Judge throws out DOJ subpoenas against Tim Walz, calls them 'unlawful'

In a major legal victory for Minnesota officials, a federal judge on Monday quashed Trump administration subpoenas for immigration-related records, ruling that they were "unlawful and unethical. In January, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and a dozen other officials were subpoenaed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of a federal investigation into whether Walz and other officials had obstructed or impeded law enforcement during Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

In a ruling unsealed on Monday, US District Judge Patrick Schlitz, A George W. Bush appointee, found credible evidence that the subpoenas were politically motivated. He ruled that the "dominant purpose" of the subpoenas was to "coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so."

"Initiating a criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action—particularly official action that the federal government cannot directly require those political opponents to take—is a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process," Judge Schiltz ruled. "On the one hand, the evidence that the challenged subpoenas were issued for unlawful reasons is overwhelming. On the other hand, the Department has struggled—without success—to identify a single plausible investigatory justification for the subpoenas," he wrote.

Governor Walz welcomed the move, asserting that he will never stop exercising his constitutional rights to "stand up for Minnesotans and the American freedoms we hold dear." "Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and our democracy. A federal district judge found that the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into me and other Minnesota elected officials was politically motivated, unconstitutional, and meritless," Walz said in a statement. "I am proud to have joined Minnesotans in exercising our fundamental American freedoms—of speech, assembly, to disagree with our government. These rights are enshrined in our Constitution. And, they are what makes America great."

Saying an independent judiciary is "a pillar of our democracy," Walz accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the Justice Department. "The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing criminal investigations into the President’s political opponents. This case was just one example of that, but we are seeing daily reminders of this administration’s lawlessness—in Minnesota and around the country. We all must continue to seek justice and uphold the rule of law," he said.