The Hon. James E. Boasberg is a district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was nominated to the seat by former President Barack Obama on June 17, 2010. Boasberg was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 14, 2011, and received his judicial commission three days later.
He was named Chief Judge of the District Court on March 17, 2023. Boasberg was also appointed to a seven-year term by Chief Justice John G. Roberts to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2014, serving later as the court’s presiding judge for one year beginning in 2020.
Prior to beginning his federal judgeship, Boasberg presided as an associate judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia since his nomination by then-President George W. Bush in 2002. During that time, held assignments in the civil, criminal, and domestic violence divisions.
Before joining the bench, Boasberg was an assistant United States attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia since 1996. He became a federal prosecutor after working in private practice. During that time, Boasberg was an associate at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans in Washington, D.C. (1995 to 1996), and Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco, California (1991 to 1994).
He received a B.A. in history from Yale College (1985) and an M.St. in modern European history from Oxford University (1986). Boasberg then completed a J.D. at Yale Law School in 1990.
After graduating from law school, he began his legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Boasberg served as president of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, chair of the Governing Board of St. Albans School, and a member of the Yale University Council.
He was born in San Francisco, California. His family relocated to Washington, D.C., after his father, Tersh Boasberg, an attorney, accepted a position with the Office of Economic Opportunity during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. Boasberg attended St. Albans School.