Judge targeted by Trump is assigned to Signalgate lawsuit

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Source: Politico

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — the object of President Donald Trump’s fury for blocking his effort to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals using wartime powers — just got a second crack at the administration’s handling of national security: Signalgate.

Boasberg on Wednesday morning was assigned to preside over a lawsuit alleging that Trump cabinet secretaries and national security aides violated federal record-keeping laws when they used a Signal chat group to discuss a planned military strike in Yemen — and inadvertently included an Atlantic journalist in the group.

The twist of legal fate arrived just as the scandal exploded further with the Atlantic’s release of the full text exchange — in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previewed, with specific references to timing and weapons, an attack on Houthi militants. The exchange, initiated by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

A spokesperson for Boasberg confirmed that the case was assigned to him through the court’s typical random assignment process. There are 20 judges on the federal district court bench in Washington, D.C.

The assignment of the case to Boasberg comes just two days after the Trump administration, in the Venezuela deportation case, invoked the “state secrets” privilege to refuse to share details with the Obama-appointed judge about the timing of deportation flights to El Salvador.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/26/signal-lawsuit-trump-judge-boasberg-00250606

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https://bsky.app/profile/politico.com/post/3llc3ilypvs2a

Link to tweet

[underpants]

1. Pete Kegbreath

Just saw that nickname for him on Facebook

I’m guessing there’ll be no perjury charges for Tulsi and Ratcliffe but there should be

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. This will be fun to watch

Link to tweet

[MayReasonRule]

4. Michael Scott Has Entered The Chat...

[FakeNoose]

3. I hope Judge Boasberg requested the case, but somehow I doubt it

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Deadline: Legal Blog-Trump officials draw judge from deportation case in Signal chat lawsuit

Judge Boasberg was already separately examining the government’s “state secrets” invocation in the Alien Enemies Act litigation.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/signal-chat-lawsuit-boasberg-signalgate-rcna198186

The Trump administration this week invoked the “state secrets” privilege to try and keep U.S. District Judge James Boasberg from further investigating whether the government violated his orders on deportations. “The information sought by the Court is subject to the state secrets privilege because disclosure would pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs,” officials argued in a court filing to Boasberg on Monday.

In technically unrelated news, The Atlantic that same day published a shocking report that the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to a group chat with top members of President Donald Trump’s national security team, in which the officials discussed an impending military operation in Yemen earlier this month. “The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming,” Goldberg wrote.......

The Trump administration this week invoked the “state secrets” privilege to try and keep U.S. District Judge James Boasberg from further investigating whether the government violated his orders on deportations. “The information sought by the Court is subject to the state secrets privilege because disclosure would pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs,” officials argued in a court filing to Boasberg on Monday.

In technically unrelated news, The Atlantic that same day published a shocking report that the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to a group chat with top members of President Donald Trump’s national security team, in which the officials discussed an impending military operation in Yemen earlier this month. “The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming,” Goldberg wrote.

That evolving scandal — and the lack of consequences to date for the administration officials involved — emerges as the government asserts national security concerns to Boasberg in the ongoing litigation over Trump’s bid to summarily deport people under the Alien Enemies Act.

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6. Judge orders Trump administration to preserve Signal chat on Yemen strikes

This is the appropriate ruling

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-holds-hearing-administrations-signal-app/story

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to preserve the contents of the chat in which top national security officials used the Signal app to discuss military strikes in Yemen as they were taking place earlier this month.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the top cabinet officials named in a lawsuit by the government transparency group American Oversight to retain any messages sent and received over Signal between March 11 and March 15.

Benjamin Sparks, a lawyer representing American Oversight, raised concerns that "these messages are imminent danger of destruction" due to settings within Signal that can be set to delete messages automatically -- prompting Judge Boasberg to order the Trump administration file a sworn declaration by this Monday to ensure the messages are preserved.

The lawsuit -- which names Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the National Archives as defendants -- asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and order the cabinet members to preserve the records immediately, as Signal's deleting of messages violates governmental record-keeping requirements.