Free Republic

Can Congress create federal agencies with power to enforce the laws and prosecute crimes, but which agencies are outside the control of the President? In a 1935 decision called Humphrey’s Executor, the Supreme Court held that it could. I first wrote about this subject in a post back in December 2016 titled “Can The Separation Of Powers Of The Federal Government Be Righted?” December 2016 was immediatey after Donald Trump had first been elected President, but before he had taken office. The backdrop of the post was the issue of the extent to which the newly-elected President Trump would be...

The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials who opposed President Donald Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval to further his immigration enforcement efforts. But he also put the decision on hold until Monday. California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially...

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter, the case challenging limitations on the President's ability to remove members of the Federal Trade Commission. In resolving this question, the Court will consider whether to narrow or overrule Humphrey's Executor. Perhaps to aid in the Court's deliberations, today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided the combined cases of Harris v. Bessent and Wilcox v. Trump, concerning the limitations on removal of members of the Merit System Protection Board and National Labor Relations Board. In Harris, a divided panel concluded that the President...

A federal judge late Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from making widespread immigration arrests in the nation’s capital without warrants or probable cause that the person is an imminent flight risk. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil liberties and immigrants rights groups in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Officers making civil immigration arrests generally have to have an administrative warrant. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, they may make arrests without a warrant only if they have probable cause to believe the person is in the U.S. illegally...

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge Tuesday night ordered the Trump administration to cease its campaign of arresting immigrants in Washington, D.C. without a warrant or probable cause of a flight risk, warning that the White House’s mistreatment of immigrants could put Americans overseas at risk. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that, while federal agents may have the authority to make warrantless immigration arrests, the way that authority has been used on the immigrant community in Washington was likely unlawful. “Defendants are preliminarily enjoined from enforcing their policy of conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests without probable cause to believe...

A federal judge on Friday blocked the IRS from giving ICE the home addresses of taxpayers who might be undocumented immigrants — dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. The ruling is a significant victory for immigrant-rights group and liberal activists who are trying to resist the mass deportations that President Donald Trump has made a top priority for the first year of his second term. The Trump administration can appeal the decision, and it has a decent track record this year of overturning lower-court losses. A separate federal judge in a related case previously declined to...

A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. Trump had said the troops were needed to deal with rampant crime and violence in Washington and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts there. On Aug. 11, the president signed a presidential memorandum, in which he said the local D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.” “It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in...

The first nine months of the President Trump’s second term have seen repeated instances of a Federal District Court judge temporarily enjoining some action of the administration, only to have the Supreme Court stay the injunction while the litigation proceeds. Examples of this pattern of events have occurred in cases involving such things as funding rescissions, staff lay-offs, and deportation procedures. A recurring feature of this pattern has been dissents from the three liberal Supreme Court justices — Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson — who would have left the temporary injunctions in place during the pendency of the litigation. Justice Jackson,...

SNAP food benefits could restart as early as Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday morning. Two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits, which help feed 42 million Americans, during the government shutdown. Judge Jack McConnell of Rhode Island also directed that these be paid out of emergency funds “as soon as possible.” Boston Judge Indira Talwani gave the administration until Monday to tell her if it will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November. The administration was originally set to cut...

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell has ruled that Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, Iowa, and New York do not have to comply with recent executive orders requiring them to affirm biological sex and discontinue the promotion of radical gender ideology and promiscuity in order to receive federal funding Key Takeaways: * Despite multiple Trump executive orders specifying otherwise, a district judge has ruled that certain Planned Parenthood affiliates in three states do not have to rid their sex ed curricula of radical gender ideology. * The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program has been shown in the past to have failed to...

The Supreme Court will likely agree with lower courts that ruled President Donald Trump can’t use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs, according experts surveyed by JPMorgan. Trade and legal experts said the odds that the high court will rule against the Trump administration are 70%-80% and expect a decision by the end of the year

federal appeals court on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order blocking President Trump from federalizing Oregon National Guard Troops. On Saturday, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked President Trump’s National Guard deployment to Portland. Judge Immergut issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and blasted President Trump’s decision to deploy troops. The TRO will expire on October 18. The judge warned that Trump’s justification to deploy troops to Portland may send the country into a constitutional crisis. On Sunday, President Trump called up hundreds of California National Guard Troops to Portland to circumvent the judge’s order blocking Oregon National Guard Troop...

A U.S. District Court on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the Trump administration from deploying 200 National Guardsmen to Portland, Oregon, amid violent anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests. The lawsuit, brought by the State of Oregon and City of Portland, argued the deployment was unlawful, exceeding the president’s statutory and constitutional authority. Judge Karin Immergut, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, granted the TRO blocking the federal action.

A federal judge in Oregon has granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard into Portland after the president announced he would send in troops to protect what he calls a “war-ravaged” city. The ruling by the Trump-nominated judge marks the latest setback to White House efforts to crack down on Democratic-led cities it claims are stricken by crime and disorder, often in part by citing the need to protect ICE facilities from riotous protesters. The temporary restraining order expires in 14 days on October 18, US District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump nominee,...

An Oregon federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending the National Guard into Portland, as the city contends with hundreds of protestors at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. It's a major blow to Trump, who called Portland a 'war-ravaged' city under siege by Antifa terrorists, when he announced last week that federal agents would be deployed there. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, made the ruling after the city and the state sued the federal government. The temporary restraining order expires in 14 days on October 18, Immergut wrote in her order. The Department of...

Conservative law professor William Jacobson of Cornell University, publisher of the Legal Insurrection blog, appeared on the Jesse Kelly show this week and outlined an upcoming Supreme Court case for Trump that he describes as ‘very high stakes.’ The case has to do with the Trump tariffs, and depending on how the court rules, it could have a significant effect on Trump’s economic policy. Jacobson suggests that it could be a very close call. Transcript via Legal Insurrection: Kelly (00:05): The Supreme Court is about to begin another term. I don’t understand these terms. I don’t understand what they’re doing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members. In a 6-3 decision, the high court also allowed the Republican president to carry out the firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, while the case plays out. It’s the latest high-profile firing the court has allowed in recent months, signaling the conservative majority could be poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be...

The high court will also hear arguments about overturning a 90-year-old precedent that allowed Congress to create independent agencies.The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to fire the sole remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission, the latest victory in his aggressive push to exert greater control over the federal bureaucracy. The justices overturned a lower-court injunction that reinstated Rebecca Slaughter to her position with the agency that oversees antitrust and consumer protection issues while litigation over her removal works its way through the courts. The ruling — while provisional — is significant because the...

A federal judge on Tuesday night blocked President Donald Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as her lawsuit challenging her termination plays out in court. Judge Jia Cobb’s issuance of a temporary restraining order in the case came nearly two weeks after Cook sued Trump to prevent him from removing her from the central bank. "The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement,” Cobb wrote in an opinion on her decision Tuesday. Cobb’s order enjoins Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors “from effectuating in any manner” Cook’s removal because of...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday paused a court order requiring President Donald Trump to distribute roughly $4 billion in foreign aid that he has tried to cancel through a "pocket rescission," Reuters reported. The order follows a lower court determining that Trump lacked the authority to withhold funding that Congress allocated. The 2nd Circuit on Friday upheld the district court order from Judge Amir Ali finding that Trump needed congressional authority to withhold the funds. “To be clear, no one disputes that defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the court is not directing...