A Utah judge denied an effort by Tyler Robinson’s lawyers to have his former roommate and lover be subpoenaed to testify at next month’s preliminary hearing ahead of Robinson’s trial for allegedly killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Judge Tony Graf denied two motions by Robinson’s lawyers in a Utah County court Monday, including one to have […]
A judge who has criticized aspects of the US immigration crackdown may get another shot at probing whether ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others were in contempt of court by deporting two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members last year.
A federal judge has quashed subpoenas targeting Minnesota Gov.
Federal judge rules subpoenas linked to Trump’s immigration operation were ‘issued for unlawful reasons’US politics live – latest updatesA federal judge agreed to quash the US federal government’s subpoenas of leaders in Minnesota issued during the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown on the state earlier this year.The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the attorney general, Keith Ellison; the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey; and other local officials in the Twin Cities in January. Continue reading...
A federal judge in Minnesota has tossed out multiple Department of Justice (DOJ) grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and other officials in the state. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote there was “no doubt” the DOJ issued the subpoenas to “harass” political opponents of President…
A federal judge has upended Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's campaign to "retaliate" against Minnesota Democrats who refused to help enforce President Donald Trump's immigration agenda.Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota quashed all six grand-jury subpoenas Monday targeting Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her — all Democrats — as well as county officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties.The subpoenas, served on Jan. 20, sought sweeping records related to immigration enforcement dating back to Jan. 1, 2025 — the opening salvo of a Justice Department investigation into whether Minnesota officials had obstructed federal immigration agents during "Operation Metro Surge."The judge shot down the DOJ's arguments in his Monday order."The evidence that the challenged subpoenas were issued for unlawful reasons is overwhelming," he wrote. "The Department has struggled — without success — to identify a single plausible investigatory justification for the subpoenas."The Justice Department couldn't point to an instance of a Minnesota official actually obstructing a law enforcement officer. It withdrew one of its five stated justifications after admitting it had no verifiable source.On Jan. 13, Trump posted on Truth Social, threatening "RETRIBUTION" against Minnesota's political leaders. Three days later, the subpoenas leaked to multiple outlets — with at least one citing "U.S. officials" as its source.On Jan. 14, he posted on X accusing Walz and Frey of "encouraging violence against law enforcement" and vowing to stop their "terrorism by whatever means necessary."Four months later, Blanche went on Fox News and named Walz again — this time in the context of a fraud investigation, saying the governor had "done nothing but sue us."Schiltz found the subpoenas "were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate.""The dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas," he wrote, "is to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so."
CNN anchor Brianna Keilar was stunned after a federal judge scolded the Trump administration in a scorching new ruling on Monday.Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota blocked the Justice Department's efforts to subpoena Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic officials in an immigration enforcement probe, CNN reported. Walz, who has publicly criticized President Donald Trump, was targeted by the DOJ along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her. County officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties were also issued subpoenas."That is quite a lashing," Keilar said, responding to the judge's ruling.CNN correspondent Katelyn Polantz described the opinion — and what made it stand out."I don't know if I've seen an opinion take on the Justice Department in this way before from a federal judge saying just explicitly that they believe that the Justice Department was using its authority for political means in exactly the wrong, unlawful way," Polantz said.The subpoenas from former Attorney General Pam Bondi came following weeks of unrest and protest in Minnesota after two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed amid aggressive ICE raids in Minneapolis. In the letters, Bondi told local officials that they needed to support ICE, Polantz said."It was a retribution and a reckoning day that was coming for people in Minnesota that didn't support the federal government," Polantz explained. "What the Justice Department said at that time was that people like Walz, Frey, they were going to be investigated for impeding federal law enforcement. But this federal judge, Patrick Schiltz, in Minnesota, he finds that that is totally not what the Justice Department was doing." "He says that the way they brought forth this criminal investigation into Walz's office, the mayor's offices, the attorney general's office in Minnesota," she added. "It was blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process. He says that there was no doubt that these were grand jury subpoenas for documents that were meant to harass and coerce these local officials, and that there was no plausible investigative justification. The unlawful reasons here were overwhelming, quite a shock to see it on paper from a judge in this federal case saying, 'these guys, these grand jury subpoenas, they're not going to survive.'"
A federal judge has killed the Trump administration’s attempt to subpoena Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state leaders, finding that the Justice Department used the subpoena to try to force the state to capitulate to the White House’s demands regarding Operation Metro Surge in January—which saw federal agents kill two American citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good. “Initiating a criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action—particularly official action that the federal government cannot directly require those political opponents to take—is a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand-jury process,” Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote. “The only question, then, is whether the challenged subpoenas were issued for one of these forbidden purposes. The Court has no doubt that they were. On the other hand, the Department has struggled—without success—to identify a single plausible investigatory justification for the subpoenas.”Walz, Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her were each subpoenaed in January on the grounds that they were impeding federal agents from doing their jobs. The subpoenas also accompanied weeks of vitriolic rhetoric from the administration regarding Somali Americans and immigrants.“Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and our democracy. A federal district judge found that the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into me and other Minnesota elected officials was politically motivated, unconstitutional, and meritless,” Walz wrote on X after the news. “The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing criminal investigations into the President’s political opponents. This case was just one example of that, but we are seeing daily reminders of this administration’s lawlessness—in Minnesota and around the country. We all must continue to seek justice and uphold the rule of law. I will never stop exercising my constitutional rights to stand up for Minnesotans and the American freedoms that we hold dear.”“Subpoenaing political opponents because they spoke on behalf of their constituents violates the core tenets of our democracy and human decency,” said Frey.The Trump administration has yet to respond to Judge Schlitz’s ruling.
The Justice Department has failed as part of its ongoing effort to indict Democratic Party leaders. Worse, the judge issued a blistering ruling in which he alleged the Justice Department was abusing the grand jury process, possibly in an "unlawful" way. The case involved Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Mayor Jacob Frey.According to Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney, on Monday, "Judge Patrick Schiltz ... quashed several DOJ grand jury subpoenas aimed Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, saying they were part of a retaliatory effort over their refusal to aid Trump admin immigration enforcement efforts.""The Court orders that a miscellaneous matter be opened and that this order be unsealed and docketed in the matter," the judge said in the order. But the judge went further, attacking the Justice Department for "abusing the grand jury process" by targeting the officials. "Ordinarily, proceedings and materials concerning a motion to quash a grand jury subpoena would be highly likely to reveal grand jury materials," wrote Judge Schiltz. "In this case, however, the existence of the grand jury matter, as well as the existence of the subpoenas themselves, have already been publicly revealed — most likely by the Department. Moreover, nothing in this order or the materials submitted to the court could possibly compromise a criminal investigation; as the court has explained at length, the Department is not conducting a criminal investigation, but is instead using the grand jury process for other (unlawful) purposes."The judge also lambasted President Donald Trump's administration as a whole for the "well-established history of using criminal investigations to retaliate against and pressure the President's political and personal adversaries."At one point in the ruling, the judge noted that the subpoenas were seeking "broad categories of materials" that dated back to January 1, 2025, which was a year before the Homeland Security effort, known as "Operation Metro Surge," even began. He even used a states' rights argument, claiming that the federal government was overstepping its authority. "It is important to stress, once again, that the Constitution forbids the federal government from forcing states or their political subdivisions to enforce federal law. Indeed, the Supreme Court has emphasized that this dual-sovereign design is a fundamental part of the Constitution intended to safeguard liberty from overreach by the federal government," the judge wrote.