WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorney General Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s former personal criminal defense attorney, is using the Justice Department to attempt to punish federal judges for telling the public what they saw during Trump’s immigration surge in Minnesota. The department filed a judicial misconduct complaint with the Eighth Circuit against “all but one” of the state’s federal district judges after they spoke to The New York Times. The DOJ is asking that the judges be barred from hearing any case involving the Department of Homeland Security. Absurdly, the same Justice Department has proposed a rule that would halt state ethics proceedings against its own attorneys, attempting to insulate them from accountability.
“Todd Blanche is attempting to weaponize ethics accountability systems to intimidate judges,” said Praveen Fernandes, Not Above the Law co-chair. “Trump’s former personal attorney and his Justice Department are working to shield DOJ lawyers from state bar investigations while trying to punish judges for speaking honestly about what they’ve seen in their courtrooms and for discussing the importance of the rule of law. We’ve seen this playbook before, with DOJ filing baseless misconduct complaints against judges whose rulings it doesn’t like. Judges who stand in the way of Donald Trump’s agenda keep finding his Justice Department on their doorstep.”
Here’s what you need to know:
DOJ Wants Nearly An Entire Federal Bench Off Immigration Cases
The complaint was signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter. It names Judge Patrick Schiltz, Judge John Tunheim, and “anonymous district judges.” As The Hill noted, Schiltz was appointed by President George W. Bush and Tunheim by President Clinton. DOJ argues the public would reasonably question the judges’ impartiality and wants them ordered to recuse from any case involving DHS.
The Judges Described What Happened In Their Courtrooms
In the Times interviews, Schiltz said the federal government’s actions during Operation Metro Surge “created a grave threat to the rule of law.” The Times reported he didn’t comment on specific cases. The court pushed back on the complaint, noting that legal-ethics experts confirmed its judges acted within the ethical rules governing federal judges when they spoke to the Times.
The Judges Who Held The Administration To The Law
Earlier this year, Schiltz documented nearly 100 court orders ICE violated in a single month involving immigrants detained in the Twin Cities. That same day, Tunheim ordered the administration to release detained refugees under a new policy and return those moved out of state. In June, Schiltz quashed DOJ grand jury subpoenas targeting Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and other Minnesota officials. He found the DOJ used the subpoenas to pressure officials into helping with immigration enforcement and to retaliate against them for refusing.
One Set Of Rules For Judges, Another For DOJ’s Lawyers
The proposed rule would also authorize the department to take “appropriate action” against state bar authorities that refuse to pause their investigations of DOJ lawyers. Blanche has characterized the department’s stance as a “war” against bar associations and has pledged to limit their oversight powers. The rule conflicts with the McDade Amendment, which requires DOJ attorneys to follow the same state ethics rules as all other lawyers.
The Not Above the Law coalition is co-chaired by Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen; Praveen Fernandes, Vice President of the Constitutional Accountability Center; Kelsey Herbert, Campaign Director at MoveOn; and Brett Edkins, Managing Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Stand Up America.
For questions about our work to hold Trump accountable or to request an interview with a Not Above the Law coalition leader, please email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com.