Free Republic

Key Points A federal judge blocked the Trump administration, for now, from firing federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown. The order came five days after the administration issued reduction-in-force notifications to more than 4,000 federal workers.

Washington — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio violated the First Amendment by targeting pro-Palestinian students for deportation in order to strike fear into international students and curb lawful speech. In a 161-page decision, U.S. District Judge William Young delivered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration's efforts to pursue international students who expressed pro-Palestinian views on college campuses, which he said was constitutionally protected speech. The judge, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, was unsparing not only in his views of Noem and Rubio's actions, but...

President Donald Trump's $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times has been tossed, for now. Calling the president's 85-page lawsuit "decidedly improper and impermissible," a federal judge in Tampa threw it out on Friday and gave him 28 days to file a new complaint that had to be under 40 pages. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday blasted the Trump suit for alleging only two acts of defamation, yet "Count I appears on page eighty, and Count II appears on page eighty-three." He also criticized the suit's flowery descriptions about Trump and overly political language, writing a complaint is...

That's right. A Kenyan migrant broke into a Twin Cities home in 2016 and raped a woman who was in bed sleeping. For some reason, he was only sentenced to two years in jail. He was then set to be deported, since America is no place for foreigners who rape women, but U.S. District Judge David S. Doty stayed the order in 2018 (because of course) and then the rapist managed to get two taxpayer-funded jobs at two state agencies (because of course).

Even a far-left federal judge isn’t buying Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan’s claim she’s immune from criminal prosecution. Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan claims she’s immune from being prosecuted over federal charges she helped a violent illegal immigrant elude Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. But Dugan learned on Tuesday that no man — or woman — is higher than the law. Apparently, Dugan’s alleged conduct was so egregious that even one of the more notoriously leftist federal judges in the country couldn’t look the other way. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman agreed with a U.S. Magistrate’s previous recommendation that...

Donald Trump was handed another blow on Wednesday when a federal judge denied his administration's attempts to release grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman deemed Trump's Justice Department did not provide adequate reasoning to unseal the highly-protected materials. He also said that the grand jury motion was likely a 'diversion' coming from the Trump administration. '[T]he court denies the government's motion to unseal the Epstein grand jury transcripts and exhibits,' the Clinton-appointed judge wrote in his Wednesday decision. It comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi moved at the direct of the president this...

A federal appeals court has ruled that New Jersey’s ban on private immigration detention contracts is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to state leaders and advocates who have long fought to curb U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's footprint in the Garden State. In the 2-1 decision, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals found that New Jersey’s 2021 law blocking ICE from contracting with private companies unlawfully interfered with federal immigration enforcement, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause.

The D.C. Circuit just issued a major ruling in favor of the Trump Administration that lifted a stay on the Administration's decision to terminate contracts and positions at Voice of America. The decision severely undercuts the arguments used by other district courts, particularly jurisdictional arguments. This is only the latest appellate decision pushing back on district court injunctions. However, the analysis will reach beyond the confines of this case.

The liberal DC Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Trump a massive win on Saturday after a district court judge ordered him to rehire staff from far-left Voice of America that will have impacts lasting beyond just this one case, according to a legal expert. As The Gateway Pundit reported, a federal judge last month ordered the Trump Administration to rehire Voice of America (VOA) and other affiliate news services staff. The affiliate staff included Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Network. In March, Trump placed employees and contractors for government-funded Voice of America on leave. US District...

The Honorable Peter J. Messitte passed away on Saturday, January 11, 2025, after a short illness. Judge Messitte was commissioned as a U.S. District Judge on October 20, 1993. He served in the Court’s Southern Division at the Greenbelt Courthouse and was on active status until September 1, 2008. Judge Messitte continued service on senior status until his death. Judge Messitte was renowned for his judicial outreach throughout the world, and especially in Latin America. In June 2017, he received the Order of the Southern Cross for his contributions to the Brazilian Judiciary. His colleagues and Court staff deeply mourn...

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour ruled in the case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, which argue the 14th Amendment and Supreme Court case law have cemented birthright citizenship.

A federal judge in Seattle blocked, temporarily, President Donald Trump’s attempt to rescind birthright citizenship — the idea spelled out in the Constitution that every person born in the United States is an American citizen. Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour on Thursday was blistering in his criticism of Trump’s action as he granted a temporary restraining order that blocks Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide. “I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour, an...

Suffolk County taxpayers could be on the hook for $60 million in a migrant class-action lawsuit for holding on to illegal immigrants until the feds could show up and ship them out of the country, officials said Wednesday. A federal judge ruled that the sheriff’s office in the Long Island county acted on its own when it held undocumented immigrants for deportation proceedings — because New York State law doesn’t allow local cops to do so. Adding insult to injury, the judge says the feds won’t have to chip in to pay off the hefty ruling — even though they’re...

CV NEWS FEED // A district judge in Oregon ruled September 30 that Oregon Right to Life is required to cover abortions in its employees’ healthcare insurance plan, dismissing the pro-life organization’s argument that it is a religious organization exempted from the pro-abortion law. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken stated in her ruling that ORTL does not fit inside the category of “religious employer” under the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), as it does not mainly or exclusively serve individuals of the same religion. “Plaintiff does not qualify as a ‘religious employer’ under the RHEA because ‘its purpose is...

Former and potentially future President Donald Trump was found "guilty" last Thursday on 34 felony counts in a hush money "trial." It's not just Trump they're going after, though with a weaponized and politicized justice system. As we've been covering, President Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) has been quite eager to prosecute prayerful pro-life activists using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, including an elderly grandfather. Since then, more grandparents have been sentenced, including grandmothers in poor health. Late last month, 59-year-old Heather Idoni was sentenced to 24 years in prison. She's already been incarcerated for...

United States District Judge for the District of Idaho, B. Lynn Winmill, has granted a motion for preliminary injunction to block the January 1, 2024 implementation of House Bill 71, which was signed into law following the 2023 Idaho Legislative session. HB71, also called the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, was written by the Idaho Family Policy Center and sponsored by Representative Bruce Skaug. The legislation was written to stop hormone changing drugs, puberty blocking drugs, and sex-change surgeries from being prescribed for minor children in Idaho for the reasons of ‘gender dysphoria’ and transitioning children from their birth sex to...

An Idaho law passed this year that bans gender-affirming care for minors will not go into effect on Jan. 1, as planned. A federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction on the lawsuit against the ban. House Bill 71, "The Vulnerable Child Protective Act" was signed into Idaho law in April. It outlaws gender-affirming care for transgender minors; including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries. The law finds any doctor that provides gender-transition care guilty of a felony, punishable by up to 10 years of prison time. After the law was signed, a lawsuit was filed against the state on...

“Long live rescue!” That was the rallying cry of pro-lifers amid tears in response to Tuesday’s verdict against five rescuers. As Live Action News reported, five defendants – Lauren Handy, Herb Geraghty, Heather Idoni, Will Goodman, and John Hinshaw – were found guilty of conspiring to violate civil rights and blocking access to notorious abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s clinic in October of 2020. The case seemed to reflect an attempt by the administration of President Biden, who claims to be a practicing Catholic, to protect abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs. Each defendant faces up to 11 years in...

On August 3, 2023, Judge Janet Bond Arterton of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut ruled on whether the recent Connecticut law banning the possession of common semi-automatic rifles and pistols under the appellation of “assault weapons” and of standard capacity magazines which hold more than ten rounds. Judge Arterton ruled the law is not prohibited by the Second Amendment. She does not see it as an infringement because, she claims, “assault weapons” and magazines over ten rounds are not arms protected by the Second Amendment. Magazines that hold more than ten rounds are referred to...

Last month, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton tossed out a lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s ban on concealed carry in state parks, ruling that the plaintiff in the litigation didn’t have standing to sue because there was no credible threat of him being arrested or prosecuted for violating the ban. That was an exceedingly odd decision, but it kept the ban in place (at least for now), which counts as a win as far as anti-gunners are concerned. Now Arterton has followed up with another legal doozy, rejecting a preliminary injunction against the state’s newly-expanded ban on so-called assault weapons and...