{
  "id": 11057854,
  "title": "Trump administration seeks to punish judges who spoke to media",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/trump-administration-seeks-to-punish-judges-who-spoke-to-media",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-30T22:50:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2026/10/01/trump-administration-seeks-to-punish-judges-who-spoke-to-media"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The US Department of Justice has petitioned a court to penalize federal judges in Minnesota who publicly voiced criticism of aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. This development follows a recent article in The New York Times that quoted six judges and Judge Patrick Schiltz, the chief judge at Minnesota's federal district court, regarding the ICE operations in Minneapolis last winter. Schiltz had previously criticized ICE for purportedly violating court orders more than any other federal agency in recent decades, attributing the chaos to the agency's incompetence and staffing shortages.\n\nSchiltz and the other six judges, who did not comment on ongoing cases, agreed to address the tumult caused by the ICE operation dubbed \"Metro Surge\" and the resulting tension with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in their article. The DOJ filed a judicial misconduct complaint against the six judges, alleging ethics violations for publicly discussing pending court cases. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the request for an investigation into these judges' conduct and their potential recusal from all cases involving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE.\n\nThe Metro Surge operation resulted in the shooting deaths of two American citizens participating in protests against the immigration raids, sparking nationwide outrage and prompting the administration to discontinue the initiative. DHS claims the raids led to the arrest of 4,000 undocumented immigrants.",
  "summary": "The US justice department accused them of ethics violations for speaking publicly about pending court cases after criticising aggressive ICE raids.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Trump administration seeks to punish judges who spoke to media",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/trump-administration-seeks-to-punish-judges-who-spoke-to-media-11062934",
        "published": "2026-09-30T22:50:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "Trump administration targets seven Minnesota judges over ICE raid comments",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/trump-administration-targets-seven-minnesota-judges-over-ice-raid",
        "published": "2026-09-30T23:09:21.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}