Free Republic

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, was unconstitutional. On Sunday, US District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily extended an order blocking the administration from deploying troops to The Rose City, saying the government failed to justify the move. In the Sunday evening order, Immergut temporarily blocked “Defendant Secretary of Defense [Pete] Hegseth from implementing” memorandums that authorized the federalization and deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas and California into Portland. The injunction remained in effect until Friday. Friday’s 106-page ruling makes the...

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against federal immigration agents over their use of force during Operation Midway Blitz, telling lawyers for the Trump administration she found their evidence "simply not credible." "It is difficult to conceive how an injunction requiring the government to comply with the Constitution could possibly be harmful," U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said as she explained her decision. She said she is granting "complete relief to plaintiffs" and rejected the government's request for a stay pending appeal, saying they have not made a strong showing that they're likely to succeed on the merits of...

The Justice Department moved Thursday to block a federal magistrate judge’s order requiring prosecutors to immediately turn over grand jury materials in the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick stunned prosecutors Wednesday when he made the rare decision to order them to provide the materials to Comey’s defense team by the end of Thursday, expressing concern that the Department of Justice may have “indicted first and investigated later.”Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to Congress in 2020 about authorizing leaks to the media concerning the Hillary Clinton email investigation...

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge in Chicago will issue an extensive injunction restricting federal agents’ use of force, saying Thursday that a top Border Patrol official leading an immigration crackdown repeatedly lied about threats posed by protesters and reporters.The preliminary injunction detailed in court Thursday came in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and protesters who allege federal agents have used excessive force during the operation that has netted more than 3,000 arrests and led to heated clashes across the nation’s third-largest city and its many suburbs. “I see little reason for the use of force that...

A federal magistrate judge on Wednesday sharply questioned the Justice Department's handling of evidence in its criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, describing prosecutors' conduct as "highly unusual" and indicative of a rushed effort to indict Comey while potentially violating his constitutional rights. "We're in a bit of a feeling of indict first, investigate second," Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said in a motions hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. The hearing stemmed from a dispute raised by Comey's attorneys over evidence the government obtained through four separate search warrants in 2019 and 2020 targeting the devices and communications of...

Activist Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly BLOCKED President Trump’s proof of citizenship requirement for federal voter registrations. This is nothing more than pure lawlessness. It is becoming more evident by the day that Democrats depend on fraud and broken election systems in order to gain control over the American people and push their dangerous policies. Kollar-Kotelly sided with far-left Democratic groups that sued the Trump administration for having the audacity to demand that voters in US elections are actually US citizens. According to the AP, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled that asking for proof of citizenship violated the separation of powers. That doesn’t make...

CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County’s top judge has signed an order barring ICE from arresting people at courthouses. Cook County includes Chicago, which has seen a federal immigration crackdown in recent months. Detaining residents outside court has been a common tactic for federal agents, who have been stationed outside county courthouses for weeks, making arrests and drawing crowds of protesters. The order, which was signed Tuesday night and took effect Wednesday, bars the civil arrest of any “party, witness, or potential witness” while going to court proceedings. It includes arrests made inside courthouses and in parking lots, surrounding sidewalks and...

CHICAGO (AP) — Federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, a judge said Thursday after seeing tear gas and other aggressive steps used against protesters. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was a “little startled” after seeing TV images of clashes between agents and the public during President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown. “I live in Chicago if folks haven’t noticed,” she said. “And I’m not blind, right?” Community efforts to oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have ramped up in the nation’s third-largest city, where neighborhood groups have assembled to monitor...

U.S. District Court Judge LaShonda Hunt, a Biden-appointed federal judge in Illinois, has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE to dismantle a security fence protecting the federal immigration processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, a facility that has been the site of violent protests and anti-ICE riots since the launch of President Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz earlier this fall.

In issuing her decision, U.S. District Judge April Perry said, “I simply cannot credit [the Trump administration’s] declarations to the extent they contradict state and local law enforcement. … DHS’ perception of events are unreliable.”

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...

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,...

Washington — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio violated the First Amendment by targeting pro-Palestinian students for deportation in order to strike fear into international students and curb lawful speech. In a 161-page decision, U.S. District Judge William Young delivered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration's efforts to pursue international students who expressed pro-Palestinian views on college campuses, which he said was constitutionally protected speech. The judge, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, was unsparing not only in his views of Noem and Rubio's actions, but...

A radical magistrate judge denied the Justice Department’s request to detain a man who tried to take down Marine One with a red laser pointer. The Justice Department on Monday charged a man for trying to take down Marine One with a red pointer laser on Saturday. According to a legal complaint filed on Monday, the suspect, Jacob Samuel Winkler, pointed a red laser at Marine One while President Trump was onboard. “The red laser beam hit Officer Santiago’s eyes and briefly disoriented him. At this time, Marine One flew at a relatively low height and directly above Officer Santiago...

A Biden-appointed federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from terminating federal grants to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Trump administration has terminated more than $500 million in federal funding from the school, claiming it failed to address antisemitism after allowing a “Jew Exclusion Zone” to persist on campus and is continuing to engage in racially discriminatory admissions practices. The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Rita F. Lin, an appointee of President Joe Biden, said the administration likely did not follow the proper procedure in canceling the grants. All grants that were terminated by the administration...

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump Administration from deporting Guatemalan children in HHS custody to their home country. US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, said Trump’s claim he is reunifying the migrant children with their parents “crumbled like a house of cards.” The government of Guatemala has now formally requested that these children be returned home. The children, who do not have a parent in the US, were in the care of the Health and Human Services Department. The Trump Administration worked with the Guatemalan government to devise a plan to safely return the children to...

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled against a school district in Virginia for reinstating a Confederate school name, saying the move violated the constitutional rights of black students. U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski ruled that Stonewall Jackson High School students in Shenandoah County, Virginia, cannot be forced to bear Jackson's name and its pro-slavery associations.

US District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, blocked President Trump from cutting billions of dollars in USAID and foreign aid that Congress authorized. Trump will immediately appeal Judge Ali’s ruling. “President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Reuters. Reuters reported:

A far-left federal judge erupted during a hearing on Thursday after the DOJ dismissed a case against a DC man who threatening to kill President Trump. Earlier this week a DC grand jury declined to indict Edward Dana after he was arrested damaging a light fixture at a DC restaurant. Dana also allegedly threatened to kill President Trump and the DC Metro officer who arrested him. .... Snip.... Federal Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Thursday screamed from the bench and blasted DOJ lawyers during a hearing to dismiss the case. The judge also apologized to the defendant who threatened kill...

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to restore about $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University, despite finding the Ivy League school was “plagued by antisemitism.” Regardless of antisemitism concerns, Boston-based District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the federal grants awarded to Harvard were unlawfully terminated by President Trump. Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, determined there was “more than sufficient” evidence indicating the Trump administration “impermissibly retaliated against Harvard for refusing to capitulate to the government’s demands.” The Trump administration “specifically and repeatedly linked the coordinated funding cuts to Harvard’s decision to ‘fight,’” Burroughs...