Judges are taking bold measures to get the Trump administration to comply with the law.
Minnesota judge’s contempt order shows a way to force government into compliance - MS NOW apple.news/ACm-vPNtpQYq...
— (@oc88.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T21:04:36.632Z
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/minnesota-judge-contempt-order-trump-administration-compliance
The government’s failure to comply with court orders has been a theme of Donald Trump’s second term as president. The question has been what judges can do about it.
The answer may be to hold government officials and lawyers in contempt — or at least threaten to do so.
Underscoring the dire state of the rule of law in this country, Minnesota’s chief federal district judge last month set a hearing for the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt, after the government failed to comply with an order to provide an immigrant a bond hearing or release them from custody.
The judge, Patrick Schiltz, acknowledged that he was taking an “extraordinary step” in the case of Juan Hugo Tobay Robles. But he explained why he felt the need to do so: The “extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed.”
Yet, the acting ICE chief, Todd Lyons, was never held in contempt. The government complied with the judge’s order before the hearing, thus rendering his appearance moot.....
The latest bold judicial response in Minnesota came this week, when a judge ordered a Trump government lawyer to be held in civil contempt. Such contempt is used to force compliance, whereas criminal contempt punishes violations.
The civil contempt order came in yet another immigration-related case, with U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino saying Wednesday that, starting Friday, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara would have to pay $500 for each day that Rigoberto Soto Jimenez is not in possession of his identification documents. “For avoidance of doubt, the coercive fine will continue until the certification of compliance is filed on the docket,” the Biden-appointed judge’s order said.....
Later Wednesday, Paul Blume of Fox 9 in Minneapolis reported that Soto Jimenez’s lawyer said the government had given her client an overnight delivery tracking number and that the lawyer believed his identification papers would arrive on Thursday, nullifying any fines.
If that’s how this one ends, then it will have been another instance of the government doing what it had to do all along but only in the face of contempt consequences. That shouldn’t be necessary to run a legal system, but the contempt tool is there for a reason — and this administration is giving judges every reason to use it.
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