Appeals Court Blocks Injunction Against ICE in Minneapolis

I would not read a lot into today’s Eighth Circuit order of an administrative stay that, for the moment, blocks an injunction that would restrict ICE enforcement operations in Minneapolis. The injunction was ordered last Friday by Judge Kate M. Menendez, a Biden appointee.

As we’ve previously noted a number of times, an administrative stay is about as far as it gets from a ruling on the merits. It’s not even a ruling on the temporary injunction, which itself is not a ruling on the merits. Instead, an administrative stay is a brief time-out while a superior court familiarizes itself with the facts in dispute and the actions taken by the lower court.