Yesterday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, on behalf of the state and alongside the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed a federal lawsuit that is most notable in the absence of any intelligible legal principle. The effort to stop the surge of federal personnel to investigate fraud and enforce immigration is breathtakingly frivolous and farcical.

Ellison has long been more advocate than attorney in his public life, even praising Antifa for instilling fear in Trump and Ellison’s political opponents.

Ellison has been actively trying to tamp down coverage of the massive fraud under his watch, including potentially billions meant to support children and impoverished families.

Recently, a tape was released in which Ellison met with Somali figures later convicted of fraud and agreed with them that they needed to support “candidates that will fight to protect our interests.”

Now, Ellison is actually trying to get a federal court to prevent the federal government from surging resources in the state to investigate and prosecute fraud. The filing is little more than a press release with a caption on it:

“The Trump Administration’s new focus on “fraud” in Minnesota is just its latest attempt to attack Democratic politicians and more aggressively and recklessly implement their immigration enforcement agenda.”

Ellison wants a federal court to prevent the assignment of federal investigators and law enforcement to the state to enforce federal law. Ironically, the state is making this argument as a matter of state rights under the Tenth Amendment (as well as a series of equally frivolous claims under the Administrative Procedure Act).

Notably, they are trying to dictate the deployment of federal personnel and resources as a federalism claim. The filing is a diatribe that vaguely alleges racial profiling and attacks on “law-abiding citizens.”

At the press conference, Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her declared, “Federal law enforcement’s occupation of our city is putting us all at risk.” Ellison repeated the reckless rhetoric, insisting that “this federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end.”

This is a purely performative measure, using a filing to give the appearance of action to satisfy irate constituents. Hopefully, the district court will respond with clarity about the use of the federal courts for political screeds.

In the movie Billy Madison, the principal responds to an argument from the lead character by saying.

“What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

The scene comes to mind in reading this meritless filing.

Here is the filing: State of Minnesota v. Noem