Lawsuit over Trump administration's Signal group chat assigned to judge in deportation case
Judge Boasberg was criticized by the White House over rulings in another case.
Five Cabinet members face a federal lawsuit over their alleged use of Signal to discuss U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is overseeing the deportation case, which has led the White House to publicly attack him and call for his impeachment. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has called him a "Democrat activist" and President Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social calling him a "radical left lunatic."
MORE | Trump downplays Yemen war plans group chat fiasco: 'It can happen'
The use of the Signal group chat was revealed Monday by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who said he was inadvertently added to the chat as top national security officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, were discussing the operation.
Transparency nonprofit American Oversight filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., alleging that the use of Signal violates the federal law that governs the preservation of government records, asking a federal judge to order the cabinet members to preserve the messages.
According to the lawsuit, emergency relief is needed "to prevent the unlawful destruction of federal records and to compel Defendants to fulfill their legal obligations to preserve and recover federal records created through unauthorized use of Signal for sensitive national security decision-making."
MORE: Atlantic editor-in-chief blasts Trump administration 'smokescreens' on Signal chat
The lawsuit - which names Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the National Archives as defendants - asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and order the cabinet members to preserve the records immediately.
According to American Oversight, the use of Signal violated the Federal Records Act, and the chat reported by The Atlantic "strongly suggests" that the Trump administration has used Signal in other settings.
"Messages in the Signal chat about official government actions, including, but not limited to, national security deliberations, are federal records and must be preserved in accordance with federal statutes, and agency directives, rules, and regulations," the lawsuit said.
President Trump and other top administration officials have downplayed the use of the Signal to discuss the attack on the Houthis, saying classified information was not shared in the chat.
