The third-highest official at the U.S. Justice Department is trying to remove two federal judges in Minnesota from immigration-related cases. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward filed the motions on Tuesday. He points to comments the judges made to The New York Times about how the Trump administration handled cases from its immigration crackdown in the state 1.
The judges are Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim. Woodward was the only government lawyer who signed the motions, and the Justice Department promoted them on social media 1.
The two cases are narrow. Before Judge Schiltz, the government is trying to take away the U.S. citizenship of Salah Osman Ahmed, a Somali American who pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge in 2009 2. Before Judge Tunheim, prosecutors say Hester Sophia Weihmann, a legal permanent resident from South Africa, voted illegally in the 2024 election. She has pleaded not guilty 12.
To Judge Tunheim, the 'rule of law' apparently means ignoring the law when it comes to illegal aliens who have broken the law
How the fight started
The crackdown, called Operation Metro Surge, began in December 2025 and sent more than 3,000 immigration officers to Minnesota 5. In January, Judge Schiltz said the government had failed to follow nearly 100 court orders, and he wrote that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, "is not a law unto itself" 4. He later counted 96 court orders in 74 cases that he said ICE had violated 5.
In a Sept. 17 New York Times story, several Minnesota judges talked about the flood of cases 2. Tunheim told the paper that agents were not "arresting, in my view, people who were dangerous criminals on the street" 2. Woodward's motions call the story a "partisan critique of the Trump Administration's immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis" 2.
On Sept. 30, the department filed a judicial misconduct complaint against seven Minnesota federal judges. AP reported that presidents of both parties nominated those judges 4. The complaint went to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees Minnesota's federal courts. It asks that Schiltz and Tunheim be ordered to step aside from cases involving the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS 5. Schiltz was nominated by President George W. Bush and once clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia 4.
We have a right, just like every litigant in court, to have a judge that will be fair and impartial
The judges' answer
Schiltz has said he acted "well within the ethical rules that apply to federal judges in speaking to the New York Times" 2. In February, the Judicial Conference's ethics committee said judges may "speak or write about the independence of the judiciary" 5. (The Judicial Conference is the body that sets policy for the federal courts.) Schiltz has said, "That is exactly what I did" 4.
Daniel Gerdts, the lawyer for Ahmed, called the government's arguments "contrived and baseless." He said he has sometimes disagreed with Schiltz's rulings but has never doubted that the judge is fair 2. Schiltz has set a hearing on the motion against him for Nov. 23, nearly three weeks after Election Day 1.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said the government already has a proper way to respond when it loses a ruling: "If the government doesn’t like how any court has ruled, they have a standard recourse: they can appeal" 6.
This is a desperate and dangerous attack on American judicial independence.
A Washington judge has already said no
Woodward made the same kind of move in Washington, D.C. He asked U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to step aside from a lawsuit over President Trump's plans to overhaul East Potomac Golf Links, a historic public course 13. The government had removed hundreds of trees there over the Columbus Day weekend without the advance notice Reyes had demanded 3.
Reyes rejected the request on Sunday. She wrote, "It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion" 3. Trump then personally attacked her, calling her a "crazed lunatic" 8. At a hearing Monday, Reyes said she had received death threats 8.
By any objective measure, the Government fails to meet the standard for recusal.
The pattern
These motions are part of a wider campaign. The department has filed ethics complaints against Reyes and against Chief Judge James Boasberg, and the Boasberg complaint was dismissed. It also sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland over an order that paused fast deportations. A judge in Virginia threw out that lawsuit, and the department has appealed 1.
Judicial ethics experts told CBS News they expect the new motions to fail 1. Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, described the filings as performative 1. Charles Geyh of Indiana University said the motions are part of a network of efforts to delegitimize the judges involved 1. Greg Sisk, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, said he suspects the department is filing them largely to send a message to every other federal judge 2.
That matters because the stakes go beyond two cases. A watchdog investigation cited by Raw Story found at least 50 DHS-related cases before six of the judges named in the complaint, including challenges to ICE detention and deportations 7. Stacey Young, executive director of Justice Connection, said, "DOJ's latest stunt will only add fuel to the fire" 7.
For now, Schiltz and Tunheim will decide the motions themselves. If they refuse to step aside, the department could ask other judges to rule, but Sisk said it is hard to get an appeals court to remove a judge from a case 2.
The Record
- Judge Patrick Schiltz writes in an order that "ICE is not a law unto itself" 5.
- The New York Times publishes a story in which Minnesota federal judges discuss the Operation Metro Surge caseload 2.
- The Justice Department files a misconduct complaint with the 8th Circuit against seven Minnesota federal judges 45.
- Judge Ana Reyes rejects Stanley Woodward's motion to remove her from the East Potomac golf course case 3.
- Woodward files motions to disqualify Judges Schiltz and Tunheim from two immigration-related cases 1.
Sources
- CBS News, “Top Justice Department official asks Minnesota judges to step aside from immigration cases” (2026-10-21). cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-minnesota-immigration-ca
- MPR News, “Feds seek to boot Minnesota judges from immigration cases after public comments” (2026-10-21). mprnews.org/story/2026/10/21/minnesota-judges-could-be-remov
- ABC News (via 6abc), “DOJ official clashes with judge in DC golf course case after Trump attacks her” (2026-10-19). 6abc.com/story/trump-golf-course-doj-official-clashes-judge-
- AP (via WPXI), “Justice Department files complaint against judges over immigration enforcement surge comments” (2026-09-30). wpxi.com/news/politics/justice-department/6NVG5RFSNIY5JGB6RN
- CBS News (via Yahoo News), “DOJ files misconduct complaint against federal judges in Minnesota” (2026-09-30). yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/doj-files-judicial-miscondu
- Minnesota Attorney General's Office, “Attorney General Ellison statement on DOJ complaint against Minnesota federal judges” (2026-09-30). ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2026/09/30_DOJ.asp
- Raw Story, “Trump DOJ adding 'fuel to the fire' with new federal judge 'stunt' in Minnesota: expert” (2026-10-20). rawstory.com/trump-doj-minnesota-2678114201/
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Washington Post), “Amid attacks by Trump, judge weighs golf course plan in tense hearing” (2026-10-19). inquirer.com/news/nation-world/trump-east-potomac-golf-plans
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