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Immigration authorities in Chicago arrested a Mexican illegal immigrant accused of decapitating a missing Illinois woman and storing her body in a storage container filled with bleach. Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, of Waukegan, Illinois, was arrested in April and charged with concealing a corpse, abusing a corpse and obstruction of justice, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Immediately after his first court appearance, Lake County Judge Randie Bruno released Mendoza-Gonzalez from custody. He was arrested again Saturday afternoon at a market in Chicago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and remains in ICE custody, according to DHS....

The Senate on Monday confirmed the first judicial nominee of President Trump’s second term. Whitney Hermandorfer will now be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, the Cincinnati-based bench that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee Hermandorfer, of Tennessee, was confirmed by a 46-42 vote along party lines. She will replace an Obama pick, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch. Twelve senators did not vote.

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump secured approval of his first judicial nominee of his second term, as the U.S. Senate confirmed a former law clerk to three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority to a seat on a federal appeals court. The Republican-led Senate voted 46-42 along party lines in favor of Whitney Hermandorfer, a lawyer serving under Tennessee's attorney general, to be appointed as a life-tenured judge on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

MILWAUKEE (CN) — A federal Wisconsin magistrate judge recommended on Monday that the court deny Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s motion to dismiss the obstruction charges brought against her. “Whether Dugan violated these statutes as the government accuses, or whether she was merely performing her judicial duties as Dugan asserts, these are questions for a jury that cannot be resolved on a motion to dismiss,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph wrote in a 37-page ruling. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a Bill Clinton appointee, will take Joseph's recommendation under advisement and issue a final decision on the motion...

On July 1, 2025, in the Southern District of California, Federal District Judge, the Hon. Cathy Ann Bencivengo ruled that the State of California must modify their law to allow non-residents to apply for concealed carry permits. The logic is clear. At the time of the founding, there was no requirement banning non-residents from carrying weapons for self-defense. Judge Bencivido stated: The sole issue in this case is whether the Constitution requires California to allow nonresidents to apply for a concealed carry weapons (CCW) license. Plaintiffs, who are not California residents, complain that they are prohibited from carrying a firearm...

A sleazy bid by a federal judge to defy the Supreme Court’s decision on Team Trump deportations shows exactly why the ruling was necessary in the first place. On Monday, the justices stayed a preliminary injunction by District Judge Brian Murphy (a Biden appointee) that had blocked the Trump folks from deporting migrants to countries they didn’t come from without sufficient time to appeal. That should’ve been an immediate green light for the feds to deport eight criminal migrants to South Sudan, even though seven of the men originate from other countries. Yet Murphy flipped the high court a bird,...

Federal prosecutors say Judge Hannah C. Dugan helped the man evade immigration agents who were waiting in a Milwaukee courthouse to arrest him. Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, became an inadvertent figure in the debate over immigration enforcement when federal prosecutors charged a Milwaukee judge this spring with obstruction and said she had helped him evade immigration officials.On Monday, a plea agreement was made public in the immigration case against Mr. Flores-Ruiz. The documents, signed on June 20, say he has agreed to plead guilty to entering the United States illegally after being removed from the country in...

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to stop Harvard University from hosting foreign nationals on student visas. US District Judge Allison Burroughs’s preliminary injunction extends a temporary block she issued last month, which prevented the Trump administration from revoking the Ivy League school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. The certification allows Harvard to host roughly 7,000 international students – about 27% of the school’s total enrollment. The injunction will remain in effect until the underlying case is decided, the Obama-appointed judge ruled. The ruling marks another legal victory for the Cambridge, Massachusetts school as...

A federal judge in California has halted the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) Hub, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC). In a June 13 order, US District Judge Susan Illston declared that the planned elimination of the unit, part of a broader push by the administration to downsize the federal government, violates an earlier injunction. Secretary of State Marco Rubio may have prematurely celebrated the end of R-FIMI back in April when he said the censorship unit was “dead.” Despite his announcement, legal barriers remain in place, preserving...

A federal judge in Maryland on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump lacked the authority to fire three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and ordered their reinstatement — teeing up another high-stakes court clash centered on Trump's ability as commander-in-chief to remove or otherwise control the members of independent agencies. U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, a Biden appointee, sided with the three ousted members of the board — Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. — in ruling that their firings were unlawful and ordered all three members to be reinstated to their posts. In...

BOSTON – A federal judge in Boston on Thursday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump from barring US entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University. Under a two-page temporary restraining order granted to Harvard, US District Judge Allison Burroughs enjoined Trump’s proclamation from taking effect pending further litigation of the matter amid an escalating dispute between the Ivy League school and Republican president. The judge ruled that Trump’s directive prohibiting foreign nationals from entering the United States to study at Harvard for the next six months would cause “immediate and irreparable injury”...

Activist judges like Judge Boasberg are are issuing blatantly unlawful nationwide injunctions. It’s not judicial review, it’s judicial sabotage.

A bipartisan group of more than 130 retired judges filed a brief Friday urging a federal court to drop charges against Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, saying her arrest undermines "centuries of precedent on judicial immunity." Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit court judge, was arrested April 25 by FBI agents on federal allegations she prevented the arrest of a man by immigration authorities during a federal law enforcement operation at her courthouse. The man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, was arrested and detained at an immigration detention center. In an amicus brief filed Friday, the group of judges argue that Dugan shouldn't be prosecuted...

A U.S. federal judge has inflicted another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to end a multiple Biden-era parole program for hundreds of thousands of migrants*** U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications from those migrants who are seeking work permits or renewing their status. Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, rejected the Trump administration's claim that suspending the parole programs was within its broad discretion to direct immigration policy. Federal law still requires agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to follow a lengthy process for...

A team from the Department of Government Efficiency can now access a sensitive Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments, a judge ruled late Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas gave permission for four DOGE employees to access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which essentially serves as the checkbook for the federal government. Vargas said she would no longer require the Trump administration to get permission from the court before expanding access to other DOGE representatives.

MADISON, WI -- The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended Dane County Judge Ellen Berz for a week following a complaint brought by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. Berz will be suspended without pay starting June 26. The Commission alleged that Berz violated multiple parts of the Code of Judicial Ethics and then admitted to said violations. The Commission specifically referenced two incidents, one on May 31, 2019 and another on Dec. 13, 2021, in its complaint against Berz. During the 2019 incident, Berz allegedly used sarcasm towards a defendant and admonished him for asking to move a trial date saying...

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman issued the stay. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds to New York City over its opposition to a congestion traffic pricing program that Washington says is more about raising money than addressing congestion.U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman issued the stay, Reuters reported. The program has seen the city charge most vehicles a $9 toll to enter the Big Apple during periods of high traffic.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, however, has said the program appears "driven primarily by the need to raise revenue for the Metropolitan Transit Authority system as opposed...

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily thwarted the Trump administration’s bid to kill Manhattan’s congestion pricing — ensuring the controversial program will stay in place until at least next month. US District Judge Lewis Liman issued a restraining order that prevents the US Transportation Department from fining or punishing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as the court battle over the toll rages on. The ruling came down just one day before Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had threatened that the government could start withholding federal funding and approvals for New York projects if the toll wasn’t nixed. We’ve won — again,” Gov....

[Judge Allison Burroughs] has temporarily paused the Trump administration's move to cancel Harvard's student visa program. Harvard filed suit against the Trump administration over the policy, and a judge granted its request for a temporary restraining order to preserve status quo while the case plays out in court. Judge Allison Burroughs, a 2014 Obama appointee, set a hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Boston federal court. Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders — nearly a quarter of the student body — and is a "blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause,...

The Trump administration “unquestionably” violated a court order when it put eight migrants with violent criminal convictions onto a flight to South Sudan, a Biden-nominated federal judge ruled Wednesday. US District Judge Brian Murphy, who was nominated to the seat by former President Joe Biden in 2024, slammed the White House for failing to provide the men with adequate due process when ordering them on a flight bound to the African nation, of which only one of them is actually from. “The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this court’s order,” the judge said in an...