Trump administration files complaint against judges over media comments

Seven Minnesota judges face ethics complaint after speaking publicly about the US president’s immigration crackdown.The United States Justice Department has filed a misconduct complaint against seven federal judges in Minnesota who spoke publicly about the pressure their courts came under during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.The judges spoke to The New York Times this month about dealing with a flood of cases during Operation Metro Surge, an immigration crackdown that led to thousands of arrests in the Minneapolis-St Paul area from December to February.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Trump admin asks top US court to reverse pro-Palestinian scholar’s releaselist 2 of 4White House bars CNN from Air Force One for Trump’s upcoming triplist 3 of 4US Supreme Court allows Trump to continue third-country deportationslist 4 of 4US judge rules Wisconsin mosque leader Salah Sarsour can be deportedend of listThe Justice Department says it crossed an ethical line by talking publicly about the cases.Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the judges of showing “obvious bias” against the Trump administration and called on them to step aside from any cases involving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).“When we have a situation like we have now, where you have a judge, a couple of judges, just not only violating the canons in our view but also showing bias in what they’re saying, we have no choice but to act,” Blanche told reporters.The judges say they did nothing wrong. A spokesperson for Minnesota’s federal court system said legal experts had found that the judges were “well within the ethical rules” when they spoke to the newspaper.The complaint is the latest in a series of clashes between the Trump administration and the judiciary, which has blocked some of the president’s policies and, in several cases, accused government lawyers of failing to follow court orders.One of the judges named in the complaint, Patrick Schiltz, alleged that the government did not comply with nearly 100 court orders related to immigration enforcement in January alone.