July 2020). "Court Rules Dakota Access Pipeline Must Be Emptied For Now". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  24. ^ Willis, Adam (5 August 2020). "Court issues mixed ruling on DAPL, letting the pipeline stay open during appeal". Jamestown Sun. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  25. ^ "In major ruling for right whales, federal judge rules that regulators violated Endangered Species Act". April 9, 2020.
  26. ^ Meyer, Jeremy P. (January 9, 2009). "Finalist is the face behind recent efforts". The Denver Post. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  27. ^ Osher, Christopher N. (January 23, 2009). "Boasberg is unanimous pick for superintendent". The Denver Post. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  28. ^ "The Trial of Hamlet". Shakespeare Theatre Company in the District of Columbia. Retrieved March 1, 2018.

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Legal offices Preceded byThomas F. Hogan Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia 2011–present Incumbent Preceded byBeryl Howell Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia 2023–present Preceded byReggie Walton Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 2014–2021 Succeeded byAmit Mehta Preceded byRosemary M. Collyer Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 2020–2021 Succeeded byRudolph Contreras
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