"The five people whom the government seeks to arrest are accused of entering a church, and the worst behavior alleged about any of them is yelling horrible things at the members of the church. None committed any acts of violence. The learders of the group have been arrested, and their arrests have received widespread publicity. There is absolutely no emergency."
"The government could have sought indictments from a grand jury on Tuesday, January 20, Wednesday, January 21, or Thursday, January 22, but chose not to do so. The government can still take its case to a grand jury any time it wishes. Instead, the government is insisting that I do something that, as best as I can tell, no district judge in the history of the Eighth Circuit has done."
Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko denied five of eight arrest affidavits seeking warrants against Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Allen, and others who protested at a church led by the local ICE commander. Minutes after those denials, the US Attorney asked a District Judge to issue the warrants; Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz consulted other District Judges, none had seen such a request. Schiltz refused to issue warrants before a bench meeting, which was delayed to January 27 because of security concerns tied to Pam Bondi and J.D. Vance. The DOJ filed an emergency writ of mandamus; Schiltz said the conduct was yelling, not violent, leaders were already arrested, the government could have used a grand jury, and no emergency existed.
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