Boasberg's role in 'Arctic Frost' probe sparks fury from GOP senators, despite local rules

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Grassley: FBI ‘Arctic Frost’ probe collected GOP lawmaker call logs, 197 subpoenas revealed

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., unveil whistleblower records alleging Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed data from Trump allies and GOP groups in Washington on Oct. 29, 2025.

Republican senators issued a torrent of criticism against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg this week after it was revealed that he had signed off on subpoenas and gag orders issued as part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation — though a cursory review of court rules suggests it is far less provocative than lawmakers have claimed.

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were among the Republicans who blasted Boasberg as an "activist" judge, and Cruz, for his part, suggested Boasberg should be impeached.

"My assumption," Cruz fumed Wednesday, is "that Judge Boasberg printed these things out like the placemats at Denny's — one after the other."

At issue were subpoenas and gag orders requested by Smith's team as part of its probe into President Donald Trump's actions in the wake of the 2020 election.  

MAJOR PHONE CARRIERS REVEAL JACK SMITH'S SUBPOENAS FOR REPUBLICAN SENATORS' RECORDS

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters on his way to the Senate weekly policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 6, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The redacted documents were made public last week by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. They included subpoenas of phone records for 10 senators and one House lawmaker, and gag orders sent to Verizon and AT&T instructing them not to notify lawmakers of the subpoena. (Verizon complied, but AT&T did not.) 

Both the subpoenas and gag orders were signed by Boasberg, according to the documents — a detail that prompted fresh criticism and indignation from Republicans, including Cruz, who blasted the investigation in question as "worse than Watergate" and a gross violation of prosecutorial powers.

Under the Stored Communications Act, federal judges exercise discretion in signing off on such orders — they are not automatic. It is unclear what materials Boasberg would have reviewed in this particular case before authorizing the tolling records of the senators, as much of the information and materials in the probe remain classified or are heavily redacted. 

Republicans named in the subpoenas have argued they are potential violations of the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects lawmakers from being arrested or questioned by law enforcement for things they say or do in their legislative roles. Those protections are absolute for legislative acts, though courts sometimes dispute what qualifies as such. 

Boasberg's involvement in the probe, while not fully clear, comes at a time when he has landed squarely in Trump's crosshairs. However, his role in the process is far from surprising. 

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP'S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

Judge James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, is seen at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C. ((Washington Post via Getty Images))

Local rules for the federal court system in D.C. explicitly state the chief judge "must hear and determine all proceedings before the grand jury." The subpoenas and gag orders signed by Boasberg were signed in May 2023 — roughly two months into his tenure as the chief judge for the federal court.

It's unclear whether Sens. Cruz or Blackburn were aware of this rule, and they did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

But it's also not the first time Boasberg previously noted his oversight of these matters as the chief judge for D.C. — including in the special counsel probe in question. 

Boasberg explained the rule in question in June 2023, when he granted, in part, a request from media outlets to unseal a tranche of redacted documents related to the subpoena and testimony of former Vice President Mike Pence in the same probe. (He explained in a lengthy public memo that he did so because the press movant were seeking record that Pence himself had discussed publicly.) 

Still, the controversy comes as Boasberg has found himself squarely in Trump’s crosshairs, after he issued a temporary restraining order in March blocking Trump’s use of a 1798 wartime law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

Until that point, however, Boasberg had largely avoided making headlines. 

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

Jack Smith, U.S. special counsel, speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A graduate of Yale, Oxford University and Yale Law School, Boasberg clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before joining the Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C.

He was tapped in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush to serve on the D.C. Superior Court, where he served until 2011, when he was nominated by President Barack Obama to the federal bench in D.C. in 2011. 

His confirmation vote soared through the Senate with a 96-0 vote of approval, including with the support of Sen. Grassley and other Republicans named in the subpoena. 

Boasberg in 2014 was appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to a seven-year term on the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court, comprised of 11 federal judges hand-selected by the chief justice. 

Boasberg served as the presiding judge of the FISA Court from 2020 to 2021.

After returning full-time to the federal bench, Boasberg oversaw the sentencing of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to doctoring a 2017 email asking to extend surveillance permissions for its wiretap of former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.

Boasberg declined to sentence Clinesmith to prison time and instead ordered him to just 12 months of probation and 400 hours of community service — a notable decision, given his own background on the FISA court.

He said in his sentencing decision that he believed Clinesmith's role at the center of a years-long media "hurricane" had provided sufficient punishment. "Anybody who has watched what Mr. Clinesmith has suffered is not someone who will readily act in that fashion," Boasberg said.

Former special counsel Jack Smith, for his part, has since defended his decision to subpoena the Republican lawmakers' phone records, which Fox News Digital reported includes phone records for a four-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

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They did not include the contents of phone calls or messages, which would require a warrant, but they did include "[call] detail records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, and voicemail messages" and phone number, subscriber, and payment information.

His lawyers told Senate lawmakers in a letter earlier this month that the decision to do so was "entirely proper" and is consistent with Justice Department policy.

Still, Smith's arguments did little to assuage the Republicans mentioned in the subpoena. 

"Judge Boasberg owes us answers," Blackburn told Fox News Digital in a statement on Monday, adding that she hopes members of the majority "subpoena him to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath." 

Fox News's Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.