2026-09-30T12:51:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
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更新时间：2026年9月30日 / 美国东部时间下午3:04 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
华盛顿——美国司法部周三采取不同寻常举措，对明尼苏达州除一名外的所有联邦地区法官提起司法行为不当投诉。此前，该州多数法官接受《纽约时报》采访，就今年早些时候政府在移民执法强化期间对案件的处理方式表达担忧。
司法部长托德·布兰奇在新闻发布会上宣布已向美国第八巡回上诉法院提交投诉，他同时表示，明尼苏达州检察官已起诉10名非公民，指控其涉嫌在以往选举中非法投票。
布兰奇称：“正如每一位出庭诉讼当事人一样，我们有权要求法官保持公平公正。我们别无选择，只能采取行动。”
2026年9月30日，司法部长托德·布兰奇在华盛顿特区司法部新闻发布会上发言。安娜·莫尼梅克 / 盖蒂图片社
此次投诉的核心是本月早些时候发表的一篇《纽约时报》报道，标题为《特朗普政府的明尼苏达行动威胁民主，法官警告》。作为报道的一部分，帕特里克·希尔茨法官接受了90分钟采访，分享了他对特朗普政府多次违反法院命令的看法。文章称，明尼苏达州联邦法官团7名成员中有6人也接受了记者采访，讨论联邦政府在该州针对移民的镇压行动——“地铁突袭行动”。
希尔茨由乔治·W·布什总统任命至联邦法院，曾为最高法院大法官安东宁·斯卡利亚担任书记员。
这份司法行为不当投诉将希尔茨和比尔·克林顿总统任命的约翰·图恩海姆法官，以及明尼苏达联邦地区法院的“匿名地区法官”列为投诉对象。在报道中，图恩海姆驳斥了特朗普政府所称其正在逮捕明尼苏达州“最恶劣的罪犯”的说法。
“在我看来，他们逮捕的并非街头危险罪犯，”图恩海姆告诉《泰晤士报》。
美国司法部称希尔茨和图恩海姆的行为“尤为恶劣”，并声称二人“向《泰晤士报》发表不当且不道德的言论，公然违反了《司法行为准则》”。
这份投诉由代理副司法部长特伦特·麦科特和副司法部长斯坦利·伍德沃德签署。
官员们表示，希尔茨的言论“过于政治化，涉及法官或上诉法院待决事项”。他们称图恩海姆的言论“篇幅较短，但同样不道德”。
麦科特和伍德沃德写道：“如果说有什么‘严重威胁法治’的话，那就是那些反复公然越权，随后发起党派宣传攻势的法官，他们批评政府在法官拒绝就搜查令申请作出裁决时提起紧急上诉。”
他们要求第八巡回上诉法院命令希尔茨和图恩海姆回避涉及国土安全部的案件。他们表示，上诉法院还应对明尼苏达州法官的“不当行为”展开调查，这些法官“渴望 publicity（追求曝光度）而非通过审理案件或争议来遵守法治”。
联邦法院政策制定机构司法会议于2月发布咨询意见，就法官的公开言论和公民参与提供道德指导。该机构表示，道德原则“允许法官就司法独立发表讲话或撰写文章，或一般性地倡导法治，包括说明这两项价值观对我国政府体制为何至关重要”。
此外，司法会议表示，其行为准则委员会认为，“在至少某些情况下，法官可以适度为司法同事辩护，抵御可能破坏司法独立或法治的不合理批评和攻击，无论这些批评和攻击是否达到迫害的程度”。
针对此次司法行为不当投诉，希尔茨在一份声明中表示：“正如法律伦理专家所证实的那样，我在接受《纽约时报》采访时，完全符合适用于联邦法官的道德准则。”他援引司法会议委员会的咨询意见称，联邦法官可以就“法治和司法独立”等“核心司法事项”发表看法，希尔茨表示，“这正是我所做的事情”。
联邦地区法院的一位发言人也表示，“我们的法官是按照司法会议的规定履行职责”，并且“完全符合”联邦司法系统的道德准则。
特朗普政府于2025年12月启动“地铁突袭行动”，部署了3000多名移民执法人员前往明尼苏达州，作为其移民执法行动的一部分。边境事务专员汤姆·霍曼于2月宣布，“地铁突袭行动”即将结束，联邦移民官员将从该州撤出。
但强化的移民执法行动引发了联邦当局与抗议者之间的暴力冲突。今年1月，明尼苏达州有两人——蕾妮·古德和亚历克斯·普雷蒂——身亡，引发了对移民海关执法局（ICE）和海关与边境保护局（CBP）所使用战术的批评。
在联邦法院中，明尼苏达州的法官收到了大量移民提交的请愿书，挑战其拘留并请求获释。在针对一名厄瓜多尔男子的两起特殊裁决中，希尔茨指责特朗普政府未能遵守“数十项”法院命令。他指出，ICE在74起案件中违反了96项法院命令。
“ICE不能凌驾于法律之上，”他在1月28日发布的一项裁决中写道。
在两天前的另一项裁决中，希尔茨表示，特朗普政府“决定向明尼苏达州派遣数千名特工拘留外籍人士，却未作出任何应对必然会出现的数百份人身保护令请愿书和其他诉讼的准备”，并称“法院的耐心已耗尽”。
在一系列针对联邦政府的移民等多项议题的裁决发布后，特朗普政府与联邦法官之间的紧张关系升级。特朗普先生及其政府高级官员在社交媒体上攻击联邦法官，称他们为“激进左翼法官”和“激进主义法官”。
去年，一名前司法部高级官员针对华盛顿特区地区法院的首席法官詹姆斯·博阿斯伯格提起司法行为不当投诉，原因是他据称在一场闭门法官会议上发表的言论。
但根据美国第六巡回上诉法院首席法官杰弗里·萨顿的裁决，该投诉于12月被驳回，原因是司法部未能提供“关于所谓言论的充分证据”。由于存在回避的潜在顾虑，该投诉从华盛顿联邦上诉法院转至第六巡回法院。
美国司法部还就阿娜·雷耶斯法官的言论对其提起不当行为投诉，雷耶斯与博阿斯伯格同属一个法院，她在一场涉及特朗普政府禁止跨性别者参军计划的案件听证会上发表了言论。政府指控雷耶斯“怀有敌意且行为极其不当”。
雅各布·罗森对本文亦有贡献。
Justice Department files judicial misconduct complaint against federal judges in Minnesota
2026-09-30T12:51:00-0400 / CBS News
By
Updated on: September 30, 2026 / 3:04 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington— The Justice Department took the unusual step on Wednesday of filing a judicial misconduct complaint against all but one of the federal district judges in Minnesota, after most of them spoke with the New York Times about concerns over the government’s handling of cases during its surge in immigration enforcement earlier this year.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the filing of the complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit at a press conference, where he also said that prosecutors in Minnesota had secured an indictment against 10 noncitizens for allegedly casting votes unlawfully in prior elections.
“We have a right, just like every litigant in court, to have a judge that will be fair and impartial,” Blanche said. “We have no choice but to act.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice on Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
At the heart of the complaint is a New York Times story published earlier this month headlined “Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns.” As a part of the story, Judge Patrick Schiltz sat for a 90-minute interview and shared his views on what he said were repeated violations of court orders by the Trump administration. The article said that six of the seven members of Minnesota’s federal bench also spoke with reporters to discuss the federal government’s immigration crackdown in the state, called Operation Metro Surge.
Schiltz was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
The judicial misconduct complaint names Schiltz and Judge John Tunheim, appointed by President Bill Clinton, as well as “anonymous district judges” serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. In the article, Tunheim pushed back on the Trump administration’s claim that it was arresting the “worst of the worst” in Minnesota.
“They weren’t arresting, in my view, people who were dangerous criminals on the street,” Tunheim told the Times.
The Justice Department said Schiltz and Tunheim’s conduct “is particularly egregious” and claimed the two “flagrantly violated the Code of Judicial Conduct with their improper and unethical comments” to the Times.
The complaint is signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward.
The officials said Schiltz’s comments in particular were “overly political and concern matters that are pending,” either before the judge or an appeals court. They said that Tunheim’s comment was “less verbose” but “equally unethical.”
“If anything is a ‘grave threat to the rule of law,’ it is judges who repeatedly and brazenly exceed their authority then launch a partisan press campaign that includes criticizing the government for filing an emergency appeal when a judge refused to rule on a search warrant application,” McCotter and Woodward wrote.
They asked the 8th Circuit to order Schiltz and Tunheim to recuse themselves from matters involving the Department of Homeland Security. They said the appeals court should also launch an investigation into the “improper conduct” of Minnesota judges who “‘covet publicity’ rather than adhering to the rule of law by adjudicating cases or controversies.”
The Judicial Conference, the policy-making body for the federal courts, issued an advisory opinion in February providing ethical guidance for judges about public speech and civic engagement. The body said ethics principles “permit judges to speak or write about the independence of the judiciary, or advocate for the rule of law in general, including why both values are crucial to our system of government.”
Additionally, the Judicial Conference said its Committee on Codes of Conduct believes there is “room, in at least some circumstances, for the measured defense of judicial colleagues from illegitimate forms of criticism and attacks that risk undermining judicial independence or the rule of law, whether or not they rise to the level of persecution.”
In response to the misconduct complaint, Schiltz said in a statement, “As legal-ethics experts have confirmed, I was acting well within the ethical rules that apply to federal judges in speaking to the New York Times.” Citing the advisory opinion from the Judicial Conference’s committee allowing federal judges to address “core judicial matters” like the rule of law and judicial independence, Schiltz said, “that is exactly what I did.”
A spokesperson for the federal district court also said “our judges acted within this capacity” as outlined by the Judicial Conference and were “well within” ethics rules for the federal judiciary.
The Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge in December 2025 and deployed more than 3,000 immigration authorities to Minnesota as part of its immigration enforcement campaign. Border czar Tom Homan announced in February that Operation Metro Surge would be coming to an end and there would be a drawdown of federal immigration officers in the state.
But the stepped-up immigration actions led to violent clashes between federal authorities and protesters. Two people, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in Minnesota in January, sparking criticism of the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
In the federal courts, judges in Minnesota were inundated with scores of petitions from migrants challenging their detentions and asking to be freed. In a pair of extraordinary orders issued in the case of an Ecuadorian man, Schiltz accused the Trump administration of failing to respond to “dozens” of court orders. He identified 96 court orders in 74 cases that he said ICE had violated.
“ICE is not a law unto itself,” he wrote in one order issued Jan. 28.
In another, from two days earlier, Schiltz said 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” and said “the court’s patience is at an end.”
Tensions between the Trump administration and federal judges have escalated amid a slew of decisions against the federal government on a host of issues, including immigration. Mr. Trump and senior members of his administration have attacked federal judges on social media, calling them “radical left judges” and “activists.”
A former top Justice Department official filed a judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg, who sits on the district court in Washington, D.C., last year because of comments he allegedly made during a closed-door meeting of judges.
But the complaint was dismissed in December after the Justice Department failed to provide “sufficient evidence” about the alleged statement, according to a decision from Jeffrey Sutton, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The complaint was transferred from the federal appeals court in Washington to the 6th Circuit because of concerns of potential recusals.
The Justice Department also filed a misconduct complaint against Judge Ana Reyes, who sits on the same court as Boasberg, because of comments she made during a hearing in a case involving Mr. Trump’s plan to bar transgender people from serving in the military. The administration accused Reyes of “hostile and egregious misconduct.”
Jacob Rosen contributed to this report.