Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James Boasberg an “activist judge” for allegedly approving an FBI subpoena against her Republican colleague during a Biden administration probe.
Boasberg, an Obama appointee who frequently rules against President Donald Trump’s policies, signed off on a subpoena for Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s private communications and a related gag order during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s “Arctic Frost” investigation into Republican 2020 election challenges, Cruz said in a Wednesday press conference. Blackburn suspects the surveillance Boasberg approved for “Arctic Frost” could be more widespread, representing a serious breach of the rule of law, she told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
.@SenTedCruz on subpoenas issued by Judge Boasberg regarding 2020 election interference: “My assumption is Judge Boasberg printed these things out like the placemats at Denny’s one after the other.” pic.twitter.com/cfFBG6RuT1
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 29, 2025
“You’re looking at an activist judge, who stepped forward and said he would sign off on these subpoenas,” Blackburn said.
“You had [former Attorney General] Merrick Garland allowing Jack Smith to initiate Arctic Frost, and then they found a judge who would work with them on issuing the subpoenas.”
Boasberg’s accompanying gag order meant “we could not be called or could not be informed” by telecommunications companies of the surveillance, Blackburn said, echoing Cruz’s comments on Wednesday. The order cited concerns about “destruction of information or being a flight risk,” according to Blackburn.
Smith’s team monitored the personal phone calls and messages of Cruz, Blackburn and seven other GOP lawmakers during “Arctic Frost,” according to documents the Senate released Oct. 6 from Trump’s FBI. The FBI did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
“We don’t have the subpoenas that were issued for the the other senators, but my assumption is Judge Boasberg printed these things out like the placemats at Denny’s one after the other,” Cruz said Wednesday after holding up a piece of paper that he said was the Boasberg gag order.
Boasberg previously faced calls for impeachment from Republicans, including Trump, for blocking migrant deportations. Cruz made the same demand on Wednesday over the “Arctic Frost” investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi also filed in July a misconduct complaint accusing Boasberg of bias against the Trump administration, Reuters reported.
Blackburn similarly told the DCNF that judicial approval of the Biden administration’s actions constitute weaponization of the judiciary against political opponents.
“Lady justice wears the blindfold,” Blackburn said, adding that judges “are to have one tier of justice and it is to be equal treatment and equal justice for all.”
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