1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

In Minnesota, a new fight is brewing over whether the Trump administration is violating the Posse Comitatus Act — the federal law that strictly limits the use of members of the military to carry out domestic law enforcement. While recent litigation has focused on troop deployments (https://substack.com/redirect/07ffb7b8-520c-48a9-a228-6b02e031663a?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) to American cities, the newest challenge is to the Justice Department’s use of U.S. military lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota to carry out ordinary domestic law prosecution totally unrelated to the military. On Tuesday, the challenge — raised by a defendant in a criminal case — received support from former military lawyers, who argue that the move violates the Posse Comitatus Act and Army regulations. “By detailing JAG officers to backfill vacancies left by civilian prosecutors to manage the regular criminal docket, the federal government is not solving a staffing shortage; it is circumventing institutional checks on the abuse of state power,“ lawyers from the Protect Democracy Project and the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney argue in an amicus curiae brief (https://substack.com/redirect/3b08bce6-ebb4-4437-8a92-a7408fb8e88f?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) filed submitted Tuesday in U.S.A. v. Paul E. Johnson on behalf of the former military lawyers. They went on to warn: “By assigning a JAG to prosecute a civilian offense completely devoid of a military nexus, the government has crossed a perilous line — a clear line drawn by Congress and memorialized in the Army’s own regulations.” As such, the former military lawyers joined Johnson in arguing that the JAG lawyer prosecuting his case should be removed from it. Share (https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=899862&post_id=190460591&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&action=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=1nb4ij&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo5OTYxNjQxMSwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTkwNDYwNTkxLCJpYXQiOjE3NzMyNzQzNjMsImV4cCI6MTc3NTg2NjM2MywiaXNzIjoicHViLTg5OTg2MiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.3PbYtJKBzQMzf2d6BxDXv7S5yd9BVwXwYijav1HBdrc) The Defense Department noted (https://substack.com/redirect/824ff1f4-07f1-4b40-a4be-a3330dab7f1b?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) the Minnesota effort on January 16: “In Minnesota, the department is working with law enforcement and Justice Department partners by assigning military judge advocates to assist the U.S. attorney’s office with its mission there.“ The move that prompted quick skepticism (https://substack.com/redirect/a3b3e3d0-fc90-4ae1-9343-2ece8ef51a1a?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) from multiple corners (https://substack.com/redirect/afea7ee0-a3f7-41f6-98f5-da3feb793e8b?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo). In mid-February, it was one of those military lawyers assigned to the office who was the first individual in the Trump administration found in civil contempt for the government failing to comply with orders in the case of Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, a man who had been improperly detained, be returned from Texas to Minnesota with all of his property. Although he was returned to Minnesota, his identification documents were not returned to him. As Fox9 reported (https://substack.com/redirect/9e0d8cd9-0824-48aa-851e-0683a35530a8?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) at the time, Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew “Isihara, who is a JAG attorney with the Department of War (Defense) on special assignment to assist with all the federal habeas filings, said he has been assigned nearly 130 cases in just the last month.” U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino found Ishihara in civil contempt on February 18 (https://substack.com/redirect/9127b46b-4167-430a-8430-4d00b97b3e8c?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) in Soto Jimenez’s case, although the daily fine that she imposed beginning two days later was never assessed because the government came into compliance (https://substack.com/redirect/af22a923-1a89-4f67-8a70-9d00061b50db?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) with her earlier orders by returning Soto Jimenez’s ID documents to him. Two days before Isihara was found to be in civil contempt, however, the validity of the appearance of a different JAG lawyer, Michael Hakes-Rodriguez, in a criminal case in Minnesota was challenged (https://substack.com/redirect/093b3699-eacc-4e32-8188-dc2fbd6cafca?j=eyJ1IjoiMW5iNGlqIn0.kjBHrp1x_FCouv6DCCRLeXhh7m8148tPJkEUnaqQPmo) by the defendant, Paul E. Johnson.