Before they became federal judges, James Emmanuel Boasberg and Brett M. Cavanaugh were classmates at Yale Law School and red brick housemates in townhouses outside the campus, and they formed a bond that advances to this day.
According to interviews with six law school classmates, their friendship utilizes a common foundation. Both men were the sons of lawyers and attended an elite private high school in Washington – Georgetown is preparing Justice St. Albans Kavanaugh for Justice Boasburg. Both went to Yale as undergraduates. Both were first appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. As judges, they overlapped in the US Courthouse in Washington, DC for over seven years
Two jurors who refused to comment for the story “have a lot in common,” said former law school classmate Amy Jeffress, who was approaching because Judge Boasberg and Judge Kavanaugh knew at school.
Friends and colleagues describe Judge Boasberg, a moderate who is known for Jeb's mild disposition and thoughtful jurisprudence. He is also a particularly respected jurist with deep connections with members of conservative legal institutions such as Judge Kavanaugh.
In 2018, President Trump lifted Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Last month, the president called for Judge Boasberg to be removed from the bench after issuing an order temporarily halting the use of alien enemy law, a wartime law, to deport men accused of being a Venezuelan gang member to El Salvador. Trump was called 62-year-old Judge Boasberg.
Lawyers, court observers and other judges who know Judge Boasberg say out of the 635 court judges on the federal bench, Trump chose a particularly difficult target to portray as a gradual extremist.
“He and I may have different views on the law and how to interpret the constitution, but in all cases where I reviewed his work, I have realized that he is doing his best to faithfully apply the law.”
During a hearing Thursday, Judge Boasberg said he would soon control whether about 100 Venezuelan retirees could remain in power by ignoring orders to prevent them from flying to El Salvador last month. The light empty decision represents a new level of constitutional tension between the judiciary and the government.
Kenneth Christmas, who lived with Justices Boasburg and Kavanaugh at a townhouse at 61 Lake Place in New Haven, Connecticut, said Trump's characterization of Justice Boasburg didn't match the man he knew. Christmas said the commonality between the two jurists exceeded their background.
“In our group, they're ballasts,” he said. “They both stand in their positions. They have a perspective, but they both are eager to see what the other side is saying.”
Now an entertainment lawyer and consultant, Christmas recalled as a student that the group called them “Cubs” or “Cubs.” For the next 30 years, eight men met for “Cub Weekends” each year and “sympathize, commemorate and support each other,” Christmas said.
The 2001 weekend surfaced when Judge Kavanaugh wrote about it several years later during his tense Supreme Court confirmation process, riding a 55-foot yacht.
In 2004, Mr. Christmas said he and Judge Boasberg were one of dozens of guests invited to the White House, celebrating the wedding of Cub Justice Kavanaugh, who was then secretary to President George W. Bush. Judge Boasberg and other guests enjoyed a Rose Garden dinner, an oval office tour and an informal chat with the president, Christmas recalled.
Judge Boasberg was written in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 9th Circuit and worked in private practice. There, he was a colleague of Judge Neil M. Gausch, in Kellogg, Hansen (now Kellogg Hansen), before becoming a federal prosecutor in Washington.
He was appointed to court by the presidents of both parties. He was first appointed by President Bush to the DC Superior Court in 2002, and then to the U.S. District Court bench in 2011 by President Barack Obama.
Among the 44 Republican senators were Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Session of Alabama, both of whom became members of Trump Cabinet. Judge Kavanaugh, then a federal appeals judge, took the oath at Judge Boasburg's investment ceremony.
In 2014, Judge John G. Roberts Jr. appointed Judge Boasberg to the Foreign Intelligence Election Monitoring Court, also known as the FISA Court. This is a delicate challenge dealing with government eavesdropping and secret warrants of search. Supreme Court Justice Roberts named him the “Principal Judge” of the court in 2020. He became the Supreme Court justice of the DC District Court in 2023.
Judge Boasberg is known as the “feeder judge” and 17 clerks continue to work in the Supreme Court. Five people were working for the judge appointed Republican president. Three worked for Supreme Court Justice Roberts, one for Justice Kavanaugh and one for Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Judge Boasberg “is a coincidence judge who does what a judge should do and does the right thing in every case that comes before him,” said Judge Reggie B. Walton, the Republican presidential appointee who served with him in Washington's District and FISA courts.
In the court, the shy 6-and-a-half-foot-tall Judge Boasberg is a visible and popular figure, often watching him walk down the hallway in a deep voice with reporters, security guards and other judges.
“He had a very simple way with the ju judge,” said Jeffres, who worked with him as a federal prosecutor. “He's tall and despite his command, he has a way of building trust through his personality.”
Meanwhile, some of Trump's most enthusiastic supporters argue that Judge Boasberg's deep connection with fellow jurists only shows judicial criticism as a comfortable club. Judge Boasberg is a “political actor,” said Mike Davis of Article 3 Project, a conservative judicial advocacy group.
“The Supreme Court justice placed him in FISA court, and he was a longtime ally with other justice,” Davis said. “He's on his skis with this, but we'll see if his peers are protecting him or following the Constitution.”
Despite Trump's complaints, Judge Boasberg has previously ruled both for and against both Trump and his allies.
A few weeks before the 2016 election, Judge Boasberg ordered the State Department to process nearly 15,000 emails from candidate Hillary Clinton. The following year he blocked Trump's tax return release and determined that only he or Congress could push the documents into the public eye.
As a FISA court judge in 2020, Judge Boasberg dealt with fallout from the inspector's findings that the FBI lost eavesdropping in a Trump Russia investigation. He banned agents who involved them from working on future eavesdropping applications and imposed new restrictions on the station.
He also refused to attempt to block Vice President Mike Pence from proving Biden's victory over Trump. The lawsuit “will be held liable if the target is less serious,” Judge Boasberg wrote, “weakening the democratic elections of the US president.”
“Some people may view his views as conservatives, and they may view them as liberals, but they are all faithful applications of the law to his previous case,” said David Teital, a retired judge appointed by President Bill Clinton and who served 29 years in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the DC Circuit.
Trump's outspoken supporter, Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group judicial watch, said Judge Boasberg was “personal” and “his attitude is excellent on the bench.” However, he disagreed that the judge's equal reputation was totally worthy. Fitton noted that when Judge Boasberg sued for the release of images showing Osama bin Laden's body, he ruled over his organization.
“He has been postponed to the government,” Fitton said of the bin Laden incident. “Here, President Trump is working with foreign governments to declare that there are foreign terrorists, and he will close them within a minute.”
The incident dealing with alien enemy law is not Boasberg's only famous issue. On April 14, he was a huge hit anti-trust case FTCv, where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lobbyed for Trump to drop. The MetaPlatforms trial is scheduled to begin.
After that, the US surveillance v. There is Hegses. This is an incident brought by government watchdogs seeking to maintain group chat content on a signal app that was mistakenly shared sensitive information with Atlantic Prime Minister Jeffrey Goldberg.
Trump accused the judge of “grabbing all of the 'Trump cases' to himself,” but the cases were assigned through the usual process of random selection. During the hearing on the signal case, Judge Boasberg calmly explained the process from the bench and didn't look crazy. He then ordered those involved to hold the signal message.
Former appeal judge and respected conservative legal movement J. Michael Ruttig, who became a critic of Trump, was called Trump's bigger pattern of attacks on Justice Boasberg “trying to raise an eyebrow at his submission to his will.”
He said that Justice Boasberg fought with trying to take the president's power, as Trump argued, but instead issued a series of temporary orders to further deliberate further time to deliberate whether Trump's use of alien enemy law is legal.
“That's what the judges do. That's a typical role for them,” Judge Luttig said. “They decide what the law is.”
Charlie Savage Reports of contributions. Sheila McNeill Contributed research.
