DOJ's push to remove Minnesota judges: hearing set for Nov. 23 as experts call the motions 'performative'

The Justice Department’s effort to pull two Minnesota federal judges off immigration-related cases now has a date on the calendar. Judge Patrick Schiltz has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 23 on the motion to remove him from a denaturalization case, CBS News reported, while Judge John Tunheim had not acted on the motion against him as of Thursday, according to FOX 9.

The motions, signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, argue that the judges’ on-the-record comments to the New York Times about last winter’s immigration surge in Minnesota make them look biased. Legal ethics experts who spoke to CBS News doubt the bid will succeed and say it fits a wider pattern.

Which cases are involved?

• United States v. Salah Osman Ahmed (Judge Schiltz): a civil case in which the government seeks to strip a Minnesota man of his U.S. citizenship. CBS News said it is part of what the Justice Department calls its largest denaturalization effort.
• United States v. Hester Sophia Weihmann (Judge Tunheim): a criminal case in which a South African national is charged with illegally voting in the 2024 election. She has pleaded not guilty, CBS News reported.

Both motions stem from a Sept. 17 Times article about Operation Metro Surge, FOX 9 reported.

What does the Justice Department argue?

Woodward, the department’s third-highest-ranking official, was the only government lawyer to sign the motions, CBS News reported. In the filing against Schiltz, he wrote: “A judge who has publicly taken sides on the political issue of immigration enforcement cannot then preside over a case concerning one of the Justice Department’s key immigration initiatives.”

Against Tunheim, he wrote: “To Judge Tunheim, the ‘rule of law’ apparently means ignoring the law when it comes to illegal aliens who have broken the law.” FOX 9 reported that the department points to Tunheim’s quote that agents “weren’t arresting, in my view, people who were dangerous criminals on the street.”

How have the judges and defense lawyers responded?

Judges cannot publicly discuss cases pending before them, CBS News noted. In a statement issued last month after a related Justice Department ethics complaint, the Minnesota federal court said its judges “were acting well within the ethical rules,” citing a February advisory opinion that judges may speak on “core judiciary matters such as advocacy for the rule of law and judicial independence,” FOX 9 reported.

Daniel Gerdts, Ahmed’s lawyer, told FOX 9 the motion is “just cover intended to distract from the case’s utter lack of merit.”

Why do experts doubt the motions will work?

Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor who studies judicial conduct, told CBS News the department is “looking to essentially antagonize the judges.” NYU law professor Stephen Gillers called the filings “performative,” noting that the government usually raises recusal concerns privately rather than on public dockets and social media.

Geyh argued that general comments about the rule of law are “the opposite of bias.”

Is this part of a bigger pattern?

CBS News reported that Woodward also moved last weekend to disqualify U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington from a case about Trump’s plans for a historic public golf course. Reyes rejected that motion on Sunday, accusing the department of using “selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion.”

The department has also filed misconduct complaints against nearly every federal judge in Minnesota, plus Reyes and Judge James Boasberg, and sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland over a standing order on deportations, a case a Virginia judge dismissed and the department has appealed, CBS News reported.

What happens next?

Schiltz’s Nov. 23 hearing is the next scheduled step. Tunheim can rule on his motion himself, and no timeline has been reported.

FAQ

Earlier coverage: Justice Department asks two Minnesota federal judges to step aside from immigration cases over New York Times interviews (Oct 22)