Judge Finds Justice Dept. Overreach in Subpoenas to Minnesota Officials (New York Times Gift Article)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The judge quashed the subpoenas, writing that they were designed to “harass and retaliate against” Democratic officials who bucked the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/us/minnesota-democrats-judge-ruling.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sFA.zzxm.z-vy8JiNZ6fN&smid=nytcore-ios-share

A federal judge in Minnesota quashed the Justice Department’s subpoenas of state and local officials in a ruling unsealed on Monday, finding that the Trump administration had engaged in a politically motivated and improper use of the grand jury process. Those subpoenas were issued at the height of the administration’s winter immigration crackdown in the state.

Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz wrote in a highly critical opinion that “the dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas 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.”...

Judge Schiltz wrote on Monday that the justification given for the subpoenas was an investigation into possible violations of federal laws that make it illegal to conceal an undocumented immigration or obstruct the government.

But in fact, the judge wrote, the “subpoenas are directed to investigating activity that is not only legal, but constitutionally protected from interference by the very federal government that issued the subpoenas.”