Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has just unleashed a scathing critique of a federal judge for greenlighting what she calls a blatant overreach by the Biden administration against a fellow GOP senator.
This explosive story centers on Chief Judge James Boasberg of the D.C. District Court, accused of playing fast and loose with justice by approving FBI surveillance of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and other conservative lawmakers in a probe dubbed “Arctic Frost” targeting challenges to the 2020 election.
The Daily Caller reported that documents released by the Senate on October 6, 2025, confirmed that the personal communications of Sen. Cruz, Sen. Blackburn, and seven other GOP lawmakers were monitored during this investigation led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The “Arctic Frost” probe, initiated under the Biden administration, sought to dig into Republican efforts surrounding the 2020 election, but the methods have raised serious eyebrows.
Judge Boasberg, an Obama appointee, signed off on a subpoena targeting Sen. Cruz’s private messages and slapped a gag order on telecommunications companies to keep the surveillance under wraps, citing risks like “destruction of information or being a flight risk.”
That’s right—lawmakers were kept in the dark about their own privacy being invaded, which smells like a political hit job rather than blind justice to many on the right.
On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Sen. Blackburn didn’t hold back in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, labeling Boasberg an “activist judge” who willingly signed off on these invasive measures.
“You’re looking at an activist judge, who stepped forward and said he would sign off on these subpoenas,” Blackburn declared, pointing to what she sees as a coordinated effort to target conservatives.
Her words cut to the chase—when a judge seems to pick sides, the very foundation of equal justice starts to crumble faster than a house of cards in a windstorm.
Also on October 29, 2025, Sen. Cruz took to a press conference to air his grievances, revealing the extent of the subpoena and gag order that targeted him personally.
He didn’t mince words either, calling for Boasberg’s impeachment over his role in the “Arctic Frost” fiasco, a sentiment echoing past Republican frustrations with the judge, including from former President Donald Trump over unrelated migrant deportation rulings.
“My assumption is Judge Boasberg printed these things out like the placemats at Denny’s one after the other,” Cruz quipped, painting a picture of a judge far too eager to rubber-stamp subpoenas against GOP figures.
Blackburn’s concerns go beyond just one senator—she suspects the surveillance net cast by Boasberg’s approvals could ensnare even more conservative voices, signaling a dangerous breach of legal fairness.
While the FBI stayed silent when pressed for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation, the silence only fuels suspicions of a judiciary being weaponized against political opponents of the current administration.
Adding to the unease, Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a misconduct complaint against Boasberg back in July 2025, accusing him of bias against the Trump administration, as reported by Reuters, which only deepens the perception of a stacked deck.