Some of us expressed surprise at the Ellis order, which assumed a very aggressive posture for a court in the management of a federal program or office. In addition to limits on the use of tear gas, she demanded Bovino’s daily appearance to brief her on any operations.
The Seventh Circuit shared the same concerns and ruled that Judge Ellis was acting more like an “inquisitor” than “a neutral adjudicator.” It noted that the parties had not demanded the measure and strongly suggested that Judge Ellis was too eager to interject herself into the daily operations of the federal law enforcement units:
“While this litigation presents very challenging circumstances, the district court’s order has two principal failings. First, it puts the court in the position of an inquisitor rather than that of a neutral adjudicator of the parties’ adversarial presentations. Second, it sets the court up as a supervisor of Chief Bovino’s activities, intruding into personnel management decisions of the Executive Branch.
These two problems are related and lead us to conclude that the order infringes on the separation of powers. Review by appeal at the end of the case would not solve the problems created in the interim, which justifies review by a prerogative writ. See In re Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 941 F.3d 869 (7th Cir. 2019). Cf. Cheney v. United States District Court, 542 U.S. 367 (2004).”
That is a striking rebuke for a federal judge.
In the meantime, Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and five others were charged with conspiring to impede an officer. The language of the 18 U.S. 372 is clear and seems to cover the surrounding of a vehicle to prevent its entrance into such a facility:
“If two or more persons in any State, Territory, Possession, or District conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any [federal officer] … from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed…or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties, each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both.”
Calling it a “political prosecution,” Abughazaleh is scheduled to appear on the charge that she joined others in blocking a vehicle to attempt to prevent it from entering an ICE facility. Also arrested were a candidate for the Cook County Board, a Democratic ward committeeman and a trustee in suburban Oak Park.
Notably, Abughazaleh is a journalist who has written for Mother Jones and The New Republic. She was also a senior video producer for Media Matters for America, a group that has long been criticized for biased attacks on conservatives and Republicans. It is the creation of David Brock, a highly controversial political activist tied to the Democratic Party. Abughazaleh has been lionized by liberal media in her campaign for Congress.
While abruptly ending a recent interview, she has been claiming to have been assaulted by ICE and declared:
“If they are willing to do that to a congressional candidate on camera in front of press, imagine what they are willing to do to their detainees behind boarded-up windows.”.