NEW: Rep. Ted Deutch became the 23rd lawmaker to call for an impeachment inquiry since Mueller testified -- and with him, a majority of House Democrats now say they'd vote to take that step.
-Deutch is chair of the Ethics Committee; 12 out of 20 standing committee chairmen would vote for an impeachment inquiry
-17 out of 24 Dems on the Judiciary Committee publicly support an inquiry. (And Nadler has backed it privately)
-Majorities of other investigative committees also support an inquiry, including 9/13 on the Intelligence Committee.
-Backers think there are a lot more to come; a slew of progressive members are still on the sidelines. But 218 is still a long way away, especially w/o Pelosi.
Dems who support an inquiry tell me they're watching two players:
-Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a Dem leader who is running for Senate and helped elect a lot of the freshmen in 2018
-Rep. John Lewis, who has deferred to Pelosi on the issue.
Their support could move a lot of other Dems.
One more notable fact:
-Though just 2 of the 6 chairmen Pelosi tasked with invsetigating Trump have come out for an impeachment inquiry (Engel and Waters), a majority of all their committee members support such a move.
61 out of the 114 on these panels want to take that step.
WHY SOME COUNTS DIFFER: A lot of the impeachment whip counts vary by a couple members. We included in ours everyone who confirmed - either to us or in statements - that they would vote for an inquiry.
Some members were explicit with us but haven't been public about it otherwise.
That includes members like Reps. Bass and Pallone -- who both say they're not necessarily agitating for an impeachment inquiry but would vote for one if it came before them.
To us, that's the key metric of support in a body that measures things by voting.
Dem #119 who would vote for an impeachment inquiry: Rep. AGUILAR is the 24th lawmaker to back an inquiry since Mueller testified.
There's some confusion out there about Pallone. Here's what he told me on July 18 - the day after the Al Green vote.
"Personally I think that he's obstructed justice and he's done all these terrible things that would qualify for impeachment. So that's why I vote that way..." 1/2
Pallone said he had qualms about whether it was worth the House's time because the Senate would just kill it. But he said he personally supports - and would vote for it.
"If the opportunity comes to vote, I will vote for it."
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Some people do Friday Zillow. We do Friday habeas. Here are some cases of people who have been detained by ICE and ordered released by judges who said the detention was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Mexican man with no criminal history and six US citizen kids.
BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.
NEW: A federal judge excoriated the Trump administration for claiming it lacked the resources to give ICE detainees constitutionally required access to lawyers — despite surging law enforcement to detain them in the first place.
The rebuke came as the administration also dropped criminal charges against two men it claimed had attacked an ICE officer, who fired a gun in the fracas. “Newly discovered evidence” conflicted with the original headline-grabbing account, DOJ said. politico.com/news/2026/02/1…
NEW: Federal judges are increasingly furious at what they see as a pattern / playbook of defiance by the Trump administration to court orders in immigration cases — in Minnesota and around the country.
1) WHISKING DETAINEES TO OTHER STATES: ICE has made a practice of pinballing people from where they're arrested to facilities in Texas, New Mexico or elsewhere, and sometimes more than once. It can complicate or defeate challenges to their detention.
2) BLOWING OFF DEADLINES: When detainees sue for release, the administration is increasingly blowing off court-ordered deadlines to response. It's become almost routine and has led judges to order release in some cases. politico.com/news/2026/02/1…
Two men were recently charged with assaulting an immigration officer in MN with a snow shovel and broom, which led to a shooting ICE claims was defensive. The case made national headlines.
The men moved in court earlier in this week to prevent ICE from deporting witnesses who they say can rebut the charges. Their trial judge, Paul Magnuson, agreed.
However...
One of the witnesses, a 19-year-old woman who appears to be the partner of one of the defendants, was apparently picked up by ICE the same day as the incident and transported first to Texas and then to New Mexico.
Today, a judge in New Mexico noted demanded details about the woman's detention, noting that MN offered her a U visa for witnesses to a criminal investigation and that she's being held under mandatory detention policies that most judges – including Judge Strickland – have ruled unlawful.
UPDATE: Judge Strickland in New Mexico has now further enjoined DHS from relocating or deporting the witness.
MEANWHILE: Judges in Minnesota continue rejecting the administration's efforts to lock up ICE's targets en masse. This man has been in the US since 1988 and says he's been approved for a green card.
What may be most notable, however, is the increasingly lengthy list of requirements in the judge's order — each responsive to recent violations or transgressions by the administation, such as releasing MN residents in Texas with no way to get home to withholding their possessions
In another release order, Judge BARTLE — a George W. Bush appointee in Pennsylvania — vented today that ICE "continues to act contrary to law, to spend taxpayer money needlessly, and to waste the scarce resources of the judiciary." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
NEW: A rupture between DOJ and ICE has emerged in Minnesota, where overwhelmed prosecutors keep dropping the ball — and saying ICE won't return their messages.
The crisis has had real-world consequences for migrants illegally detained.
MORE: Julie Le — the DOJ attorney who vented about the chaos in court — has been reassigned. politico.com/news/2026/02/0…
Le's cases are the tip of the iceberg. In recent weeks, an overwhelmed DOJ has dropped the ball in dozens of cases, missing deadlines, botching filings, violating orders.