Feds file misconduct complaint against Minnesota judges over immigration comments

The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against nearly all of Minnesota's federal judges over comments they made to The New York Times about the administration's immigration enforcement, Operation Metro Surge. Six of Minnesota's seven federal judges spoke to reporters; the complaint focuses on Judge Patrick Schiltz, who called the administration's court-order compliance a near standstill, and Judge John Tunheim, who questioned whether agents were arresting genuinely dangerous people.

The department argues the judges violated ethics rules barring public comment on pending matters and asks that any who spoke recuse themselves from Homeland Security cases going forward. Officials, including Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, characterized the comments as partisan pandering that undermines confidence in judicial impartiality.

A Minnesota court spokesperson countered that a February advisory opinion from the Committee on Codes of Conduct specifically permits judges to speak on rule-of-law and judicial independence matters, and said the judges acted within that allowance.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.