Judge targeted by Trump is assigned to Signalgate lawsuit [View all]
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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