DOJ illegally subpoenaed Minn. officials’ records, judge says

In a ruling on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz said that the U.S. Department of Justice illegally demanded information from Minnesota officials earlier this year. On Jan. 20, the DOJ issued subpoenas to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Minnesota attorney general, and the boards of commissioners for Hennepin and Ramsey counties. The subpoenas demanded information related to the enforcement of federal immigration law dating back to Jan. 1, 2025.

Why did the judge rule that those subpoenas were illegal? While Schiltz recognized that grand juries had significant authority to issue subpoenas, he said they served no legitimate investigative purpose. Rather, they were issued in an attempt to coerce Minnesota authorities into supporting federal immigration enforcement, and in an attempt to punish them for not already doing so, Schiltz said. The federal government is not allowed to coerce states or state officials into helping it enforce federal regulations, and it can’t punish states for refusing to assist it in enforcing those regulations, according to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment, Schiltz said.

What did the DOJ have to say about the ruling? While Schiltz explained in his ruling that, as he saw it, the DOJ struggled to identify a single justifiable reason for the subpoenas, he did acknowledge the DOJ’s concern about actions and policy suggestions by local officials that sought to help individuals either impede or escape from federal immigration officials. But some of those actions and suggestions involved individuals the DOJ did not subpoena, Schiltz found. The DOJ told WORLD on Monday it took obstruction of federal law enforcement seriously and it would continue to investigate possible wrongdoing by Minnesota officials.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about the DOJ’s recent charges against more than a dozen individuals it said conspired to harm and impede federal immigration enforcement agents.