Tag: judges

Biden-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s New Verification System to Remove Foreign Nationals from Voter Rolls

A federal judge, appointed by President Joe Biden, has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from using an updated verification system, known as the SAVE program, to remove foreign nationals from state voter rolls.

On Monday, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by Biden, issued an order to prevent the Trump administration from using a streamlined version of the federal government’s SAVE program to combat voter fraud.

The update to SAVE allowed states to more quickly verify that only American citizens are voting in federal elections by no longer requiring that all nine digits of a voter registrant’s Social Security Number have to be entered to verify eligibility.

“This case implicates two fundamental rights that protect Americans from government overreach: the right to privacy and the right to vote,” Sooknanan, an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, wrote:

In the past year, several federal agencies have joined forces to create a centralized federal database that contains the private information of United States citizens, including Social Security numbers, citizenship status, and other sensitive data. [Emphasis added]

But decades ago, Congress put protections in place to prevent precisely this type of centralized data bank. And the record in this case shows that the federal agencies that created this database knew that the database violates those statutory protections. The agencies were scrambling to comply with an Executive Order aimed at reshaping federal elections, which directed them to create a system for mass voter verification. So they haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable. Since then, states have partnered with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information. All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote. This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens. [Emphasis added]

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman previously told Breitbart News that the updated SAVE program was necessary to ensure “America’s elections are reserved exclusively for American citizens.”

The case is League of Women Voters et al v. DHS, No. 25-3501 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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Federal Judge Quashes Grand Jury Subpoenas Targeting Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey in DOJ’s Immigration Enforcement Investigation

A federal judge on Monday quashed grand jury subpoenas issued to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other Minnesota officials.

US District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee said the subpoenas were retaliatory.

The Justice Department in January issued subpoenas to Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and other far-left Minnesota officials.

The DOJ previously launched a criminal investigation into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and far-left Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for interfering with ICE operations.

According to CBS News, the investigation centered around public statements made by Walz and Frey.

Thousands of federal agents were deployed to Minneapolis to arrest illegal alien criminals earlier this year.

Both Governor Walz and Mayor Frey have lashed out at the Trump Administration for dispatching ICE agents to Minnesota.

Mayor Frey demanded that residents and local police fight ICE agents in the street.

The DOJ issued subpoenas to six Minnesota officials.

“From the beginning of his current term in office, President Trump and members of his administration have taken aim at so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions-that is, jurisdictions “that limit the use of local resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement,”” the judge wrote.

“President Trump has repeatedly insulted Minnesota generally and its Somali population in particular; targeted Democratic-led cities for expanded deportation efforts;3 asserted that Democratic officials who oppose the deployment of National Guard troops for immigration enforcement should be jailed; issued multiple executive orders threatening to cut off federal funding to “sanctuary” jurisdictions;5 and sued Minnesota and some of its political subdivisions seeking to invalidate state and local provisions limiting assistance to federal immigration officials,” the judge said.

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Corrupt Obama Judge Amy Berman Jackson Shuts Down Trump Administration’s SNAP Junk Food Restrictions

A federal judge on Monday shut down the Trump Administration’s pilot program restricting the purchase of soda and junk food with SNAP benefits.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins applied the wrong law in approving a pilot program for states that wanted to restrict junk food purchases.

23 states applied for the pilot program in an effort to limit the purchase of soda, candy and other junk food.

Plaintiffs in five states filed the lawsuit against Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

Judge Berman Jackson’s ruling applies to five states: West Virginia, Tennessee, Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska.

Politico reported:

A federal judge on Monday scrapped a set of state pilot programs intended to restrict the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program money to purchase unhealthy foods.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, wrote in her decision that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the SNAP program, misapplied federal law in approving requests from states to allow them to impose limits on what participants can buy with funds from the nation’s largest food aid program. Her ruling applies to Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia.

“With her solicitation and approval of the pilot projects in this case, the Secretary purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of ‘food’ as it was laid down by Congress,” Berman wrote. “Neither the USDA nor the states can force this square peg into a round hole to avoid the plain language of the statute and the requirements of 2026(k),” referencing the part of the statute that addresses projects to help improve SNAP households’ health status.

Jackson’s ruling could jeopardize one of the biggest policy achievements of the Make America Healthy Again agenda. Rollins and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have urged states to submit food restriction plans, arguing that they will improve health outcomes and that federal dollars shouldn’t be funding junk food.

Kennedy also incentivized the states to apply by tying some federal rural health care funding to whether states had applied for a waiver to limit foods like soda in SNAP.

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Paramedics Who Fatally Injected Elijah McClain Have Their Convictions Overturned

In yet another example of systemic corruption, the former EMTs responsible for administering a fatal dose of ketamine to Elijah McClain face no real accountability.

Aurora, CO — In August of 2019, 23 year old Elijah McClain was walking home in his neighborhood after just purchasing a bottle of iced tea. He had committed no crime. Despite this, one of his neighbors called the police due to the fact that he was wearing a mask, which he reportedly regularly did due to being anemic. Shortly thereafter, Aurora police arrived on the scene and initiated contact with McClain, claiming that he “matched the description” of a suspect.

Within moments the officers unjustly initiated force against McClain, later attempting to justify their actions by claiming he attempted to reach for one of their guns although this is disputed by body camera evidence. As the scuffle ensued officers took McClain to the ground, placing him in an illegal chokehold maneuver restricting his air flow. As McClain struggled under the strangulation of his assailants, violently vomiting, he attempted multiple times to inform them that he couldn’t breathe, yet still they persisted. Eventually, officers called the Aurora Fire Department to the scene, where upon arrival two paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, injected McClain with 500mg of ketamine, a strong sedative.

After being choked out and forcibly drugged for committing no crime, McClain went into cardiac arrest twice while on the way to the hospital, leading to his death.

By all accounts Elijah McClain was an upstanding member of his community, a massage therapist and self taught violinist who volunteered at animal shelters playing music for adoptive dogs and cats. He had never even received a speeding ticket in his life. 

In his last few words on this planet, McClain could be heard saying, “I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! I don’t eat meat! But I don’t judge people, I don’t judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me … I’m so sorry.”

In 2021, nearly a year and a half after his murder, an independent investigation commissioned by the city of Aurora found that police had no legal basis to stop McClain, much less choke and drug him to death. Furthermore, the investigation found police deliberately defrauded initial inquiries in an attempt to exonerate the officers.

Now, it has been reported that Cooper and Cichuniec, the two paramedics responsible for giving McClain the lethal injection, have had their convictions overturned.

According to the Atlanta Black Star, the two former paramedics had their homicide convictions overturned last week over a legal technicality.

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Judge rules Scottish guidance for housing trans prisoners is unlawful

A judge has ruled that prison guidance which allows some transgender prisoners to be held in jails matching their gender identity, rather than their sex at birth, is unlawful.

Judge Lady Ross said sex segregation in prisons must be based on biological sex, based on a Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman in equality law in April last year.

Campaign group For Women Scotland challenged the Scottish government guidance through a judicial review, saying only those born biologically female should be held in the women’s estate.

Lawyers for the government had argued this would breach transgender prisoners’ human rights. The first minister said they will take time to consider the judgement.

Lady Ross said the guidance was “in conflict with the requirement that prison accommodation be provided separately for men and women” and constituted “a mis-statement of the law”.

She said: “In all the circumstances, the prisons guidance is unlawful.”

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DERANGED Anti-Trump Leftist Charged with Hate Crime After Burning Cross With MAGA Hat on Top in Chicago’s Grant Park Released From Jail — Judge Only Bans Him From Possessing Wood or Kerosene

A 21-year-old anti-Trump activist charged with multiple felonies, including hate crimes, was released from jail Thursday after burning a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park and placing a Make America Great Again hat on top of it.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, what was initially hyped by Chicago officials, Rev. Michael Pfleger, and media as a racist “white supremacist” or KKK-style attack in Grant Park turned out to be the work of a deranged anti-Trump, anti-MAGA leftist.

On June 9, 2026, police and firefighters responded to a burning cross in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The incident prompted immediate backlash, and one local church offered a $10,000 reward to help make an arrest, and local officials were quick to blame the incident on racism and ‘white supremacists.’

Block Club Chicago reports that Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church, who offered the reward,  noted, “Racism has always been a part of America’s DNA, and this week it has raised its head boldly and loudly,” Pfleger said in a statement.

“This bold rise of racism must be condemned by every race, faith community, and Chicagoan as was done with the swastika and treated as a hate crime.”

As it turns out, however, the cross-burner is an Asian man, Merlin Lu, 21, a University of Illinois Chicago senior, who burned the cross, adorned with a MAGA hat, to protest President Trump and MAGA.

Lu allegedly told police that “The greatest threat to the American people is [President] Trump, [Jeffrey] Epstein, their billionaire pedophile friends, and their MAGA Christian nationalist base.”

Now, the same Merlin Lu,  has been released back onto the streets by a Cook County judge after facing serious felony charges for torching a cross with a MAGA hat tied on top.

On Thursday, Lu appeared in Cook County court. Despite the gravity of the charges, multiple felonies targeting a protected class and using fire to intimidate, the judge refused to detain him. Lu was released pending trial (next court date June 22).

The judge’s tough-talking condition? Lu is prohibited from possessing fire-starting materials like wood or kerosene. That’s it.

Not held without bond. Not monitored aggressively. Just “don’t buy wood or kerosene,” as if this unhinged individual who openly frames Trump supporters and Christians as existential threats alongside pedophile billionaires will suddenly become harmless without kindling.

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Trump-Appointed Judge Orders ICE to Release Hamas-Linked Milwaukee Mosque President Salah Sarsour Despite Terror Convictions and Immigration Fraud Allegations

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate release of Salah Sarsour, the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque. Sarsour had been locked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who flagged him as a serious foreign policy and national security threat.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, ICE arrested Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee (Wisconsin’s largest mosque) and board member of the pro-Palestinian group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), on March 30.

DHS labeled him a terrorist. He was convicted by an Israeli military court of throwing a Molotov cocktail at Israeli forces and later attempting to possess weapons and ammunition. He allegedly lied on his U.S. immigration forms to secure a green card under President Bill Clinton.

Sarsour also raised funds for the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the Hamas front group convicted of funneling over $12 million to terrorists. An FBI memo from 2001 listed him as a Hamas fundraiser in the U.S. through HLF. His brother Imad was similarly flagged.

Now a federal judge has set him free.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon, nominated to the bench by President Trump in 2018, ordered ICE to immediately release Sarsour from the Indiana county jail where he was being held, according to CNN.

Hanlon ruled that Sarsour raised a “substantial” claim he was targeted for speaking out in favor of Palestinian rights. The judge said ICE and DHS failed to provide enough evidence to refute allegations of retaliation for protected speech or explain why Sarsour suddenly became a national security threat after more than three decades as a legal permanent resident.

“The mere invocation of foreign relations concerns does not automatically trump First Amendment rights,” Hanlon wrote in the decision, according to CNN.

Sarsour was released within hours. He returned to Milwaukee, where supporters greeted him as he headed back to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

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Judge Allows DOJ to Release 70 Hours of Audiotapes of Biden’s Conversations with Ghostwriter

Judge Friedrich stayed her own order pending appeal and gave the DC Circuit Court of Appeals three weeks to make a decision on whether the DOJ can release Biden’s audiotapes.

A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Justice Department to release recordings of Biden’s conversations with his ghostwriter to the Oversight Project.

US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, said the redactions were sufficient.

Biden’s lawyers immediately requested an injunction pending appeal.

The Oversight Project previously filed a FOIA lawsuit requesting records from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden.

Last month, it was reported that the DOJ was preparing to release damning audio of Biden’s interview with former Special Counsel Robert Hur. The Department is also going to release 2017 audio recordings of conversations with his ghostwriter in which he disclosed classified information.

Biden previously asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings related to then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his stolen classified documents scandal.

Then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland classified the audio tapes of Biden’s interview with Hur as “Top Secret” and locked it way in a SCIF.

The Oversight Project vowed to obtain and release Biden’s audio recordings of his conversation with his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.

The Oversight Project celebrated the win on Friday.

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Former Judge’s ICE Obstruction Conviction Upheld

A federal judge in Milwaukee refused Tuesday to throw out former Wisconsin Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s felony obstruction conviction, clearing the way to sentencing in a case that became an early flash point in the Trump administration’s courthouse immigration arrests.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied Dugan’s motion for reconsideration in a 32-page order, ruling that her conduct on April 18, 2025, when she led Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national, out a private jury door while federal immigration agents waited in the corridor, obstructed a “pending proceeding” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. Section 1505.

Adelman, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, did not reset a sentencing date.

Dugan’s lawyers had pressed Adelman to reconsider after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split 2-1 in April to vacate a conviction in United States v. Hernandez, holding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s execution of an already-issued removal order did not count as a “pending proceeding” under the statute.

Dugan’s legal team called Tuesday’s decision “wrong.”

Adelman, however, drew a sharp factual line.

In Hernandez, ICE was finishing the job after another agency had ordered removal.

Here, Adelman wrote that ICE was still investigating, securing probable cause, and seeking to arrest Flores-Ruiz before any removal order had been reinstated.

“This case did not involve some random encounter on the street,” Adelman said in the order. “It was a targeted operation, conducted pursuant to agency procedures, including the issuance of an arrest warrant for a specific person, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.”

The judge also rejected the defense’s broader claim that ICE arrests are indistinguishable from routine police work.

“Unlike, say, the FBI, ICE can issue its own warrants and adjudicate and effectuate a removal, as it did with Flores-Ruiz, without the involvement of a court,” Adelman wrote. “This makes a difference under section 1505.”

A jury convicted Dugan, 67, on Dec. 19 of the obstruction felony and acquitted her of a misdemeanor concealment charge.

She resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court two weeks later, after nine years on the bench, amid impeachment threats from Republican state lawmakers.

She faces up to five years in prison, though federal guidelines typically call for probation for first-time, nonviolent offenders.

Flores-Ruiz pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and was deported on Nov. 13, 2025.

The case is widely expected to reach the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after sentencing.

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Alabama Probate Judge Suspended After 120-Page Complaint Accuses Her of Delaying Hearings to Walk Dogs, Making Racist Comments About White Staff, and Worse

An Alabama probate judge has been suspended following a massive 120-page complaint that accuses her of serious judicial misconduct, including delaying critical hearings for mental health patients so she could walk her dogs, making racist remarks about a white court employee, and ignoring a staff member’s plea to be near her dying sister with cancer.

Jefferson County Probate Judge Yashiba G. Blanchard was suspended on May 21, the same day the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed formal charges against her with the Court of the Judiciary.

The complaint details a pattern of abuse of power, docket mismanagement, bias, intimidation, and retaliation that harmed patients, families, and court staff.

One of the allegations involves Blanchard’s handling of involuntary commitment and guardianship cases. The complaint claims she routinely delayed or canceled probable cause hearings, creating a massive backlog.

In one case, hospital staff repeatedly contacted her office begging for a hearing so a patient could be discharged and go home for Thanksgiving with family.

Blanchard allegedly canceled the hearing, forcing the patient to remain hospitalized for an additional two weeks.

An email from hospital staff read, “This patient will now remain hospitalized for an additional two weeks solely due to the lack of timely access to the hearing process. This not only prevents her from being home with her family for Thanksgiving, but it also generates unnecessary hospitalization costs and creates avoidable emotional distress for the patient.”

The complaint states that Blanchard’s failure to promptly handle court business created a disservice to Jefferson County citizens, forcing some to seek services elsewhere.

The complaint also accuses Blanchard of making a racist comment about white chief clerk Amanda Reid.

A staffer was reportedly asked by the judge if they liked Reid.

When the staffer said yes, Blanchard allegedly replied, “Oh, I forgot you all like kissing white ass.”

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