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The DOJ Subpoenaed Tim Walz Over an ICE Crackdown. A Judge Called It Unlawful Retaliation.

Resist Now 4 min read
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A federal judge threw out the Trump Justice Department’s attempt to subpoena Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state and local officials, ruling on June 22, 2026 that the subpoenas were an unlawful effort to coerce and punish them.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, the chief judge in Minnesota, quashed all six grand-jury subpoenas. He wrote that their dominant purpose was to “coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so.”

A blatantly unlawful use of the grand jury

Schiltz did not hedge. He called the move “a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand-jury process,” a rare rebuke of federal prosecutors from the bench.

The subpoenas, served in January 2026, demanded records as part of a DOJ investigation into whether Walz and others obstructed a federal immigration crackdown. The judge found the probe was aimed at forcing officials to do something the federal government cannot make them do.

The crackdown behind the subpoenas

The fight traces to Operation Metro Surge, the immigration enforcement operation that sent roughly 3,000 federal agents into the Minneapolis-St. Paul area starting in late 2025. During it, federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens.

Minnesota officials sued to stop the operation, and the subpoenas followed. In the same stretch, the DOJ also charged 15 Minnesota residents with conspiracy for protesting the raids. The state and its leaders were being pressured on two fronts at once.

Why the Constitution sides with Minnesota

The ruling rests on a settled principle. Under the anti-commandeering doctrine, the federal government cannot force states or their officials to carry out federal law. A governor who declines to help with civil immigration enforcement is exercising a right the Supreme Court has affirmed, not committing a crime.

Schiltz wrote that using grand-jury proceedings to pressure political opponents into official action the government cannot require is the kind of abuse the process exists to prevent.

A documented pattern, not a one-off

Minnesota is one entry on a growing list. Since 2025, the Justice Department has investigated or charged a string of the president’s perceived opponents, and judges have already thrown several of the cases out. Protect Democracy’s tracker follows them.

  • James Comey, the former FBI director, was indicted in September 2025 for false statements and obstruction. A judge threw the case out, ruling the prosecutor’s appointment was invalid.
  • Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, was indicted in October 2025 on bank-fraud charges that a court later dismissed. Both her case and Comey’s ran through the same prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia.
  • John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, was charged with 18 counts of mishandling classified information.
  • Adam Schiff, the California senator, is under DOJ investigation over a Maryland property. That probe has stalled.
  • Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, drew a separate federal investigation out of the Eastern District of California.
  • George Soros and his son Alex are the subjects of a newly opened DOJ inquiry that has floated charges as serious as material support for terrorism.

A “weaponization working group” at the department is reviewing officials and prosecutors who previously investigated Trump or charged January 6 defendants. More than 100 Justice Department lawyers have resigned since 2025, many citing political pressure to drop cases against allies and pursue cases against opponents.

Walz called the Minnesota decision “a victory for the rule of law and our democracy.”

What you can do now

  1. Demand the DOJ explain itself. Call your U.S. House member and senators at the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and ask them to require the Justice Department to explain, in writing, the legal basis for the Minnesota subpoenas and who ordered them. Use the letter below.
  2. Ask for a Judiciary Committee hearing. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees oversee the DOJ. Tell your representatives you want a public hearing on the department’s use of subpoenas and investigations to retaliate against state and local officials.
  3. Support the groups challenging it. Minnesota fought the subpoenas in court and won. Democracy Forward and the ACLU track and challenge politically motivated Justice Department actions nationwide.
  4. Watch for it in your state. The tactic is spreading. If your governor or attorney general declines to help with federal immigration enforcement, watch whether the DOJ answers with investigations, and tell your representatives you are paying attention.

Sources

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