January 30, 2026
Federal judge rejects FACE Act charges against church protesters; DOJ goes to grand jury anyway
Federal judge rejects FACE Act charges; DOJ bypasses ruling with grand jury
⚖️Justice✊Civil Rights📜Constitutional Law
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko rejected DOJ requests for arrest warrants against five people, including Don Lemon, in connection with the Jan. 18, 2026 disruption at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Micko, a former federal public defender appointed to the bench in Apr. 2023, found no probable cause to support FACE Act charges against protest organizers Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen. He approved only conspiracy charges against three of eight defendants.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (18 U.S.C. 248), passed in 1994, prohibits using force, threats, or physical obstruction to interfere with people seeking reproductive health services OR exercising religious freedom at places of worship. Senator Orrin Hatch added the religious-worship provision during the bill's passage, arguing First Amendment religious liberty deserved equal protection.
Between 1994 and 2024, DOJ brought 211 FACE Act cases. According to data obtained by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), 205 cases targeted pro-life activists. Under Biden, DOJ combined FACE Act charges with 'conspiracy against rights' charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act, increasing potential sentences from six months to over ten years.
After Micko refused to sign arrest warrants, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen personally called the court demanding review by a district judge. Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz called this request 'unheard of in our district.' The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals denied DOJ's emergency petition to compel the lower court to sign warrants.
DOJ empaneled a grand jury on Jan. 29, 2026. The grand jury returned indictments allowing FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents to arrest Don Lemon and three others (Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, Jamael Lydell Lundy) on Jan. 30.
Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee who clerked twice for Justice Antonin Scalia and later recommended Amy Coney Barrett for a Scalia clerkship, ordered all three initially detained protesters released on their own recognizance. He ruled DOJ hadn't proved the defendants engaged in crimes of violence.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, head of DOJ's Civil Rights Division, stated: 'We are just at the beginning of this process. I intend to identify and find every single person in that mob that interrupted that church service in that house of God and bring them to justice.'
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) argued on Don Lemon's podcast that the FACE Act was 'designed to protect the rights of people seeking their reproductive rights' and questioned how DOJ was 'stretching' the law to apply to church protesters. The magistrate judge's wife, Caitlin Micko, reportedly works as an assistant attorney general in Ellison's office.
⚖️Justice✊Civil Rights📜Constitutional Law
People, bills, and sources
Douglas Micko
U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of Minnesota
Patrick Schiltz
Chief U.S. District Judge, District of Minnesota
Harmeet Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
Daniel Rosen
U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
Keith Ellison
Minnesota Attorney General
Nekima Levy Armstrong
Protest organizer, civil rights activist
What you can do
1
learning more
Read the FACE Act statute to understand its dual purpose
The full text of 18 U.S.C. 248 shows how the 1994 law protects both reproductive health facilities AND places of religious worship from force, threats, or obstruction.
2
understanding
Review FIRE analysis of First Amendment limits on protest disruption
FIRE explains why entering private property to disrupt religious services isn't protected by the First Amendment, regardless of the protesters' political views.
3
civic action
Contact your U.S. Representative about FACE Act enforcement disparities
Between 1994-2024, 205 of 211 FACE Act cases targeted pro-life activists. Ask your representative whether the law should be applied consistently regardless of the protesters' political views.