Appeals Court Denies DOJ’s Request to Arrest Don Lemon
A federal appeals court has dismissed the Justice Department’s attempt to forcibly apprehend former CNN anchor Don Lemon and four other individuals. This decision comes after a lower court judge declined to sign a warrant for their arrest over the weekend.
The panel, made up of three judges—Jane Kelly, who was appointed by Obama, and Stephen Gratz and Jonathan Corbies, who were appointed by Trump—found the request from the Trump administration to arrest Lemon in connection with a January 18 demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, to be unsubstantiated.
Interestingly, in a brief statement, Judge Gratz acknowledged that the prosecutors had “clearly proven their case,” indicating there was probable cause for the arrest warrants. However, he pointed out that the government failed to show that there were no other suitable options for achieving the desired outcome.
Initially, the Justice Department aimed to indict eight people linked to the protests, including Lemon, but only three were approved for charges by U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micco, who also instructed federal authorities to pursue grand jury indictments for the others.
Prosecutors then requested Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schultz to examine the evidence and mandate an arrest by 2 PM local time on Friday.
In a letter expressing outrage to Eighth Circuit Chief Judge Stephen Colloton, Judge Schultz remarked that the federal government’s request was “unprecedented” within their district or, to his knowledge, any other district in the Eighth Circuit. He consulted various judges, some with over 40 years of experience, and found none could recall such a government request.
Schultz elaborated that typically, if the government disagrees with a magistrate’s ruling, it can either refine its affidavit and resubmit it or approach a grand jury for an indictment instead of seeking reconsideration from a judge.
He had also planned to discuss the federal government’s actions with his colleagues on Friday, but the meeting was postponed to Tuesday due to “security concerns” with Vice President J.D. Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi being present in Minneapolis.
