Free Republic

Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has repeatedly been assigned cases to do with President Donald Trump's second term, as Townhall has been covering. Congress has taken notice, and the House last month passed a bill to rein in rogue judges like Boasberg and others. Questions still remain, though, and on Monday, Townhall obtained a letter from Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Chip Roy (R-TX) regarding such concerns. The letter was sent to Angela D. Caesar, the Clerk of the Court for the U.S. District Court for...

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has delivered a pointed warning to judges nationwide as local courts have slowed the rollout of Donald Trump's political agenda. 'We do have authority over the federal courts,' Johnson shared at a press conference Tuesday. 'We can eliminate an entire district court,' he noted.

🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan & @JudiciaryGOP file an amicus brief in support of President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.Read the Western District of Washington brief here: https://t.co/cEYqE3LYMERead the District of…— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) February 3, 2025Link to the amicus brief: https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/86-2.pdf

The U.S. government will issue refunds to tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrants married to American citizens who applied for a Biden administration program that was struck down in federal court, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, plans to refund the $580 application fee that roughly 94,000 people... The program would have allowed eligible applicants to apply for a green card without having to leave the country, by granting them an immigration classification known as parole that effectively cancels out an illegal entry and provides temporary work permits.

A federal judge in Kentucky has partially blocked a U.S. Transportation Department program that metes out contracts to minority-owned businesses and suggested he may eventually rule against it, marking the latest blow to a government affirmative action program. In a 28-page opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove wrote that, for now, the scope of the injunction is limited to the two plaintiffs — both transportation contractors — and at least two states, Kentucky and Indiana... "...the Court is sure that the federal government has nothing but good intentions in trying to remedy past wrongs,” wrote Van...

A federal jury cleared all but one of six Trump supporters accused in a civil trial over the surrounding of a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a Texas highway days before the 2020 election. Why it matters: The defendants were accused in the lawsuit of violations including the Civil War-era 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act... ... Following a two-week trial, Eliazar Cisneros, a chef and Navy veteran, was the only one of the accused to be found liable in the U.S. District Court case... A lawyer for Joeylynn Mesaros, one of the defendants cleared in the case, said they would ask...

Prince Harry's visa documents will not be made public, a judge has ruled in a major victory for the Duke of Sussex. In a court decision handed down on Monday, US District Judge Carl Nichols said the British royal had a 'reasonable privacy interest' in relation to his US immigration paperwork and therefore such files should remain private.... The decision comes after Judge Nichols spent five months reviewing Harry's immigration file as part of a case brought by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C... The judge said that some documents submitted to him by DHS...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered the Justice Department to provide former President Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon access to certain sensitive internal legal opinions or other related records that could potentially help bolster his defense against criminal contempt of Congress charges. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols told prosecutors they must produce "statements or writings reflecting official DOJ policy," including nonpublic opinions, that relate to "the department's policy on prosecuting or not prosecuting government or former government officials raising executive privilege claims or defenses of immunity."..... As part of his reasoning, Costello cited a number of prior...

A federal judge has thrown out an obstruction charge against a defendant charged with breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a ruling that could reverberate across hundreds of cases stemming from the attack on Congress. In a 29-page opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols ruled that ambiguities in the federal obstruction law required him to narrow the case against defendant Garret Miller, who is facing multiple felony charges connected to the attack. Under that narrow interpretation, Nichols ruled, defendants can be charged with obstruction only if they directly attempt to affect “a document, record, or other...

Prosecutors are asking a judge to bar a Capitol rioter from arguing that former President Donald Trump authorized him to attack the Capitol on January 6. Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a New York City judge, was photographed inside the Capitol wearing fur pelts, what appeared to be a police officer's bullet-proof vest and carrying a police officers' riot shield. Mostofsky's trial is set to begin in January and prosecutors are hoping to block him from using the "blame Trump" defense ... ..."The defendant will be unable to identify any remarks made by former President Trump that authorized that illegal...

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols has issued a protective order in Steve Bannon's criminal contempt of Congress case, effectively barring him or his lawyers from releasing to the public case material given to them by prosecutors. However, any evidence related to the case that is already in the public sphere or obtained by Bannon outside of the evidentiary discovery process is not subject the judge's ruling. ... ...Bannon and his team had asked the judge not to issue the order, citing what they argue is the public's need to understand the case. But prosecutors told the judge they feared...

The social media posts started in May: photos and videos of smiling people, mostly women, drinking Mason jars of black liquid, slathering black paste on their faces and feet, or dipping babies and dogs in tubs of the black water. They tagged the posts #BOO and linked to a website that sold a product called Black Oxygen Organics. Black Oxygen Organics, or “BOO” for short, is difficult to classify. It was marketed as fulvic acid, a compound derived from decayed plants, that was dug up from an Ontario peat bog. The website of the Canadian company that sold it billed...

A federal judge ruled against Michigan's request to remand its lawsuit against the Line 5 pipeline back to a state court, delivering a win for Canadian operator Enbridge Energy. U.S. District Judge Janet Neff on Tuesday ruled the case was properly within federal court jurisdiction, rejecting Michigan's arguments that because its suit was brought on the basis of state laws that it belongs in state court...

DENVER — A North Dakota-based organization representing Native Americans sued Colorado this week for a measure banning American Indian school mascots which was passed last year amid a nationwide push for racial justice following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. The lawsuit by the nonprofit Native American Guardian’s Association was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court... ...The suit argues that the complete erasure of Native American imagery is not beneficial and that the use of positive and respectful Native American symbols and mascots in schools honors the group, helps neutralize offensive stereotypes and teaches the public about Native American history. ...

Federal prosecutors brought forth the first case against a bank whose employees allegedly exploited the multi-billion-dollar benefit programs aimed to support small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. The case was brought against the former branch manager of Popular Bank in New York. The manager allegedly conspired with other employees of the bank to fraudulently apply for more than $3 million in small business relief loans, according to Reuters. Over 500 individuals have seen charges pertaining to pandemic-relief falsehoods, sparking "unprecedented levels of fraud," said the U.S. Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. While cases of fraud by individuals have surged...

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Gov. Ron DeSantis and three Florida sheriffs from enforcing a key portion of the state’s so-called anti-riot law, in part, because it “encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” The definition of what constitutes a riot under a new state law pushed by the governor is too vague “to the point of unconstitutionality,” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of Tallahassee wrote in his preliminary injunction order....

A second federal judge in Washington questioned whether the lead felony charge leveled by the government against Capitol riot defendants is unconstitutionally vague, as 18 Oath Keepers accused in a conspiracy case urged the court on Wednesday to toss out a count carrying one of the heaviest penalties against them. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta asked how federal prosecutors distinguish felony conduct qualifying as “obstructing an official proceeding” of Congress — punishable by up to 20 years in prison — from misdemeanor offenses the government has charged others with, such as shouting to interrupt a congressional hearing. “Essentially, what...

In the summer of 2020, the increasingly partisan and left-wing corporate media refused to acknowledge the nation was being consumed by violent riots. Because there were thousands of protests, many of them lawful and small, the media chose to call them “mostly peaceful” — even though several hundred large protests were documented as violent riots.... ...In many cities, mayors and police chiefs deliberately had their police patrols stand back and let the damage happen. They wanted to give the rioters, including the violent fascists ironically known as antifa , room to wreak havoc, set buildings on fire, and beat up...

A judge on Tuesday ruled that former Trump White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman is not allowed to depose former President Trump or former Trump chief of staff John Kelly in a lawsuit relating to her White House departure in 2018.... ...The lawsuit stems from Manigault Newman's failure to file to financial disclosure form upon being let go from her position as director of communications in the Office of Public Liaison. According to Leon's opinion, former government employees have to file their report within 30 days of departing, which Manigault Newman "knowingly and willingly" failed to do.

A federal court in California on Thursday ruled against President Trump's order to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count for apportioning congressional seats, dealing the administration its second court loss over the July executive memorandum. A panel of three judges for the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California ruled that the memo was unconstitutional and violated laws governing the census. "The policy which the Presidential Memorandum attempts to enact has already been rejected by the Constitution, the applicable statutes, and 230 years of history," the panel wrote in a 90-page decision. The order forbids the Commerce...