Separation of Powers and Civil Liberties

A three‑judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has thrown out U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis’s sweeping preliminary injunction that had restricted federal immigration enforcement during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. In a 2–1 decision by two Trump appointees and a Reagan appointee, the court called Ellis’s order “overbroad” and “constitutionally suspect,” faulting her for effectively making the district court “the supervisor of all Executive Branch activity in the city of Chicago” and binding the entire Departments of Homeland Security and Justice. The ruling vacates an injunction that had required federal agents to submit all current and future internal use‑of‑force and body‑camera policies for judicial review and to follow DHS’s own guidelines during protests, a level of oversight the panel said intruded on separation of powers. Although plaintiffs — protesters and journalists — had already moved to dismiss their lawsuit after Operation Midway Blitz largely ended, the appeals court said it still needed to address the injunction to prevent it from “spawning any legal consequences.” The dissent by Judge Frank Easterbrook argued only the appeal should have been dismissed, but the majority said wiping out the injunction was necessary to “wipe the slate clean” in what it called an “extraordinary case,” a move that will be closely watched by other courts weighing broad, nationwide constraints on federal law‑enforcement operations.