Judge Boasberg’s gag orders under scrutiny, but court says don’t ask, don’t tell policy is totally normal

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reacted to a top federal court official’s defense of Judge James Boasberg.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, were joined by Grassley in demanding to know why Boasberg had signed one-year gag orders that had “barred phone companies from telling Republican Congress members that their records were subpoenaed by [former special counsel Jack] Smith in 2023” in relation to the FBI’s Arctic Fox investigation that resulted in charges against President Donald Trump.

Robert Conrad Jr., the administrative office’s director, offered an explanation on behalf of Boasberg that seemed to imply that he blindly signed the gag orders when they were requested by the Department of Justice (DOJ) without understanding their full scope.

“In the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been authorized to file certain categories of sealed investigative applications, proposed orders, and related documents electronically,” Conrad’s letter reads,” explaining that while the application for a non-disclosure order (NDO) would “prohibit a service provider from disclosing information about a grand jury, subpoena, generally is filed electronically.”

“The DOJ typically requests that such applications and all related filings be docketed under seal, and these requests are normally granted,” the explanation continues. “The District Court dockts NDO applications and related orders using its ‘SC’ (stored communications) case type. NDO applications and orders remain under seal unless and until a request for unsealing is made and granted.”

“Applications for NDOs typically do not attach the related subpoena’ rather they identify the subject accounts only by a signifier – e.g., a phone number. As a result, NDO applications would not reveal whether a particular phone number belonged to a member of Congress,” the letter reads. “In addition, subpoenas, as you know, are issued by the United States without approval or sign-off by any judge.”

Grassley blamed the Biden-era DOJ for seeking a gag order without notifying Boasberg that the targets were congressmembers.

“Smith went ahead with the congressional subpoenas anyway, and it appears he and his team didn’t apprise the court of member involvement,” the senator said to Fox News Digital. “Smith’s apparent lack of candor is deeply troubling, and he needs to answer for his conduct.”

“The DOJ revised its policy in response to an inspector general report in 2024 so that prosecutors were required to notify the court if they were seeking a gag order against a Congress member so that judges could take that into consideration when deciding whether to authorize the orders. Smith’s subpoenas pre-dated that policy shift,” Fox News reported. “The subpoenas, and the gag orders that kept them concealed, have drawn enormous criticism from the targeted lawmakers, who alleged that the Biden DOJ improperly spied on them over their alleged involvement in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and that Boasberg was complicit in allowing it. Among the top critics is Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was set to lead a since-postponed hearing Wednesday examining the case for impeaching Boasberg. Impeachment of judges is exceedingly rare and typically has only occurred in response to crimes like corruption and bribery.”

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

Latest posts by Sierra Marlee (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.