What To Make Of The Leak From The Judicial Conference?

Margot Cleveland at The Federalist obtained a copy of a memorandum prepared by the Judicial Conference of the United States. This group includes the Chief Justice of the United States, the Chief Judges of the Federal Courts of Appeals, as well as certain district court judges. Margot did not reveal who authored the memorandum.

To be clear, I have no love for the Judicial Conference. I think they completely botched the judicial reassignment policy. And these august judges haven’t said a peep about Judge Pauline Newman’s stealth impeachment. Still, I am profoundly troubled by leaks. I don’t like leaks from the Supreme Court. And I don’t like leaks from other judicial bodies. The deliberations of the judicial conference should more transparent. Trying to figure out what is going on resembles Kremlinology. But as things stand now, they aren’t transparent. Cleveland does not say how she got the document. I imagine it would have had to come from a judge, or perhaps someone on a judge’s staff. No matter how you slice it, this leak is bad.

I suppose if I am being consistent, I should call on the presiding officer of the entity that had the leak to resign. But I repeat myself.

Now, onto the substance. Here is how Cleveland describes the memorandum:

During the week of March 11, 2025, members of the Judicial Conference met in Washington, D.C., for the first of its two regular meetings. . . .

In a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist, a member of the Judicial Conference summarized the March meeting, including a “working breakfast” at which Justice Roberts spoke. According to the memorandum, “District of the District of Columbia Chief Judge James Boasberg next raised his colleagues’ concerns that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis.”

“Chief Justice Roberts expressed hope that would not happen and in turn no constitutional crisis would materialize,” according to the memorandum. The summary of the working breakfast added that Chief Justice Roberts noted that “his interactions with the President have been civil and respectful, such as the President thanking him at the state of the union address for administering the oath.”

I have a few tentative observations.

First, I find it fascinating that Chief Justice Roberts relayed his conversation from the State of the Union. If I had to guess, Trump exchanged these kind words during the pleasantries as he entered the Chamber. But, as readers recall, Chief Justice Roberts bolted out of the chamber after Trump finished speaking. And Justice Barrett gave Trump a sideways glance after shaking his hand.

Second, I find it even more fascinating that Roberts is serving as a voice of reason, pushing back at the notion that he doesn’t think Trump will ignore court orders. Roberts did flag this issue in his end-of-year message, but he is at least giving Trump some space.

Third, it seems clear that Judges like Boasberg lost trust in Trump, before any cases were assigned to him. And that lack of trust pervaded his Saturday emergency TRO hearing, where he ordered planes to turn around. If Boasberg followed a presumption of regularity, he would not have issued such an order.

Margot suggests this memorandum reveals bias on the part of Judge Boasberg and others. I suspect this report will give rise to a motion to recuse. I would like to see the full memorandum. And perhaps in the interest of full disclosure, Judge Boasberg should reveal his position here.

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