'Broadview Six' judge delays potentially explosive hearing featuring top prosecutor's testimony

The federal judge who ordered Chicago’s top federal prosecutor and others to testify under oath about the “Broadview Six” case on Thursday pushed back the high-stakes hearing more than two weeks.

U.S. District Judge April Perry wrote on the court docket that she delayed the hearing until Dec. 2 at the request of attorneys in the case, and with the “consent” of the Justice Department. She'd originally scheduled the hearing for Nov. 16.

The move offers some short-term relief to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and three other prosecutors who have been ordered to testify, but uncertainty about the hearing will now hang over their heads throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.

The news followed a testy back-and-forth earlier this week between Perry and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who recently took the wheel in the “Broadview Six” litigation. He’s the Justice Department’s third-highest ranking official.

Woodward on Tuesday questioned Perry’s authority to hold a “mini-trial” over the wreckage of the “Broadview Six” case. On Wednesday, Perry described the feds’ “professed lack of clarity” as “immaterial,” pointing to her “inherent authority” to question lawyers who potentially misled her.

She noted that at least two members of Boutros’ staff — Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Skiba and Andres Almendarez — have said they are willing to testify. Perry also ordered Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan into court.

Still, Woodward argued in a recent court filing that Perry had presented Boutros and his staff “with a Catch-22.”

“They can testify and risk prosecution,” Woodward said, “or they can assert their rights under the Fifth Amendment and risk antagonizing the court.”

It was the second time in six weeks that a Justice Department official left open the possibility that federal prosecutors in Chicago might invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Boutros is considered the Chicago area’s top federal law enforcement official. But he and others now face the possibility of sanctions or a criminal contempt finding if Perry believes they lied to her during the failed “Broadview Six” prosecution.

The case revolved around a protest outside an immigration holding facility in west suburban Broadview in September 2025. It occurred at the height of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz deportation campaign.

But it collapsed in May after Perry discovered alleged misconduct by Boutros’ staff while seeking an indictment from a grand jury. The initial controversy revolved around the conduct of a veteran rank-and-file prosecutor.

More recently, Perry has turned her attention to potential misstatements made to her by the feds as the case played out.

The judge told lawyers last month, “my sole focus, at this point, is on lack of candor, concealment of material facts, or other misconduct that occurred before me.”