Judge James Boasberg
D.C. Circuit U.S. District Court
James Emanuel Boasberg was born in February 1963 in San Francisco, California. He earned an undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master of Studies from Oxford University, and received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. He clerked at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before entering into private practice, first in San Francisco and then in the District of Columbia.
He joined the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and spent four years as a prosecutor specializing in homicides. He became an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, serving in both the civil and criminal divisions and the domestic violence branch. He was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by President Barack Obama, confirmed 95-0 by a voice vote of the Senate, and received his commission in March 2011.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Boasberg to also serve on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a term that began in May 2014. He is married to Elizabeth Leslie Manson.
In the News…
Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit denied permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline and ordered environmental studies. The Army Corps of Engineers were ordered to do a full environmental impact statement.
He noted that many opponents to the pipeline had pointed to “serious gaps in the crucial parts of the Corps’ analysis—to name a few, that the pipeline’s leak detection system was unlikely to work, that it was not designed to catch slow spills, that the operator’s serious history of incidents had not been taken into account, and that the worst-case scenario used by the Corps was potentially only a fraction of what a realistic figure would be.”
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,172 mile-long underground line that carries oil from North Dakota’s shale oil fields, through South Dakota and Iowa to an oil terminal near Patoka, Illinois. It crosses Native American tribal lands on the Missouri River. Although it has been in operation for three years, opposition has never ceased.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Boasberg today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable James Boasberg
U.S. District Court
E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse
333 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
