Following on our conversation from last week:
Three leaders of the group that entered the Minneapolis church to protest the pastor were arrested under a criminal complaint (a document that a magistrate used to issue arrest warrants); as we predicted in class, it charges § 241 conspiracy and violation of the Free Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The magistrate declined to issue arrest warrants for five others, including journalist Don Lemon. A district judge ordered the three released.
DOJ asked Chief Judge Schiltz of the District of Minnesota to issue the remaining arrest warrants; when he did not act immediately, DOJ petitioned the Eighth Circuit for a write of mandamus, although under seal and without serving the petition on the chief judge. Schilitz then sent two letters--one to the DOJ attorney handling the matter and one to the Chief Judge of the Eighth Circuit. Both are worth reading, as it is pretty extraordinary for a federal judge to say stuff like this in public documents.
Some general notes:
Although we will not discuss this case directly, this controversy is relevant as an example of what we will discuss in Claims Against Federal Officials and in Individual Immunities (especially Judicial and Prosecutorial).
A complaint does not suffice as a charging instrument for felony charges; the Fifth Amendment requires those be pursuant to grand-jury indictment. The complaint is sufficient if the government pursues misdemeanor charges. Or it is sufficient to obtain an arrest warrant (which the government used to stage a perp work, complete with AI-altered photographs) and start the clock for submitting the case to a grand jury for an indictment.
For those who have not yet taken Fed Courts (and I encourage you to do so): A magistrate is a sort-of deputy judge on the district court who handles preliminary criminal matters such as arrest warrants. The magistrate's decisions are reviewable by a district judge. A writ of mandamus is a petition to a court of appeals against a district court judge, seeking an order compelling the lower court to do something.
