Ed touched on this briefly last night in his evening round-up, but it's just such fun that I thought I'd break it out for its own post.
A federal judge has ruled that there are instances when congressional actions can have consequences and result in the removal of immunity.
There's a hot pistol of a congresswoman out of New Jersey's District 10 who might not have Jasmine Crockett's wardrobe, but she's got her mouth, and then some.
Back in May, Lamonica McGiver, two fellow members of Congress, and the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, decided on a showy and impromptu visit to the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark for a SURPRISE! inspection. As that's not how these things work, and even though they were politely invited to 'arrange for a visit,' the group decided to 'crash the gate doing 98,' as the old trucking song put it.
BREAKING: Multiple Democrat members of Congress—and the Democrat Mayor of Newark—have been arrested for criminal trespassing at the ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey.
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 9, 2025
Sure looks like an insurrection.
Maybe even assault on a federal officer.pic.twitter.com/JeVBPfgti0
Everyone was arrested for the scrum at the gate, and, man - was Hakeem Jeffries was talking tough when the dust settled. Red lines, even.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned Republicans and federal law enforcement against sanctioning or arresting three Democratic New Jersey lawmakers who were involved in a tense immigration protest.
“They’ll find out. They’ll find out. They’ll find out,” Jeffries said Tuesday when asked how he’d respond if officials arrested or sanctioned Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman. “That’s a red line. It’s a red line, it’s very clear.”
Well, we all know how well Democrats cleave to their red lines, be they in Newark or Damascus.
Hey Hakeem! What now? Redline crossed!!
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) May 20, 2025
Representative McIver has been charged. pic.twitter.com/bTQJqHGnrI
The feisty Ms McIver was hit with assault charges besides the trespassing dinks. In June, she was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with law enforcement officers.
Hakeem puffed and puckered up, and that was it from him.
McIver has always claimed she had congressional immunity because all this action occurred in the performance of her oversight duties.
...During arguments last month, Judge Semper’s comments suggested that he was more open to Ms. McIver’s claim that the charges were precluded by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which affords members of Congress broad immunity from criminal penalties stemming from the performance of their legislative duties.
NOT TO MENTION SHE'S THE VICTIM HERE
McIver was quick off the mark to claim ICE caused all the problems for what should have been a routine visit, and that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
New Jersey freshman congresswoman LaMonica McIver is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration after being charged with assault for her role in a recent clash outside Delaney Hall immigration center in Newark.
“I was there with my colleagues, congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and [U.S. Rep.] Rob Menendez, and ICE and Homeland Security created that situation out there,” she said. “They created everything that happened and transpired out there.”
...According to the criminal complaint filed by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, McIver “slammed” an ICE agent and tried to restrain him while officers were taking Newark Mayor Ras Baraka into custody. McIver has maintained her innocence and dismissed the charges as political intimidation.
The New York Times describes the encounter between a charging Rep McGiver and ICE personnel as a 'brief but explosive clash.' Kinda poetic, no?
...On May 9, Ms. McIver, 39, was with two House colleagues for an unannounced oversight inspection of the detention center in Newark, which has a 15-year contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency worth $1 billion. Video shows that she was involved in a brief but explosive clash with masked immigration agents, who came out from behind the facility’s gates to arrest the city’s mayor, Ras J. Baraka, on a trespassing charge.
She is accused of using her forearms to “forcibly strike” an agent during the ensuing scrum, in which she can be seen pushing toward Mr. Baraka as she is also pushed from behind. No one was injured in the 68-second confrontation. She and the two other House members, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, went back inside the detention center to participate in a tour, led by ICE agents, after the alleged assault.
Judge says case against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) for attacking federal agents can proceed and denies her motion to dismiss.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) November 13, 2025
She was caught on video blatantly assaulting DHS officials at the ICE facility in NJ.
If she was smart she would’ve settled.
McIver chose poorly. pic.twitter.com/ih4L8nlGSn
I hadn't realized she did get her tour afterward.
McIver has spent the last month arguing that her case should be dismissed on two grounds: selective and vindictive prosecution, and that she was illegally charged while performing oversight duties because she had congressional immunity.
New Jersey U.S. District Court Judge Jamel K. Semper, a Biden appointee, said, No. He is allowing the prosecution of two of the three charges to go forward and is mulling over that third one for the moment.
I mean - wow. He was pretty straightforward in shooting down McIver's excuses.
...In his decision, the judge, Jamel K. Semper of U.S. District Court in New Jersey, also rejected Ms. McIver’s argument that she was being selectively and vindictively prosecuted by President Trump’s Justice Department because she was a Democrat.
“Even if a presumption of vindictiveness could be invoked in the pretrial context,” Judge Semper wrote in a 41-page decision, Ms. McIver had “failed to demonstrate that such a presumption is appropriate here.”
During arguments last month, Judge Semper’s comments suggested that he was more open to Ms. McIver’s claim that the charges were precluded by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which affords members of Congress broad immunity from criminal penalties stemming from the performance of their legislative duties.
But in his ruling, he concluded that the assault charges were only “incidentally related” to Ms. McIver’s congressional oversight visit to the detention center in Newark, which is known as Delaney Hall.
“Defendant’s presence at Delaney Hall does not grant constitutional protection for every act performed in connection to that visit,” Judge Semper wrote.
It was hard to say McIver was being selectively prosecuted, the judge reasoned, when the other two congressional Democrats with her were not charged. It had to have been something she'd done rather than who she was.
...He noted that the two House colleagues with Ms. McIver that day were not charged, undermining her claim that she was being selectively prosecuted.
And I absolutely love how the judge politely read her the 'learn to control yourself' riot act in his decision.
Being part of a resistance hissy-fit throwdown, Judge Semper said, is nowhere in your job description.
...“Defendant’s active participation in the alleged conduct removes her acts from the safe harbor of mere oversight,” Semper wrote in his ruling. “Lawfully or unlawfully, Defendant actively engaged in conduct unrelated to her oversight responsibilities and congressional duties.”
The trial itself has been indefinitely delayed due to constitutional questions, not concerning McIver, but rather the validity of the indictment, which was issued by Alina Habba. There are questions concerning the measures the Trump administration used to retain Habba as U.S. Attorney for the state - a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled they were illegal - and a Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel now has the government's appeal of that judgment under consideration. Everything is in limbo until there's a ruling from them.
In the meantime, what a breath of fresh, rational air coming from a bench in a deep blue state.
Running across an adult every once in a while is enough to keep hope springing eternal.
