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NY Courthouse Arrest Ban Upheld as Chicago Use-of-Force Limits Are Paused and Contempt Probe Is Restarted

The flurry of orders underscores a clash over state sovereignty, separation of powers, judicial oversight, federal tactics.

Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit and upheld New York’s Protect Our Courts Act, finding the state can decline to facilitate civil immigration arrests at its courthouses under the Tenth Amendment.
  • The New York law bars warrantless civil arrests in or around state and local courts and during travel to and from proceedings, while leaving federal and immigration courts unaffected.
  • A Seventh Circuit panel temporarily stayed Judge Sara Ellis’s sweeping Chicago injunction as overbroad, signaling a fast-track review that could permit a narrower order focused on proven First and Fourth Amendment violations.
  • Ellis’s paused order had required warnings before deploying tear gas or other riot-control weapons, limited physical force against nonthreatening protesters and observers, and mandated clear identification and body cameras for most agents.
  • In Washington, Chief Judge James Boasberg said he will promptly resume a contempt inquiry into March deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, indicating plans for sworn testimony as he determines who defied his orders.