This year, Franklin County Municipal Court adopted a rule prohibiting civil arrests in the courthouse, except when executed pursuant to a judicial warrant authorizing the arrest. The court adopted the rule in response to an increase in civil federal immigration enforcement actions at the court.
In August 2026, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Franklin County Municipal Court and the court’s Presiding and Administrative Judge Jessica D’Varga the U.S District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. DOJ alleges that the rule violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by impeding federal immigration enforcement and regulating and discriminating against the federal government.
On October 1, the Brennan Center, along with co-counsel Levine Lee LLP and Marshall Forman & Schlein LLC, filed an amicus brief on behalf of former Ohio judges and justices in opposition to the DOJ’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Together, the signatories have more than 100 years of combined experience on the bench and including serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and judges on the Franklin County Probate Court, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County Municipal Court, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, and Cleveland Municipal Court. Their brief argues that invalidation of the rule would interfere with the effective administration of justice by disrupting court proceedings, diverting critical judicial resources from state judiciaries to federal immigration enforcement, and deterring immigrant communities from accessing state courts.
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