New DOJ rule would allow immigration judges to hold lawyers in contempt

CBS News reports that the Justice Department is proposing a rule to empower immigration judges to hold attorneys for immigrants, their clients and witnesses "in contempt if they violate court orders, in a move that departs from historical practice and which legal experts warn could be unconstitutional."

But what about attorneys for the U.S. government? "The proposal notably exempts federal government employees, such as Department of Homeland Security attorneys, from being subject to any contempt order by an immigration judge — in what critics say represents a lopsided and unfair scenario that would allow potential government misconduct to go unchecked."