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How Obama appointee and Trump nemesis Boasberg ended up overseeing Ilhan Omar warrant, other key cases

Federal Judge James Boasberg, dubbed a "Radical left lunatic" by President Donald Trump, is presiding over several high-profile cases challenging actions made by the Trump administration, raising questions about how judges are assigned to cases.

The scrutiny comes as Boasberg, an Obama-appointed chief judge of the Washington, D.C. district court, oversees a challenge brought by several media outlets seeking to force the Justice Department to unseal the search warrant on the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., stemming from two federal investigations.

"Judge James Boasberg is now involved with the Ilhan Omar case," Steve Ferguson, a self-described business owner with more than 250,000 followers on X, wrote in a social media post. "Is everything rigged?"

In the federal court of the District of Columbia, cases are assigned to judges randomly by an electronic system managed by the clerk's office operating under the direction of the Calendar and Case Management Committee, according to the rules of the court. The committee consists of three to five judges appointed by the chief justice.

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There are exceptions to the random-assignment process. For example, criminal grand jury matters are assigned to and overseen by the chief judge, currently Boasberg. This means Boasberg’s assignment to oversee the fight over unsealing the search warrant for Omar was "not a surprise" to Eric Wessan, Iowa’s solicitor general.

"But there are a lot of cases that seem to be going to judges maybe based on those cases having similarities which is not what the local rules say," Wessan told Fox News Digital.

When a case needs to be reassigned, the Calendar and Case Management Committee will determine how the reassignment is made.

Wessan suggested that concerns over how case assignments are made is valid, considering some of the high-profile cases against the Trump administration which have appeared in Boasberg's docket.

"If one is just following anecdotally, there does seem to be a lot of high-profile cases in front of judges that seem to be expressing unusual amounts of frustration or disagreement with the administration," Wessan said, urging greater transparency in how case assignments are made.

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The fight over unsealing the release of Omar's search warrant is just one of several cases involving the Trump administration and now on Boasberg's docket. Boasberg is also overseeing California’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over voter-roll disputes. On Friday, he ordered the administration to provide the state with the names and supporting information for roughly 20,000 people whom the DOJ claims are noncitizens on California’s voter rolls by the end of the day.

Boasberg has issued several consequential rulings against the Trump administration, including a high-profile March 2025 order directing the administration to turn around deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The Trump administration fought against the order, pointing to the Alien Enemies Act as legal justification for the deportations. The dispute over the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act eventually reached the Supreme Court, which vacated Boasberg's temporary restraining order blocking deportation flights, ruling that the case was brought in the wrong jurisdiction.

That same month, Boasberg was assigned a lawsuit seeking to preserve Signal messages after top Trump administration officials discussed plans for a Yemen strike in a group chat that accidentally included Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. He later ordered the administration to preserve the messages.

The string of cases prompted Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, to send a letter in May 2025 to the court clerk asking for greater clarity on how judicial assignments are made. The lawmakers questioned whether assignments were truly random, as the court’s rules state.

"The Committee cannot independently verify the randomness of case assignments because the composition of assignment decks is kept secrets," the lawmakers wrote.

"We must understand the nature of the case assignment process in the District Court—which is considering a number of cases challenging the Trump Administration’s policy decisions—to consider and develop appropriate legislation," the lawmakers wrote.

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Meanwhile, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., introduced legislation in July that would require federal district courts to assign cases randomly, without exceptions, naming it the Boasberg Act. The bill is currently stalled in committee.

"Judge Boasberg is the poster child for a rogue judge and exposed serious loopholes in our judicial system. Randomly assigning cases among judges ensures the American people can have confidence in the impartiality of our courts," Schmitt said in a statement.

Under the rules of D.C. Court, the chief justice does not have the power to reassign a case. The Calendar and Case Management Committee handles case reassignments. The court must notify the judges and attorneys involved, but it does not have to publicly explain why a case was reassigned. Wessan has called for greater transparency.

"The rules shouldn’t say one thing if it’s not true. But if it is true, they could just say so. I think the issue is with the exceptions—what happens in those exceptional cases and how often do they occur?" Wessan said.

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"Given the frequency of the concerning episodes in the district court, erring on the side of transparency is probably prudent to the extent that there are exceptions to the normal random-assignment system," Wessan said.

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Private jets, yachts and powerful friends helped Alexander brothers lure women — and silence them, lawyer says

Jets, superyachts, mansions and access to the rich and powerful helped the Alexander brothers lure women into their orbit while creating an "aura" that left victims afraid they would not be believed, an attorney representing three women pursuing civil claims against the convicted sex traffickers told Fox News Digital.

Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander were each sentenced in New York Tuesday to 30 years in federal prison for a yearslong sex-trafficking scheme that prosecutors said relied in part on the brothers' wealth, social status and luxury lifestyle to lure women before drugging and sexually assaulting them.

But the sentences that capped their federal prosecution do not mark the end of the legal reckoning facing the brothers.

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Michael J. Willemin, a partner at Wigdor LLP, told Fox News Digital that his firm represents three women pursuing civil claims against the brothers and said evidence revealed during the federal prosecution could bolster allegations made in those cases.

Willemin said the brothers surrounded themselves with wealthy and powerful people while using their lavish lifestyle to attract women and build an image that made victims fearful of coming forward.

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"They used things like luxury trips and parties and introductions to celebrities and powerful individuals and private jets and super yachts, mansions and estates," Willemin said.

Those trappings, he said, served as "a compliment in some ways to the drugs and the alcohol that were used to impair the memory of their victims and ultimately allowed them to get away with this sort of behavior for as long as they did."

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Prosecutors said the brothers used their wealth and prominence to create opportunities to sexually assault women between at least 2008 and 2021.

Women were identified through social media, dating apps, in-person encounters and party promoters before being offered luxury experiences, travel and accommodations. On multiple occasions, prosecutors said, women were then drugged and forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men.

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Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Jones described it during closing arguments as a "consistent playbook to lure, isolate and rape their victims."

Willemin said the brothers' wealth and access did more than help draw women into their social circles. He said it also heightened fears about what could happen if victims accused them publicly.

"There's an added layer of concern that the women who come forward are going to be retaliated against," Willemin said.

That could include fears of being pushed out of social circles, being surveilled or facing other potentially violent behavior, he said.

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"That's something that is a very real fear for women that is exacerbated when someone can use wealth and power to help secure silence," Willemin said.

Willemin represents Angelica Parker, who sued all three brothers in 2024, along with Samantha Fields and a Jane Doe who have brought separate civil claims.

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Parker alleges Oren invited her and a friend to the New York City apartment he shared with Tal and Alon in 2012, where Oren and Alon offered the women ecstasy, which they declined.

After Parker's friend left the apartment, Parker alleges Alon and Tal sexually assaulted her together while Oren watched.

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The allegations in Parker's lawsuit are separate civil claims and were not adjudicated by the federal jury that convicted the brothers.

Willemin said evidence that emerged during the criminal prosecution nevertheless supports Parker's contention that what allegedly happened to her was planned rather than spontaneous.

"There was a whole host of evidence with respect to text messages and videos and other behaviors that suggested that these sexual assaults were not the random acts of spontaneity, but were, in fact, planned, which help also support the allegation made by Ms. Parker," Willemin said.

The federal prosecution may now also change the landscape for the remaining civil cases.

Willemin said Parker's case has progressed further than the other two his firm is handling and is moving through an appeals process involving whether older sexual assault claims can proceed.

An argument is scheduled in January before the New York Court of Appeals over legal issues Willemin said could determine the outcome of numerous civil cases against the brothers.

"The civil cases are moving forward now," Willemin said. "And one of the sort of roadblocks to that was to have the criminal case completed. That's now obviously completed to a degree and now the civil cases should be able to move forward."

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When asked whether additional women may have been victimized but never publicly came forward, Willemin said, "I wouldn't doubt that at all."

"It would be, you know, frankly, pretty surprising if every woman who had been the victim of a sexual assault by the Alexander brothers has come forward, given the evidence that we have as far as how widespread this occurred," Willemin said.

At Tuesday's sentencing, the brothers continued to deny drugging, raping or trafficking women while acknowledging and expressing regret for past attitudes and comments about women.

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Federal prosecutors had sought life sentences, while defense attorneys asked for the mandatory minimum of 15 years.

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U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ultimately sentenced each brother to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. Alon and Oren were each fined $300,000, while Tal was fined $350,000.

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For Willemin's clients, the federal sentences represent only one part of what they are seeking.

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His firm hopes to move its three civil cases through discovery and ultimately to trial, where Willemin said his clients want juries to recognize that they were wronged and provide a remedy through the civil justice system.

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"The criminal convictions were welcome for sure, and the sentence, although it could have been longer, it could have been life, was also significantly longer than the minimum sentence that could have been given," Willemin said.

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Asked whether he believed 30 years was a just sentence, Willemin pointed to the brothers' continued denials and said he believes accountability remains lacking.

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"At this point in time, life really seems like the only fair sentence," Willemin said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Alexanders' attorneys for comment.

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Trump push to oust Omar faces historic Supreme Court test, but legal experts see ‘uncharted’ twist

President Donald Trump' s push to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar amid allegations of immigration fraud could trigger a constitutional fight, with legal experts telling Fox News Digital that a landmark Supreme Court case involving another entrenched Democrat may not stand in Republicans’ way.

Federal investigators are examining whether the Minneapolis Democrat improperly obtained U.S. citizenship through allegedly fraudulent immigration paperwork involving her late father. Omar has denied wrongdoing, and no finding that she lacks U.S. citizenship has been established.

Experts said Omar may not have the protections established in the landmark case involving House chairman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., D-N.Y., in which the Supreme Court blocked an effort to exclude him from Congress.

Powell faced allegations of misusing congressional funds and improperly paying his wife from the congressional payroll. Despite his reelection, the House voted to exclude him in 1967, but the Supreme Court later ruled that Congress could not refuse to seat a duly elected member who satisfied the Constitution's qualifications.

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The first potential route for Republicans would be to challenge whether Omar meets the Constitution's citizenship requirement. Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo and constitutional scholar Cully Stimson told Fox News Digital that the Powell ruling does not prevent Congress from enforcing constitutional qualifications.

"Powell essentially means that Congress cannot add on to the minimum qualifications set out in the Constitution," Yoo said. "[S]ince citizenship is set out in the text of the Constitution as a qualification, it clearly can be enforced by Congress. Powell in-fact would support a congressional decision to oust Congresswoman Omar if she was in fact not a citizen."

Stimson argued that citizenship itself is not a legal gray area.

"The Powell v. McCormack decision did not involve expulsion. It actually was to judge qualifications. That's a subtle but important difference," he said.

Stimson envisioned a January showdown if federal authorities presented evidence challenging Omar's citizenship before the new Congress convenes and House Republicans attempted to prevent her from being seated. Such a move would likely face a legal challenge from Omar, he said, raising questions about whether Congress could act before her citizenship status was resolved.

The Constitution requires House members to be at least 25 years old, have been U.S. citizens for seven years and inhabit the states they represent when elected. Stimson argued that even if alleged immigration irregularities originated with Omar's father, Nur Omar Mohamed, the central question would be whether she legally acquired citizenship, regardless of whether she knowingly participated in wrongdoing.

"It's like you're either pregnant or you're not," he said. "You’re either wet or dry — You're a citizen or you are not a citizen."

In multiple public comments, Trump has urged Omar’s resignation or expulsion, specifically citing reports that she used a pseudonym when she was sworn into office and that she "married her brother."

"Let’s get her the Hell out of there," he said Monday in Alcorn County, Mississippi.

Fox News Digital reached out to Omar for comment.

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A second route would involve seating Omar and then pursuing expulsion for misconduct, a separate constitutional power requiring a two-thirds House vote. Unlike exclusion for failing to meet constitutional qualifications, expulsion is a disciplinary action that was not at issue in the Supreme Court's Powell ruling.

At least one House Republican has already threatened to pursue that option.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., said Friday that if Omar is found to not be a citizen, "I absolutely will demand expulsion immediately."

Omar faces a separate investigation into her financial disclosures, which U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro previously confirmed to Fox News. The inquiry follows scrutiny of businesses tied to her current husband, Timothy Mynett, whose reported valuations reached as high as $30 million before Omar amended the filings, citing accounting errors. No financial wrongdoing has yet been established.

Stimson pointed to the 2023 expulsion of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., as an example of the House exercising its disciplinary authority over misconduct that began before a member took office.

Former House counsel Michael Stern wrote in an examination of the Constitution’s expulsion clause that while Santos’ alleged misconduct largely preceded his term, House investigators found that his misrepresentations continued while he was in office.

"Thus, acts committed before a member’s first election may constitute disorderly behavior subject to congressional discipline, at least if the misconduct relates to the election and particularly if it involves deceiving the electorate," Stern wrote.

Stimson said Omar’s case is largely "uncharted waters," but the Santos case could still be instructive.

"I think the argument would be, well, her misrepresentations continued during the time in Congress, they would pull a Santos and use the same logic that they used," he said.

Any federal determination challenging Omar's citizenship could trigger a legal battle over whether she meets the constitutional requirements for office and what recourse she would have to contest such a finding, Stimson said.

"The hard part for her is ‘how do you prove a negative’," Stimson said, adding that placing blame on her father wouldn’t stand up in court because people cannot legally benefit from others’ criminal acts.

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"It’s a harsh world, but it’s a binary situation."

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A challenge to Omar's citizenship could also produce a separate fight over the evidence and legal procedures required to establish whether she meets the Constitution's qualifications.

Fox News Digital’s Pedro Rodriguez-Aparicio contributed to this report.

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Federal judge blocks Trump DOJ threats against election workers ahead of 2026 midterms

A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred the Trump administration from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over ballots tied to suspected noncitizens.

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson found that the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security likely violated the Voting Rights Act's prohibition against voter intimidation by threatening election workers with prosecution for processing ballots from voters the administration claims are ineligible, just days before the midterm elections.

"One of the hallmarks of a fair election is the freedom to exercise the right to vote free from threat, fear, or intimidation," Thompson, a Biden-appointed judge, wrote in the eight-page order.

The ruling comes as the Trump administration has sought voter registration information from states ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, arguing that its efforts are aimed at preventing noncitizen voting and protecting election integrity.

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The temporary restraining order prohibits federal officials from threatening, intimidating or coercing state and local election workers into halting ballot processing solely because the administration alleges certain registered voters are ineligible.

The order also bars the administration from demanding that election officials remove registered voters from voter rolls, refuse to issue them ballots or segregate or decline to count their ballots based solely on those allegations.

The lawsuit was brought by labor unions and civil rights organizations, including the Service Employees International Union and the NAACP.

"Because the public has a paramount interest in ensuring that election officials and workers are able to carry out their work in accordance with federal law and election procedure, and the official day of the Elections is only a couple of days away, the balance of the equities and public interest weigh in Plaintiffs' favor," Thompson wrote.

"Ballots have already been issued," Thompson also noted. "Americans have already begun voting."

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Thompson also ordered the administration to notify state and local governments that received the disputed letters that the demands and threats of prosecution contained in them have been blocked.

Earlier Friday, a federal appeals court separately ruled against the Trump administration's emergency request to require California to set aside mail-in ballots associated with roughly 20,000 voters federal officials identified as likely noncitizens while their citizenship status was verified.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Justice Department's request to set aside the disputed mail-in ballots while officials reviewed the voters' citizenship status, handing the administration another setback just four days before Election Day.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

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Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr and Reuters contributed to this report.

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