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Blanche moves to investigate nearly all federal judges in one state: 'Flagrant violation'

rawstory.com · 3h · first reportShare

Attorney General Todd Blanche moved to have nearly all of Minnesota's federal district judges investigated, calling their comments to the press "overtly political" and a "flagrant violation" of ethics rules. The Justice Department filed the misconduct complaint Wednesday with Chief Judge Steven Colloton of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Blanche said at a press conference announcing voter fraud charges. The complaint targets U.S. District Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim, whose conduct it calls "particularly egregious," along with unnamed colleagues who spoke to the New York Times about Operation Metro Surge, last winter's immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. "This is a flagrant violation in the department's view of the Code of Judicial Conduct," Blanche told reporters. "The comments are not only overtly political, itself a violation, but also concern matters pending before these judges or still in the appellate process, a separate violation," he continued, a