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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.

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....

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday indefinitely blocked the Trump Administration from deporting Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. In his order granting a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of the Alien Enemies Act in his district, Judge Hellerstein said illegal aliens have the same due process rights as American citizens. “This nation was founded on the “self-evident” truths “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence, at ¶ 2...

Behind the scenes, a top department official pressed employees to gather a list of activists and investigate them, people familiar with the matter said.A top Trump appointee in the Justice Department ordered an aggressive investigation in the last several months of student protesters at Columbia University, raising anger and alarm among career prosecutors and investigators who saw the demand as politically motivated and lacking legal merit, people familiar with the episode said. The demand for the inquiry into students who protested Israel’s conduct of the conflict in Gaza also prompted pushback from a federal magistrate judge, who believed some of...

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday extended his block on removal of Tren de Aragua gang members facing deportation under the Alien Enemies Act. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a 91-year-old Clinton appointee, blasted DOJ lawyers during a hearing on Tuesday and accused them throwing people out of the US “because of their tattoos.” Earlier this month Hellerstein blocked the removal of two alleged Tren de Aragua gang members in New York.

Two federal judges on Wednesday blocked the removal of Venezuelan nationals and alleged TdA gang members facing deportation under the Alien Enemies Act after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. US District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., a Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) through April 23 or until he issues an order. “Respondents are enjoined from transferring, relocating, or removing J.A.V., J.G.G., W.G.H., or any other person that Respondents claim are subject to removal under the Proclamation, from the El Valle Detention Center; and Respondents are enjoined from...

"A judge has ruled to permanently dismiss federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors had stated that “continuing these proceedings would interfere with” the Mayor’s ability to govern, thereby threatening “federal immigration initiatives and policies.”

Judge Eduardo Ramos, the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, has issued an Opinion & Order that a ban on stun guns is constitutional. A New York State law prohibits the private possession of stun guns and tasers; a New York City law prohibits the possession and selling of stun guns. Judge Ramos has ruled these laws do not infringe on rights protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.The case is Calce v. City of New York, filed in October of 2021. Ramos’ court is the first court to conclude that stun guns...

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily barred Columbia University and Barnard College from complying with a Republican-led House committee's demand for student disciplinary records, at least until a hearing next week. The order comes as U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian prepares to review a request for a temporary restraining order filed by Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and other students seeking to block the release of their records. Why It Matters Khalil, who was arrested and faces possible deportation over his role in campus protests against Israel, along with other students identified by pseudonyms, sued earlier this month to prevent...

Dua Lipa scored a legal victory in a copyright lawsuit over her 2020 smash “Levitating” after a judge dismissed the case. Lipa was initially hit with a pair of “Levitating” copyright lawsuits in March 2022, one from Florida reggae group named Artikal Sound System that was dismissed in June 2023, and another from L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer. Judge Katherine Polk Failla dismissed the latter earlier today in New York court, explaining that the commonalities between songs were not protectable under copyright law. In their initial suit, Brown and Linzer accused Lipa of copying both their 1979 song “Wiggle...

Cities looking to eliminate fossil fuels in buildings have notched a decisive court victory. Last week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by plumbing and building trade groups against a New York City ban on natural gas in new buildings. The decision is the first to explicitly disagree with a previous ruling that struck down Berkeley, California’s first-in-the-nation gas ban. That order, issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023 and upheld again last year, prompted cities across the country to withdraw or delay laws modeled after the Berkeley ordinance. While New York City’s law functions...

Trump's administration argued that Khalil's First Amendment claims are a "red herring " and that there's "an independent basis to justify removal sufficient to foreclose Khalil’s constitutional claim here." The Trump administration filed new allegations against Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student detained due to his pro-Palestinian activism on campus, while trying to dismiss his First Amendment violation claims as a "red herring." In a filing Sunday, the Justice Department said Khalil, who is a green-card holder, withheld information about his membership in certain organizations and failed to disclose his employment at the Syria Office in the British Embassy...

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil is not to be deported "unless and until the Court orders otherwise," on Monday. Khalil, who led anti-Israel protests and encampments on Columbia University's campus, was taken into custody on the Upper West Side in New York City on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that he was a former Columbia graduate student who "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization." The judge ordered a hearing for Wednesday. This after Khalil's lawyer argued their client had been detained illegally and should be released. Politicians have...

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn’t need to immediately return more than $80 million that it took away from New York City last month in a dispute over funding for sheltering migrants. Judge Jennifer H. Rearden in Manhattan declined to issue a temporary restraining order, saying the city had failed to prove it will suffer irreparable harm. The city’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump and other federal defendants was expected to proceed as New York seeks a preliminary injunction. The city sued the Trump administration on Feb. 21 after FEMA clawed back grant...

Federal judges have almost no ability under the law to refuse a government request to drop criminal charges. The corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York may be the exception.On Thursday, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned rather than obey an order to seek dismissal of the charges against the mayor. The directive was issued by Emil Bove III, the acting No. 2 official in President Trump’s Justice Department and his former criminal lawyer.Mr. Bove wrote that the demand had nothing to do with the strength of the evidence against the mayor or legal theories in...

The Trump Admin argued in their motion papers that “the TRO contravenes Article II of the Constitution to the extent it applies to political appointees, in particular the Secretary of Treasury and other senior Treasury leadership.” Judge Vargas kept most of the restrictions in place, but she allowed Secretary Bessent and other in Treasury leadership to access the payment system.

Over the weekend, an Obama-appointed judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive Treasury Department data. While the media frames this as a limited restriction on political appointees and special government employees, the reality appears far more sweeping. Judge Paul Engelmayer’s ruling explicitly bars all political appointees—including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—from Treasury payment records and financial systems, restricting access to career civil servants (essentially the Deep State) within the Bureau of Fiscal Services. This unprecedented move effectively prevents the Treasury secretary from overseeing his own department’s financial data, raising serious concerns about executive...

This ruling, concocted without legal precedent or constitutional justification, is nothing short of judicial sabotage. Worse, it was issued ex parte—meaning Trump administration lawyers weren’t given notice, weren’t allowed to argue, and weren’t even in the room. Only Democrat attorneys general were heard, ensuring a predetermined outcome. Engelmayer’s order is legally indefensible. He cites no statutory basis because none exists. He offers no constitutional rationale because the Constitution directly contradicts him. Instead, he fabricates a fiction: that the duly appointed Treasury Secretary is nothing more than a ceremonial figurehead, akin to a powerless monarch, while unelected bureaucrats—who answer to no...

A federal judge, citing a risk of “irreparable harm,” has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing a critical Treasury Department payment system.. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the destruction of any downloaded information from the payment system by anyone given access to it since January 20,