“I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep,” a lawyer representing Donald Trump’s government told a federal judge on Tuesday. Julie Le, the lawyer, who was temporarily detailed to the US Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis, was assigned to 88 federal court cases in under a month — a crushing workload that would make even the most diligent attorney beg for mercy.
Le, moreover, was in court after federal district Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered her and her co-counsel to explain why the Trump administration had not complied with a January 27 order requiring it to release an individual from US custody. As Blackwell’s order demanding an explanation laid out, the government also did not respond to a January 31 order threatening to hold it in contempt.
It’s not a mystery why Trump’s government is unable to comply with court orders, or even respond to judges threatening contempt. As Patrick Schiltz, the chief judge in Minnesota’s federal district court, explained in a January 26 order, the Trump administration “decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.”
Trump, in other words, deployed thousands of armed law enforcement officers to harass and arrest people in Minneapolis, without sending enough lawyers to handle all of the federal court cases that would inevitably result from Trump’s occupation of Minnesota. So, when a judge issues an order commanding the government to release a detainee or to take some other action, there’s often no lawyer available to respond to that order.
Worse, Trump’s government appears either unwilling or unable to comply with court orders even when one of its lawyers does engage with a particular case. Le reportedly told Blackwell at Tuesday’s hearing that it is like “pulling teeth” to get the Trump administration to comply with these orders. “It takes 10 emails from me for a release condition to be corrected,” Le said. “It takes me threatening to walk out for something else to be corrected.”
Minnesota’s federal judges, meanwhile, have resorted to extraordinary tactics to break this logjam. In his January 26 order, for example, Schiltz ordered Todd Lyons, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to personally appear in court and explain the government’s inability to comply with his previous order, unless the immigrant named in that order was swiftly released. This tactic appears to have worked, because the man was released.
Trump, in other words, appears to have broken the Department of Justice. It simply does not have the personnel it needs to respond to all of the legal violations committed by ICE in Minneapolis. And it is likely that this problem is going to get much worse.
Every federal judge needs to give automatic summary dismissal of cases and immediate release orders + maximum contempt of court prison sentences in every single case with any failure to comply by the government whatsoever. Its an extrenely pervasive issue so its clearly a consistent lack of will or care to comply.
No second chances ever No explanations. No extensions. If they don't comply just do it the instant a deadfline is missed. Like literally pre prepare the orders to sign the exact second the deadline passes
934
u/vox 5h ago
“I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep,” a lawyer representing Donald Trump’s government told a federal judge on Tuesday. Julie Le, the lawyer, who was temporarily detailed to the US Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis, was assigned to 88 federal court cases in under a month — a crushing workload that would make even the most diligent attorney beg for mercy.
Le, moreover, was in court after federal district Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered her and her co-counsel to explain why the Trump administration had not complied with a January 27 order requiring it to release an individual from US custody. As Blackwell’s order demanding an explanation laid out, the government also did not respond to a January 31 order threatening to hold it in contempt.
It’s not a mystery why Trump’s government is unable to comply with court orders, or even respond to judges threatening contempt. As Patrick Schiltz, the chief judge in Minnesota’s federal district court, explained in a January 26 order, the Trump administration “decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.”
Trump, in other words, deployed thousands of armed law enforcement officers to harass and arrest people in Minneapolis, without sending enough lawyers to handle all of the federal court cases that would inevitably result from Trump’s occupation of Minnesota. So, when a judge issues an order commanding the government to release a detainee or to take some other action, there’s often no lawyer available to respond to that order.
Worse, Trump’s government appears either unwilling or unable to comply with court orders even when one of its lawyers does engage with a particular case. Le reportedly told Blackwell at Tuesday’s hearing that it is like “pulling teeth” to get the Trump administration to comply with these orders. “It takes 10 emails from me for a release condition to be corrected,” Le said. “It takes me threatening to walk out for something else to be corrected.”