Free Republic

A federal judge on Feb. 24 blocked two agencies from sharing sensitive information with employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).“The U.S. Department of Education; Denise L. Carter, the Acting Secretary of Education; and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys are ENJOINED from disclosing the personally identifiable information of the plaintiffs and the members of the plaintiff organizations to any DOGE affiliates,” U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman wrote in a 33-page order.The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its employees are also forbidden from disclosing the same information to DOGE workers, the judge said.The temporary restraining order...

In a major ruling, the judge overseeing the case of the man charged with killing four Idaho college students in 2022 has denied a request to exclude potentially key DNA and other evidence from his upcoming capital murder trial. Lawyers for Bryan Kohberger had sought to suppress DNA evidence that was seen as a linchpin of prosecutors' case against him -- evidence they say directly links Kohberger to the crime scene. In addition, lawyers sought to exclude data obtained from various online accounts like Apple, Google and Amazon belonging to Kohberger; his apartment in Washington; and his parents' Pennsylvania home.

Washington -- The White House says billionaire Elon Musk is not technically part of the Department of Government Efficiency team that is sweeping through federal agencies but is rather a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. Musk’s exact role could be key in the legal fight over DOGE’s access to government data as the Trump administration moves to lay off thousands of federal workers. Defining him as an advisor rather than the administrator in charge of day-to-day operations at DOGE could help the administration as it pushes back against a lawsuit arguing Musk has too much power for someone who...

Well, this is interesting. What a surprise. Dirty Judge Jack McConnell, who believes he was recently elected US president, halted President Trump’s current spending freeze. But Judge McConnell is not some innocent bystander. Judge McConnell’s organization has received $117.6 million in government funding in total (ending in 2023). Maybe that’s why he wanted the money to keep flowing. He’s expecting several more million this year! The Gateway Pundit previously reported on this radical far-left judge who called President Trump a “tyrant” and decries racism as a “white people problem.” ... America First Legal has uncovered damning evidence that federal Judge...

Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan is poised to issue a temporary restraining order that would block nearly everyone in the Trump administration from accessing any data produced by any federal agency or dismissing any federal or contract workers. The order comes in response to a suit filed by 13 states — New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington — claiming "that President Trump has violated the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution by creating a new federal Department without Congressional approval and by granting Musk sweeping powers over the entire federal...

A federal judge on Friday indefinitely delayed a final ruling on a request by labor unions to block Elon Musk's government efficiency team from accessing internal system data, telling both parties, "You will hear from me," while declining to promise an exact time or date. The update from U.S. District Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, comes just one week after he rejected an earlier request from unions representing Labor Department employees for a temporary restraining order to block DOGE access to internal system data. The judge said the plaintiffs lacked standing and failed to show they would...

The Trump administration sent three illegal immigrants back to their home country of Venezuela in response to a judge's decision blocking them from being sent to Guantánamo Bay as part of a continued crackdown on illegal immigration. U.S. District Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales of New Mexico issued a memo Friday announcing the court had vacated a March 3 status conference for three Venezuelan migrants just five days after it blocked the Trump administration's efforts to transfer the migrants to Guantánamo Bay. Since then, Gonzales said, respondents had filed a notice of removal "informing the court that all three petitioners were...

Ohio must try to get back around a billion dollars in pandemic unemployment benefits from the federal government and distribute it to Ohioans who have been waiting since June 2021. A Franklin County judge has ordered Gov. Mike DeWine to obtain those funds, which Ohio didn’t get because he ended Ohio’s participation before the federal program closed. “There were right around 300,000 people who were denied $300 a week for 10 weeks, so $3000 each. That's $900 million. This is almost a billion dollars," said Marc Dann, who filed the lawsuit in July 2021. Dann, a Democratic former state attorney...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's attempt to solve the long-running hostage situation between Israel and Hamas hit an obstacle today, as Hamas convinced a Biden-appointed federal judge to overturn Trump's order to release their hostages. On Monday, Trump issued a stern ultimatum to Hamas to release all remaining hostages by noon on Saturday or face dire consequences, but sources confirmed that Hamas leaders obtained a ruling from a judge appointed by the previous administration to effectively tie Trump's hands. "The President of the United States has no legal right to do anything, ever," said Judge Gregory Chandler. "The Constitution...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge found Monday that the Trump administration hasn’t fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending and told the White House to release all the money. U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell ruled that ongoing struggles to get federal money for things like early childhood education, pollution reduction and HIV prevention research violated his Jan. 31 order. He ordered the Trump administration to “immediately take every step necessary” to follow his temporary restraining over halting its plans for a sweeping freeze of federal funding....... The Justice Department argued, however, his ruling applied to a sweeping...

It is an undemocratic and unconstitutional power grab by a tiny group of radical leftists! LAWFARE: Obama-appointed judge threatened Trump and his team with arrest if they don't restore every last dime of funding that has been paused or cancelled. If the president wants to delay any payment he will need to justify his request to the judge's personal satisfaction. --@amuse✓@amuse

Elon Musk has called for the impeachment of an Obama-appointed judge who barred DOGE and the Treasury Secretary from accessing payment systems at the US Treasury. On Friday night, Democrats went ‘judge shopping’ to ask that Musk’s team be stopped from accessing Treasury systems, knowing that instead of receiving a judge by random selection, the only available judge would be Paul Engelmayer – who held an ex-parte hearing without DOJ lawyers. Engelmayer did not cite any case law or precedent for his ruling, which many have criticized for vast overreach.

In a stunning and sweeping emergency injunction that has even stunned the people who demanded it, a Manhattan-based District Judge has just removed Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent from his authority over the Treasury Department; blocked any political appointee from accessing records within the Treasury Department; blocked any “special appointee” of President Trump from records within Treasury; and demanded that all information previously extracted be destroyed. The emergency injunction was signed by District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, determined without any input from the Trump administration and applies until Friday, February 14, 2025, when U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas...

A federal judge said Friday he intends to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave at midnight. Unions representing government employees sued to stop the shutdown of agency operations and restart the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump, who has accused the agency of fraud and corruption to justify its imminent shuttering. Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump during his first term, said he would issue a formal order later Friday but that a “limited, very limited” order temporarily pausing the plan would be handed down....

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from placing thousands of employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave Friday, halting plans to cut its workforce down to just a few hundred. Washington, DC, US District Judge Carl Nichols imposed a “very limited” restraining order on the administration, Politico reported, sparing at least 2,200 USAID employees from being put on paid leave at midnight. Administration officials had reportedly moved to gut the agency’s more than 10,000-person workforce by the end of the week down to just 290 or so staff members. Just 500 employees at USAID...

*** … April’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race between conservative Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford — a race that will determine ideological control of the court in a pivotal swing state. Crawford, a far-left circuit court judge, and Wisconsin Democrat Party Chairman Ben Wikler (who just finished second in the contest for national Dem chair) invited high-profile supporters to a “donor advisers briefing” with the subject line “Chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026.” *** [T]he briefing was arranged by aides for megadonor Reid Hoffman, who has given nearly $15 million to Wisconsin Democrats in recent years....

Topline A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s buyout offer to federal civilian employees from taking effect Thursday, hours before the deadline the administration set for more than 2 million employees to decide whether to take resignation packages with pay through September. Timeline Feb. 6: A federal judge in Massachusetts pushed back the deadline for employees to accept the offer, initially set for 11:59 p.m. Thursday, until at least Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by federal workers unions that argued the administration could not guarantee pay beyond March 14 expiration date for the existing budget. Feb. 5:...

A federal judge paused Thursday’s deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer while more proceedings on the program’s legality play out. The government will send a notice to the employees informing them that Thursday’s deadline is on hold. Before the judge’s ruling, eligible federal workers had until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday to decide whether to take the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, which will generally allow them to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September. The pause stems from a lawsuit that the American Federation of Government Employees and several...

A federal judge has indicated that she will issue an injunction forbidding members of the DOGE team, which is part of the Executive Office of the Presidency, from reviewing some financial records.During the hearing, a lawyer from the Department of Justice disclosed that two "special government employees" associated with Musk, but employed by the Treasury Department, accessed sensitive records from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service based on "high level guidance" from the Department of Government Efficiency to prevent waste and fraud.U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gave the government and unions who brought the case until 6 p.m. ET to...

A report from ABC7 in Chicago reported that a magistrate judge ordered the release of a Venezuelan man who was arrested in a targeted enforcement operation over the weekend. Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers, along with other federal agencies, carried out a targeted enforcement operation, Breitbart News reported. The actions were overseen by top officials of the Trump administration, including Border Czar Tom Homan. According to the report from ABC7, law enforcement officials placed Edward Martinez-Cermeno, 24, into custody on Sunday for illegally entering the United States near Eagle Pass, Texas...