A misconduct complaint against the judge who handled the CECOT deportation case has been dismissed

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court judge has dismissed a misconduct complaint filed by the Justice Department against a judge who clashed with President Donald Trump’s administration over deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The complaint against U.S. District Judge James E. Bossberg on December 19 by Jeffrey S. Sutton, Chief Judge of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, but the matter only came to light over the weekend.

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The complaint stemmed from statements Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in the nation’s capital, allegedly made in March 2025 to Chief Justice John Roberts and other federal judges at a judicial conference saying the administration would provoke a constitutional crisis by ignoring federal court rulings. The meeting took place days before Boasberg issued an order blocking Trump’s deportation flights by invoking wartime powers from an 18th-century law.

In the expulsion order, Sutton said the Justice Department never filed an attachment to provide evidence of what Boasberg said or the context of the alleged statement in the closed-door conference.

“Recycling unembellished allegations without citing a source does not strengthen them,” said Sutton, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Circuit Court of Appeals covering Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. “Repeating unsupported statements rarely provides the basis for a valid complaint of misconduct.”

Justice Department spokesmen did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Washington District Court spokeswoman Lisa J. Clem said on Monday that Boasberg declined to comment.

Even if Boasberg had made those comments, Sutton said they would not be “too far removed” from the topics discussed at the rally and would not violate ethics rules. Sutton noted that Roberts’ end-of-year 2024 report raised public concerns about threats to judicial independence, security concerns for judges and respect for court orders throughout the country’s history.

The misconduct complaint was filed with Judge Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but Srinivasan asked Roberts to transfer it to another appeals court division because it was still hearing appeals related to the deportation case, according to the dismissal order. She said Roberts transferred him to the Sixth Circuit.