The Supreme Court Invited the Chaos in Minnesota and Elsewhere

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 28, 2026 – As the Trump administration continues to sanction the execution of innocent Minnesotans, it’s important to understand the courts’ role in what is happening.

The Supreme Court has empowered federal officials to carry out this Gestapo-like violence. Last September, the Court’s shadow-docket order in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo gave the green light to Trump’s agents to round up people solely based on their perceived identity, language, or occupation. Justice Kavanaugh specifically endorsed this racial profiling, leading to the use of the term “Kavanaugh stops” — and now “Kavanaugh killings.”

At the same time, federal judges in Minnesota are doing their best to field a deluge of emergency suits related to Operation Metro Surge. They are consistently ruling that ICE agents’ behavior has been flagrantly unlawful — and calling out the Trump administration’s violations of court orders. Judges around the country are trying to hold the line for freedom even while our highest court is content to let Trump run rampant over our communities and our fundamental rights.

Alliance for Justice President Rachel Rossi issued the following statement:

“The violent, aggressive behavior we’ve seen from Border Patrol and ICE agents in Minnesota mirrors authoritarian tactics we’ve seen too many times, including our nation’s own ugly history of slave patrols. We must acknowledge that the conservative majority on our Supreme Court allowed this ‘Papers, please’ police state to fester. Both by rewarding Trump with immunity for illegal acts he takes as president and then sanctioning blatantly unconstitutional immigration raids, this Court has turned its back on justice in favor of propping up authoritarianism.

“As we see the lower courts desperately trying to protect the rule of law, it’s critical to block and delay any further influence Trump might have over the judicial branch. That includes blocking the loyalists he continues to nominate to lifetime seats on our courts as well as continuing to work towards Supreme Court reform. This Court has ravaged our civil rights and democracy, and we must course-correct at the first opportunity. Only significant reforms, including term limits, ethics codes, and expansion will minimize these extremists’ influence so we can restore democracy and end the hemorrhaging of our liberties.

“Renée Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and so many others are dead because this Supreme Court has allowed the state to cruelly violate the right to not just liberty but life itself. We face systemic problems, and only systemic solutions will save us.”