A top office for the federal judiciary declined requests to have two judges facing impeachment threats from conservative lawmakers testify before a Senate committee, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
U.S. District Court Judges James Boasberg from the District of Columbia and Deborah Boardman from Maryland declined to testify at a Wednesday hearing titled, “Impeachment: Holding Rogue Judges Accountable.”
Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has come under fire for approving nondisclosure orders that allowed special counsel Jack Smith to secretly obtain cell phone data for Republican members of Congress. Boardman, a Biden appointee, handed the man who attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh a light sentence around 22 years less than the government’s request in October, citing in part the would-be assassin’s transgender identity.
Having the judges testify could violate judicial ethics and “encroach upon the separation of powers,” Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Judge Robert Conrad wrote in a Nov. 12 letter to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.
“To the extent that you have invited the judges to appear and testify at the hearing about specific matters they have decided or that may be pending before them, Canon 3A(6) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges provides that a ‘judge should not make public comment on the merits of a matter pending or impending in any court,’” Conrad wrote. “The commentary to this provision explains that the ‘admonition against public comment about the merits of a pending or impending matter continues until the appellate process is complete.’”
“Moreover, notwithstanding the conclusion of a case, it would encroach upon the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary for the judges to appear and testify about their respective deliberative processes in reaching judicial decisions,” the letter continues.
Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg in November. Gill previously introduced articles to impeach Boasberg in March after he ordered the Trump administration to turn around planes carrying alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador.
Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy introduced articles of impeachment against Boardman in October.
Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, along with House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, separately sent a letter asking Boasberg to explain his reasoning for approving nondisclosure orders by Dec. 4.
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