Free Republic

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday to temporarily halt an Idaho law that would restrict bathroom access for transgender people, ruling that major parts of the law are likely unconstitutional. In a 30-page decision, Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford issued a preliminary injunction preventing House Bill 752 from taking effect while legal challenges proceed. The ruling also granted provisional class-action status to transgender residents across the state, extending the court’s protections beyond the original plaintiffs. “Another issue of enforceability is a law enforcement officer’s ability to determine an individual’s ‘biological sex,'” Judge Brailsford wrote. This ruling is a...

A federal judge in Idaho on Tuesday partially blocked enforcement of a new law that would’ve criminalized transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The law was set to go into effect July 1. The portion of it that prohibits people from entering changing rooms that don’t align with their biological sex will still go into effect. The federal court order comes in response to a lawsuit filed by six transgender Idahoans challenging House Bill 752, which the Legislature passed and Gov. Brad Little signed this year. The law makes it a misdemeanor crime, punishable by...

George Santayana famously said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. The same is true for judicial overreach. Those judges who yield to the temptation to counter policies that are not to their liking are likely to repeat such excesses of power. That is why the recent decision of U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston is so concerning. While there are good-faith reasons why some have objected to the removal of slavery and climate change exhibits from national parks and monuments, this is not about the merits but the authority to make such changes. Kelley’s recent...

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the Trump administration to restore all signs that were changed or removed at national parks across the country as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial directive last year. In a scathing 63-page ruling on Friday, Judge Angel Kelley wrote, “Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths.” Kelley, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ordered that the restoration be complete by...

A federal judge sided with Maryland and a coalition of Democratic-led states on Friday, halting the enforcement of new conditions on billions of dollars of federal food assistance under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A federal judge on Monday vacated President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee for employers’ H-1B visa applications. The visa payment policy violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, Judge Leo Sorokin declared in the ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. The H-1B policy was created in 1990 and is heavily used by U.S. tech giants to bring in high-skilled workers from overseas. The program allows U.S. employers to seek government permission to hire a nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations for up to six years. Trump implemented the $100,000 fee in a presidential proclamation last September...

Judges turned their backs on the law to let illegals pour into the country. They use the law to keep them here. You have to credit the White House for telling it like it is. On their new webpage concerning the threat posed by mass illegal immigration, it states that illegals are aliens among us. Not surprisingly, this is viewed by the Democrats and liberal media as a “grotesque violation” against human rights, and an expression of “white supremacy.” The president is accused of anti-immigrant bias. Apparently, enforcing constitutional law regarding borders, immigration, and security is a form of discrimination....

In a new ruling released on Friday, a federal judge held that the Trump administration agency that oversees lawful U.S. immigration must stop enforcing several policies that paused adjudication of certain immigration-benefit applications. 1*On June 5, 2026, a federal judge in Rhode Island struck down four USCIS policies that paused or delayed certain immigration benefit decisions for applicants from 39 travel ban countries.✅ The court declared four USCIS policies unlawful and vacated them: pic.twitter.com/KrUIxLYRVn— AK Poku Law, PLLC (@greencard1awyer) June 5, 2026The decision came Friday morning in a voluminous order written by Rhode Island's U.S. District Court Chief Judge, John...

A federal judge in Rhode Island has struck down a Trump administration executive order that suspended all asylum decisions and stopped visa issuance to people from Afghanistan, alongside an additional 38 other countries. The order came shortly after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members just blocks from the White House, killing one.

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that the Pentagon illegally banned transgender troops. In a 2-1 ruling, the DC Circuit Court Appeals sided with crazed Biden judge Ana Reyes and said the Trump Administration’s transgender troop policy violated the Constitution. The Associated Press reported: A Trump administration policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday. The majority opinion by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit largely upholds a March 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington,...

Delaware Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz has ruled that companies in Delaware will be able to vote in elections just like people. This is especially wacky for Delaware. As per the US Census Bureau, the estimated human population of Delaware is just over 1 million. But there are over 2 million corporations headquartered in the state, which means there are far more companies in Delaware than there are people. According to Bloomberg Law, the ruling came up because the town of Fenwick Island was already letting corporations vote in its municipal elections (they own most of the property, after all)....

A federal judge in New Hampshire on Thursday ruled the state’s 2024 law requiring first-time voters in the state to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote is unconstitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliott on HB 1569 is being viewed as a strong rebuke of the Republican-backed policy, considered by voting rights advocates to be one of the nation’s most restrictive laws regarding U.S. citizenship and the right to vote. “New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,” said Elliott in...

In a decision pro-life advocates decried as a betrayal of Nevada’s children, the Nevada Supreme Court has blocked enforcement of a 40-year-old state law requiring abortionists to notify parents before killing a teenagers’ baby in an abortion. The ruling reverses a lower court decision and directs issuance of a preliminary injunction preventing Senate Bill 510 from taking effect while the legal challenge proceeds. The 1985 pro-life law required notification to a parent or guardian — or judicial approval — for abortions involving unmarried, unemancipated girls under 18. It never fully took effect due to prior court injunctions but became potentially...

The individual who carried out a loud, steam >affair with an Obama federal judge has been unmasked as a prominent Atlanta policeman, causing the scandal to take another turn for the worse. As The Gateway Pundit reported, a special committee for the Eleventh Circuit discovered that a judge nominated by former President Barack Obama carried out a two-year sexual affair in her “chambers and during business hours” with a police commander. According to Bloomberg Law, the incidents all occurred within “earshot” of law clerks. On Thursday, Bloomberg Law identified the judge as Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia....

A federal judge on Friday barred President Donald Trump from adding his name to that of the Kennedy Center. Judge Christopher Cooper also temporarily blocked the Washington, D.C., cultural landmark from being closed for two years for renovations. The Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees in December voted to rename the institution the “Trump Kennedy Center,” 10 months after Trump removed several trustees from the board and appointed himself as a trustee. “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial...

(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections. The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, saying the requirement for new voters to provide a birth certificate or valid U.S. passport to cast a ballot on election day was unconstitutional. “New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,"...

A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has banned Donald Trump from adding his name to the Kennedy Center. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that the President-appointed Kennedy Center Board's decision to include his name on the performing arts venue was unlawful. Trump was sued by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who has standing in the case because she serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees as a member of Congress. 'The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear...

Judge Nicholas Rowland told the boys: 'None of you need to go to prison today.' He said the boys are 'very young', had low intelligence, a 'limited understanding of consent' and were susceptible to 'peer pressure'. The judge also praised the boys for their conduct during the trial, saying 'I think of you as very young and none of you have been in any big trouble before. 'You have all done very well with the restrictions put in place throughout the trial. (The second boy) and (the third boy) your problems are quite bad.'

A federal court has blocked Alabama from using its new congressional map, ordering the state to use a court-imposed map with 2 majority-black seats for the 2026 elections. The three-judge panel finds that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their Section 2 claims even after Callais. It also finds that Alabama intentionally discriminated against black voters in violation of the 14th Amendment. The Court finds that Purcell does not bar relief because the court-imposed map is the operational status quo.

The criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man the Trump administration deported to El Salvador last year despite a judge’s order barring his removal to the country – have been dismissed by a federal judge in Tennessee, who cited a “tainted investigation” by now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. When he was transported back to the US last year, Abrego Garcia was immediately charged with two counts over allegedly transporting unlawful migrants in 2022. His attorneys fought the charges, saying they should be dismissed because they were selective and vindictive because of the administration’s public missteps in deporting Abrego...