The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed motions on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, to disqualify U.S. District Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim from two separate cases in Minnesota. The department claimed that interviews the judges gave to the New York Times, published last month, regarding the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts called their impartiality into question. These filings follow a broader department effort to recuse seven Minnesota federal judges from all cases involving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The dispute stems from comments the judges made about "Operation Metro Surge," an immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year. In the published article, Schiltz said the administration’s handling of these cases "created a grave threat to the rule of law," while Tunheim questioned whether those arrested were "dangerous criminals." The DOJ previously filed a judicial misconduct complaint on Wednesday, September 30, with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging that seven judges—nominated by both Republican and Democratic presidents—violated ethics rules by speaking to the media about active or pending matters.
In the specific motions filed on Tuesday, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward requested Schiltz’s recusal from a case involving the denaturalization of a Minnesota man and Tunheim’s recusal from the prosecution of a South African national charged with illegal voting. Woodward wrote that a judge who has "publicly taken sides" on immigration enforcement cannot preside over such matters. Conversely, a spokesperson for the Minnesota court and Schiltz himself stated the judges acted within ethical guidelines, citing a February advisory opinion that permits judges to speak on judicial independence and the rule of law.
The Justice Department has characterized the judges' public remarks as evidence of bias. Legal ethics experts quoted in the reports, such as Stephen Gillers and Charles Geyh, suggested the motions are unusual and may be intended to challenge judicial authority or public confidence in court rulings that go against the administration. The DOJ has also pursued similar actions elsewhere, including a lawsuit against all 15 federal judges in Maryland over a standing order regarding deportations.
The immediate next step is a hearing scheduled by Judge Schiltz for November 23 to address the disqualification motion in his case. A decision from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the broader misconduct complaint against the seven Minnesota judges is pending. In a separate matter, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., rejected a different recusal motion from the Justice Department on Sunday, October 18, calling the effort "baseless." Additional ethics complaints filed by the department against other federal judges remain in various stages of review or dismissal.