"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."
"As MN Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz explained in a letter to the 8th Circuit's Chief Judge, Steven Colloton, minutes after Micko refused warrants for five of the people DOJ targeted, the US Attorney came to him, asking for a District Judge to issue the warrants. After Schiltz was assigned on the case, he asked the other District Judges if they had ever heard of DOJ asking a District Judge to override a Magistrate's decision; none had."
Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko denied arrest warrants for five of eight people targeted in affidavits related to protests at a church led by the local ICE commander. The U.S. Attorney immediately requested that a District Judge issue the warrants. Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz consulted other District Judges, who had no record of such an override, and declined to issue warrants before a scheduled bench meeting. The bench meeting was delayed due to security concerns tied to Pam Bondi and JD Vance. The Department of Justice filed an emergency writ of mandamus seeking immediate arrests. Schiltz stated the alleged conduct involved yelling, no violence, and that indictments could be sought from a grand jury.
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