DOJ ramps up fight against federal judges after some in Minnesota speak to media about immigration surge cases

The Justice Department is filing a judicial misconduct complaint against nearly all the federal judges in Minnesota, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Wednesday, in an escalation in tensions between the Trump administration and the judicial branch which came to a head during the winter surge of immigration enforcement actions.

Blanche said the demand that the judges be disqualified from immigration-related cases was prompted by a recent New York Times article in which six federal judges described the Justice Department’s failure to comply with court orders during the surge as a grave threat to the rule of law.

In their comments, judges focused on how DOJ staffing shortages appeared to inhibit the administration in its ability to comply with their orders – similar to comments they have previously made in legal settings. But Blanche on Wednesday said the comments were “overtly political” in violation of judicial rules and that they reflected an “an obvious bias” against the Department of Homeland Security.

While the ethics complaint is pending at the federal appeals court that the oversees Minnesota’s federal bench, Blanche is calling on the district court judges to recuse from DHS-related cases.

The demand, however, may not have much impact as previous efforts and public complaints have gone nowhere.

The Trump administration has tried various tactics to strike back at judges they see as hostile to the President Donald Trump’s agenda. That has included an unsuccessful DOJ lawsuit – filed against the entire federal bench in Maryland – challenging an order covering that court that limited the ability of the administration to quickly remove migrants who are challenging their deportations.

It has also included a willingness by top Trump officials to use exceptionally sharp language to publicly call out judges by name for rulings they disagree with.

As courts across the country have faced aggressive public pushback from the president and his allies for rulings that that blocked Trump policy initiatives, judges have rung alarms about how the heated rhetoric has raised the specter of threats and intimidation.

“These judges talked to the media, or at least to the New York Times, about cases some of which are ongoing, in a matter that the department views as a clear violation of their ethical duties,” Blanche said.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

司法部长托德·布兰奇周三宣布，司法部将对明尼苏达州几乎所有联邦法官提起司法不当行为申诉。特朗普政府与司法部门之间的紧张关系在冬季移民执法行动激增期间达到顶峰，此次申诉标志着紧张局势的升级。

布兰奇表示，要求取消法官审理移民相关案件资格的呼声源于《纽约时报》最近的一篇文章，文章中六位联邦法官将司法部在移民潮期间未能遵守法院命令描述为对法治的严重威胁。

法官们在评论中着重指出，司法部人手短缺似乎阻碍了政府执行其命令的能力——这与他们此前在法律场合的评论类似。但布兰奇周三表示，这些评论“明显带有政治色彩”，违反了司法规则，并且反映出对国土安全部“明显的偏见”。

虽然针对布兰奇的道德投诉仍在负责监督明尼苏达州联邦法院的联邦上诉法院审理中，但布兰奇呼吁地区法院法官回避与国土安全部相关的案件。

然而，这一诉求可能不会产生太大影响，因为之前的努力和公众的抱怨都毫无结果。

特朗普政府曾尝试多种策略来打击那些被其视为对特朗普总统议程持敌对态度的法官。其中包括司法部对马里兰州联邦法院全体法官提起的一项诉讼，该诉讼最终败诉。该诉讼旨在挑战一项限制政府迅速遣返正在对遣返提出异议的移民的命令。

此外，特朗普政府的高级官员还愿意使用极其尖锐的语言，公开点名批评他们不认同的法官裁决。

全国各地的法院都因阻止特朗普政策举措的裁决而遭到总统及其盟友的猛烈公开反击，法官们纷纷发出警告，称这种激烈的言辞引发了威胁和恐吓的幽灵。

布兰奇说：“这些法官与媒体，或者至少是与《纽约时报》谈论了一些仍在审理中的案件，司法部认为这明显违反了他们的职业道德。”

这是突发新闻，我们将持续更新。