Federal judge denies Minnesota's request to temporarily halt Operation Metro Surge

Federal judge Kate Menendez denied Minnesota's motion for a temporary restraining order to halt "Operation Metro Surge" on Saturday. The court documents, filed on Saturday, say that Minnesota and its cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have not met their burden of proof.    In:

Federal judge Kate Menendez denied Minnesota's motion for a temporary restraining order to halt "Operation Metro Surge" on Saturday. The court documents, filed on Saturday, say that Minnesota and its cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have not met their burden of proof.   

The argument to halt operations, in part, stated that the federal operation is "causing harm to the Twin Cities and State themselves, as well as their residents." Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit "legally frivolous."

In the court documents, Menendez cited another recent case where the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated the preliminary injunction ruling that restricted the force federal agents can use on peaceful protesters, saying that court case had "much more settled precedent" in that case and that "the Court of Appeals determined that the injunction would cause irreparable harm to the government because it would hamper their efforts to enforce federal law." Menendez also wrote, "If that injunction went too far, then halting the entire operation certainly would."

"Because there is evidence supporting both sides' arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side's competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction," the judge said in the ruling.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released a statement after Menendez's ruling that stated in part: