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A federal judge blocked construction of President Donald Trump’s planned arch project about an hour after it was approved.The National Capital Planning Commission approved the 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle by an 8-4 vote on Thursday after hearing eight hours of testimony from over 120 citizens, according to USA Today.The National Capital Planning Commission voted late Nov. 5 to approve the project after hearing from about 100 opponents, including Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said the project would "snarl traffic for years, impact the nearby airport, and present even more serious threats to public safety that this commission...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, the latest development in a ballot controversy that has roiled the final days of one of the nation’s most closely watched races. Sullivan, an ally of President Donald Trump, faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, in a race that is among a handful expected to determine which party controls the Senate for the final two year’s of Trump’s term. Tuesday’s ranked-choice election also includes two candidates who have done little...

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to identify all states where it has pressured officials to comply with its efforts to prevent non-U.S. citizens from voting in the midterm election, inquiries that Democrats have challenged as an illegal power grab. Chief Judge James Boasberg said he intends to rule by Monday — the eve of Election Day — on a request by Democratic Party leaders to block President Donald Trump’s administration from attempting to undermine state election procedures next week. But the judge noted that the administration can “moot this process at any time” by filing a...

A federal judge on Tuesday disqualified Trump appointee Bill Essayli as the First Assistant US Attorney in California. US District Judge John Seabright, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that Bill Essayli unlawfully overstayed his 120-day temporary appointment. Recall that Judge Seabright last October said that Bill Essayli had been in the role of an Acting US Attorney unlawfully and disqualified him. President Trump chose California Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli to serve as the acting US attorney for the Central District of California in 2025. Bill Essayli is a staunch Trump supporter who has been aggressively investigating and prosecuting illegal...

A Nashville judge temporarily blocked Tennessee health officials from requiring immigration status checks of HIV-positive individuals enrolled in a healthcare safety-net program. Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles issued the temporary restraining order late Wednesday. The order prevents the Tennessee Department of Health from moving forward with a demand that organizations revise their contracts to include immigration status verification as a condition of serving patients in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. The order extends to a companion program known as HOPWA, or Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS. Myles set a Nov. 4 hearing in the case.

A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden ordered restrictions Wednesday on the Trump administration’s investigation of suspected noncitizen voting in nine states, citing concerns that agents could target American citizens and intimidate voter outreach groups ahead of the midterm elections. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a preliminary injunction barring Department of Homeland Security election-related field interviews of people agents know, suspect, or reasonably should suspect are U.S. citizens, as well as field operations targeting such people that rely solely on records from the agency’s voter-matching program. The ruling applies to California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York,...

The judge wrote that the Trump administration’s defense of her firing “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.” A federal judge in New York ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI director James B. Comey, from her job as a federal prosecutor. Comey had argued in her federal lawsuit that she was fired because of her father, whom President Donald Trump fired as head of the FBI during his first term, and because of her perceived political beliefs. The Trump administration has brought federal charges against her father,...

The State Department failed to launch the program on time, jeopardizing a pathway to permanent U.S. residency for up to 55,000 people. ========================================================================= SAN DIEGO (CN) — A federal judge in San Diego ordered the U.S. Department of State on Wednesday to reopen the diversity visa lottery for 2027, also known as the Green Card Lottery. U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta’s preliminary injunction will allow for up to 55,000 people from around the world to apply for permanent residence in the United States. The Trump administration, which has opposed the program, did not open the program’s registration period on time...

The Trump administration pushed for an unusually aggressive search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s house in recent days in an immigration fraud probe that targets the congresswoman, possible false statements made on government documents, and a potential conspiracy, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation. Prosecutors, however, first had to contend with a federal magistrate judge, in a prolonged back-and-forth that hasn’t previously been reported. Judge Matthew Sharbaugh of the DC District Court ultimately limited how the Justice Department could access Omar’s documents in Monday’s search, before he would approve the warrant, because of her role as a member of...

Ex-prosecutor Jack Smith's team got permission to monitor the phone of Donald Trump's top aide from two federal judges openly critical of the president and did not reveal in their written request to those judges it would be secretly tracking contacts with criminal defense lawyers, according to freshly unsealed court records. Pause Unmute Current Time 0:12 / Duration 0:50 Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen By Steven Richards and John Solomon Published: October 12, 2026 6:03am Updated: October 12, 2026 7:46am Article Dig Deeper Ex-prosecutor Jack Smith's team got permission to monitor the phone of Donald Trump's top aide from two federal judges openly...

A Biden-appointed judge has ruled that the Trump Administration must cease the production and airing of government-funded advertisements ahead of the midterms. In other words, Trump can no longer promote the United States of America or his administration in government-funded ads. The Department of Homeland Security told the court last night that there were “no plans” to air additional ads, while asking the judge to reject the request by progressive groups for an emergency order to block the ads. Still, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon ordered the Trump Administration to stop using DHS funds to create or disseminate the ads...

A federal judge on Sunday ordered the Trump administration to stop airing ads funded by the U.S. government that portray President Donald Trump in a favorable light, effective immediately. The lawsuit was brought by watchdog group Common Cause; an individual named Robert Hunter, who is a Democratic candidate for a seat in the Alabama state House; and a labor union in New York and its political action committee. The suit was one of several similar complaints — including one by the Democratic National Committee — that were filed in an effort to get the ads off the air.

A Biden-appointed federal judge has once again stepped in to shield dirty voter rolls from federal scrutiny, striking down the Justice Department’s nationwide effort to collect registration records and identify suspected non-U.S. citizens on the rolls. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, ruled that the Department of Justice overstepped its bounds by demanding unredacted voter registration lists and cross-referencing them using federal databases. According to the 78-page ruling, the DOJ began requesting complete, unredacted statewide voter registration lists (including names, dates of birth, addresses, and driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers) from 49...

A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's plan to check state voter rolls against federal immigration databases, a blow to the administration's election-related efforts in the run-up to the midterms.In a 78-page ruling, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote Friday that the Justice Department "cannot run roughshod over longstanding laws that were carefully crafted to protect the rights of the American people."

Over the course of an hour-plus hearing Thursday, US District Judge Timothy Kelly signaled skepticism about the Trump administration’s arguments for allowing President Donald Trump to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Kelly, who was appointed to the bench in Trump’s first term, did not announce his decision on the media outlet’s request for a long-term order that would maintain their access to the White House while their legal challenge plays out. But the judge repeatedly told Justice Department attorney defending the ban Thursday that he was bound by DC Circuit precedent – including the precedent...

Biden commie Judge David Leibowitz from Florida ruled in favor of a Jamaican national because it was federal prosecutors who brought the case under a federal statute against non-citizens voting. Leibowitz claims only states can decide whether noncitizens can vote. WTH? The dirty communists are out of control in America today! They know they need the illegal votes or Democrats CAN'T WIN! 🚨 BREAKING: One Biden Judge just found the federal law that makes it illegal for NONCITIZENS TO VOTE as UNCONSTITUTIONAL SUPREME COURT, NOW! U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz in Florida ruled in favor of a JAMAICAN national because...

I’ve already written volumes about the lawfare abuses of the Administrative Procedures Act, which was meant by FDR to restrain the massive bureaucracy he had brought into being, and which in the Trump era was reinvented as a blank check for any leftist group looking for a leftist judge to block anything and everything that the Trump administration might be doing. And so any federal judge could ‘arbitrarily and capriciously’ decide that an administration action that he or she doesn’t likely is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and block it because it doesn’t have a reason that the judge likes. This effectively...

A federal judge threw out drug evidence after ruling a sheriff’s deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by pulling a month of a driver’s location history from Flock’s camera network without a warrant. U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill granted Melisa Kyle’s motion to suppress and ruled the warrantless search of automated license plate reader data unconstitutional, according to the ruling. The drug prosecution against Kyle sits in the Northern District of Oklahoma. Tulsa County Deputy Freddie Alaniz began trailing Kyle’s Mazda SUV for no reason beyond its California plate, according to the ruling. He queried the Flock system for her...

A US judge dismissed a federal case on Thursday that accused a Jamaican national of illegally voting, finding the law criminalizing noncitizen voting was unconstitutional and delivering a blow to the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged election fraud. The ruling by Miami-based US District Judge David Leibowitz applies only to the case of Florida resident Chelsea Cox, who was charged in October 2025 with illegally voting in the 2020 election. It is not binding for judges in other cases. It marks a setback for President Donald Trump’s administration on noncitizen voting, a cornerstone of its push to highlight alleged election...

A federal judge in Manhattan has largely blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at immigration courthouses in New York City and across the country, ruling the Trump administration policy authorizing the arrests was invalid. The decision indefinitely extends a temporary judicial stay issued in May that mostly paused ICE arrests at the city’s immigration courthouses. It also follows a similar ruling by a federal district court in California that largely banned such arrests across the country. District Judge P. Kevin Castel said federal officials were “arbitrary and capricious” in widely permitting ICE arrests at immigration courthouses...