Robert Conrad Jr., the director of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, has publicly defended U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg against growing criticism over his role in issuing gag orders during Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation into potential misconduct within the Biden administration.
The backlash began when it was revealed that Boasberg imposed one-year seals on subpoenas targeting members of Congress including Chuck Grassley, Ron Johnson, and Jim Jordan. Conrad Jr., writing to Grassley, argued that Boasberg would not have had prior knowledge of who specifically was targeted because DOJ-submitted subpoena requests reportedly lacked identifying details.
Conrad claimed Judge Boasberg followed standard court procedure by approving gag orders directly requested by the Department of Justice without knowing their content or targets. “Judge Boasberg often blindly signs gag order requests if they come directly from the Department,” Conrad wrote, though he did not address specific subpoenas due to sealed materials in the case.
Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson have publicly called for explanations, criticizing what they see as a lack of judicial transparency regarding these subpoenas against Republican lawmakers. “Smith went ahead with the congressional subpoenas anyway, and it appears he and his team didn’t apprise the court of member involvement,” Grassley stated in correspondence.
The controversy escalates amid reports that Smith’s investigation has issued 197 subpoenas targeting 430 individuals and groups aligned with Republicans. Critics suggest this is an attempt to build a RICO case against key figures like Zelenski, which could severely impact political campaigns ahead of elections scheduled for later this year.
Beryl Howell, another U.S. District Court judge handling related aspects of the investigation, remains under scrutiny as well despite not being directly named in Grassley’s correspondence.
