Durbin, Duckworth demand Andrew S. Boutros resign after Broadview Six collapse
Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth called on andrew s. boutros to resign on Tuesday after the Broadview Six prosecution collapsed. Their statement came nearly two weeks after Boutros dismissed the charges in the case tied to a September protest outside a suburban immigration facility.
Durbin and Duckworth Statement
The two senators said Boutros’s time as interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has been “riddled with chaos, deep internal dysfunction, and alleged misconduct.” They also said, “He must resign, and there must be an open, transparent, and nonpartisan search to nominate the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.”
Their demand adds pressure on the office that handles federal cases in Chicago, where senators traditionally play a role in choosing the top prosecutor. Boutros was temporarily appointed by Pam Bondi in April 2025, and after that appointment expired last summer, Chicago’s federal judges chose him to serve on a more permanent basis.
Broadview Six Case
The case centered on a crowd that pushed, scratched and otherwise damaged a federal agent’s SUV during the September protest. Prosecutors charged only six people from the crowd, and the case later fell apart after U.S. District Judge April Perry said a prosecutor improperly put her credibility on the line to support the criminal charges.
Perry also said there were substantive communications with grand jurors outside the grand jury room, that a prosecutor excused grand jurors who did not agree with the case, and that prosecutors appeared to hide what happened by redacting it from a set of transcripts.
Boutros and the Charges
Boutros dismissed the Broadview Six charges on May 21 and said he had only known about the apparent misconduct since late April. That timing leaves his office facing questions over how long the problems continued before the dismissal and what was known inside the office as the case moved forward.
Juliana Stratton and Daniel Biss also called for Boutros to resign. Stratton said Boutros had undermined the credibility of his office and should resign or be fired.
