Fed Up Judge Threatens Trump Regime with Criminal Contempt

0:00When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kid's pool day to feel like... And your hotel bed to feel like... Ooh, and room service to feel like... Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like... Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton. For this day. How many discounts does USAA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount. New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usaa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply.

0:45I'm R.J. Decker, a private investigator uncovering the sunshine state's darkest secrets. Tuesdays, it's the premiere of ABC's hottest new crime show. R.J. freaking Decker has that live and breathe. He's a private eye. It's not a standard murder. It's someone bigger. And a public mass. Trying to get sent back to prison today? You go to prison one time and suddenly it's all the jokes. R.J. Decker. Series premiere. Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu. Spring is here. And there's a whole new way to try at Starbucks that's made perfect for you. Choose your sweetness. Dial it up. Or keep things light.

1:24Add a touch of pistachio. A hint of strawberry. Or vanilla. or make it a spring classic with lavender. Because this season, there's endless ways to chai at Starbucks. LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business. We cannot stop your new clients from emailing you at 3 a.m. We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place. We cannot help you be in three places at once. And while we can't help you organize your calendar, LinkedIn can help you land more clients so you have a calendar to organize. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at linkedin.com slash small business.

2:06Michael Popok:ICE will comply. That's just not a random observation. That is in an order that just came out in the last 24 hours by the chief judge of the Minnesota federal courts, Judge Schultz, who didn't take kindly to the fact that the Department of Justice, led by Donald Trump's leadership, so to speak, that Dan Rosen, the newly appointed U.S. attorney in Minnesota, has decided rather than to comply with court orders, which now number into the couple of hundred that have been violated in Minnesota alone by ICE, by Department of Homeland Security, oh no, they'd rather attack the judge in an email. This is shocking, by the way.

2:47Michael Popok:In an email to the judge on the public docket claiming that he distorted the record about the violations, which required the judge to go back and check his facts and figures with all the rest of the judges in the district. And you know what he found out? He was wrong. They didn't violate 96 orders in the month of January in Minnesota. They violated 97. And since January, they have violated another 113. ICE will comply, the judge says ominously at the end of his order, or they will face criminal contempt. Judge Schiltz, I believe, is one of the leaders of this new movement of federal judges to use the power of contempt in year two of the lawless Trump administration to bring them to heel.

3:37Michael Popok:My new personal jam is going to be reporting regularly, maybe hourly, on contempt proceedings, civil and criminal, and I'll talk about the difference today, in federal courts. It's what I said needed to happen. I never thought I'd have to coach federal judges. I've been appearing in front of them for more than 35 years on how to do their job and what awesome powers they have. But I think they're following the leadership of Judge Schiltz here, just like they followed the leadership of Judge Zinnis in Maryland about how to handle things like when people get removed and sent to other countries against court orders.

4:12Michael Popok:I think Judge Schultz is leading the way here. I want you to know more about his order. I've posted it on Legal AF Substack, and I'm glad you're here on Midas Touch, and of course, Legal AF YouTube channel. Take a minute, hit the subscribe button there as well. Let's start from the headline. The headline is that Judge Schultz is leading a growing chorus of federal judges, Minnesota, West Virginia, Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts, you name it, including Trump appointees that are pointing out the open defiance as a regular routine, not an accident, by the Trump administration, Department of Justice and otherwise against court orders.

4:50Michael Popok:and we've already had a series of contempt proceedings that have been started or have been found against the Trump administration. We just had contempt order issued by Judge Tostrid in Minnesota, by a judge in Massachusetts, Judge Stearns. We have the proceedings starting by Judge Bryan for a hearing next week in five separate or six separate cases in Minnesota. And listen to the words of Judge Schultz, who I believe, again, is one of the leaders here, the quarterback of the strategy. He says on page five of his order, if anything is beyond the pale, it is ICE's continued violation of the orders of this court.

5:32Michael Popok:Increasingly, this court has had to resort to using the threat of civil contempt to force ICE to comply with orders. The court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt again and again and again. to force the United States government, not a random party, to comply with court orders. This court will continue to do whatever is required to protect the rule of law, including, if necessary, moving to the use of criminal contempt. One way or the other, ICE will comply with this court's orders. I'll talk in a minute about the difference between criminal and civil contempt.

6:16I just reported yesterday in back-to-back orders coming out of New Jersey and out of Massachusetts, Judge Karashi in New Jersey, Judge Murphy in Massachusetts, Judge Karashi dealing with writs of habeas corpus, the great writ.

6:31Michael Popok:That's what our framers and founders gave us. So if we ever get thrown into the dark, dank cells of a federal detention center or prison, we would see the light of day, at least in a courtroom, of a federal judge. and he said there's been violations of the great writ in New Jersey, in this district, in this court, and it ends now. Look at the language that federal judges have had to use. Besides, I've never in my history, I've been a student of the law at least for 40 years, including my law studies, and I've read thousands and thousands and thousands of cases. I have never known of an era in history in which judges frequently resort to citing the founders, the framers, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Madison, the Federalist Papers, George Orwell, lyrics from Bob Dylan, and such strong language as this.

7:29Michael Popok:Judge Murphy, in his order in the last 48 hours. He said when he found that removal, Trump's habit, nasty habit of removing people to third countries that they have no connection to, like, oh, you're from Venezuela? Well, we'll send you to Liberia in Africa. How's that as a punishment? He found that unconstitutional for obvious good reasons. He also said in his order that the Trump administration's position is as long as the person when they get off the plane isn't immediately shot, it's fine. And the judge said, it's not fine. And it's illegal and unconstitutional. Now you have Judge Schiltz.

8:12Michael Popok:Now, what Judge Schiltz is reacting to is that on January the 28th, and we covered it here on Midas Touch and Legal AF, he issued an extraordinary order in a particular case, where he did a survey with his other justices, other judges in the District of Minnesota, and came up with 96 orders that had been violated in 76 cases. Now, this is not unique. Last week, the person trying out to be the U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey to replace Alina Haba, she wrote a letter to the chief judge there and said, or one of the judges there, and said, we violated 56 in a month. I'm like, well, at least it's not 96.

8:59Michael Popok:I mean, you're heading in the right direction. I mean, anything over zero is inappropriate. Starting something new, it's not just hard. It's honestly terrifying. I remember launching this podcast and the YouTube channel and thinking, what if nobody listens or watches? What if this doesn't work? But taking that leap turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made. And having a platform like Shopify would have made those early days way less stressful. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. and 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S. From brands just getting started to major names.

9:33With hundreds of ready-to-use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand's style. It's also packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. And if you ever get stuck, Shopify's award-winning 24-7 customer support is always there to help. it's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your$1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash Legal AF. Go to Shopify.com slash Legal AF. That's Shopify.com slash Legal AF.

10:14Michael Popok:But here the judge says, are you going to, so he issues that observation, that survey. Well, Daniel Rosen, the new appointed U.S. attorney in Minnesota, didn't like that. So he did an extraordinary thing. He wrote an email to the judge, put up on the public docket, where he accused the judge of wrongdoing. He said, judge, we did a survey, an audit of 12 of your 96 cases, and we think you got some of it wrong, and you owe an apology to my lawyers, and it's beyond the pale and everything else. and the judge said all right all right because Mr. Rosen is on page three made serious allegations against the undersigned and the other judges the undersigned Judge Schiltz asked each judge to go back and look at the cases that they had submitted for this list and lo and behold Rosen was right they didn't he total apology his department did not violate 96 his office did not violate 96 court orders in the month of January.

11:16Michael Popok:They violated 97. Did you hear me? 97. Okay. And then, as long as they were there, the judge says, let's update that number. So on page five, he says that after Rosen says in his email, for our part, we commit to the court that we will redouble our efforts to achieve compliance. We'll continue to find ways to improve. The judge says on page five, this too appears to be untrue. In other words, he's lied to the federal court. He said, here's a new appendix, a list of cases other than the 97 we originally found. He says, despite Rosen's assurances of redoubled efforts that led to considerable improvement, Appendix B documents 113 more orders that they violated in 77 cases in addition to the 97.

12:04Michael Popok:And so that's when the judge says, never in the history of the United States has a United States government been found and threatened with contempt and noncompliance so many times. In his prior order, in January 28th, Judge Schiltz said, never in history has one agency ever violated in its entire history as many as ICE has violated in Minnesota in one month. Just remarkable. But what I, The takeaway that I like is what we're starting to see in year two, which is what we've been encouraging on Legal AF, which is that federal judges remind themselves of the awesome power that they hold, inherent authority, statutory authority to use contempt.

12:49Michael Popok:Civil, finding willful violation of court orders. Then you can use fines. You can dismiss indictments. You can dismiss complaints. You can dismiss defenses. You can do all sorts of things. Then if they continue to do it, you can move and ratchet to criminal contempt. And that's what it sounds like. Continued willful violation of court order and somebody's going to jail. Somebody in the administration, probably ICE, probably Homeland Security, after the judge doesn't have an entry hearing, is going to the pokey until they stop violating. Now, they don't like it. They can go run to appellate courts and get them to try to stop it.

13:33Michael Popok:You know, we'll see. We'll see what happens in the appellate courts. Sometimes the appellate courts side with the federal judges. Sometimes they don't. But judges have the inherent authority to control their own dockets, their own courtrooms, and are given wide berths to do that. Look what federal judges are doing around the country just in the last week or so. A Texas judge, Judge Cardone, said that there was a worrying trend of missed deadlines. A West Virginia judge observed that there was, by the Trump administration, an ICE and Homeland Security, a general lack of respect for the law and sloppiness.

14:04Michael Popok:You got Judge Tostrad in Minnesota finding the administration in contempt. Judge Bryan in Minnesota about to find them in contempt with a major hearing next week. Judge Karachi, about to find them in contempt in New Jersey, saying it ends now. Judge Murphy, finding that the removals are unconstitutional. Judge Stearns, finding the Trump administration in contempt. This is what federal judges will need to do. Year one, okay, I get it. You know, it was shock and awe by the Trump administration, executive orders, you know, operations, sieges, National Guard, you know, shooting and killing Americans on the streets.

14:42Michael Popok:But now we've got to recover. And now we've got to get off the mat, find our teeth that were knocked out, and put it back together. And use the awesome powers that federal judges have. I've been doing this for more than 35 years. I'm an officer of the court. I'm sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution and be candid to the tribunal and to be ethical. I would never think to willfully, intentionally violate an order or violate an order at all. Because I know what would happen besides my professional reputation, my law license. I know what would happen with the power of the federal judge. There is no more powerful judge on earth than a federal judge.

15:18Michael Popok:And we will continue to follow it here on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes.

15:54Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

16:09These handheld wraps pack bold flavor and 40-plus grams of protein into something hearty, satisfying, and built for life on the go. From craveable sauces to satisfying textures, they're designed to keep you going without slowing you down. So put that fork down. Try the new wraps today in app or at order.sweetgreen.com. Available at participating locations only. 30 years ago, Blinds.com broke the mold and made custom window treatments easy for everyone. Over 25 million windows later, we're celebrating by giving our customers up to 50 % off site-wide during our anniversary sale. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, Blinds.com has you covered.

16:51Shop online, access real design professionals, and get free samples. Thank you for 30 amazing years. Shop the anniversary sale now through March 11th and get up to 50 % off site-wide at blinds.com.

17:29intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com.