U.S. District Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, has canceled a hearing requested by the Justice Department to clarify her authority over an ongoing investigation into federal prosecutors. The inquiry centers on the handling of the 'Broadview Six' case, a criminal prosecution against anti-ICE protesters that was dropped in May following allegations of misconduct.
In a ruling issued Wednesday, Perry dismissed the government's argument that her authority to demand testimony from lawyers who allegedly misled the court was unclear. She noted that the government's lack of clarity on the matter was immaterial to the court's inherent power to seek explanations from attorneys who have made misstatements.
The Justice Department, led in this dispute by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, had argued that requiring prosecutors to testify created a difficult dilemma. Woodward described the situation as a Catch-22, suggesting that prosecutors might risk future prosecution if they testified or antagonize the court if they invoked their Fifth Amendment rights. Perry rejected this view, pointing out that the government did not represent all four individuals ordered to testify, two of whom had already expressed willingness to do so.
Perry has ordered U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and three assistant U.S. attorneys from the Northern District of Illinois to appear under oath on Monday. The officials named in the order are William Hogan, Matthew Skiba, and Andres Almendarez. Their testimony is expected to cover several key issues, including the prosecutors' knowledge of potential grand jury misconduct, the accuracy of previous statements made to the court, and the reasons for redacting certain transcripts.
The judge also plans to examine whether officials outside the U.S. Attorney's Office received information regarding the investigation. The testimony will help Perry determine if sanctions or criminal contempt proceedings are warranted. This development follows a separate dispute in which Perry rejected a privilege log submitted by the Justice Department, finding it noncompliant because it redacted identifying information for numerous email senders and recipients.
Perry also questioned the government's response regarding an email sent to Boutros containing an expedited transcript of a grand jury session from October 9, 2025. The judge noted that the provided PDF lacked metadata that could establish whether Boutros had read the email. Prosecutors were given until Thursday to address these specific concerns. The broader inquiry began on May 20, when Perry first ordered prosecutors involved in redacting transcripts to appear in a sealed hearing.
The legal scrutiny stems from a series of events involving a grand jury that initially refused to return an indictment on October 9, 2025. A subsequent session saw two jurors excused over impartiality concerns, but they returned for a third session on October 23, 2025, when the grand jury finally indicted the protesters on a felony conspiracy charge. Court records indicate that initial transcripts provided in April contained redactions that concealed evidence of possible misconduct, including allegations that former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg improperly vouched for the government's case.
The six defendants in the original case included former Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, Chicago Democratic Committeeman Michael Rabbitt, Abughazaleh campaign staffer Andre Martin, former Cook County Board candidate Catherine Sharp, and musician Joselyn Walsh. They faced charges related to a September 26, 2025, confrontation outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, where demonstrators allegedly surrounded a federal agent's vehicle. Prosecutors claimed the crowd struck the vehicle, damaging a side mirror and windshield wiper, though they did not identify any single defendant as personally responsible for the damage.
