Justice Department urges Supreme Court to block immigration judges’ free speech lawsuit
By John Fritze, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to step into a yearslong legal battle over a policy that bars immigration judges from expressing their personal views in public, a case that could have wider consequences for federal workers.
Underlying the appeal is a dispute over a personnel policy that requires immigration judges to obtain approval before they offer public remarks. A former labor union that represents the judges — who are part of the Justice Department – sued in federal court alleging that the policy violated their First Amendment free speech rights.
At issue for the Supreme Court is a more technical question of where that fight can first be hashed out – in federal court or before independent civil service agencies that typically review such claims by federal workers. The problem for the immigration judges is that President Donald Trump has hobbled those independent agencies.
Though technical, the case is wrapped up in a broader effort by the administration to fire leaders of those agencies – moves the conservative Supreme Court has permitted in the short term. In May, the court allowed Trump to temporarily remove officials at the Merit Systems Protection Board and the National Labor Relations Board.
A divided appeals court in Washington, DC, on Friday sided with Trump’s move to remove those officials, concluding that Congress cannot “restrict the president’s ability to remove principal officers who wield substantial executive power.”
On Monday, the court will hear oral arguments in an important case dealing with whether the president may fire the leaders of independent agencies that Congress designed to be insulated from the political whims of the White House. Given more recent rulings in similar cases, the court is widely expected to side with Trump on the firings.
All of that means that Friday’s appeal dealing with the immigration judges could have consequences for the broader federal workforce if it closes federal courts off as an avenue to pursue their claims, and instead directs them to the independent agencies instead. The case also comes amid the administration’s push to purge immigration judges.
The Justice Department argued on Friday that without intervention from the Supreme Court, an appeals court ruling in favor of the immigration judges could “wreak havoc” with similar cases.
“Only this court can halt the ongoing and rapidly spreading uncertainty for countless cases,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court.
A federal district court ruled for the government, finding that the judges’ claims needed to be reviewed by the administrative agencies. But the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision earlier this year, ordering the trial court to review whether those administrative agencies are working as Congress intended.
The “foundational principle,” the appeals court said, “that functioning and independent bodies would receive, review, and decide in the first instance challenges to adverse personnel actions affecting covered federal employees, has recently been called into question.”
Sauer urged Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency appeals from the 4th Circuit, to issue an “administrative” order quickly that would block the district court from conducting that review.
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.
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