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Judge orders MN’s U.S. Attorney to appear at contempt hearing Tuesday over violations in immigration cases


In a rare move Feb. 18, U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino found Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt of court over failures by the U.S. government to return identification documents to an immigrant previously ordered released in Minnesota. Provinzino ultimately purged the civil contempt but issued a stern warning to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that its repeated claims of low staffing and crushing caseload has “worn out its welcome.”


https://www.startribune.com/judge-orders-mns-us-attorney-to-appear-at-contempt-hearing-tuesday-over-violations-in-immigration-cases/601591388

backup: https://archive.ph/TOZC0

Neil E. Hodges reshared this.

in reply to Lisa Stranger

Karl Auerbach
Karl Auerbach
• •

For those who do not know the distinction, there is both civil and criminal contempt.

Criminal contempt is pretty much a short jail sentence or fine.

Civil contempt is much worse - the judge can lock you away, indefinitely, until you comply. (Well there are some rough time limits, but they are not hard and fast.) It is said of civil contempt that the person "has the keys to his cell in his pocket."

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