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The ruling is a blow to Trump’s deportation efforts and permanently bars removals under the Alien Enemies Act in South Texas.A Trump-appointed federal judge ruled Thursday that the president exceeded his authority by invoking the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport Venezuelan migrants, dealing a blow to the administration’s deportation efforts and permanently barring such removals in South Texas. In a 36-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. in Brownsville, Texas, rejected Trump’s declarations that the United States was being invaded by a Venezuelan gang to justify using the act to deport migrants without a hearing. He said the...

In a follow-up opinion, Rodriguez Jr. declared: "For these reasons, the Court concludes that the President's invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful. Respondents [the Administration] do not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country." Rodriguez Jr. issued two opinions and orders on Thursday in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas, responding to a petition by individuals to allow them to certify as a class...

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...

"Nothing in the Draggieland performance offends the executive order the Board cites. No male performer in the drag show is stating an intent to become a woman. Nor does the Board point to evidence in the record establishing that the president’s executive order on “biological truth” specifically refers or applies to drag shows." "The court grants the motion for a preliminary injunction. The Board is enjoined from enforcing the ban. The Draggieland performance scheduled for March 27, 2025, in the Rudder Theatre, may proceed as originally scheduled."

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump Administration has moved to dismiss the case of Dr. Eithan Haim, the heroic whistleblower who exposed the child sex-change program at Texas Children's Hospital.

The Department of Justice is still pursuing charges against a Texas doctor who exposed transgender operations on kids. He told The Federalist he could face jail time in just days and pled with President Donald​ Trump to stop the lawfare. “This case needs to be dropped with prejudice because this illegal application of HIPAA will destroy the medical profession,” the whistleblower, Eithan Haim, told The Federalist. “Not only that but the prosecutors and FBI agents involved need to be investigated for potential criminal abuse of power.”Haim, a Dallas-area doctor, exposed Texas Children’s Hospital in May 2023 for performing transgender procedures...

An explosive, anonymous letter has shaken the legal departments in the US, alleging a conflict of interest at the heart of Houston’s bankruptcy court. The letter, which surfaced in March 2021, accuses US Bankruptcy Judge David R Jones of maintaining a romantic relationship with Elizabeth Freeman, a prominent attorney at Jackson Walker and co-counsel for Kirkland & Ellis in billion-dollar cases overseen by Jones, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). According to WSJ, the allegations suggest that Freeman’s involvement in cases before Jones was influenced by their personal relationship, potentially compromising the impartiality of court rulings affecting numerous stakeholders. Known...

Afederal judge on Friday dismissed a challenge from 21 states against a Biden administration program that allows 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. from four countries each month. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton ruled that Texas and 20 other Republican-led states didn’t have legal standing in the lawsuit because they didn’t demonstrate suffered financial harm from the federal program, the Associated Press reported. The program lets a total of up to 30,000 asylum-seekers enter the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. “In reaching this conclusion, the Court does not address the lawfulness of the Program,” Tipton wrote...

Biden, via proclamation, paused obligation of these funds the day he was inaugurated….” Court rules this was illegal, but I think Biden will find a way not to actually build the wall.. The timing of this is worth noting. Last night, in his vitriolic State of the Union address, Joe Biden blamed everyone but himself — but particularly Republicans — for his border crisis. But everyone knows, on day one of his presidency Biden by executive order removed numerous border protetions, including construction of a border wall. ... Sen. Marsha Blackburn... on his first day in office, Biden: — Paused...

A federal judge in Texas has stopped the state’s ban on drag performances, which was scheduled to go into place Friday, enforcing a temporary injunction on the measure in a win for LGBTQ rights advocates. A group of drag performance groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, filed a suit against the state early this month claiming that the law is overly broad and infringes on their freedom of speech. “The Court finds there is a substantial likelihood that S.B. 12 as drafted violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution under one or more...

An election software company based in Michigan sued an election integrity watchdog group and its leaders last year for defamation over claims it had conspired with the Chinese Communist Party and subverted American elections. After months of denial and litigation, the company has withdrawn it suit. Konnech is an election software company based in Michigan. It licenses election software utilized by various municipalities and counties across America. TheBlaze previously reported that Eugene Yu, the founder and CEO of Konnech, was arrested on Oct. 4 and charged on suspicion of data theft, having allegedly stored "critical information that [U.S. election] workers...

NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 was blocked Thursday by a federal appeals court. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated. The ruling from the full appeals court, 16 full-time judges at the time the case was argued, reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that had upheld the vaccination requirement. Judge Andrew Oldham, nominated to the court by then-President...

'This is an important victory protecting the people of Texas from destructive federal overreach,' Texas attorney general says A federal judge blocked the Biden administration from implementing environmental regulations redefining how water sources are protected, but which opponents have argued were an example of overreach. In his decision published late Sunday, Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled that the so-called Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in late December "poses irreparable harm" to residents of Texas and Idaho, the two states that challenged the regulations in the lawsuit filed on Jan. 18. Brown declined...

Afederal appeals court in Louisiana has ordered the release of two leaders the election watchdog group True the Vote after they were detained for contempt of court late last month. A panel of three GOP-appointed judges for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Sunday ordered group President Catherine Engelbrecht and one-time board member Gregg Phillips to be released, show court documents obtained Monday by Just the News. A spokesperson for True the Vote told The Epoch Times Engelbrecht and Phillips are expected to be released Monday, "when the paperwork is complete." The two leaders were sent to jail...

An in-depth look into the apparent bias against True The Vote by Judge Hoyt in a Civil Hearing. On Monday, True The Vote’s Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were taken into custody after a Contempt Hearing in the Konnech v True The Vote defamation case, which after reading the transcripts, had very little to do with defamation at all. Both Catherine and Gregg refused to leak the name of the third Confidential Informant that was in the hotel room when Gregg Phillips was being shown the PII located on a Konnech database in China, and as a result, were sent...

Late last week it was reported that Gregg Phillips and Catherine Engelbrecht were threatened with jail time if they didn’t comply with the court. Today they were placed in jail. On Friday it was reported that the 2000 Mules creators were being threatened by the court.

Konnech CEO Eugene Yu was arrested earlier this month in Michigan in connection with “theft of personal data.” The alleged stolen data belonged to poll workers and was the subject of TrueTheVote’s “PIT” in Arizona last August, where Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips singled out the company. During the PIT conference, Phillips and Engelbrecht alleged they were cooperating with the FBI in Michigan about data being sent overseas by this company. The investigation quickly started to turn on them after the FBI started to distance itself from the investigation. Journalist “incognito” Kanekoa has covered this company and researched them better...

A federal appeals court on Wednesday said the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy violates U.S. immigration law, dealing a blow to an Obama-era program that provides deportation protection and work permits to nearly 600,000 immigrant "Dreamers" who lack legal status. A three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded the Obama administration did not have the legal authority to create DACA in 2012, affirming a July 2021 ruling from a federal judge in Texas who barred the Biden administration from enrolling new immigrants in the decade-old program. Despite its conclusion, the appeals court did not order...

Two different federal courts, in two different Circuit Courts of appeal, have refused to grant preliminary injunctions against the implementation of the ATF “Final Rule.” The Final Rule completely changes the definition of a firearm in Federal law. On August 23, in the United States Court for the Eastern District of North Dakota, in the Eighth Circuit, Judge Peter D. Welte refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the massive changes to federal law proposed in the “Final Rule” put forward by the Biden Administration, through the ATF.On August 24, 2022, the District Court for the Galveston Division of the...

A U.S. District Court Judge in Texas, Drew Tipton, dealt the Biden administration's lenient immigration and border enforcement policies another blow on Friday when he struck down a Department of Homeland Security enforcement memo that instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to give deference to certain individuals inside the United States illegally. In his order, Judge Tipton explains that the Biden administration's rule "as arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and failing to observe procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act." "The Executive Branch may prioritize its resources," Tipton's order explained. "But it must do so within the bounds set...