Prof. Myron Orfield Quoted in Star Tribune About Trump Investigation of Walz and Frey

Professor Myron Orfield, Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Director, Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity, was quoted by the Minnesota Star Tribune about the Trump Investigation of Walz and Frey. The Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Jacob Frey and others as part of probe into whether they obstructed immigration enforcement. Prof. Orfield said federal subpoenas of local officials or their offices usually stem from corruption scandals, misappropriated federal funds or criminal activities, not policy disagreement. Constitutional experts have struggled to find a historic example of local officials being investigated over allegations of interfering with federal law enforcement. Prof. Orfield said the closest example he can think of is the massive resistance by several Southern governors to federal court-ordered integration during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. He said, “Many governors opposed federal court orders on integration and used very strong language, called the federal government communists and everything you can think of and they were never investigated” for their political views or statements.