{"id":142757,"date":"2026-01-27T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/27\/bush-appointed-federal-judge-to-ice-comply-with-court-courts-ice-youve-got-us-there\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T17:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:00:23","slug":"bush-appointed-federal-judge-to-ice-comply-with-court-courts-ice-youve-got-us-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/27\/bush-appointed-federal-judge-to-ice-comply-with-court-courts-ice-youve-got-us-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Bush-Appointed Federal Judge To ICE: Comply With Court Courts. ICE: You\u2019ve Got Us There!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal judges are not known for flying off the handle. Which is why, when a federal judge announces that his patience is at an end, everyone should probably sit up straight.<\/p>\n

Enter Judge Patrick Schiltz, Chief of the District of Minnesota, a George W. Bush appointee who has apparently reached the \u201cI am absolutely done with this\u201d stage of dealing with the Trump administration\u2019s approach to immigration enforcement. In a sharply worded order, Schiltz took the \u201cextraordinary step\u201d of ordering the Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to personally appear in court to explain why he should not be held in contempt.<\/p>\n

See, it turns out judges don\u2019t love litigants ignoring court orders. The order stems from ICE\u2019s arrest of a man earlier this month and placed in immigration detention. On January 14, Judge Schiltz ordered the government to provide the detainee with a bond hearing within seven days. He was very clear about the stakes. If the government failed to comply, the man was to be immediately released.<\/p>\n

But the government went and pulled a Bartleby the Scrivener and preferring not to do\u2026 anything about the court\u2019s order. <\/p>\n

Schiltz did not mince words about what this represents. He noted that the administration has developed an \u201cunfortunate habit\u201d of ignoring court orders literally dozens of times in immigration cases during the course of ICE\u2019s occupation of Minnesota. Time and again courts have issued directives and the government has just shrugged.<\/p>\n

All of which is why Schiltz wrote, \u201cThe Court\u2019s patience is at an end.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hauling the head of a federal agency into court is not something judges do lightly. But, as Schiltz put it, \u201cthe extent of ICE\u2019s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed.\u201d <\/p>\n

What makes this moment especially striking is who Schiltz is not. He is not a Democratic appointee itching for a fight. He is not a new judge trying to make a name. He is a two-time Antonin Scalia clerk and a George W. Bush-era conservative jurist who appears to have had just about enough of an executive branch that treats court orders as optional suggestions.<\/p>\n

Schiltz did offer the administration an off-ramp. Lyons can avoid this entire mess if the government simply complies with the original order and releases the detainee. TL; DR version: respect the authority of the court and this all goes away. <\/p>\n

And ICE blinked. According to reports, the government has released the detained man.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

BREAKING: The petitioner (“T.R.” or Juan Tobay Robles) whose non-release prompted Chief Judge Schilitz to threaten ICE director Todd Lyons with contempt has now been RELEASED, according to what the civil chief of the US Atty’s office has told his atty and his atty has relayed to\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Roger Parloff (@rparloff) January 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Wonder if this newfound conciliatory tack will extend to the \u201cdozens\u201d of other orders the government is flouting.<\/p>\n

Read the full order below.<\/p>\n

gov.uscourts.mnd.230171.7.0<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Bush-Appointed Federal Judge To ICE: Comply With Court Courts. ICE: You\u2019ve Got Us There!<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Federal judges are not known for flying off the handle. Which is why, when a federal judge announces that his patience is at an end, everyone should probably sit up straight.<\/p>\n

Enter Judge Patrick Schiltz, Chief of the District of Minnesota, a George W. Bush appointee who has apparently reached the \u201cI am absolutely done with this\u201d stage of dealing with the Trump administration\u2019s approach to immigration enforcement. In a sharply worded order, Schiltz took the \u201cextraordinary step\u201d of ordering the Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to personally appear in court to explain why he should not be held in contempt.<\/p>\n

See, it turns out judges don\u2019t love litigants ignoring court orders. The order stems from ICE\u2019s arrest of a man earlier this month and placed in immigration detention. On January 14, Judge Schiltz ordered the government to provide the detainee with a bond hearing within seven days. He was very clear about the stakes. If the government failed to comply, the man was to be immediately released.<\/p>\n

But the government went and pulled a Bartleby the Scrivener and preferring not to do\u2026 anything about the court\u2019s order. <\/p>\n

Schiltz did not mince words about what this represents. He noted that the administration has developed an \u201cunfortunate habit\u201d of ignoring court orders literally dozens of times in immigration cases during the course of ICE\u2019s occupation of Minnesota. Time and again courts have issued directives and the government has just shrugged.<\/p>\n

All of which is why Schiltz wrote, \u201cThe Court\u2019s patience is at an end.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hauling the head of a federal agency into court is not something judges do lightly. But, as Schiltz put it, \u201cthe extent of ICE\u2019s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed.\u201d <\/p>\n

What makes this moment especially striking is who Schiltz is not. He is not a Democratic appointee itching for a fight. He is not a new judge trying to make a name. He is a two-time Antonin Scalia clerk and a George W. Bush-era conservative jurist who appears to have had just about enough of an executive branch that treats court orders as optional suggestions.<\/p>\n

Schiltz did offer the administration an off-ramp. Lyons can avoid this entire mess if the government simply complies with the original order and releases the detainee. TL; DR version: respect the authority of the court and this all goes away. <\/p>\n

And ICE blinked. According to reports, the government has released the detained man.<\/p>\n

Wonder if this newfound conciliatory tack will extend to the \u201cdozens\u201d of other orders the government is flouting.<\/p>\n

Read the full order below.<\/p>\n

gov.uscourts.mnd.230171.7.0<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal judges are not known for flying off the handle. Which is why, when a federal judge announces that his patience is at an end, everyone should probably sit up straight. Enter Judge Patrick Schiltz, Chief of the District of Minnesota, a George W. Bush appointee who has apparently reached the \u201cI am absolutely done […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-sCBQ01.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}