The Justice Department has filed a judicial misconduct complaint with the Eighth Circuit against all but one of Minnesota’s federal district judges, after most of them spoke to the New York Times about Operation Metro Surge, last winter’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. The complaint names Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim, says they flagrantly violated the Code of Conduct with comments that were political and concerned pending matters, and asks the court to order them off cases involving the Department of Homeland Security. A February advisory opinion of the Judicial Conference says judges may speak or write about judicial independence and advocate for the rule of law. Schiltz said he had acted well within the ethics rules, and a spokesperson for the district court said the judges acted within that guidance. During the surge, Schiltz identified 96 court orders in 74 cases that he said ICE had violated.

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