For most of American history, when a Justice Department lawyer stood up in court and told a judge something, the judge took it as true. There's even a name for this — it’s called "presumption of regularity," the idea that government officials are doing their jobs honestly and in good faith.

That assumption is now under strain. A growing number of federal judges — appointed by presidents of both parties — have indicated they are no longer willing to give the benefit of the doubt to lawyers from the Trump administration. And one of the clearest examples of this is coming out of Illinois.

It's the case of the so-called “Broadview Six” — immigration protesters arrested outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility last fall. A rare federal felony case against them collapsed this spring after a judge found what she described as serious misconduct in front of a grand jury.

We spoke with Jason Meisner, who covers federal courts for the Chicago Tribune, to walk us through what's happened.