**Judge at centre of row with Trump over Venezuela deportations will hear Signal lawsuit**

    ames Boasberg, chief judge of the federal district court in Washington DC. He is to hear a lawsuit over the Signal leak in which journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a group chat on secret US plans to bomb Yemen.

 The U.S. president had previously called for the impeachment of Judge James Boasberg after he blocked deportation flights. Now, Boasberg has been assigned to a new lawsuit concerning the Signal messaging scandal, a case that could further strain tensions between the judiciary and the administration.

Boasberg, a district judge in Washington, was appointed on Wednesday to oversee a lawsuit alleging that Trump officials violated federal record-keeping laws. The suit claims they used a Signal group chat to discuss imminent military action against Yemen’s Houthis, bypassing official communication protocols.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, inadvertently gained access to the chat and reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had shared the start time for a planned strike on a Houthi militant in Yemen on March 15. Details of additional U.S. airstrikes were also disclosed. The use of a commercial messaging app—possibly on personal devices—for such sensitive information has sparked outrage in Washington. Democrats are calling for the removal of Trump’s national security team members involved.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the government watchdog group American Oversight, argues that officials failed to prevent the automatic deletion of messages on Signal, thereby violating the Federal Records Act. The plaintiffs seek a court order declaring these actions unlawful and an injunction requiring Hegseth and other officials to preserve records and recover any deleted messages where possible.

The administration has yet to respond to the lawsuit. However, officials have stated that no classified information was shared via Signal. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the use of the app, asserting that it is an approved tool installed on government devices used by the Pentagon, State Department, and CIA.

According to a court spokesperson, Boasberg was assigned to the case through the standard random selection process. Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice provided comments on the matter.

Boasberg has been at the center of escalating legal battles with the Trump administration. Last week, he ordered the Justice Department to explain why the administration failed to return flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador on March 15, despite his directive blocking deportations for two weeks.

The administration has defended the deportations, citing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act as justification. Justice Department lawyers reiterated on Tuesday that the flights did not contravene Boasberg’s ruling.

Following these legal disputes, Trump recently called for Boasberg’s impeachment. This unprecedented move drew a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who emphasized that impeachment is not an appropriate response to judicial decisions, which should be contested through appeals.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have introduced resolutions seeking the impeachment of Boasberg and five other judges who have obstructed Trump’s policies. As the White House intensifies its attacks on the judiciary, concerns about a potential constitutional crisis continue to grow.