The Justice Department has filed a misconduct complaint against nearly every federal district judge in Minnesota, and the term “todd blanche” is among the top rising searches in the United States today, according to Google Trends, drawing roughly 10,000+ searches on this date.
Blanche announced on Wednesday that he had demanded the judges step aside from immigration-related cases. The demand came after a New York Times article in which the judges described the Justice Department’s failure to follow court orders during an immigration-enforcement surge as a serious threat to the rule of law.
Who Is Todd Blanche
Blanche leads the Justice Department under President Donald Trump. His decision to file the complaint against judges in Minnesota is a sharp escalation of an ongoing feud between the administration and the judicial branch.
The complaint targets the six active judges who participated in the story, with a seventh active judge on the court not talking to the Times.
What The Judges Said
The judges focused on staffing shortages at the Justice Department, which they said appeared to inhibit the administration’s ability to comply with court orders. Those comments mirror ones the judges have made before in legal settings.
Blanche disagreed. He called the comments “overtly political” and said they showed “an obvious bias” against Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for Minnesota’s US district court pushed back. Rebeccah Parks said the interviews fell within judicial ethics, citing guidance issued in February that emphasized judges’ ability to speak and write “on core judiciary matters such as advocacy for the rule of law and judicial independence.”
“Our judges acted within this capacity,” Parks said.
Why This Broke Through Today
The complaint itself is not new. What changed is the scale of attention it drew.
The complaint targets the six active judges who participated in the story, with a seventh active judge on the court not talking to the Times. The judges were speaking on the record, not anonymously, though the report said the outlet spoke to seven judges in total.
One judge, an appointee of Trump’s during his first term, seemed to reference the recent ethics guidance directly. “We are allowed to speak out about judicial independence,” Judge Nancy E. Brasel told the New York Times. “And so we should, in order to keep it.”
Blanche argued the opposite. He said the comments were political in nature and touched on cases that were still pending, violating judicial rules.
What Happens Next
Previous efforts to disqualify judges have gone nowhere. The standard for stepping aside is high.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairs of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, have pushed back on judges speaking to the press. Last November, they called on Chief Judge John Roberts to stop judges from talking to the press, particularly in anonymous interviews.
The Committee on Codes of Conduct for the Judicial Conference — which Roberts oversees — offered more nuanced guidance in February. It said there was room in “some circumstances” for judges to defend judicial colleagues from attacks that risk undermining independence or the rule of law.
Gabe Roth, executive director of the judicial ethics organization Fix the Court, criticized the complaint. “If DOJ doesn’t want judges to speak to the New York Times about the agency’s aberrant practices in federal court, it should spend more time fixing those practices and less time filing frivolous misconduct complaints,” Roth said.
Roth noted that Blanche has departed from DOJ norms by attending partisan rallies while leading the department.
The search numbers suggest the country is watching closely.
Source material: “Trump administration escalates feud with federal judges,” CNN.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.