We got another dose of sanity from the courts on Friday afternoon as the 7th Circuit granted the Trump administration's petition for writ of mandamus in one of the cases regarding its immigration enforcement efforts in and around Chicago, Illinois.
This one — Chicago Headline Club v. Noem — is essentially a companion case to the one involving National Guard deployment in Illinois, but focuses primarily on the response of federal personnel to protesters who've been setting up shop outside the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility for weeks now. Judge Sara Ellis of the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on October 9, significantly limiting the actions federal personnel were "allowed" to take in response to the protesters.
Ellis subsequently modified the TRO on October 17 and then again on October 28, with the last modification being so extraordinary, my reaction, after picking my jaw up off the floor, was to call it out for the insane degree of micromanaging on display.
⚖️ In Chicago Headline Club v. Noem (National Guard Deployment), Judge Sara Ellis (Northern District of Illinois) continues to micro-manage ICE operations...https://t.co/P9eD9KxCIH
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) October 29, 2025
Her order specified, in pertinent part:
The Court orders Defendants to have all Federal Agents operating in Operation Midway Blitz to place an identifier conspicuously on their uniform where one can easily view it and the Agent's equipment does not obscure it. Custom and Border Protection will strive to ensure that all CBP agents working in Operation Midway Blitz have body−worn cameras. Additionally, Defendant Bovino has agreed to have a body−worn camera assigned to him by 10/31/2025 and have completed BWC training. The Court orders Defendants to provide to the Court, under seal, all CBP use of force reports relating to Operation Midway Blitz from 9/2/2025 through 10/25/2025, by COB 10/31/2025. The Court further orders Defendants to provide to the Court, under seal, all BWC video corresponding to the use of force reports from 9/2/2025 through 10/25/2025 filed with the Court by COB 10/31/2025. The Court orders Defendants to provide to the Court, under seal, all additional CBP use of force reports and corresponding BWC video within 24 hours of finalization of the CBP reports. The Court orders Defendant Bovino to appear in court, in person, week days at 5:45 PM (modifying the Court's oral order during the hearing to account for the security needs of the Dirksen Courthouse) in courtroom 1403 to report on the use of force activities for each day.
SEE ALSO: Illinois Takes a Page From the California/Oregon Playbook As Two Judges Issue National Guard TROs
Morning Minute: You're a Judge, Not a Micromanager
The administration filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, in addition to seeking an administrative (temporary) stay and a stay pending appeal. On Wednesday, the 7th Circuit granted an administrative stay, and now, they've granted the administration's request for a writ of mandamus. In doing so, they lay out pretty succinctly why they felt moved to grant the request (emphasis mine):
After the district court issued a temporary restraining order affecting some aspects of immigration-law enforcement in the Chicago area, the judge on her own motion entered a further order requiring Gregory Bovino, a Chief Patrol Agent at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to appear in court at 5:45 p.m. every weekday “to report on the use of force activities for each day.” The judge justified this order by stating that she had seen videos that led her to question whether the TRO was being obeyed. The order was not, however, a response to any motion by counsel for the plaintiffs (and the videos to which the judge referred apparently do not deal with behavior involving any of the plaintiffs).
The federal defendants seek a writ of mandamus with respect to this aspect (and only this aspect) of the district court’s rulings. We issued a stay of the order requiring Chief Bovino to appear and report daily, and we now GRANT the petition for mandamus.
While this litigation presents very challenging circumstances, the district court’s order has two principal failings. First, it puts the court in the position of an inquisitor rather than that of a neutral adjudicator of the parties’ adversarial presentations. Second, it sets the court up as a supervisor of Chief Bovino’s activities, intruding into personnel management decisions of the Executive Branch. These two problems are related and lead us to conclude that the order infringes on the separation of powers. Review by appeal at the end of the case would not solve the problems created in the interim, which justifies review by a prerogative writ. See In re Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 941 F.3d 869 (7th Cir. 2019). Cf. Cheney v. United States District Court, 542 U.S. 367 (2004).
As indicated in the ruling, this pertains solely to the portion of Ellis' modified TRO directing Customs and Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino to appear in court at 5:45 p.m. every weekday “to report on the use of force activities for each day." Still, as referenced at the outset of the article, the 7th Circuit ruling offers a welcome dose of sanity to the situation, recognizing the importance of the separation of powers — and the district court's infringement on them.
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