The Justice Department has filed a motion to have U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minnesota recuse himself from hearing a criminal case charging a man with illegally casting a ballot as a noncitizen, saying he’s shown himself to be a headline-chasing jurist.
DOJ said Judge Tunheim has tainted his impartiality after giving a media interview where he complained about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge.
The department said those comments were “unethical,” since judges have been cautioned not to opine about issues of the day in the press.
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And the fact that he spoke about immigration matters makes him particularly unfit to handle the case of Hester Sophia Weihmann, charged with noncitizen voting, the department said.
“In sum, Judge Tunheim’s statements and participation in the New York Times article, at a minimum, give rise to the appearance of bias in immigration-related cases. Judge Tunheim should therefore recuse from this case,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward wrote in his motion, filed Tuesday.
Mr. Woodward over the weekend had also tried to boot another one, Judge Ana Reyes, from hearing a case involving President Trump’s redesign of the golf course at East Potomac Park on the National Mall in Washington.
Judge Reyes refused to recuse, saying the government was cherrypicking her angriest statements while ignoring her overall fairness in the case.
In Minnesota, Judge Tunheim had said in the press interview last month that immigration officers “weren’t arresting, in my view, people who were dangerous criminals on the street.” That was a direct criticism of the administration, which has said it is going after the “worst of the worst.”
Mr. Woodward, in his filing, said there’s nothing in the law that says Homeland Security can’t go after rank-and-file illegal immigrants.
He said Judge Tunheim is also tainted by the broader Times article, which went on to summarize the view of most federal judges in Minnesota that the federal government has overreached on immigration.
“That reinforces the appearance of bias in immigration-related cases that come before Judge Tunheim,” Mr. Woodward said.
He also said the fact that the judge participated in the article, and allowed himself to be quoted by name — some fellow judges spoke anonymously — shows “his desire for favorable media attention.”
Ms. Weihmann has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, which include illegal voting as an alien and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote.
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