New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined eight other state attorneys general in criticizing a federal judicial-misconduct complaint against Minnesota judges who spoke to The New York Times about immigration cases. The complaint is pending; the dispute centers on whether the judges' public comments crossed judicial ethics rules.
In a joint statement issued through James' office, the attorneys general called the Justice Department filing an attempt to intimidate judges and undermine judicial independence. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led the coalition, which also included the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon.
The Justice Department said it filed the complaint Sept. 30 against Minnesota Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, Judge John Tunheim and other judges identified in the filing as anonymous. The department alleges seven judges discussed pending or recent immigration cases in a way that violated ethical duties. Those are allegations in a complaint, not findings of misconduct.
The department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to investigate and sought recusal of the judges who spoke to the newspaper from matters involving the Department of Homeland Security. Attorney General Todd Blanche said their comments had harmed confidence in judicial impartiality.
James and the other state attorneys general rejected that account. Their statement argued that the government's proper response to rulings it opposes is to appeal, not seek to remove judges from future cases. It tied the complaint to litigation over federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota earlier this year.
The attorneys general's statement did not announce a New York lawsuit or a direct change to New York court proceedings. Its significance for New York is James' participation in a multistate response to the federal complaint.
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