Free speech to the Fourth Circuit. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit heard arguments over a Trump-era rule that requires a sub-agency of the U.S. Justice Department, the Executive Office of Immigration Review, to pre-approve judges’ requests to express their opinions on immigration policies and other matters through published writing or speaking at public events in their personal capacities. Immigration judges argue this policy violates their Free speech to the Fourth Circuit policies on their own time. That ruling prompted the NAIJ’s appeal to the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit. The policy emerged as many immigration judges attempted to speak out against certain policies created under the Trump administration. Unlike federal judges, immigration judges operate under the Justice Department.