The Justice Department is expected to pursue additional criminal charges tied to a disruptive protest at a Minnesota church service after a federal appeals court declined to immediately intervene in the case, a decision that briefly delayed the Trump administration’s effort to prosecute those involved.
In a judgment issued on Friday and unsealed on Saturday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the DOJ’s request to approve arrest warrants for five additional people accused of participating in the protest, which interrupted a Sunday worship service at a St. Paul church earlier this month.
The decision marks the latest procedural hurdle for federal prosecutors as the administration presses ahead with charges tied to demonstrations targeting Christian churches amid a broader immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.
A federal magistrate judge last week declined to approve arrest warrants for the five other proposed defendants, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who recorded the protest, citing insufficient evidence. However, the magistrate judge approved charges against three alleged organizers of the demonstration but struck a proposed charge accusing them of physically obstructing a house of worship.
Prosecutors responded by asking both the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and, later, the 8th Circuit to step in and approve the rejected warrants, arguing that immediate intervention was necessary to prevent similar church disruptions.
Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz sharply rebuked that request in a letter on Friday to the appeals court’s chief judge, describing it as “unheard of in our district” and unprecedented under the 8th Circuit, which spans seven states, according to the letter unsealed on Saturday.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court unanimously declined to intervene, at least for now. One judge, Leonard Steven Grasz, wrote separately that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to establish probable cause for the five additional warrants, but said the DOJ failed to show it lacked other legal avenues to move the case forward, such as presenting the case to the magistrate judge again or seeking a grand jury indictment.
“The government has clearly established probable cause for all five arrest warrants,” Grasz wrote, adding that prosecutors did not demonstrate “that it has no other adequate means of obtaining the requested relief.”
The ruling leaves intact the magistrate judge’s refusal to approve the warrants, but it does not foreclose further prosecution. Federal prosecutors can still seek indictments through a grand jury or return to the magistrate judge with additional evidence.
Three defendants, including left-wing activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and activist William Kelly, have already been charged with conspiracy against rights for allegedly intimidating and harassing parishioners during the service, according to court filings. All three have accused the Trump administration of retaliating against them over the protest, and they were released on their own recognizance pending future court appearances and trial dates.
JUDGE’S REJECTION OF DON LEMON CHARGES FACES CONFLICT OF INTEREST CONCERNS
The case has drawn national attention as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement in Minnesota and vows to protect religious worship from political targeting.
DOJ officials have repeatedly signaled that the rejection of the additional warrants represents a procedural delay and that they may try again this week to obtain a grand jury indictment against the remaining targets of the investigation.