A senior federal court administrator is defending the secretive gag orders signed during the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation, saying Chief Judge James Boasberg likely did not know the subpoenas involved sitting members of Congress.
According to Fox News, the explanation came from Robert Conrad Jr., director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The letter responded to demands from Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson, and Rep. Jim Jordan for answers about why Boasberg approved one-year non-disclosure orders preventing phone companies from alerting lawmakers that their records had been subpoenaed.
Conrad wrote that he could not speak to the specific subpoenas or gag orders because much of the material remains sealed.
However, he said he could clarify how such requests were typically handled during the Arctic Frost period.
According to Conrad, the Department of Justice routinely requested non-disclosure orders without attaching the underlying subpoena.
Those requests usually identified accounts only by a number or similar marker. As a result, he said, “applications would not reveal whether a particular phone number belonged to a member of Congress.”
Grassley sharply criticized the Biden DOJ for submitting requests to the court without making clear that the subpoenas targeted lawmakers.
He noted that DOJ’s own Public Integrity Section warned special counsel Jack Smith’s team about potential constitutional concerns under the speech or debate clause — protections designed to shield members of Congress during prosecutorial inquiries.
“Smith went ahead with the congressional subpoenas anyway, and it appears he and his team didn’t apprise the court of member involvement,” Grassley told Fox News Digital. “Smith’s apparent lack of candor is deeply troubling, and he needs to answer for his conduct.”
The DOJ later changed its policy in 2024 after an inspector general review. Under the revised guidance, prosecutors must notify judges when they seek a gag order involving a member of Congress. Smith’s subpoenas predated that requirement.
The existence of the gag orders — which kept about a dozen House and Senate lawmakers from learning their phone records had been collected — has sparked intense backlash. Critics accuse the Biden DOJ of spying on Congress and claim Boasberg improperly enabled it.
Sen. Ted Cruz was preparing to lead a hearing weighing impeachment proceedings against Boasberg before the session was postponed.
Impeaching a federal judge is exceedingly rare and historically has been reserved for corruption or other serious misconduct.
Johnson said Conrad’s letter did nothing to ease his concerns. “Judge Boasberg’s refusal to answer questions from Congress about his approval of unlawful gag orders is an affront to transparency,” he said. “Judge Boasberg must immediately lift the seal… and provide the public a full explanation for his actions.”
Public filings make clear that Boasberg approved multiple non-disclosure orders connected to Arctic Frost. Smith sought a limited set of call-log metadata — not the content of calls or messages — which he has defended as consistent with department policy and “entirely proper.”
The controversy now sits at the center of a widening dispute between congressional Republicans and the Justice Department, raising fresh questions about secrecy, oversight, and the balance of power during high-profile investigations.
