On Friday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals cleared Judge Boasberg to resume the contempt proceedings examining Bove and DOJ.
Congress Member Profile|U.S. Senator|Democrat|Rhode Island
Sheldon Whitehouse
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Voting Record — 783
Yes31%
No65%
Present0%
Not Voting4%
Party align95%
Cross-party4%
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Sheldon Whitehouse
U.S. SenatorDemocratRhode Island
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Sheldon's ATmosphere Activity
20 recent posts · 87 sponsored · 213 cosponsored
Recent ATmosphere posts, sponsorships, and cosponsorships.
A Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee then noticed a hearing in the Judiciary Committee’s Courts subcommittee on the topic of impeaching judges, specifically targeting Judge Boasberg.
The Trump appointees’ blockade of Judge Boasberg’s contempt proceedings denied the Senate the evidence a contempt hearing would have produced regarding any prosecutorial misconduct by Emil Bove. Bove was confirmed with only Republican votes.
During the unusually-long, four-month period of the “administrative stay,” one of the subjects of Judge Boasberg’s suspended contempt proceeding, MAGA DOJ official Emil Bove, was hustled through Senate Judiciary onto the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Next, two Trump DC Circuit appointees improperly suspended the contempt hearing, using an “administrative stay,” and then purported to block it. (A request for investigation into whether that maneuver was coordinated with DOJ officials is pending.)
First, MAGA AG Bondi filed a disciplinary complaint against Judge Boasberg regarding a comment he allegedly made in a private administrative forum, the Judicial Conference, of which Judge Boasberg is a respected member.
Faced with so much evidence of violation of his orders, Boasberg noticed a hearing into whether or not Trump officials, in particular officials at DOJ, were in contempt of court. Things spiraled quickly.
This was the same episode in which a DOJ whistleblower, well corroborated by contemporaneous texts, described MAGA DOJ senior official Emil Bove telling federal prosecutors to be prepared to tell federal judges “fuck you” if this kept up.
The judge in that matter was the chief judge of the federal court in the District of Columbia, Judge Jeb Boasberg. When Boasberg ordered the illegal deportations to stop, the Trump administration violated his order.
The saga began initially with Trump’s plan to illegally deport people from the United States to a foreign prison. When lawyers for the victims of that scheme got wind of it, they went to court.
Well, that didn’t take long.
Here’s the punchline: “no member of this court has taken the position that the panel’s disposition stands in the way of the district court proceeding just as it intended to do.” I hope it proceeds, for the sake of rule of law.
The D.C. Circuit has cleared Judge Boasberg to proceed with his stalled contempt proceeding against DOJ.
And the counterattack by MAGA DOJ is already underway.
5. The “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” could “potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceedings,” so the lawyers get access to grand jury records.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
4. So “the government’s actions in this case — whether purposeful, reckless or negligent — raise genuine issues of misconduct.”
Boom.
3. It is possible “the indictment returned in open court was not the same charging document presented to and deliberated upon by the grand jury.”
Wow.
2. The judge found she may have told the grand jury it could rely on evidence it had not seen, but that the government would later present at trial.
Not good.
1. A federal magistrate judge found that she gave the grand jury “a fundamental and highly prejudicial misstatement of the law.”
Ouch.
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Voting History783 total votesExpandCollapse
Voting History
783 total votes
Recent roll calls with party-majority context so it is easier to scan how this member tends to vote.
| Date | Bill | Question | Position | Party Maj | Align? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-04 | S. Res. 520 (119th) | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Rejected (43-37, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-12-04 | H.J. Res. 131 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (49-45) |
| 2025-12-03 | — | End debate | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (63-34) |
| 2025-12-03 | S.J. Res. 91 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (49-47) |
| 2025-12-03 | — | Confirm nominee | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Nomination Confirmed (57-41) |
| 2025-12-03 | — | End debate | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (56-40) |
| 2025-12-02 | — | Confirm nominee | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Nomination Confirmed (60-39) |
| 2025-12-02 | — | End debate | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (61-36) |
| 2025-12-02 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (53-45) |
| 2025-12-01 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (50-41) |
| 2025-11-20 | H.J. Res. 130 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (51-43) |
| 2025-11-19 | S.J. Res. 76 (119th) | Begin consideration | YES | YES | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Rejected (46-51) |
| 2025-11-19 | S.J. Res. 89 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (51-47) |
| 2025-11-19 | — | Confirm nominee | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Nomination Confirmed (66-32) |
| 2025-11-18 | — | End debate | YES | NO | ✕↔ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (65-32) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Final passage | NO | NO | ✓ | Bill Passed (60-40) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (60-40, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Vote on amendment | NO | NO | ✓ | Amendment Agreed to (60-40) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (60-40, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Kill the motion | YES | YES | ✓ | Motion to Table Agreed to (76-24) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Kill the motion | YES | YES | ✓ | Motion to Table Failed (47-53) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Kill the motion | YES | YES | ✓ | Motion to Table Failed (47-53) |
| 2025-11-10 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (60-40) |
| 2025-11-09 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | End filibuster to begin debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Agreed to (60-40, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-11-07 | S. 3012 (119th) | End filibuster to begin debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected (53-43, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-11-06 | S.J. Res. 90 (119th) | Motion to Discharge S.J.Res. 90 | YES | YES | ✓ | Motion to Discharge Rejected (49-51) |
| 2025-11-05 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (57-43) |
| 2025-11-05 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (57-41) |
| 2025-11-05 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-45) |
| 2025-11-04 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-46) |
| 2025-11-04 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | End filibuster to begin debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected (54-44, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-11-03 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (51-46) |
| 2025-10-30 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (51-47) |
| 2025-10-30 | S.J. Res. 88 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (51-47) |
| 2025-10-30 | S.J. Res. 80 (119th) | Approve resolution | NO | NO | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (52-45) |
| 2025-10-29 | S.J. Res. 77 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (50-46) |
| 2025-10-29 | S.J. Res. 69 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Rejected (25-72) |
| 2025-10-29 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (51-47) |
| 2025-10-29 | S.J. Res. 80 (119th) | Begin consideration | NO | NO | ✓ | Motion to Proceed Agreed to (54-46) |
| 2025-10-28 | S.J. Res. 81 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Joint Resolution Passed (52-48) |
| 2025-10-28 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (53-46) |
| 2025-10-28 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-47) |
| 2025-10-28 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (52-47) |
| 2025-10-28 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | End filibuster to begin debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected (54-45, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-10-27 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (58-40) |
| 2025-10-27 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-46) |
| 2025-10-23 | — | End debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture Motion Agreed to (50-45) |
| 2025-10-23 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (48-45) |
| 2025-10-23 | S. 3012 (119th) | End filibuster to begin debate | NO | NO | ✓ | Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected (54-45, 3/5 majority required) |
| 2025-10-22 | — | Confirm nominee | NO | NO | ✓ | Nomination Confirmed (52-45) |
Alignment stats consider only votes where a clear yes/no majority existed for the legislator's party. Cross-party marks divergence where the vote matched the opposite party majority. ↔ indicates cross-party divergence.