League of Women Voters et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., Civil Action No. 25-3501 (JEB). On October 10, 2025, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg signed ECF 23. The PACER stamp on that PDF reads Case 1:25-cv-03501-UNA. The signature line is /s/ James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge.
The individual plaintiffs had moved to proceed under pseudonyms and to shield their identities from the defendants, citing a fear of retaliation by the federal government. Boasberg wrote that they had demonstrated specific retaliation risks that far outweighed any prejudice to the defendants, and that the Court was taking “the rare step” of granting the motion as to both the public and the defendants. He ordered all parties to use the pseudonyms listed in the complaint. He also ordered a sealed ex parte declaration of real names and residential addresses. Those are the words of the order. Read the PDF.
He cited Local Civil Rule 40.7(f): the Chief Judge shall “hear and determine . . . motion[s] to file a pseudonymous complaint.” He wrote that defendants may seek reconsideration by the United States District Judge to whom the case is randomly assigned. The grant is “subject to any further consideration by” that randomly assigned judge. This page does not say he assigned the case. It does not say he decided the merits.
The order recites the September 30, 2025 complaint: the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and five individual plaintiffs, seeking to enjoin use of personal data in a “comprehensive database[] of American citizens’ data, centralized at” DHS. The later SAVE vacatur is a different instrument on the same civil-action number. On June 22, 2026, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan signed ECF 112, captioned (SLS), vacating the October 2025 DHS SAVE System of Records Notice, the November 2025 SSA SORN, and the SAVE “modified system.” That merits order is hers. It is already on the companion file. He did not sign it.