Appeals court rejects DoJ push to charge more people over Minnesota church protest

A US appeals court rejected federal justice department’s bid to charge five more people accused of disrupting a Minnesota church service on 18 January, according to court documents made public on Saturday, revealing the lengths the Trump administration has gone to prosecute those involved in the demonstration.

The ruling by the eighth US circuit court of appeals is the latest legal setback for Trump’s justice department as it pursues demonstrators who interrupted a service in protest of a pastor’s apparent connection to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One judge involved in the case said the department’s request appeared to be unprecedented.

A federal magistrate judge had previously declined to approve arrest warrants for five proposed defendants, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who recorded the demonstration while covering it as a journalist, citing a lack of evidence. The judge approved charges for three alleged leaders of the demonstration but struck a proposed charge accusing them of physically obstructing a house of worship.

Lemon told Scripp News anchor and contributor Alisyn Camerota, his former CNN colleague, that he was prepared for the Trump administration to continue pursuing him – even if that involves having to “go around a judge”.

“I’m not naive,” Lemon said in his interview with Camerota, published on Saturday. “They just don’t give up because they – you know – they want to save face.

“If there’s no law to fit, they will try to fit or retrofit something or go around a judge and just do it themselves.”

The case has drawn substantial attention as the Trump administration pursues a sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota and administration officials have vowed to protect Christian services.

A justice department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The three defendants – activists Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly – were each charged with conspiracy against rights for allegedly intimidating and harassing parishioners, according to a criminal complaint. They have accused the Trump administration of retaliation over their protest.

The justice department first asked the chief trial judge and later the appeals court to immediately intervene and approve warrants for the five other proposed defendants, citing a risk of similar church disruptions.

The chief US district court judge in Minnesota, Patrick Schiltz, described the justice department’s request as “unheard of” in his jurisdiction and any other federal court within the eighth circuit, which covers seven US states, according to a letter made public on Saturday.

All three judges on the eighth circuit panel agreed not to intervene. One judge, Leonard Steven Grasz, wrote that he believed prosecutors had shown enough evidence to justify charges against the other proposed defendants – but that prosecutors have ways to get them approved other than through the appeals court.

The justice department can still ask a grand jury to approve charges against the demonstrators or seek to present additional evidence to the magistrate judge.