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Jon Seidel
@jonseidel.bsky.social
11K followers 69 following 1.2K posts
Federal Courts Reporter, @chicago.suntimes.com
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'The defendant … is a killer': Second trial begins for accused Four Corner Hustlers chief Labar Spann: chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-gang...
'The defendant … is a killer': Second trial begins for accused Four Corner Hustlers chief Labar Spann
A prosecutor told the jury the Four Corner Hustlers “wanted power and status on the streets of Chicago. They wanted people to fear them.” And, she said, Spann built a reputation “as a formidable leade...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:28 AM
jonseidel.bsky.social
'Superstar' prosecutor who helped bring down Madigan, Burke parting ways with Chicago's U.S. attorney's office

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-corr...
'Superstar' prosecutor who helped bring down Madigan, Burke parting ways with U.S. attorney's office
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker is the latest in an unusual flurry of departures — including five section chiefs — who have either left the U.S. attorney’s office this year, or plan to by the ...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:27 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Feds ask appeals court to block 'extraordinary' order restricting use of force against protesters

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Feds ask appeals court to block 'extraordinary' order restricting use of force against protesters
The Trump administration told the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Judge Sara Ellis' order is 'overbroad and unworkable,' and it asked the appeals court for a stay.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
JUST IN: The Trump administration asks the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Judge Sara Ellis' preliminary injunction restricting the use of force against protesters and journalists in Chicago.

Full motion here: cst.brightspotcdn.com/bc/ac/04906a...
INTRODUCTION The role of the Judiciary is to resolve concrete cases and controversies, not to act as general overseer of the Executive. But in response to the government’s efforts to enforce the Nation’s immigration laws after years of non-enforcement during an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration, courts have issued sweeping, programmatic injunctions that usurp executive authority and empower judges to superintend law-enforcement activities under threat of contempt. The predictable result is to broadly obstruct the enforcement of the Nation’s laws, chill the exercise of executive power, and subvert the constitutional structure. This case is a perfect example. This Court previously issued a writ of mandamus to quash an order of this district court that “infringe[d] on the separation of powers” by “set[ting] the court up as a supervisor” of the agency’s law- enforcement activities. Order, In re Noem, No. 25-2936 (7th Cir. Oct. 31, 2025). The district court has now issued an extraordinary preliminary injunction that no less reflects an improper aggrandizement of the judicial role and a violation of the separation of powers. What began as a complaint by journalists and protestors alleging that DHS officers targeted them with crowd-control devices at a handful of protests in September and early October has transformed into an instrument for judicial micromanagement of federal law-enforcement operations in the Chicago area. Indeed, this injunction is so granular it consumes eight pages, governing everything from body-worn cameras, to agent identification, to the content of warnings before rioters may be dispersed, to when agents may use chokeholds, tackle suspects, or deploy tear gas. This Court should grant an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal. This overbroad and unworkable injunction has no basis in law, threatens the safety of federal officers, and violates the separation of powers. Plaintiffs lack standing to seek this sweeping prospective relief based solely on past incidents of alleged misconduct that they only speculate may recur. Nor can plaintiffs’ claims support the relief ordered, which is untethered from the constitutional and statutory provisions that plaintiffs invoked and which reaches well beyond plaintiffs to restrain all DHS operations within the Northern District of Illinois. The injunction is also unworkable in practice, transforming a single district court into a supervisory tribunal for adjudicating the lawfulness of federal officers’ day-to-day operations. Indeed, plaintiffs have already alleged more than a half dozen violations of the court’s orders—tellingly, based on incidents that involved no named plaintiff at all. This Court’s prompt intervention is once more required to stay this untenable injunction, protect the safety of the public and law-enforcement officers, and restore the balance of power between the Executive and Judicial Branches.
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 PM
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The latest update on conditions inside Broadview's ICE facility, where a magistrate judge is planning a visit this week.

The Trump administration says it's "compliant" with an order to provide phone services so detainees may communicate with counsel.

Plaintiffs "continue to have concerns."
JOINT WRITTEN STATUS REPORT The parties, by their undersigned attorneys, hereby submit the following joint status report pursuant to the court’s November 7, 2025, order (Dkt. 57) to apprise the court on the government’s compliance with the attorney-client communications provision of the court’s temporary restraining order (Dkt. 49). Defendants’ Position: Para. 10 of the TRO requires defendants to “provide telephone services for each Detainee to communicate with the Detainee’s counsel in private and without cost.” Defendants are compliant with this provision. Detainees have access to a government phone and private area to call their attorneys free of charge upon request. The government has set up a new phone number (708-316-4200) and email address (BSSA.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov) that attorneys may use to initiate contact with their clients. The new Broadview phone number is not fully operational yet, so the government will be using the phone number to the guard shack call (708-316-4192) in the meantime. This number is for attorneys only. Attorneys may also send email requests to email Chicago.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov and CHI-ERO-Detained@ice.dhs.gov until the new Broadview email address is fully operational. The email addresses will kick back an auto reply to include the phone number that attorneys may use to coordinate calls to their clients. The phone number will also be distributed to the Chicago AILA Chapter. The telephone calls are not being monitored or recorded In terms of nighttime lighting, the facility has implemented a 11 p.m.-11:15 p.m. to 5 a.m.- 5:15 a.m. “lights out” period where the lighting will be dimmed (absent any exigent circumstances such as during detainee transfers for safety reasons). Defense counsel asked that plaintiffs’ counsel test the phone number and emails on November 8-9, 2025, and report back in an attempt to trouble shoot before today’s noon deadline. Counsel for the defendants was not made aware of any of the issues reported below until five minutes before the filing deadline. The defense will look into plaintiffs’ complaints. Plaintiffs’ Position: Plaintiffs cannot verify whether Defendants are compliant with the provisions of the TRO concerning attorney-client communications. Plaintiffs continue to have concerns that attorneys are not able to arrange calls to their clients in a timely fashion. The new phone number that the government has set up (708-316-4200) still does not work. As described during the last court hearing, the phone line cuts off after an attorney navigates through the automated menu. On Saturday, November 8, 2025, around 2:45 p.m., Defendants’ counsel provided Plaintiffs’ counsel with the phone number to the Broadview guard shack, as mentioned above (708-316-4192). Plaintiffs are in touch with an attorney, Shelby Vcelka (who testified at the TRO hearing) who called the guard shack number on Sunday afternoon before 3:30pm in an effort to set up a call with her client. She was transferred to a supervisor who told her that someone would call her back within 48 hours. As of 8:30 am today (Monday), she had not heard back. Plaintiffs submit that a 48-hour response time is far too long, particularly given the substantial rights at stake while people are detained and processed at Broadview and the fact that people may be transferred elsewhere sooner than 48 hours. The new email address (BSSA.Outreach@ice.gov) generates an auto-reply, but it lists the ICE Chicago Field office number (872-351-3990). That number disconnects after an attorney navigates through the automated menu. The auto-reply does not contain the guard shack phone number. The Chicago.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov and CHI-ERO-Detained@ice.dhs.gov email addresses do not generate auto-replies. We have received one report from an attorney who appears to have emailed both the BSSA.Outreach@ice.gov mailbox and Chicago.Outreach@ice.gov mailboxes and subsequently received a phone call from a Broadview official in response. That attorney was able to have a phone call with her client. It is not clear to Plaintiffs which email inbox precipitated the response. Nor is it clear to Plaintiffs how frequently either of these mailboxes are monitored or whether attorneys consistently receive a prompt response and client call. Plaintiffs have no information about whether detainees are being provided with the means to make free, unmonitored, and private phone calls to attorneys, or where that is being facilitated within the Broadview facility. With respect to nighttime lighting, Plaintiffs have no information at this time about whether or how Defendants are implementing the new “lights out” period they describe to the Court. Plaintiffs have received no further information about whether detainees are now being provided with a bedding mat or bedding, and have also received no further information about food service at the facility.
November 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
From @vanessalop.bsky.social: He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation

chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
Deportation has taken away the father I once knew and given me back a person I no longer recognize.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
#BREAKING Ex-Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, who became a central figure in a corruption probe that roiled Chicago and was due to report to prison in January, has died, his attorney says.

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2...
Convicted ex-Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski dies at 61
Jeff Tobolski, who was also mayor of McCook, took more than $250,000 in a series of bribery and extortion schemes and agreed to cooperate with the feds. A judge delayed Tobolski’s surrender date until...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
JUST IN: The Justice Department formally appeals U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis' preliminary injunction, which restricts the use of force against protesters and journalists.
NOTICE OF APPEAL IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION CHICAGO HEADLINE CLUB et al. ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) KRISTI NOEM, Secretary of U.S. ) Department of Homeland Security, in her ) No. 25-cv-12173 Hon. Sara L. Ellis, ) United States District Judge Defendants hereby appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit this Court’s preliminary injunction order, see ECF Nos. 250 & 256, including this Court’s Opinion and Order granting class certification, see ECF Nos. 252 & 256, to the extent the Court’s grant of a class-wide preliminary injunction depends on that decision.
November 9, 2025 at 9:40 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Report of shots fired at federal agents during immigration enforcement in Little Village under investigation

DEVELOPING story from Mohammad Samra w/ Cindy Hernandez and @schuba.bsky.social: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Report of shots fired at federal agents during immigration enforcement in Little Village under investigation
The Chicago Police Department responded to a call of shots fired at federal agents in the 2500 block of South Kedzie Avenue Saturday morning, police said.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Magistrate judge plans visit to ICE Broadview facility amid lawsuit over conditions

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Magistrate judge plans visit to ICE Broadview facility amid lawsuit over conditions
The visit has been tentatively planned for Thursday morning, and details will be sorted out early next week.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:58 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
JUST IN: The declaration of U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino

He says he received a body-worn camera, has been trained on a body-worn camera, and is "currently using my body-worn camera in compliance with the preliminary injunction."
DECLARATION OF GREGORY K. BOVINO I, Gregory K. Bovino, declare and affirm as follows: 1. I received a body worn camera on October 30, 2025. 2. I completed the requisite body-worn camera training on October 30, 2025. 3. I am currently using my body-worn camera in compliance with the preliminary injunction. Executed this 7th day of November, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois.
November 7, 2025 at 11:08 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
The hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally in the case over conditions inside ICE's Broadview facility is getting underway. It's being held remotely.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 3d
That's it for now. Their next check-in with Gettleman is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday.

They're also set to appear before a magistrate judge at 4 p.m. today.
November 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Good afternoon. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman is presiding over a remote status hearing that just began over conditions inside the ICE facility in Broadview.
November 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
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Judge Sara Ellis began with Carl Sandburg’s beloved poem, “Chicago.”

That’s the vision of the city she embraced as she decried the feds’ use of force here that “shocks the conscience,” and extended an order meant to curb it.

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Judge blasts Trump’s Chicago border ‘Blitz,’ extends curbs on use of force that ‘shocks the conscience’
Judge Sara Ellis said Trump's Justice Department lacks credibility, partly because of a lie told by U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:40 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
From a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, who calls today's preliminary injunction an "extreme act" by an "activist judge."

"We shall appeal."
November 6, 2025 at 9:06 PM
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U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis' preliminary injunction is in.

Read it in full here: cst.brightspotcdn.com/37/f5/b85033...
November 6, 2025 at 9:04 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Federal agents’ use of force amid the aggressive deportation campaign in Chicago “shocks the conscience,” and the Trump administration “lacks credibility.”

That’s what a judge found Thursday in a crucial new ruling: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Federal judge enters broader order governing feds' use of force during immigration blitz
The judge previously forbade federal agents from using tear gas or other “riot control” weapons against people who pose no immediate threat and without two warnings during the deportation campaign. Ho...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:05 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
#BREAKING U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in Chicago is entering a preliminary injunction governing the use of force against protesters and journalists.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 4d
Ellis, apparently wrapping up, is quoting George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others.
November 6, 2025 at 5:36 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who is still ruling, indicates a preliminary injunction is on the way.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 4d
After going through several incidents since the start of Operation Midway Blitz — like the ones above — Judge Ellis says, "those are the factual findings that I'm making to support this preliminary injunction."
November 6, 2025 at 4:49 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis just took the bench. She's expected to rule on a request for a preliminary injunction governing the use of force by federal agents in Chicago.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 4d
Good morning. Back in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who is expected to rule in 20 minutes on the use of force by federal agents against protesters and journalists in Chicago.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 5d
'It's a disgrace': Chicagoans describe jarring encounters with feds as judge prepares to rule on 'blitz'

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
November 6, 2025 at 4:11 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
CLARIFICATION: This footage was from Los Angeles, not Chicago.

Apologies, we had a lot flying at us in the courtroom yesterday. But I see this is getting some attention..
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 5d
Lawyers play a video that was played for Bovino. In it, he tells agents "everybody fucking gets it if they touch you."

"This is OUR fucking city," Bovino tells them.
November 6, 2025 at 4:03 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Good morning. Back in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who is expected to rule in 20 minutes on the use of force by federal agents against protesters and journalists in Chicago.
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
jonseidel.bsky.social
'It's a disgrace': Chicagoans describe jarring encounters with feds as judge prepares to rule on 'blitz'

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
'It's a disgrace': Chicagoans describe jarring encounters with feds as judge prepares to rule on 'blitz'
U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino testified on video that the use of force by federal agents in Chicago has been “more than exemplary," but also said he would have used more tear gas in Litt...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 AM
jonseidel.bsky.social
We're done.

Ruling expected at 10 a.m. Thursday.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 5d
Arguments are done.

Plaintiff attorney Steve Art steps forward, but he says it's just in anticipation that the judge will tell him to do something.

"Go home," will be the instruction, she says.

Going over housekeeping now.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 5d
Ellis: "If they are making changes to what they do because they have been tear gassed, because they've been hit in the head with a pepperball — twice. Because they've been staring down barrels of guns. Then that is what matters."
November 6, 2025 at 12:12 AM
jonseidel.bsky.social
Arguments are done.

Plaintiff attorney Steve Art steps forward, but he says it's just in anticipation that the judge will tell him to do something.

"Go home," will be the instruction, she says.

Going over housekeeping now.
jonseidel.bsky.social Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 5d
Ellis: "If they are making changes to what they do because they have been tear gassed, because they've been hit in the head with a pepperball — twice. Because they've been staring down barrels of guns. Then that is what matters."
November 6, 2025 at 12:11 AM