Trump administration files complaint against judges over media comments

What the report says

The US Justice Department has filed a misconduct complaint against seven federal judges in Minnesota after they spoke publicly about the strain their courts faced during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. According to Al Jazeera, the judges discussed the issue in an interview with The New York Times this month, describing the pressure created by a large volume of cases tied to Operation Metro Surge, which led to thousands of arrests in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area from December to February.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the judges had crossed an ethical line by commenting publicly on the cases and accused them of showing bias against the Trump administration. He also urged that they step aside from matters involving the Department of Homeland Security. The department’s complaint is the latest escalation in a broader dispute between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary, which has repeatedly challenged parts of the president’s policy agenda.

The judges have denied wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Minnesota’s federal court system said legal experts believed the judges stayed within ethical rules by speaking to the newspaper. One of the judges named, Patrick Schiltz, said the government had failed to comply with many immigration-related court orders and argued that judges are allowed to speak publicly about rule-of-law and judicial-independence issues. Al Jazeera also noted that Schiltz wrote that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “is not a law unto itself,” though the broader reporting focuses on the ethics complaint and the dispute over judicial speech.