In a significant victory for the Trump Administration, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit lifted the injunction of U.S. District Judge Katherin Menendez, who prevented officers from arresting, detaining, pepper-spraying or retaliating against protesters in Minneapolis without probable cause.
In her Jan. 16 decision, Judge Menendez (a Biden appointee and former public defender) ruled in favor of the protesters suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE. She found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that federal agents violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The Eighth Circuit first flagged how Menendez ignored the fact that the record shows a wide range of conduct raising different conditions for law enforcement:
“We accessed and viewed the same videos the district court did. … What they show is observers and protestors engaging in a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not. They also show federal agents responding in various ways. Even the named plaintiffs’ claims involve different conduct, by different officers, at different times, in different places, in response to different behavior. These differences mean that there are no “questions of law or fact common to the class,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(2), that would allow the court to decide all their claims in “one stroke.”
The panel also found Judge Menendez’s order unacceptably vague:
“Second, in addition to being too broad, the injunction is too vague.
…Even the provision that singles out the use of “pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools” requires federal agents to predict what the district court would consider “peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The videos underscore how difficult it would be for them to decide who has crossed the line: they show a fast-changing mix of peaceful and obstructive conduct, with many protestors getting in officers’ faces and blocking their vehicles as they conduct their activities, only for some of them to then rejoin the crowd and intermix with others who were merely recording and observing the scene.”
The panel found that Judge Menendez’s order left federal authorities in a dangerous position of not knowing when they could use these crowd control measures: “to the extent the injunction’s breadth and vagueness cause federal agents to hesitate in performing their lawful duties, it threatens to irreparably harm the government and undermine the public interest.”
Notably, Judge Menendez is the same judge reviewing an even more sweeping motion for an injunction to enjoin ICE operations, a filing from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that I have criticized as constitutionally meritless.
Here is the opinion: Tincher v. Noem
As usual, Turley, as a paid MAGA pundit, exaggerates the import of the Order–which was only a STAY PENDING APPEAL. A stay pending appeal means that the District Court Judge’s order will not be enforced until it finally adjudicated. It is NOT a final ruling, nor even a “significant victory” as Turley mischaracterizes it–the case is still open and the issues are still alive. But, since the tide is strongly turning against Trump and ICE following the murder of Alex Pretti, the MAGA faithful need daily affirmation, so Turley delivers. How sad that Turley chooses to side with cowardly murderous thugs. How sad that Turley doesn’t comment about bottle Blondie trying to leverage access to Minnesota voter rolls, Medicaid and food assistance records and MN doing away with “sanctuary city” policies in exchange for ICE refraining from murdering even more Minnesotans. Why does Trump want these records? To try to gin up a fake case of “widespread voter fraud” and to intimidate people likely to vote against him–which, if the election were held today, would be most of us. A Court in Oregon just ruled that the Trump Gestapo administration is NOT entitled to state voter rolls. Turley didn’t comment about that, either.
I wonder why magats think an activated Insurrection Act will let them party in the street KKK style like they want???
Hete’s the multi state RICO private prison kickback run by trump w/ DHS/ICE/CBP backup:
Trump provides ‘prisoners’ for private incarceration camps >> in turn he pockets bribes from those private companies >> his administration uses the full weight of DHS to provide prisoners >> trump orders DHS to employ extrajudicial killings to enforce the operation.
This is prosecutable in every state, but as we know, trump is really leaning on blue states even though illegal immigration is greatest in florida and Texas.
This scheme is completely obvious and needs congressional oversight to expose the details. Hence there is an election fixing arm of this scheme…it’s why Bondi is trying to strong arm voter role data from Minnesota.
“This scheme is completely obvious”
sure. sure it is. everythings ok. everythings going to be ok.
Now go with these nice men in white coats.
Her decision was so absurd, everybody with a brain would know it would/should be overturned.
To Review:
Standing/marching “peacefully and patriotically” on public property (as President Donald Trump urged his supporters to do during his speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021) while NOT blocking traffic, and NOT attacking/interfering with ANY LEOs is First Amendment sanctioned.
What these armed domestic terrorists are doing in MN is NOT First Amendment sanctioned.
Sad to see so many poorly-educated (by teachers unions and Communist college professors) who don’t understand the Constitution/Bill of Rights these days.
Thankfully, all the polls are showing the public is strongly against what these domestic terrorists and their Democrat politician leaders (who are trying to distract from their $18 B theft of tax dollars they laundered via fake Somali businesses) are doing.
Oddly enough, the only polls one typically finds via an internet search support the “protestors.”
This is starting to fizzle out anyway. Sudden spotlight on the insurrection-funders will dry this up very quickly. Time to make book on the next Leftist hysteria du jour.
Yeah no right to redress
Protesters as illegal
“Yeah no right to redress…Protesters as illegal”
What does this even mean?
See, the thing is, Noem has the power to stress point march any of principles in trump’s private prison kickback scheme into Cecot…
And they know it.