Minnesota Judge Jokes He’s Been Branded ‘Progressive Activist’

A conservative federal judge criticized by conservatives for his rulings on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis said his former boss, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, would have been surprised at accusations calling him a liberal.

Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, said Wednesday it was hard to believe 10 years have passed since Scalia’s death. Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event honoring Scalia, Schiltz, who clerked for the late justice in 1985–86 on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, joked he was glad his former boss wasn’t around to see recent headlines criticizing him.

“I take solace in the fact that he did not live to see me branded as a progressive activist judge throughout the world,” Schiltz said to laughter from the crowd. “It came as a surprise to me. It probably would have come as a surprise to him as well.”

Schiltz has generated headlines in recent weeks amid the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.

Schiltz threatened to haul the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement into court after the agency repeatedly failed to release detained immigrants despite court orders to do so. He later backed off that hearing, but in doing so laid out nearly 100 court orders he said ICE had defied in recent weeks.

Administration supporters have attacked Schiltz and called for him to recuse from immigration cases altogether.

Schiltz said he has taken the same approach to the recent immigration crackdown Scalia taught his clerks, which was to apply the law equally to the facts at hand so as a judge “you can go home and sleep at night knowing you did the best you can.”

“I got that from him,” Schiltz said.

Schiltz was one of six former Scalia clerks who now sit on the federal bench to speak on the AEI panel Wednesday. Other speakers included Judges Daniel Bress and Rachel Kovner, of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Joan Larsen of the Sixth Circuit, and Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, of the Sixth Circuit.

The judges praised Scalia for engaging with his clerks, who he famously referred to as the “clerkarati,” as equals. Several said they have carried that legacy forward in their law careers.

“He really gave us a masterclass in how to be a people person,” Larsen said.

Schiltz also credited Scalia for changing the culture at the Supreme Court by encouraging more conversation and debate among justices while opinions were being crafted.

The panel was moderated by Judge Rebecca Taibleson, also a former Scalia clerk, who was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit in October after being nominated by President Donald Trump.