Justice Department Seeks to Bar Two Minnesota Federal Judges From Immigration Cases
In Minnesota, Reuters reported on October 21 that the U.S. Justice Department is seeking to have two Minnesota federal judges step aside from separate cases after they gave interviews to The New York Times about the pressures their court faced as a result of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward made the recusal requests in court filings on Tuesday, October 20, targeting U.S. District Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim. The judges spoke to the newspaper for an article published September 17 about the cases that flooded their court last winter during Operation Metro Surge. Schiltz said at the time that what happened in his court created a grave threat to the rule of law, and in an order in January he took U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to task for violating nearly 100 court orders during the surge. The Justice Department filed a related judicial misconduct complaint against the two judges a month ago. Rebecca Parks, a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, declined to comment, saying the judges could not comment on matters pending in the court.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Wikimedia Commons（TaurusEmerald 摄影，CC BY 2.0）；图中为 St. Paul 市联邦大楼一带夜景。
