‘This is a problem’: Boasberg attending anti-Trump org's event spurs calls to ban judicial junkets
"Judge Boasberg attended a conference funded by an anti-Trump organization."
[The entire article is much longer than these excerpts below]:
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/problem-boasberg-attending-anti-trump-orgs-event-spurs-calls-ban-judicial"A Republican member of Congress and a Harvard professor are calling for a ban on special interest judicial junkets following Just the News revealing that Judge James Boasberg attended a privately-funded conference with an anti-Trump organization last year.
Just the News reported Sunday night that, months before he blocked President Donald Trump’s deportations of illegal alien gang members, Boasberg attended a privately-funded legal conference in Idaho that featured sponsors and speakers who have expressed clear anti-Trump sentiments — particularly on immigration and January 6th — and a theme that echoed the Democrat Party’s 2024 stated mission of "saving democracy." Federal judicial ethics rules currently allow such junkets.
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The Rodel Institute conference, details of which were contained in a “Privately Funded Seminar Disclosure Report” they are required to file, was part of the institute’s Judicial Fellowship and each of the judges in attendance — including Boasberg — was a first-year fellow. Rodel itself is funded by the same leftwing foundations who often sponsor anti-Trump programs and publications. The group is led by an anti-Trump critic, and at least one of the speakers at the conference is a law professor who has repeatedly condemned Trump’s immigration policies.
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Boasberg attended the conference last summer in ritzy Sun Valley, where two of the four Rodel Institution sessions were titled “Role of Judges in a Democracy” and the “State of Democracy."
Trump shared the article by Just the News early Monday morning, blasting Boasberg and comparing him to Judge Juan Merchan, who had presided over Trump’s hush money case in New York.
“This Judge is almost as conflicted (actually, not even close!) as the Judge whose daughter made Millions of Dollars representing Biden/Harris against me, while her father presided over a Fake Case against me, and refused to RECUSE himself,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He should be disbarred! Crooked Alvin Bragg was the D.A. in the case. They put me under a GAG ORDER so that I could not talk about it. Miscarriage of Justice!!!”
Elon Musk also tweeted out a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post early Monday morning.
Many of those on Rodel's leadership team and its institutional partners, funding sources, and faculty partners are left-leaning or anti-Trump, and its annual book award is named for former Congressman Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman who is a harsh Trump critic and endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
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John Kroger, the CEO of the Rodel Institute since August 2021, said last year that Trump was “disqualified” from being president in his view, writing that “calling the convicted felons who attacked the Capitol on January 6 ‘patriots’ and ‘hostages,’ giving them a salute, and promising them pardons disqualifies you from being president.”
"Truly awful," Kroger added. "Real patriots oppose political violence and support the rule of law, plain and simple. Please support decency, values and common sense this election cycle, not extremism.”
Boasberg attended the conference, along with judges nominated by both Democrats and Republicans, despite the declared anti-Trump sentiment of the Rodel Institution. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said that it appears that the Rodel Institute is part of the “anti-Trump movement.” [The entire article is much longer than these excerpts above]:
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/problem-boasberg-attending-anti-trump-orgs-event-spurs-calls-ban-judicial