Tag: judges

Federal Court Says No ‘Get Out of Jail’ Card for Illegal Aliens

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that illegal immigrants detained inside the United States have no constitutional right to a bond hearing, no matter how long they have lived in the country.

A bond hearing allows detained migrants to ask an immigration judge for release on bond while their immigration cases proceed.

In a 10-7 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a lower panel and sided with the Trump administration. The ruling closed the main legal route that judges in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi had used to free detained migrants who challenged how long they were being held.

The ruling backs a policy, put in place last year, that lets the government hold immigrants arrested in the interior until their deportation cases end, without giving them a chance to argue for release before a judge. It is a sharp break from how previous administrations handled such cases, when migrants who were not flight risks or dangers could often post bond.

Writing for the majority, Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, said the men challenging their detention were still legally seeking admission to the country and were not entitled to a hearing on due-process grounds. The judge wrote that they could end their confinement “at any moment by agreeing to leave the country.”

The three men at the center of the case came from Mexico and Honduras, have U.S.-citizen children, and were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after traffic stops. One of them had lived in the United States for more than 22 years.

In a concurring opinion, Judge James Ho said the court was defending basic national authority. “A nation ceases to be a nation if it can’t protect its borders,” he wrote, adding that the dissenting judges would hand illegal immigrants an incentive to settle in the country unlawfully.

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Tribunal Watch: Quebec tribunal upholds federally funded job ad that excluded white applicants, calls complainant’s position “ideological”

A Quebec Human Rights Tribunal judge has dismissed a complaint against a bird conservation group whose federally funded job posting was open only to applicants aged 30 or under who identify as Indigenous, black or a person of colour.

Judge Magali Lewis ruled that the posting was discriminatory on its face, but that it was not discriminatory under Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms because it came from a government “ameliorative” program. She also ruled that the complainant, Stéphanie Salagan, never really intended to apply and had no standing to sue. The decision, 2026 QCTDP 7, was issued March 12, 2026.

In October 2021, Regroupement QuébecOiseaux advertised a 20-week, part-time project officer job promoting Nature Canada’s “Bird Friendly City” certification. The job paid $17.50 an hour for 28 hours a week. The ad said that, because the funding program aimed to promote diversity, the position was open only to people 30 and under who identify as Indigenous, black or people of colour.

(Quotes from the decision are translated from French.)

According to the decision, QuébecOiseaux had 12 employees at the time: 11 white women and one biologist of South American origin.

The money came through a chain of federal programs. Employment and Social Development Canada runs the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy. Under it, Parks Canada signed a contribution agreement with Nature Canada in June 2021. Nature Canada then launched a wage subsidy program called Work to Grow and encouraged QuébecOiseaux to apply.

The approval email from Nature Canada dictated the sentence restricting the job by race. The tribunal found that the age limit came from the Parks Canada agreement.

Nature Canada executive director Emily McMillan testified that the decision rested partly on her own observation over 30 years that audiences at environmental conferences are often entirely white, and partly on a study Nature Canada sponsored.

The program hired 351 young people, according to Nature Canada’s final report. Of those, 81 were Indigenous and 214 were black or people of colour, which leaves 56 who were neither.

McMillan testified that Nature Canada sometimes waived the eligibility criteria when employers told it they weren’t getting applications from youth facing barriers. Nature Canada removed the race requirement from the program in June 2023. McMillan testified that the change was a response to Salagan’s complaint, made to avoid similar lawsuits.

Salagan filed her complaint with Quebec’s human rights commission in October 2021, alleging discrimination based on age, race, colour and ethnic origin. The commission sided with her.

It found the ad violated the Charter and proposed that QuébecOiseaux pay her $4,000. It then declined to take the case to the tribunal itself, saying it did not raise public interest concerns, and authorized Salagan to sue on her own. She represented herself and sought $7,500.

Most of the decision deals with whether Salagan really wanted the job.

To answer that, the tribunal examined her university transcript, internship agreement, invoices, T4 slip and student financial aid application. It found that in fall 2021 she was a full-time law student at UQAM with a one-day-a-week internship, and that she was president of an animal rights committee. She was also teaching green-wall construction at a Laval horticulture centre at $80 an hour, which the tribunal noted is more than four and a half times what QuébecOiseaux was offering.

It concluded that “all of these elements make it implausible that she really wanted to apply.”

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Federal Judge Orders CIA to Release Records Related to Jan 6 Protests Including Information on Whether CIA Had Personnel Deployed Like the 274 Undercover FBI Agents That Day

A federal judge has ordered the CIA to begin releasing records related to January 6 by November 16, including documents on shots fired inside the Capitol, requests for bomb technicians and detection dogs, and whether CIA personnel were deployed. The ruling follows a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch.

OANN reported:

“The CIA must begin releasing records related to January 6th by November 16th.

In a recent ruling, the U.S. District Court for the D.C.— for the District of Columbia ordered the CIA to begin releasing records related to shots fired inside the Capitol.

The agency must also release requests for bomb technicians and bomb-detecting dogs and whether CIA personnel were deployed. The order stems from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Filed by conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch.

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Transgender Neo-Nazi Accused of Plotting Mass Shooting at Hindu Temple in Chicago Suburb Will Receive Gender-Transition Hormone Injections in Jail, Judge Rules

A Cook County judge ordered the 19-year-old Palatine, Illinois, Taco Bell cashier held without bail on Wednesday after he was charged with plotting a racist mass shooting at a Hindu temple in Aurora, but the same order ensures that he will continue receiving hormone injections for gender transition while he sits in jail awaiting trial.

Alexandros Paporakis, a self-described white supremacist and neo-Nazi from Palatine, Illinois, was ordered held in custody by a Cook County judge on Wednesday, October 14, as he awaits trial on felony charges stemming from an alleged plot to massacre worshippers at a Hindu temple in Aurora.

But the judge also issued a healthcare order addressing the suspect’s ongoing medical treatment, including hormone injections associated with gender transition, according to the New York Post.

The order also addresses medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety.

The ruling has brought renewed attention to the provision of medical treatment for defendants accused of violent crimes while they remain in taxpayer-funded custody.

Meanwhile, disturbing details emerging from the investigation suggest the alleged attack could have turned into a bloodbath if the suspect’s weapon had not malfunctioned.

According to prosecutors, Paporakis spent years fantasizing about carrying out mass murder and had allegedly identified the Hindu temple as a target months before the planned attack.

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US judge blocks Trump threat to jail Gaza justice advocates

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from imposing fines and prison sentences on US human rights advocates for sharing evidence with the International Criminal Court (ICC) or working with Palestinian human rights groups targeted by US sanctions.

In a 30-page ruling on 13 October, Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction protecting Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG) and two TAAG members from penalties for their human rights advocacy.

The decision comes three months after the organizations sued the Trump administration, arguing that sanctions aimed at shielding US and Israeli officials from prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity violate Americans’ constitutional rights.

Under the sanctions, individuals could face up to 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines for providing prohibited services to sanctioned individuals or organizations.

Furman found that the sanctions likely violate the First Amendment because they restrict speech based on its content and cannot survive the demanding constitutional test applied to such restrictions.

DAWN called the ruling “a landmark victory for free speech.”

Omar Shakir, the Washington-based human rights group’s executive director, said the ruling had “put the brakes in a major way” on the administration’s “efforts to shield from justice the Israeli officials who have perpetrated a genocide and their US backers.”

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It Happened YET AGAIN

A two-year-old girl is fighting for her life after being stabbed multiple times in the face by a complete stranger while sitting in a stroller at a Providence school bus stop. The attacker had previously been accused of stabbing two other children, but was repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial before simply being released back into the community.

Police say the attack was unprovoked. The man did not know the mother or child. Months earlier, a doctor had assessed that he was “not likely to imperil the peace and safety of the community or himself at this time.” A judge accepted the recommendation and allowed him to remain free on outpatient treatment.

What kind of justice system lets a mental guy who previously stabbed two kids walk around freely?

The latest incident occurred in broad daylight Wednesday near Broad Street and Public Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The mother, 26, was waiting with her two-year-old daughter for the child’s siblings to arrive on a school bus. Nelson Blanco, 46, approached them. The mother moved across the street, but Blanco followed, insulted her, and then attacked, according to Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez.

Perez said Blanco stabbed the girl in the face multiple times and stabbed the mother in the shoulder. The attack was “unprovoked,” and the victims did not know the suspect.

Bystanders intervened. Witness Jesse Alice Palmer, a nursing assistant, said the toddler stopped breathing and that she and another woman performed CPR until emergency responders arrived. The girl remains in critical condition at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. The mother was treated and released.

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Newsom Tried to Police Federal Agents, but the Ninth Circuit Said No

Governor Gavin Newsom wanted California to dictate how federal officers identify themselves while enforcing federal law. On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit delivered an unmistakable answer: the governor’s authority stops well short of directing federal law enforcement operations. Three appellate judges ordered a lower court to block the key identification requirement in Newsom’s No Vigilantes Act.

The October 14 decision goes beyond an ordinary finding that the Justice Department might eventually win. Writing for the panel, Judge Mark Bennett said the federal government was “certain to succeed” on its constitutional claim. California had tried to regulate officers working under federal authority, and the Supremacy Clause stood in its way.

Newsom signed Senate Bill 805 in September 2025 as part of his fight against President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Section 10 required officers working without uniforms to display their agency and either a name or badge number while performing specified enforcement duties. The provision expressly included federal officers. 

A willful, knowing violation could bring a misdemeanor prosecution under California law.

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Biden-Appointed Judge Orders State Dept. to Open Diversity Visa Lottery

A federal judge has ordered the State Department to open registration for the 2027 diversity visa lottery.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, a Biden appointee who immigrated from South Korea at age six, granted the preliminary injunction Wednesday, directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the department to run the green card lottery on a court-set timeline. The order came in a lawsuit brought by a Southern California immigration firm.

The department has to announce the registration period this week, open a 30-day window for electronic entries by Oct. 18, and notify selected applicants by Nov. 19. After that, it must process and award the visas until the 2027 allotment runs out or the fiscal year ends next September.

The diversity visa program, better known as the green card lottery, hands out up to 50,000 immigrant visas a year to people from countries that send few immigrants to the United States. Congress created it in 1990.

The ruling is a turnaround for Ohta. Weeks earlier, the judge denied an emergency bid from the same firm to force the program open, and questioned whether she had the power to do it at all.

“You’re asking me to demand that the government restart this program,” Ohta said from the bench at that hearing.

The suit was filed in July by Red Eagle Law, which sued Rubio over the department’s failure to open 2027 registration. The firm argued the inaction was “arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law,” and said it had lost clients because much of its practice involves lottery applicants.

Government lawyers countered that the firm had waited too long and that the statutory deadline to run the program had already passed, leaving the court no lawful way to order it reopened. The firm called the failure a “de facto cancellation.”

The lottery has been in limbo since December, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem paused it after the Brown University shooter was found to have entered the country through the program in 2017. The State Department resumed issuing diversity visas in August under a separate court order, and a second federal judge in Northern California has found the department delayed processing in a related case.

The order drew a run of dismissive replies under Josh Gerstein’s X post, where commenters questioned whether a judge can direct the executive branch to run an administrative program, while others seized on the name of the judge who did.

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Missouri Judge LOCKS UP Two Children in Juvenile Detention After They Refuse to Go with Their Mother — Federal Appeals Court Strips His Immunity Defense: “Judges Do Not Do Double Duty as Jailers”

A Missouri judge who ordered two children locked inside juvenile detention cells because they refused to leave a courthouse with their mother has been dealt a humiliating defeat in federal court.

On Tuesday, October 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled against Missouri Circuit Judge Eric Eighmy, concluding that his outrageous handling of a family custody dispute violated the children’s clearly established constitutional rights.

The decision, written by Circuit Judge David Stras, upheld a jury’s $10,000 damages award to the children, along with a staggering $326,637.22 in attorney fees and costs.

And the reason for the children’s detention? They simply refused to leave with their mother following a custody hearing.

The parents and their attorneys reached a temporary agreement allowing the children to stay with their mother. However, Kadan and Brooklyn Rockett, who advanced to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent in 2016 with their jaw-dropping magic act and have appeared in Hollywood films, wanted to remain with their father to avoid disrupting their budding entertainment careers.

They were never parties to the case and never entered the courtroom. After the hearing, they argued with their mother in the courthouse hallway.

Judge Eighmy, according to the lawsuit and later findings, removed his robe, intervened, lectured the children on the “evils of Hollywood,” and grew frustrated when they stood firm.

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Biden Judge Orders Immediate Halt to Trump Ads After Trump Says He’ll Pay for Them Himself

A Biden-appointed judge has ruled that the Trump Administration must cease the production and airing of government-funded advertisements ahead of the midterms. 

In other words, Trump can no longer promote the United States of America or his administration in government-funded ads.

The Department of Homeland Security told the court last night that there were “no plans” to air additional ads, while asking the judge to reject the request by progressive groups for an emergency order to block the ads.

Still, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon ordered the Trump Administration to stop using DHS funds to create or disseminate the ads and to cancel any upcoming ad slots for a two-week duration as court proceedings continue.

The ads, which came under fire last week, feature Trump’s statements about draining the swamp, ridding the government of Communists, and liberating America “from these villains once and for all.” The White House has described the campaign as “educational and unapologetically patriotic” public service announcements, aimed at “reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.”

“This is the final battle. With you at my side. We will demolish the deep state. We will expel the war mongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump says in one of the ads.

At the end of the ad, a disclaimer reads: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

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