Judge sanctions DOJ lawyer

A federal judge in California fined a Justice Department lawyer $250 after repeated failures to follow court orders in immigration detention cases. (rawstory.com) Chief United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley of the Eastern District of California imposed the sanction on Wednesday, April 15, against Justice Department attorney Jonathan Yu. Reuters, as cited by Raw Story and other outlets, said the case included missed deadlines and a failure to release a detainee after the court had ordered his release. (rawstory.com) Law and Crime reported that Nunley called Yu’s conduct an “unwillingness” to comply with a “clear and unambiguous directive,” and said the court’s time had been wasted. Reuters said Nunley wrote that “compliance is not optional” when the government is under a court order. (lawandcrime.com) The sanction landed as immigration detention cases were already swamping Nunley’s court. The Eastern District of California said this month that it received about 2,400 new immigration habeas cases in a three-month period in 2026, a 400 percent increase over all of 2025 and more than a 13,000 percent increase over all of 2024. (caed.uscourts.gov) That court surge is part of a wider legal fight over administration actions. Just Security published an updated litigation tracker on April 15 that says it is tracking legal challenges to executive actions and treats appeals as part of the same case rather than counting them separately. (justsecurity.org) Just Security said its tracker is a “living, searchable resource” and focuses only on challenges to executive actions, not every lawsuit involving the administration. The project adds another public measure of how often federal courts are being asked to review fast-moving policy changes. (justsecurity.org) The friction is not limited to California. CBS News reported on February 20 that a federal judge in Minnesota held a government lawyer in civil contempt after Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a man without his identification documents in violation of a court order. (cbsnews.com) Bloomberg reported on April 10 that judges in several cases had pressed Justice Department lawyers over corrections, missed facts, and shifting explanations in court. The Justice Department has argued in some cases that lawyers are working under intense pressure as the administration defends a large volume of litigation. (bloomberg.com) Nunley’s order was narrow: a $250 sanction against one lawyer in one detention case. But the judge’s line was broader, according to Reuters: when a court issues an order, the government does not get to treat it as optional. (rawstory.com)