Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Saturday rejected key elements of President Donald Trump’s May executive orders that would make it easier to fire federal employees and reduce their ability to bargain collectively. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in a court order that Trump’s orders, which also would reduce the amount of time low-performing employees had to improve their performance before being fired, “undermine federal employees’ right to bargain collectively.” Trump signed three executive orders in May that administration officials said would give government agencies greater ability to...

A federal judge Friday knocked the Trump administration for withholding information from those suing it over the transgender military ban as she decided to withhold ruling on the case. In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied both the defendant’s and the plaintiff’s motions for summary judgment, which is when a judge makes a ruling on case without a full trial. Rather than granting either party’s motion for summary judgment, she concluded, “the court will allow plaintiffs the opportunity to complete discovery.” In a memo accompanying the order, Kollar-Kotelly wrote that...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reversing the closed-door “administrative closure” amnesty for 350,000 migrants which was quietly created by officials working for former President Barack Obama. The huge amnesty was carried out by Obama’s judges in the immigration courts who told roughly 350,000 migrants that their case files were being placed in storage facilities instead of being used in trials to send them home. But Sessions has ordered that the files be pulled from storage and sent back into the immigration courts, alarming immigration lawyers, and progressives. The migration industry is denouncing the amnesty reversal as an intrusion on the...

A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction Thursday against the Trump administration for delaying the Obama-era Waters of the United States rule, dealing a setback to a key piece of President Trump's deregulatory agenda. The decision by the U.S. District Court in South Carolina means that the so-called Clean Water Rule is again operative in 26 states where district courts have not halted the regulation.

A judge agreed to appoint an independent “firewall” lawyer to review pretrial evidence related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s case against Russians who allegedly interfered in the 2016 election. The evidence will be screened for possible national security issues before it is turned over to a Kremlin-linked defendant, Bloomberg News reported Monday. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich approved the request for the counsel because Mueller is concerned with providing evidence to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy Russian businessman and longtime associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Department of Justice’s legal team warned against Prigozhin gaining access to “sensitive” evidence. That...

A U.S. court on Monday ruled the Trump administration could not enforce an updated policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, becoming the second court in the country to rule against the government since it unveiled the policy in March. Trump announced on March 23 that he would endorse a plan by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria. The policy replaced an outright ban on transgender service members that Trump announced last year on Twitter, citing concern over military focus and medical costs....

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order blocking the release of downloadable blueprints for 3D-printed firearms. Lasnik’s ruling comes a day after Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a suit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to allow the release of the blueprints. A federal judge in Seattle has granted a temporary restraining order blocking a Texas man from releasing downloadable blueprints for 3D-printed plastic firearms. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik’s ruling Tuesday comes a day after Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a suit challenging the Trump administration’s decision last month...

The Trump administration suffered another legal defeat on its sanctuary city crackdown after a judge Friday permanently blocked the government from retaliating against Chicago’s sanctuary policy by stripping away its police grant money. U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, a Reagan appointee to the bench, said the administration is free to track down illegal immigrants on its own, but it cannot force Chicago to cooperate in reporting or turning them over. His ruling follows similar defeats for the Trump administration in California and Philadelphia, where judges have also ruled against the administration’s attempts to condition Byrne Justice Assistance Grant money...

The Supreme Court Matters to Us Allv July 10, 2018 by Lily Categories: I just had to say this Tags: justice, U.S. Supreme Court We are all susceptible to being lulled into a false sense of security that makes us think all is right with the world, or at least our little corner of it. But if you needed a reminder that these times are anything but normal, you just got it by way of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings, and Donald Trump’s nominee to the court: Brett Kavanaugh. The justices delivered an eardrum-splitting, 200-decibel wakeup call in the...

The Trump administration on Monday lost a bid to persuade a federal court to allow long-term detention of migrant families, a significant legal setback to the president’s immigration agenda. In a ruling that countered nearly every argument posed by the Justice Department, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles held that there was no basis to amend a longstanding consent decree that requires children to be released to licensed care programs within 20 days. The government said that long-term confinement was the only way to avoid separating families when parents were detained on criminal charges....

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Monday said a restaurant gave him free food because the owner "appreciated" what he was doing in his fight against President Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. "My experience at restaurants: I ordered take out at a Greek restaurant," Lieu tweeted. "When I arrived, the owner saw me & threw in a free baklava (one of my favorite desserts). He said he appreciated what I was doing. I guess that's what happens when one opposes ripping kids away from parents." Lieu's tweet comes as he and many other lawmakers are pressuring the Trump administration to reunite...

A federal judge upheld most of California’s new sanctuary laws Thursday, but did rule the state went too far when it ordered businesses not to grant access to the Border Patrol or deportation officers. Judge John A. Mendez, a Bush appointee to the court, said the state does not have to turn over illegal immigrants and can refuse to cooperate with federal agents, as long as it still allows local police to share information. And he ruled that California has the right to perform inspections on any facility that holds illegal immigrants in the state.

Democrats are in a state of sheer panic. They're panicking because last week, Justice Anthony Kennedy -- a reliable vote in favor of certain leftist priorities including abortion and same-sex marriage -- announced that he will step down from the Supreme Court, leaving President Trump a second selection. This apparently will lead to the end of a free America. According to Jeffrey Toobin of CNN, the remade Supreme Court will spell doom: "Abortion illegal, doctors prosecuted, gay people barred from restaurants, hotels, stores; African-Americans out of elite schools, gun control banned in 50 states, the end of regulatory state." None...

NY Judge: Trump Admin Acted In 'Bad Faith' By Adding Citizenship QuestionCiting “bad faith,” a federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to disclose additional information regarding its decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Judge Jesse Furman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York announced on Tuesday that lawyers representing the government must produce a log of documents that were being withheld, as well as provide an explanation for why the administration did so. Furman further demanded that the government include documents from the Commerce and Justice Departments...

A federal district judge has ruled President Donald Trump’s administration’s practice of indefinitely detaining some asylum seekers can’t proceed, dealing a major blow to what immigration attorneys have said is one of the administration’s tools to deter people from seeking safe haven in this country. The lawsuit was filed in March by the American Civil Liberties Union and named as a defendant the El Paso Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office. Other field offices named in the lawsuit include Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark and Philadelphia. The El Paso office covers West Texas and New Mexico. The ACLU alleged in...

The judge blamed the "chaotic circumstance of the government's own making" for the turmoil surrounding the separation of migrant children from their parents. A federal judge in San Diego ordered immigration agents on Tuesday to stop separating migrant parents and children who have crossed the border from Mexico and to work to reunite families that have already been split up while in custody. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by an anonymous woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which was expanded to become...

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson on Monday ruled a Kansas law that requires new voters to prove citizenship is unconstitutional and ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to return to school as punishment for repeated violations of court rules. Her 118-page ruling sides with the American Civil Liberties Union in a two-year legal battle over the law’s burden and effect on elections. She provided a damning assessment of Kobach’s witnesses, calling their evidence flawed, invalid, biased, irrelevant, unreliable and untrustworthy.

WICHITA, Kan. — A federal judge has ruled Kansas cannot require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, a setback for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in a case with national implications for voting rights. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson sided with voters...

A federal court on Friday again said the Trump administration cannot implement its ban on most transgender military service while a lawsuit against it proceeds. “The status quo shall remain ‘steady as she goes,’ and the preliminary injunction shall remain in full force and effect nationwide,” Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington wrote Friday. In doing so, Pechman quoted the top Navy admiral, who told a Senate panel in April that it’s been “steady as she goes” since transgender people have been allowed to serve openly. Pechman is one of four federal...

The White House on Thursday slammed the mayor of Philadelphia’s “disgusting” celebratory dance after a court ruled in favor of the city in a fight with the Trump administration on its sanctuary city status. U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot cut off grants to the city over policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Baylson said the conditions the administration placed on the city were unconstitutional, “arbitrary and capricious.” Video tweeted by Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney’s deputy chief of staff showed him dancing with chief of staff Jane Slusser. “Sanctuary city, yeh!” a giddy...