James Emanuel Boasberg (born February 20, 1963) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He served as the Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2020 to 2021 and is a former associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Early life and education Boasberg was born in San Francisco, California in 1963, to Sarah Margaret (Szold) and Emanuel Boasberg III. The family moved to Washington, D.C. when Boasberg's father accepted a position in Sargent Shriver's Office of Economic Opportunity, a Great Society agency responsible for implementing and administering many of Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty programs. Boasberg received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1985, where he was a member of Skull and Bones, and a Master of Studies the following year from St Peter's College, Oxford. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1990. Clerkship and legal career After completing law school, Boasberg served as a law clerk for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the 1990–91 term. He then went into private practice, working at firms first in San Francisco (1991–94) and then in the District of Columbia (1995–96). In 1996, Boasberg joined the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia where he would spend 5.5 years as a prosecutor, specializing in homicides. Judicial service In September 2002, Boasberg became an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he served in the Civil and Criminal Divisions and the Domestic Violence Branch until his appointment to the federal bench in 2011. During the 111th Congress, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton recommended Boasberg to fill a judicial vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. On June 17, 2010, President Barack Obama formally nominated Boasberg to the District Court for the District of Columbia. Boasberg was confirmed on March 14, 2011 by a 96–0 vote. He received his commission on March 17, 2011. Boasberg is considered a feeder judge, sending numerous clerks to the Supreme Court. Appointment to United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court On February 7, 2014, Chief Justice John G. Roberts announced that he would appoint Boasberg to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a term starting May 18,