Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star, is calling on House Republicans to launch impeachment proceedings against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the chief federal judge in Washington, D.C., arguing that Boasberg’s issuance of a gag order targeting nine Republican senators constitutes an abuse of judicial power and a violation of constitutional rights.
Leahy, on Monday’s edition of his talk radio show, detailed why Boasberg should be impeached for what he calls a clear abuse of judicial power, explaining how the federal district judge has long used his position to target President Donald Trump and his allies.
He said the decisive act that justifies impeachment was Boasberg’s gag order issued on May 25, 2023 which barred Verizon from informing nine Republican senators that their phone and account metadata had been subpoenaed by a grand jury as part of the Biden administration’s Arctic Frost investigation.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was…that he signed an illegal court order that deprived Senator Marsha Blackburn and eight other Republican U.S. senators of due process. This provides the grounds for his impeachment,” Leahy said.
He went on to explain how he believes Boasberg’s order violated the Stored Communications Act, as well as several constitutional provisions: the Speech and Debate Clause, the Separation of Powers doctrine, and the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments.
Leahy also argued that the order lacked any factual basis that would justify believing the senators might tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses. He insisted that Boasberg, a Yale Law School graduate and experienced jurist, knew the order was illegal but proceeded out of political bias against Trump and his supporters.
“Boasberg graduated from Yale Law School and has been practicing law for about 30 years. He knows what reasonable grounds are. He knows what the standard for reasonable grounds is. There’s a lot of court cases at the Supreme Court that have defined reasonable grounds,” Leahy explained.
“In the case of this illegal gag order, Boasberg had zero evidence – that means no specific articulable facts – to support his finding in the order that there were reasonable grounds that the nine Republican U.S. senators whose cell phone providers were subpoenaed would destroy or tamper with evidence and intimidate potential witnesses,” he added.
Leahy went on to draw a historical parallel to the impeachment of Judge George W. English in 1926.
English had unlawfully imprisoned an attorney, Harry Crawford, for criticizing him, without notice or a hearing, which was later found to have violated due process.
Leahy argued that Boasberg’s alleged gag order represents a similar constitutional violation and thus meets the historical standard for impeachment, further emphasizing that English’s impeachment provides a clear precedent for removing a judge who abuses power and denies due process to citizens.
“A full century after federal district court Judge English issued the illegal contempt of court order that led to his impeachment, federal district court Judge James Boasberg issued a similarly illegal court order that will lead to his impeachment,” Leahy said.
Leahy went on to point to the broader pattern of what he calls “judicial lawfare” against conservatives, claiming Boasberg’s 2023 actions came at a politically charged time when Trump faced multiple indictments, and the federal judiciary was using their authority to suppress Republican political figures.
“Why did he do it? Because he hates Donald Trump…He knew what he was doing and he didn’t care because he thought, this is my view, he thought Donald Trump would not win reelection,” Leahy said.
Leahy concluded by calling on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) to begin impeachment proceedings against Boasberg.
He explained that even if the Senate is unlikely to reach the two thirds vote to convict Boasberg, impeachment would serve several purposes: it would expose judicial misconduct to the public, pressure Boasberg to resign, deter similar abuses by other judges, and energize Republican voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Let’s start the process. Jim Jordan, I’m calling you out right now. Time to act. You need to basically start impeachment hearings this week…I think there’s more than enough evidence to impeach Judge James Boasberg,” Leahy said.
Leahy also urged the public to contact their members of Congress and demand support for impeachment articles, saying, “If you are represented by a Republican in the House of Representative…call them up and say you must co-sponsor the articles of impeachment, you must vote to impeach Judge James Boasberg.”
Articles of impeachment against Boasberg were filed earlier this year by U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX-26).
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
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– Read more at @TheTNStarhttps://t.co/AQq5EIOFWi— MichaelPatrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) November 3, 2025
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
