By Andrea Katz
A federal judge heard arguments on Jan. 26, 2026, as the state of Minnesota sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the state. The administration has sent some 3,000 immigration agents to Minnesota, and attorneys for the state have argued, in part, that it amounts to an unconstitutional occupation, on 10th Amendment grounds. Alfonso Serrano, a politics editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Andrea Katz, a law scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, about the Minnesota lawsuit and its possible legal implications.
What’s the legal issue at stake in this court case?
In Minnesota v. Noem, attorneys for the state are arguing that the federal government is acting illegally by intruding on a sphere of state power (the police power). They’re claiming violations of the 10th Amendment, which is this idea that under the U.S. Constitution, states are reserved powers that existed before the Constitution was drafted, powers that are not delegated to the federal government.
They’re also making this rather new claim under what’s called the equal sovereignty principle, which is that states all have to be treated equally by the federal government. There’s also a First Amendment claim, and an Administrative Procedure Act claim, which is that the government is acting illegally in an arbitrary and capricious way. I think the 10th Amendment arguments are ones that I would say are kind of unprecedented, rather untested waters.
On that note, when does a federal law enforcement response cross the line and violate the 10th Amendment? Is there precedent for this?
The question you just posed is one that the district judge, Kate M. Menendez, seems to be nervous about having to hear. This is essentially asking a federal judge to sift into different buckets that which is federal power and that which is state power. And I can say there’s not a lot of case law on this issue.
The most filled-out doctrine under the 10th Amendment is the anti-commandeering doctrine. It holds that the federal government cannot use the state government as a sort of puppet. The federal government can’t use state officers forcibly against the state’s will to enforce the law. Now that is not, strictly speaking, what’s going on here, because Minnesota is complaining about the presence of federal agents enforcing the laws in ways that it thinks are illegal.
AP Photo/Adam Gray
And so it seems to me that the 10th Amendment has been most developed in this area that Minnesota is not touching on, and so for that reason, I think their invocation of it is pretty unusual. They’re essentially claiming that the 10th Amendment protects their police powers and that the federal government is intruding on that. I think that’s a novel argument in court, and my suspicion is that it is not likely to be a winning argument in court.
The Trump administration has dismissed the state’s legal theory, saying the president is acting within his authority, correct?
Yeah, I think that’s correct. Again, I want to make clear that Minnesota has made many arguments against the Trump administration, and I’m just focusing on the merits of this 10th Amendment argument.
There was a sort of undeveloped strand of cases in the mid-20th century where the Supreme Court tried to develop this idea of core state powers. And so it said the federal government couldn’t act in a way that violated a state’s core powers, like where to put your state capital, or control over natural resources, or defining salaries for state government employees. The court said these are core state powers.
But then in a famous case called Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority, in 1985, the court overruled itself and said – and this is still where we are – federal courts cannot be in the business of defining what constitutes a core state power. It’s too open-ended, undefined. It’s a political inquiry. It’s not something that’s appropriate for a judge.
And so I think on this 10th Amendment argument, Minnesota is essentially asking the courts to revive this core state powers doctrine, which I think the court is unlikely to do.
What repercussions could the judge’s ruling have?
Minnesota has already filed, in a case called Tincher v. Noem, a more conventional set of claims, which is that ICE agents broke the law, are violating rights, acting in excess of their authority. They have already gotten preliminary relief on this first set of claims, although Judge Menendez’s order is now on hold, pending appeal before the 8th Circuit court.
AP Photo/Jen Golbeck
That is different from this 10th Amendment claim. In the 10th Amendment argument, one of the arguments that Minnesota has made is the equal sovereignty principle. The equal sovereignty principle was articulated in the 2013 case, Shelby County v. Holder. This is the famous case where the Supreme Court struck down an important part of the Voting Rights Act that prevented Southern states from restricting the vote, apparently on the basis of race. In Shelby County, the court said that the Voting Rights Act, which subjected certain states with a pattern of racial discrimination on the vote to a preclearance process where the federal government had to approve their laws before they passed them, treated different states differently.
Of course, in that case, the federal government said those are states that have a history of discrimination, so the federal government was justified in treating them differently.
But Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the Shelby County opinion, said the 10th Amendment means that the government can’t treat different states differently.
Now it’s not a well-regarded doctrine, so it’s kind of shocking that Minnesota is invoking it here. For one reason, the equal sovereignty principle has not been well developed since Shelby County. The second reason it would be a big deal – quite shocking to me, if the judge enforced it – is that Shelby County was talking about legislation that treated different states differently.
If we pass a rule where the executive branch can’t treat different states differently, you’re essentially denying the existence of discretion in enforcement, which is very quintessentially an executive power, right?
It could, for example, lead to states saying that federal agents can’t come in to help people in a natural disaster. So again, I think this argument, like the rest of the 10th Amendment arguments, suffers from being undeveloped in the case law and potentially carrying a risk of kneecapping the federal government’s ability to enforce the law, which sometimes does, for totally good-faith reasons, require treating different states differently.
Any final thoughts?
The first Trump administration was highly disorganized and didn’t take concerted action for a while. The second Trump administration was the precise opposite of that. They acted quickly and in a very organized fashion, pushing power as far as it can go in a number of agencies.
And I think the question this gets back to is how the federal courts have reacted to this barrage of executive orders, of new applications of old laws, of new forms of government power exercised in a way that threatens federalism.
The federal courts usually grant deference to the president when the government issues statements in the context of litigation. Court doctrine is to defer to those statements as being entitled. It’s a presumption of regularity, of accuracy. And I think we’re already seeing in the district courts some suspicion by the judges of the government’s version of things.
To me, this is sort of a brave new world, whether we’re going to see courts relax their deference toward the executive branch. And I mean, we are in kind of a brave new world. We have videos all over the internet showing the facts of the Alex Pretti shooting. But I just want to note that, from a separation of powers point of view, it’s very interesting to see federal judges seeming to distrust official accounts of events from the executive branch. I think this is an area in which the doctrine seems to be moving, and we’re watching it in real time.
Andrea Katz is Associate Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.
JW says
Hey America, is this cold winter a message from heaven for this nation that pretends to be so Christian: please cool down! The same thing may apply to Eastern Europe, i.e.Russia against Ukraine. It also was an extreme cold winter after which WWII ended.
Food for thought!
Sherry says
What if we didn’t have that VIDEO evidence that tells the actual TRUTH?
Finding the Light of America
The tragic events of Minnesota are pushing the nation toward two tipping points.
Robert Reich
Jan 27, 2026
A view from Minneapolis
Friends,
One of the few advantages of being as conspicuous as I am is that many people come up to me whom I don’t know, to give me their views about what’s happening in America — as if I’m a free-floating focus group.
This morning, I was at a restaurant counter finishing my breakfast when a middle-aged man sat down next to me, turned to me, and said, “I don’t want to intrude.”
He just had just done so, so I put down my knife and fork, wiped my mouth with my napkin, turned toward him, and asked, “May I help you?”
“I’ve been a life-long Republican,” he said, “but the events of the past weeks have caused me to leave the Republican Party.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” I said with a smile and turned to finish my breakfast.
“I’m from New Hampshire, and many of my Republican friends are leaving the party, too,” he said. “Minneapolis was the last straw.”
I put down my fork and turned toward him again. “I assume you’re talking about the behavior of ICE and Border Patrol agents there, and the killings?”
“All terrible, of course,” he said, shaking his head. “But what really finished me were the lies — Noem. Miller, Bovino, Vance, Trump.” He frowned. “They all lied through their teeth. I saw the video! They’re a pack of liars.”
Skibum says
I appreciate hearing accounts such as this from former republicans who, like I was years ago, fed up with what being a republican stood for. Even more concerning to an increasing number of Americans who have voted republican for many years are the vile and blatant lies from republican federal officials who know very well there are quite a few videos that completely counter the false narratives they are spouting, yet they seemingly are unable or just unwilling to stop the lies from leaving their mouths.
As much as many of us like to decry those who have their cell phones out, recording various important or mundane scenes every day to get social media “likes” or whatever, thank God for those who witnessed and recorded the horrible shootings by masked, unidentified federal agents in Minneapolis so the rest of America could actually see the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That violent, unnecessary truth has played out again and again in videoclips recorded by average Americans to uncover and reveal the intentional lies that the American president, his maga extremist appointees and the over aggressive, thuggish ICE agents have tried to get everyone to believe, all to no avail because of the modern technology that we all carry on our persons wherever we go.
Thankfully, Renee Good’s spouse, and some of her friends and neighbors’ cell phone videos discounted the federal authorities’ lies and attempts to frame her as a “domestic terrorist” who Noem and others falsely told America that Good was trying to run down a federal agent with her SUV when she was shot multiple times and killed. We now know the truth. We all saw it with our own eyes, thanks to the citizens of Minneapolis.
Thankfully, a number of Alex Pretti’s fellow citizens of Minneapolis were also recording and showing the truth that discounted Noem’s lies about him “brandishing a gun” at federal agents and the the intentional lies from federal authorities that he went to that location with the intent to assassinate federal officers, who had to shoot him in defense of their own lives… all completely discounted by the cell phone evidence proving that Pretti never even had his lawfully carried concealed firearm out of it’s holster, and that federal ICE agents shot him to death AFTER one of the agents had already removed Pretti’s firearm from the holster on his waist, murdering an unarmed man without legal justification.
Despite the horrific deaths, the sadness of all of the unnecessary violence and aggression by federal ICE agents the past few weeks in Minnesota, and the anger from everyday Minn. citizens that has been increasing, their combined efforts to ensure that the truth of what has been happening is paying off. The truth is being seen by all of the rest of America, and the truth is also, as Robert Reich recounted above, allowing more and more people who have been long time republicans to stand up and say what is going on in Minnesota is the so-called stick that broke the camel’s back for them, prompting a revolt from the republican party that is now known by more people than ever before as just a pack of unrepentant liars.
“When they show you the first time who they are, believe them.”
PaulT says
You would think the 10th Amendment argument should be persuasive. The Department of Homeland Security has ‘surged’ a task force of 3,000 into Minnesota, overwhelming the Minneapolis – St Paul’s police force and usurping their authority and ability to take care of crowd control, traffic incidents and they even deny the local force the right to investigate fatal shootings and violent assaults within their own jurisdiction.
ICE are supposedly engaged only in immigration enforcement but the evidence is that they’re also there to ‘take over’ a ‘lawless’ liberal run city at the direction of President Trump. That ICE is no longer just about federal jmmjgration is confirmed by the plan to send an ICE contingent to Milan, in Italy, to provide security for US athletes during this year’s Winter Olympics. ICE seems to be evolving into a government militia, (not a trained paramilitary force though, sice they’ve proven to be undisciplined and inadequately trained).
The possible evolution of ICE into Trump’s personal militia is terrifying, reminiscent of Hitler’s SA, the ‘Brownshirts’ who terrorized Germany during the 1920’s and 30’s as they their brutally pursued ‘undesirables’.
Sherry says
Thank You for this excellent comment Paul T!
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
PaulT,
You wrote: “…but the evidence is that they’re also there to ‘take over’ a ‘lawless’ liberal run city at the direction of President Trump.” Where is that evidence that supports your claim? Minnesota offers driver’s licenses and state ID cards to residents regardless of immigration status under the “Driver’s Licenses for All” law, which took effect on October 1, 2023. Applicants do not need to provide proof of legal presence in the U.S., but must pass the required tests, provide a local address, and pay the fees. There is evidence tho. Minneapolis, MN, in its official policies, created the term “Welcoming City,” and it operates as one through its “separation ordinance”. This ordinance, part of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, prohibits city employees, including police officers, from asking about an individual’s immigration status or enforcing federal immigration laws. There are recorded statements by both the MN governor and the Minneapolis Mayor regarding that locale being a ‘Welcoming City’. There are years of records showing that Minneapolis municipal police have not worked with federal law enforcement partners to enforce or prosecute subjects for federal crimes. Put simply, they ignore federal immigration laws. This allows those in the country without authorization who are committing criminal acts to ‘hide’ in MN. What DHS, DOJ, and ICE are doing is mining public data records from MN and correlating that data with federal databases to locate those in the country without authorization residing in this ‘Welcoming City’, and committing crimes. Those are the subjects of these targeted ICE activities.
Regarding your claim about ICE going to Milan for the Olympics: Homeland Security Investigations, which focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events to assist with security. They work with local law enforcement when US citizens are either accused or the victims of a crime.
Deborah Coffey says
Evidence from AI:
AI Overview
Based on reports from January 2026, it was Donald Trump who described the situation in Minneapolis as requiring federal intervention to restore order, leading to a massive deployment of ICE and Border Patrol agents.
Here are the key details regarding the situation:
Context: Following the launch of “Operation Metro Surge” in December 2025, which escalated in January 2026, approximately 3,000 federal agents (including 2,000 ICE personnel) were deployed to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
The “Lawless” City Claim: Trump characterized the city as having a “crime emergency” and being “lawless,” prompting a takeover-like, “militarized” federal response to tackle crime, according to reports in The Columbian and The Week.
Controversy and Deaths: The operation was heavily criticized by local leaders, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Rep. Ilhan Omar, who accused ICE of “terrorizing” communities. The operation saw the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens (Renee Good and Alex Pretti) by federal agents, leading to accusations that the agents themselves were acting as a “lawless” occupying force.
Reaction: Attorney General Tong and other officials described the surge as a “lawless and reckless militarized assault on an entire American city”.
While the Trump administration portrayed the action as a necessary move to secure a lawless area, local officials and critics argued that the actions were unlawful, destructive, and targeted, with 96 court orders reportedly violated by ICE, according to a report citing a Minnesota chief U.S. District Judge.
Skibum says
There is a very good and logical reason why some states have allowed non-citizens to obtain a state issued drivers license or ID card. Despite republicans’ false assertions that the reason is to give undocumented immigrants free services and taxpayer dollars, it is simply a method of making sure they have state issued ID, which helps law enforcement, other government agencies, hospitals and commercial businesses alike when identification of an individual is necessary. Having a state issued photo ID is essential for so many things in today’s society, like having electric, phone or other utility services turned on, opening a bank account or making large purchases.
From the law enforcement perspective, I cannot even begin to guess how many times over the course of my 29-year career I have been lied to about an individual’s identity when I made a traffic stop or another type of law enforcement contact on someone with no ID. I would much rather have an undocumented immigrant I am making contact with for whatever reason give me some type of photo ID than just tell me a name that I have no way to verify whether or not they are being truthful with me. And having taken the time to obtain an official ID shows that the undocumented immigrant is trying to do the right thing while residing in this country.
The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are law abiding people, just living their own lives like the rest of us. Statistics show that they are much more likely to be crime victims than perpetrators of crime. They should not be victimized over and over again, by criminals, and by our government and our nation’s citizens just for coming to the U.S. Too many people forget that the U.S. is and always will be a “nation of immigrants”.