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- [00:00]
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- [00:31]
Mayra Ameth
A mochi moment from Sadie who writes I'm not crying, you're crying. This is what I said during my first appointment with my physician at Mochi because I didn't have to convince him I needed a GLP one. He understood and I felt supported, not judged. I came for the weight loss and stayed for the empathy. Thanks Sadie. I'm Mayra Ameth, Founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com Sadie is a Mochi member, compensated for.
- [00:59]
Michael Pop
Her story we got an update of the story of the accidental whistleblower against the Department of Justice in which Julie Lee, a lawyer who volunteered to go to Minnesota and work on behalf of ice, ended up confessing in a courtroom to an African American judge, she being of Asian American descent, that she's worried that her own client, ice, is committing racial profiling that could even ensnare her own family. That's what she said out loud during a hearing in which she also said, now, infamously, this job sucks, my workload is too high and I can't get ICE to communicate with me or comply with your court orders. There is a new battle that's broken out between the Department of Justice, the lawyers and and ICE the client, and it's spilled out into the open in federal court in Minnesota. And I'm going to cover it here on Midas Touch and on Legal af. While we're While we got you, take a moment, hit the Free subscribe button on Midas Touch, slide over to Legal AF and help us there as well. On our YouTube channel, let's talk about the accidental whistleblower. A couple of days ago I reported that Julie Lee, based on a transcript of a hearing in which Judge Blackwell called a conference in order to figure out why in his five habeas corpus proceedings in which he's trying to decide whether somebody should stay or not stay in detention and what the due process should be around that person, why his orders are being defied. He actually said in court, these orders are not advisory. These are federal court orders. And Julie Lee is one of half a dozen People in the Department of Justice's office in Minnesota that have had to try to throw themselves on the mercy of the court, try to beg not to be held in contempt because their clients aren't listening to them. Julie Lee said the quiet part out loud when she said during the hearing, not only does the job suck and the system sucks, but she admitted that she has 88. 0 cases that were dumped on her for habeas corpus, that she stupidly, this is her words, volunteered for the position. Having worked for ice, but in a role at immigration court and not in federal court related to habeas corpus petitions. She admitted that she's not properly trained. And then she said this part out loud, which is not getting enough attention, where she said out loud that she is worried that her own client, ice, is racially profiling. And that concerns her because she said to the judge, as you can see, Judge, I'm not white. The judge is African American, by the way, Judge Blackwell. I'm, you know, she's Asian American, born in Vietnam, apparently, or from Vietnam. And she's worried about her own family. I mean, the fact that you say that about your own client, you know, as the Department of Justice said, well, it's very unprofessional and unbecoming. What she said in court, you got bigger problems. You got bigger problems than that. They are so strapped for talent in the Department of Justice that apparently this. What this woman said to self immolate and whistleblow in court against her own client was not enough to get her fired. Nope. You heard that right. They're sending her back to ICE and immigration court to represent ICE there. That's her reward. That's her punishment. She never gets to leave the job. She's like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill, back down all over again. That, that is, you know, while birds peck at her. That, that.
- [04:34]
Americans United Representative
That is her plight.
- [04:36]
Michael Pop
But it shows that there is this war that's broken out. Let's talk. Let me talk lawyer to the lawyers for a moment. You take an oath to uphold the Constitution, to. To uphold the professional conduct and ethics rules, to be an officer of the court, to uphold the constitution of the state in which you have obtained your bar license. Those are your obligations, okay? As an officer of the court, if you find you are compromised, that you cannot, you can no longer execute on your advice, your independent judgment has been compromised. You're being ordered to do things that you know are unethical or illegal. Right. You cannot follow those directions. I feel like Senator Mark Kelly telling Members of the military not to follow illegal orders. I'm telling lawyers the same thing. You cannot follow illegal instructions if you have a client who's not communicating with you. Like ICE has failed to communicate with these lawyers on purpose in order to keep human beings in detention for longer periods of time. You gotta quit. You gotta, you, you, you can't go to court, frankly, throw your client under the bus and say they suck. ICE won't communicate with me. I have to.
- [05:48]
Americans United Representative
She actually said in court, I have.
- [05:50]
Michael Pop
To, I have to threaten to resign and multiple phone calls before anything happens, before that rock moves. She needs to, she need not quit as being a lawyer just quit her job. Now, this is not the only situation. There are half a dozen situations in which US Attorneys in the Department of Justice in Minnesota have told judges, and it's reflected in orders, that they can't do their job, that ICE is not returning their phone calls, nobody ring, ring, ring, nobody's home, and therefore they can't comply with the court orders. Right. Another little sneaky trick of the Trump administration. Just don't have the client communicate with the lawyers and everything will be better. Right? No. We just had the chief judge of Minnesota, Judge Schultz, who is a rock ribbed Republican conservative.
- [06:41]
Americans United Representative
He clerked for Antonin Scalia, the rightest.
- [06:43]
Michael Pop
Of right wing Supreme Court justices. Okay. He's not an activist leftist judge the way Tricia McLaughlin of Homeland Security just declared. Oh, we have the problem, Minnesota, with activists leftist judges who. Judge Schultz, Judge Schultz just did a survey that he published in an order against ICE in which he said at least, and he thinks he's under counting. 96 orders have been violated in the month of January by ICE in just Minnesota federal courts. He says if it happens again. And Julie Lee, exhibit A. If it happens again, he's going to call on an order to show cause. Hearing Todd Lyons, the head of ICE before him, on the carpet in his courtroom for sanctions, including contempt. And that's what I want to encourage federal judges to do, that federal judges have to have the courage to stand up to the Department of Justice, stand up to the U.S. attorney's office, knowing that they have our backing, that we have their back, and start holding contempt proceedings. Not just the extraordinary one that Judge Boasberg did a year ago, you know, back in the spring of last year against the Trump administration for violating his orders about sending 200 people to El Salvador when he ordered them not to. This shouldn't be, pardon me.
- [08:11]
Americans United Representative
This shouldn't.
- [08:12]
Michael Pop
Be a, this shouldn't be a one off. This should be happening dozens of times a day across America. I just had Judge Michael Ludig, also a far right conservative, no longer now supports democratic causes. He had been a lawyer for Mike Pence to convince him to certify the election for Joe Biden. At that moment where our democracy hung by a thread. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, many people on the United States Supreme Court and our own Solicitor General were once clerks for Michael Ludig. He should have been the Chief justice of the Supreme Court. John Roberts was chosen over him. We'd be a better nation for it. I just had a Judge Ludig with us and here's what he had to say about the courage of federal judges just in the last few months and certainly this year, 2026, and the changes that he's seen. Play the clip.
- [09:12]
Judge Michael Ludig
Every American is against Donald Trump today except his dye in the wool MAGA and of course, the Congress of the United States. Right. So, but that, you know, tsunami that didn't begin until a month ago was the saving grace for the lower federal courts, you know, whatever cliche you want to stiffen their spines, but actually, no, more appropriately, it gave them the courage, the needed courage from above them or outside them to do what they knew they had to do and wanted to do all along. And that's why you've seen floodgates every single thing leading up to most recently. And this had begun four months in the last four months of last year. Where was six months of last year actually where it began? The Department of Justice and every other government official that appeared before the courts, including the Solicitor General of the United States, another law clerk of mine.
- [10:44]
Michael Pop
I was just going to say don't leave out John Sauer or your other clerk.
- [10:47]
Judge Michael Ludig
Don't worry. Don't you worry. And all of those officials begin addressing the federal courts of the United States in court with open contempt.
- [11:02]
Michael Pop
Yeah.
- [11:04]
Judge Michael Ludig
And actually lying to the federal judges to their faces. And that, you know, that began that the federal judges began to push back on that the last six months of last year. Now, when it's clear that they're going to do this for the next three years, those same federal judges, meaning all of the lower court federal judges, they're not going to have it.
- [11:38]
Americans United Representative
We're a year into the new administration and it's getting harder to read the news and see continued attacks on our First Amendment freedoms daily. Now is the time to look for the helpers, those who are strategically fighting day in and out to preserve our constitutional freedoms. One of the organizations fighting the good fight is Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Their mission is to protect everyone's right to live as they are and believe.
- [12:05]
Michael Pop
As they choose, so long as they don't harm others.
- [12:10]
Americans United Representative
AU is fighting back against the wave of Christian nationalist threats happening across the country. They filed 11 lawsuits last year alone, multiple against the Trump administration. To protect your individual freedom of and from religion. Whether you support public education, are passionate about LGBTQ and reproductive rights, or some combination of all, AU relies on the help of its supporters to do this important work. If you're looking for an organization to support and learn from, head to au.org legalaf to see how you can get involved in their work and support the fight against Christian nationalism. That's AU.org legal AF when America's divided, we are Americans United.
- [12:55]
Michael Pop
Learn more@au.org legal A F so Julie Lee, the accidental whistleblower still got her job, apparently. But this issue is is something that has burst out into the open. This open warfare between the Department of Justice and ICE burst completely out into the open. And now judges got to do something about it. And that means start holding contempt hearings, getting Department of Justice, ice, Border Patrol and other personnel, Homeland Security in front of them with hearings and start holding them in contempt. Enough is enough. I've Never seen in 35 years Federal judges tolerate more impertinence, tolerate more vitriol attacks on them, more inappropriate, unethical conduct in defiance of their orders than I see right now. And it must come to an end. It's our, you know, the federal courts are the things that are that are keeping our constitutional republic from spinning off and burning up in the atmosphere. But they got to do more. I'll continue to follow it on the Midas Touch Network. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel and help us continue to develop our audience there as well. And on Legal AF substack. So until my next report, I'm Michael Pop.
- [14:13]
Legal AF Host
Can't get your fill of Legal af.
- [14:15]
Michael Pop
Me neither.
- [14:15]
Legal AF Host
That's why we formed the Legal AF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, Wait for it Morning af. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AOFF are there as well. We got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes. We wear Legal AF on substack. Come over now to free subscribe.
- [14:50]
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