Free Republic

The Trump Admin argued in their motion papers that “the TRO contravenes Article II of the Constitution to the extent it applies to political appointees, in particular the Secretary of Treasury and other senior Treasury leadership.” Judge Vargas kept most of the restrictions in place, but she allowed Secretary Bessent and other in Treasury leadership to access the payment system.

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF STATES' EX PARTE EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ANGEL KELLEY, D.J. Plaintiff States' Ex Parte Emergency Motion For Temporary Restraining Order (Dkt. 4) is GRANTED. Defendants and their officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and successors are hereby enjoined from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce the Rate Change Notice (NOT-OD-25- 068) within Plaintiff States until further order is issued by this Court. Counsel for Defendants shall file a status report with the Court within 24 hours of the entry of this Order, and at biweekly intervals thereafter, confirming the regular disbursement and obligation of...

Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, ordered a pause on the release of the identities of the FBI employees involved in the January 6 cases and Trump investigations after a hearing on Thursday. The plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the Justice Department from identifying the names of the FBI employees. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued publicly naming the employees would put people in danger.

Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, ruled that the order is likely unconstitutional. ... Boardman said the civil rights group plaintiffs, five pregnant women whose children would not be granted citizenship under the order, were likely to succeed on the merits. The plaintiffs are represented by the CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.

...In November of last year, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett ordered San Luis Obispo County to implement a new water release plan for the Lopez Lake Dam. Now, the county is appealing that decision, citing a "catastrophic impact on South County water supply." Per the order, the county has to release 7.9 CFS or cubic feet per second over the entire year and have two "pulse flows,"..

Nothing but the headline at the moment...

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order pardoning the 23 pro-life Americans Joe Biden imprisoned for protesting abortion. “This is a great honor to sign this,” Trump said, condemning Biden’s lawfare, especially targeted at “elderly people.” Trump granted pardons for 23 pro-life advocates who faced weaponized prosecutions brought against them by the Biden Department of Justice under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Earlier this month, Thomas More Society attorneys submitted to the Trump administration formal requests for presidential pardons on behalf of 21 of those pro-life advocates who have been unjustly prosecuted, convicted, and in...

Hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning all 23 pro-life prisoners that Joe Biden unjustly imprisoned for protesting abortion, pro-life advocate Bevelen Williams has been released. The plight of Bevelyn Williams and 22 other pro-life Americans who are hoping and praying for pardons from President Donald Trump is finally over. Video Player VIDEO ON LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 00:00 02:17 Williams, who was found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking access to an abortion clinic in 2020, is in the process of appealing appealing her sentence of 41 months in prison. Williams...

A U.S. District Judge in Oregon has blocked a $25 billion-bid by supermarket giant Kroger to take over rival Albertsons after ruling that the Federal Trade Commission's concerns about the merger's impact on market consolidation were valid. Judge Adrienne Nelson said Tuesday afternoon that a merger between the two companies would end up harming consumers. The two companies "engage in substantial head-to-head competition and the proposed merger would remove that competition," Ferguson wrote. As a result, the proposed merger would likely to lead to outcomes that "unilaterally" harm consumers, and is thus "presumptively unlawful. " Judge Ferguson also ruled the...

A federal appeals court on Wednesday stopped the federal government from destroying a fence of razor wire that Texas installed along the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass to deter migrants from entering the country illegally. The ruling, criticized by activists, came hours before Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum told President-elect Donald Trump that immigrants headed to the U.S. are being “taken care of” in her country. Texas had placed more than 29 miles of wire in the Eagle Pass area by last September when Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration over Border Patrol agents’ alleged illegal destruction of state...

A federal judge ruled Monday that a member of the San Jose State women’s volleyball team, who’s been at the center of a transgender controversy, can participate in the Mountain West Conference tournament that begins Wednesday, according to The New York Times. Judge S. Kato Crews, an appointee of President Biden to the U.S. District Court in Colorado, made the decision amid a national transgender controversy over Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior who joined the Spartans in 2022. “San José State University will continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms,” the university said in a statement...

BREAKING: Chuck Schumer just confirmed another lifelong federal judge with a vote of 50-48. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Braun didn't show up to block the confirmation by making it 50-50. Kamala is currently in Hawaii, so she couldn't have cast the tie-breaking vote. Senator JD Vance is our VP-elect and still took time out of his busy schedule to show up & vote. Where were Ted Cruz and Mike Braun? We could've stopped this nomination or, at the very least, slowed down Schumer. If Republicans were the ones speedrunning confirmations like Schumer, every Democrat Senator would be in...

This morning, I woke up, for the first time in days not stuffed up or coughing, only to view as my first sight with clarity the pale light of Trump's victory's and it's hollow aftermath. The Republican Party which is now poised to assume control of key branches of government after the election has once again demonstrated a distressing proclivity for squandering authority even before the new government arrives. This time, not in the name of Trumpian populism, but in deference to indifference itself. What should have been a decisive rebuke of a judicial nominee, ensuring the opportunity for conservatives...

A federal appeals court has upheld an Indiana law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormones for transgender children under the age of 18, one of numerous such laws passed by Republican-controlled states. The 2-1 decision from the seventh US circuit court of appeals on Wednesday comes as the US supreme court prepares to hear a challenge to a similar law in Tennessee, which may ultimately determine whether all such state laws around the country can be enforced. The seventh circuit had already allowed the law to take effect in February while it considered the challenge by families of...

A federal appeals court has ruled the Department of Education improperly rejected Grand Canyon University’s switch from for-profit to nonprofit status, granting a key point in the Christian school’s appeal of a record fine. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the decision Friday. It overturned a 2022 summary judgment by a lower court because the department failed to apply a relevant federal law to the Phoenix campus. The Education Department denied the nonprofit status in 2019, arguing it would enrich the for-profit company that previously owned GCU, even though the IRS and state...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge ruled Sunday that Iowa can continue challenging the validity of hundreds of ballots from potential noncitizens even though critics said the effort threatens the voting rights of people who’ve recently become U.S. citizens. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sided with the state in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the Iowa capital of Des Moines on behalf of the League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa and four recently naturalized citizens. The four were on the state’s list of questionable registrations to...

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday ordered the commonwealth to place non-citizens back on its voter rolls. The judge ruled that removing the registered voters from the rolls violated federal law, WRIC reported. The Justice Department sued Virginia earlier this month over removing non-citizens from its rolls ahead of the Nov. 5 elections. The suit was against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia State Board of Elections, and the Virginia Commissioner of Elections for allegedly violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The NVRA prevents states from using systematic programs to remove ineligible voters from voter rolls within...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) – A federal judge has ordered Virginia to put people back on the state’s voter rolls after they were removed under a state program that the Justice Department and advocates claim illegally took them off too close to the election. Lawsuits from the Justice Department and advocacy groups allege that part of an executive order from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin systematically removes alleged noncitizens from the rolls too soon to the Nov. 5 presidential election in violation of federal law. The law — the National Voter Registration Act — requires Virginia and other states to stop systematically...

Pro-life activist and mother of a young daughter, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, announced on Tuesday that her stay of appeal request has been denied by the judge who sentenced her on charges of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act), and that she is to report to federal prison in Alabama on Thursday. She will be in prison for at least a month as her attorney appeals the decision. “I wanted to give you all an important update,” she wrote. “My legal team worked tirelessly to submit a stay of appeal so I could be home on...

A federal judge dismissed the defamation charges in a lawsuit filed by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino against the University, dealing a major blow to the embattled professor's efforts to rehabilitate her reputation and win millions from the school.In a Wednesday ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun partially granted Harvard's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, writing that Gino had failed to plausibly allege that the University defamed her, violated her privacy, or unlawfully interfered with her relationships with publishers.Still, Joun allowed one key plank of the lawsuit to proceed: Gino's claim that Harvard breached its contract with...