Free Republic

On Monday, a federal judge in the Western District of Washington issued an order setting forth a "compliance framework" for the Trump administration to follow in order to adhere to his previously entered preliminary injunction. That framework will require the administration to begin processing roughly 12,000 refugees by next Monday. It's the latest development in a series of back-and-forth court rulings and moves that have begun to seem a bit like a Ping-Pong match. A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to immediately resettle some 12,000 refugees into the U.S. under a court order that partially blocks President...

judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to admit some 12,000 refugees into the United States under a court order partially blocking the president's efforts to suspend the nation's refugee admissions program. The order from U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead followed arguments from the Justice Department and refugee resettlement agencies over how to interpret a federal appeals court ruling that

A second federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Trump’s ban on transgender troops. In January President Trump signed the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” executive order and the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive orders, which direct every element of the U.S. military to “operate free from any preference based on race or sex” and root out gender insanity and made up pronoun usage, respectively. US District Judge Benjamin Hale Settle in Washington State, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction on Thursday evening. Judge Settle, a George W. Bush appointee, said the Trump DOJ’s arguments have not been persuasive.

The most liberal circuit court in the country delivered a surprise victory to the Trump Administration today. As Politico reported, a three judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked an order by a district court judge in Seattle that would have forced the Trump Administration to restart refugee admissions. Trump can now continue with his pause on all new refugee admissions. Politico notes that the administration must still process refugees approved before January 20. The ruling notes that Trump’s executive order had nothing to do with those refugees. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden appointed two of the...

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction late Friday night blocking President Donald Trump's executive order halting federal funding of gender-affirming care for transgender youth. King, a Biden appointee, previously said the executive order “blatantly discriminated against trans youth.” The temporary restraining order issued on February 14 was set to expire at midnight. King filed Friday's ruling hours before the temporary pause was set to lapse. “The Court’s holding here is not about the policy goals that President Trump seeks to advance; rather, it is about reaffirming the structural integrity of the Constitution by ensuring that...

Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign, two leading LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday challenging the Trump administration over the president’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. The lawsuit, which was obtained by ABC News, was filed in the U.S. District Court-Western District of Washington on behalf of six active duty transgender service members, a transgender person seeking to enlist in the military, as well as Seattle human rights organization Gender Justice League. "By categorically excluding transgender people, the 2025 Military Ban and related federal policy and directives violate the equal protection and...

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...

A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government has the authority to deport illegal immigrants even if local leaders try to impede the process. The case arose after King County Executive Dow Constantine issued an executive order in 2019 that instructed county officials to prohibit “fixed base operators” (FBO) on a county airfield from servicing flights chartered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport illegal immigrants who are lawfully removable. FBO’s “lease space from the airport and provide flights with essential services, such as fueling and landing stairs,” according to the ruling.The...

The Ninth Circuit has long been the left-most federal appellate court in the United States. However, the day after Thanksgiving, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that must have made President-elect Donald Trump very happy: It concluded that the Supremacy Clause means what it says, namely, that when it comes to the border, local political bodies cannot use regulations governing private parties to override the federal government’s supremacy on immigration matters. United States v. King County revolved around Boeing Field, an airport in King County, Washington (i.e., the Seattle area). In 1941, King County conveyed the field to the U.S....

The federal government has the authority to deport foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally over the objection of local authorities, a panel of three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled. The 29-page ruling was written by Judge Daniel Bress, with judges Michael Hawkins and Richard Clinton concurring. At issue is an April 2019 executive order issued by King County Executive Dow Constantine, which directed county officials to prohibit fixed base operators on a county airfield near Seattle from servicing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flights used to deport illegal foreign nationals. Constantine’s order prohibited King...

A federal judge has created a preliminary injunction which prevents the city of Seattle from enforcing the law against graffiti and misdemeanor property destruction. The SPD released a statement today.Late yesterday afternoon, SPD received an order from a US District Court judge that enjoined, in full, enforcement of SMC 12A.080.020 – the City’s misdemeanor property destruction law. This means that until further order of the Court, SPD cannot take action on damage to property under this law. This is not a matter within SPD or City discretion; we are bound by the court order as it is written.We understand and...

The City of Everett is paying out $500,000 to a former bikini barista stand owner and its employees after a U.S. district court ruled that a 2017 city ordinance unfairly targeted women. The owner of a chain of coffee stands called Hillbilly Hotties sued the city, claiming its dress code infringed on their First Amendment rights–and a U.S. District Court judge agreed. A U.S. District Court judge found Everett’s dress code ordinance violated the Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. and Washington state constitutions. The Court found that the ordinance was, at least in part, shaped by a gender-based discriminatory...

The City of Seattle has reached a tentative settlement agreement with the group of business owners that sued the city over damages done during CHOP in 2020, according to court documents.The plaintiffs in the case — business and property owners within the 16-block portion of Capitol Hill’s CHAZ/CHOP — alleged that the city “actively endorsed, enabled, and encouraged the occupation,” according to a U.S. District Court judge’s orders. According to court documents, the group is seeking $2.9 million. The judge denied the group’s class action certification last May.In his first order, U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly wrote there is evidence...

One of the two men charged with vandalizing electrical substations in Washington state over the holidays to cover a burglary was ordered released from federal custody Friday to seek substance abuse help. A federal judge issued the order for Matthew Greenwood, 32, after renewed efforts by his attorney to get Greenwood into a drug-treatment facility, The News-Tribune reported. Greenwood and Jeremy Crahan, 40, both of Puyallup, have been charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities. According to the complaint, Greenwood told investigators after his arrest that the two knocked out power so they could burglarize a business and steal from...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has declined to reconsider its decision to uphold the dismissal of a case over the practice known as “conversion therapy,” teeing up a circuit split that may ultimately land the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Licensed marriage and family therapist Brian Tingley sued Washington state in 2021, claiming that a 2018 law that prohibited licensed mental health professionals from subjecting minors to conversion therapy violated his First Amendment rights. The Ninth Circuit issued its decision Monday not to rehear the appeal of a Washington state therapist’s challenge to a 2018...

‘Just desperate.’ Judge orders man accused in Pierce substation attacks held without bail BY JARED BROWN Police in Washington arrested two men in connection to a series of Christmas Day attacks on power stations in the Tacoma area. A U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma ordered one of the defendants charged with attacking four Pierce County substations on Christmas Day to be held in federal custody pending a grand jury indictment, despite a public defender’s insistence that the man facing a terrorism charge was motivated by poverty and should be in drug treatment. Federal pretrial services officials also recommended that...

Wearing a MAGA hat represents a person exercising his or her right to free speech, a U.S. appeals court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal judge and ruled in favor of a Washington middle school teacher who claimed that a principal violated his free-speech rights by threatening discipline if he continued to wear a "Make America Great Again" hat to training sessions. "That some may not like the political message being conveyed is par for the course and cannot itself be a basis for finding disruption of a kind that...

In 2021, the Washington State legislature passed a ban on future sales or manufacturing of magazines, or other feeding devices which hold over 10 rounds. It does not include .22 rimfire tubular magazines. From the law:(36)”Large capacity magazine” means an ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition, or any conversion kit, part, or combination of parts, from which such a device can be assembled if those parts are in possession of or under the control of the same person, but shall not be construed to include any of the following:The Washington State magazine...

In Tingley v. Ferguson, (WD WA, Aug. 30, 2021), a Washington federal district court dismissed First Amendment challenges by a family therapist to a Washington state statute that prohibits licensed counselors in treating minors from engaging in "conversion therapy" aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. The court held that performing conversion therapy is "conduct", not speech. According to the court, the law still allows therapists to discuss the option of conversion therapy by someone else-- including someone within the exception for practitioners operating under the auspices of religious organizations. The court also rejected plaintiff's religious free exercise argument,...