Tag: judges

OUTRAGEOUS! Illegal Alien From El Salvador Gets Only One Year in Prison After Killing University of South Carolina Student

An illegal alien from El Salvador was sentenced to only one year in prison after he killed a University of South Carolina student in a hit-and-run crash.

On April 2, Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, 24, struck 21-year-old Nathaniel Baker, who was riding a motorcycle. Fernandez-Cruz reportedly did not yield, struck Baker and took off.

Baker’s family reportedly forgave Fernandez-Cruz and were consulted about the light sentence, Robert Kittle, spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office told Fox News.

A judge imposed a lenient sentence of only one year in prison.

The family did not want the case to be “politicized” or “publicized,” according to Kittle.

Fernandez-Cruz will be deported to El Salvador after he serves his sentence.

Fox News reported:

An illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to killing a South Carolina college student in a hit-and-run will be released next year after completing his one-year sentence.

Rosali Fernandez-Cruz was admitted to the state Department of Corrections on Aug. 14, 2025, according to South Carolina Department of Corrections records.

His projected release date is March 2, 2026. Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to hit-and-run resulting in death — the most serious charge against him — according to Robert Kittle, communications director for the state attorney general’s office, who spoke with Fox News Digital.

There was no plea agreement, and prosecutors informed the judge of other traffic-related charges against Fernandez-Cruz, Kittle said.

“The judge decided the sentence, which was one year,” he said.

Fernandez-Cruz, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, received the light sentence for the April 2 death of Nathaniel Baker, 21, in Columbia. Baker was a junior at the University of South Carolina and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

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Grassley calls out judges for using AI to draft error-filled rulings

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to two federal judges regarding their alleged use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to draft court orders with little to no human verification. Grassley’s oversight inquiry follows public  that U.S. District of Mississippi Judge Henry T. Wingate and U.S. District of New Jersey Judge Julien Xavier Neals issued court orders containing serious factual inaccuracies, prompting allegations of AI use.

“As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to safeguarding litigants’ rights and ensuring that every party in federal court receives fair treatment and careful review by the Article III judges confirmed by the Senate,” Grassley wrote.

“No less than the attorneys who appear before them, judges must be held to the highest standards of integrity, candor, and factual accuracy. Indeed, Article III judges should be held to a higher standard, given the binding force of their rulings on the rights and obligations of litigants before them,” Grassley continued.

Grassley is asking Wingate and Neals to explain whether they, their law clerks, or any court staff used generative AI – or entered non-public case information into generative AI tools – in preparing their decisions. Further, Grassley called on the district judges to re-docket their original orders to preserve a transparent history of the courts’ actions.

Read Grassley’s letter to Wingate HERE and letter to Neals HERE.

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INSANE: No Prison Time For Man Convicted of Pulling Knife on State Trooper Protecting Trump’s Motorcade During Visit to North Carolina

Another day, another corrupt judge.

A man convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon after pulling a knife on a state trooper protecting Trump’s motorcade during his visit to North Carolina last year to survey Hurricane Helene damage will not serve prison time.

Last October, 55-year-old Leif Johnson was seen screaming at an elderly, wheelchair bound veteran during then-candidate Trump’s visit to western North Carolina. When a 12-year-old child tried to intervene, Johnson spat on the child.

Johnson then pulled out a 4-inch knife on a state trooper who tried to escort him away. Troopers had to wrestle him to the ground and disarm him.

Last Thursday, Leif Johnson was found guilty on multiple felony charges, including two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer.

However, he won’t serve any prison time. Johnson will serve 36 months supervised probation instead.

“Superior Court Judge Jacqueline D. Grant sentenced Johnson to two consecutive suspended sentences of 30 to 48 months imprisonment,” WLOS reported.

“Instead of serving time, however, Johnson will serve 36 months of supervised probation and a 15-day jail term at the discretion of his probation officer, the release confirmed. He also must complete an anger management course and is prohibited from contacting any of the victims,” WLOS reported.

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Judge again blocks deployment of National Guard troops to Oregon, this time from any state

A federal judge on Sunday night issued a second temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Oregon, this time from any state, The Associated Press reported, as protests in the state’s largest city continued.

The judge’s ruling came after the Trump administration ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard to deploy to several states, including Oregon, as well as 300 from California. Both states then asked the judge to block the Trump administration’s moves.

During a hastily called evening telephone hearing, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by the two states.

Immergut, who was appointed by Trump in his first term, seemed incredulous that the president moved to send National Guard troops to Oregon from neighboring California and then from Texas on Sunday, just hours after she had ruled the first time.

“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” she questioned the federal government’s attorney, cutting him off.

“Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” she said later. “Why is this appropriate?”

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Deranged DEMOCRAT Receives Maximum Sentence After Threatening to KILL Federal Judge

A California woman has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for issuing a death threat against a federal judge in Texas. 

The case is yet another reminder of how political violence—too often excused, ignored, or downplayed by the Left—has become a dangerous feature of American life.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, 46-year-old Dolly Patterson admitted she transmitted an interstate threat against a federal judge in Amarillo in April 2023. 

Her message, submitted online, read: “Tell that anti-abortion judge he better watch his back . . . for the rest of his life!” 

Federal prosecutors emphasized that Patterson’s intent was clear: she wanted her threat to be perceived as genuine, and she fully understood that it crossed the line into criminal behavior.

The court handed down the maximum statutory penalty—five years in prison. Federal officials were blunt in their assessment. 

“The safety of our federal judiciary is paramount,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson said. 

“Threats of violence to our judges are becoming all too common—whether made online or in person. Such threats are illegal and will be prosecuted.”

This sentencing shines a light on a broader problem. Political intimidation, harassment, and violence are increasingly tolerated in progressive circles. 

From protests that devolve into riots to personal threats against judges, politicians, and law enforcement officers, the pattern is consistent: when the Left doesn’t get its way, it often resorts to violence.

Judges in particular have become targets of anger from activists who view the judiciary not as a neutral arbiter but as an obstacle to their political goals. 

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Forcing baker to make same-sex wedding cake recreates printing press censorship: scholars to SCOTUS

hirty-five years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia led a Supreme Court majority to gut the free exercise of religion under the rubric of “neutral” and “generally applicable” law, a decision that most members of the current court “have called into doubt” even as lower courts employ the 1990 Smith precedent “to permit government oppression.”

So say a former federal appellate judge, the allegedly fifth-most cited legal scholar of all time and a dozen other First Amendment and antidiscrimination law scholars, who together urge SCOTUS to “emphatically cast aside” Smith in accepting a case whose central question it has repeatedly decided.

They are joined by 16 states and several religious denominations and advocacy groups in supporting Tastries baker Cathy Miller’s SCOTUS petition to hear her eight-year legal saga, after the California Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court ruling that overturned a trial ruling in Miller’s favor for refusing to design a cake for a same-sex wedding.

The Golden State “has repeatedly compared Cathy’s religious beliefs about marriage to racism,” her lawyers at religious liberty law firm Becket said. California made the same comparison when female inmates sued to block its law incarcerating males with them.

The California appeals court distinguished its ruling from SCOTUS precedents in favor of Jack Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop and Lorie Smith’s 303 Creative, against Colorado’s compelled creation of cakes and websites for same-sex weddings respectively, by claiming the cake Miller refused to make “conveyed no particularized message about the nature of marriage.”

Miller’s petition asks SCOTUS to resolve whether “compelled participation in a ceremony” is banned only when third parties view that participation as “endorsement,” if Miller must show “unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct” to prove a law is not generally applicable, and if 1990’s Smith should remain at all.

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Federal Judge DISQUALIFIES President Trump’s Acting US Attorney in Nevada, Rules Her Appointment is Invalid

A federal judge on Tuesday disqualified President Trump’s Acting US Attorney in Nevada, Sigal Chattah, and ruled her appointment is invalid.

Earlier this year President Trump appointed Sigal Chattah as the Interim US Attorney in Nevada. Shortly before her 120 day interim appointment expired, she resigned from the position and was reappointed as the Acting US Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Anti-Trump prosecutors immediately filed motions to disqualify Chattah, claiming this maneuver to leapfrog to an “Acting US Attorney” role was unlawful.

On Tuesday, US District Judge David G. Campbell, a George W. Bush appointee, said in a 32-page ruling that Chattah is “improperly serving” in her role as Acting US Attorney.

“Ms. Chattah is disqualified from supervising these cases or any attorneys in the handling of these cases,” Judge Campbell wrote.

Judge Campbell did not dismiss the indictments.

“Defendants’ motions are denied to the extent they seek dismissal of their indictments,” the judge wrote.

The judge reassigned Sigal Chattah’s cases to the District Judges in Nevada.

“These cases shall be reassigned to the District Judges in Nevada to whom they were originally assigned. The undersigned judge will remain available to handle similar motions filed in other Nevada cases, if warranted,” the judge wrote.

This is the second time a federal district court judge has disqualified one of President Trump’s Acting US Attorneys.

As previously reported, last month, US District Judge Mathew Brann, an Obama appointee, said Alina Habba is “not lawfully holding the Office of US Attorney” of New Jersey.

The Pennsylvania-based federal judge oversaw a challenge to Alina Habba’s authority because the judges in New Jersey had a conflict of interest after they ousted her from her position as interim US Attorney last month.

A group of federal judges over the summer declined to extend Alina Habba’s term as interim US Attorney of New Jersey after Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries launched a pressure campaign to oust her.

Habba resigned as Interim US Attorney and became Acting US Attorney for New Jersey after the Trump DOJ outmaneuvered the judges before her term expired.

President Trump recently said he will be filing a lawsuit to prevent Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) from blocking Alina Habba’s confirmation for US Attorney of New Jersey with the unconstitutional ‘blue slip’ custom.

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Beware How The Climate Crusade ‘Partners’ With The Media And ‘Educates’ The Courts

Do you ever wonder why mainstream news stories seem so one-sided in their “climate change” coverage, promoting the most radical theories while ridiculing so-called “climate deniers?” Similarly, have you ever pondered how judges who are not scientists or climate experts render opinions favorable to the climate cult while citing scientific “facts” and “evidence” to bolster their verdicts?

For decades, CBS News – the storied broadcast home of icons like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite – was long regarded as the gold standard for television journalism. The “Tiffany Network’s” reporting might sometimes be controversial, but it was always considered deeply researched and proudly independent. CBS News prided itself on its unassailable integrity – “And that’s the way it is,” Cronkite assured us every evening when he signed off.

When it comes to reporting on climate news, those days are gone. For some climate-related stories, CBS News has of late been partnering with Climate Central, a nonprofit that bills itself as “policy-neutral” and “independent,” but acknowledges on its on website that it “uses science, big data, and technology to generate thousands of local storylines and compelling visuals that make climate change personal and show what can be done about it. We address climate science, sea level rise, extreme weather, energy, and related topics.”

In early September Fox News reported, “Last month, CBS News published a story about melting glaciers that also aired on ‘Sunday Morning.’ Ben Tracy was the correspondent on the segment, with his byline at the top of the article. A disclaimer at the bottom read, ‘Story produced by Chris Spinder, in partnership with Climate Central. Editor: Chris Jolly.’” Fox News noted that another CBS News article in July, “also tied to an on-air segment with Tracy, included the disclaimer that the story was ‘produced in partnership with Climate Central.’”

In fact, Tracy and Spinder “work for Climate Central. Only Jolly is a current CBS News staffer, according to his LinkedIn page.” So much for fair, balanced and independent journalism.

On its website, Climate Central boasts of its influence on news organizations, noting that through its “Partnership Journalism” program, it “contributes data, science and data reporting, editing and guidance to joint features coverage informed by new climate data.” The site provides links to page after page of “news” stories on which it has “partnered,” ranging from alternative energy outlets to traditional news agencies.

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Report: ICE Deports Repressive Cuban Judge Formerly on Biden’s ‘Humanitarian Parole’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday deported Melody González Pedraza, a Cuban communist judge who entered the U.S. through the Biden administration’s “humanitarian parole” program, Martí Noticias reported.

González Pedraza reportedly traveled from Havana to Tampa, Florida, in late May 2024 after the administration of former President Joe Biden provided her with a U.S. flight authorization as part of the now-extinct “Humanitarian Parole” program. The initiative, launched by former President Joe Biden in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to legally stay and work in the United States for a period of “up to two years.”

Airport authorities in Tampa reportedly refused to grant her entry due to her extensive past as a communist regime official. In response, González Pedraza requested U.S. political asylum. Martí Noticias detailed that González Pedraza lost her U.S. asylum case on May 21, 2025, and chose not to appeal the ruling issued by an immigration judge in Pompano Beach, Florida. Unnamed sources told the outlet that complaints presented by Cuban exiles against González Pedraza were key to the prosecution and subsequent deportation of the communist judge.

The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC), a non-government organization, included González Pedraza on its list of known Castro regime representatives. The communist judge is known for having issued excessive prison sentences to peaceful Cuban protesters and dissidents.

Days before traveling to Florida, she reportedly sentenced a group of four young Cuban men — all below the age of 30 — to four years in prison on dubious “assault” charges against local state security officials in the municipality of Encrucijada, Villa Clara. Families of the four men denounced at the time that their relatives were unjustly convicted in a sham trial in which the Castro regime did not present neither evidence nor witnesses that could corroborate the accusations.

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Clinton Judge Orders Reinstatement of University of South Dakota Professor Suspended For Celebrating Assassination of Charlie Kirk and Calling Him a “Nazi”

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the reinstatement of a University of South Dakota professor who was suspended for celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Shortly after Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University earlier this month, Phillip Michael Hook took to social media to celebrate the murder.

Hook also called Charlie Kirk, a Christian husband and father who spread the Gospel on college campuses across the country, a “hate spreading Nazi.”

“Okay. I don’t give a flying f*ck about this Kirk person. Apparently he was a hate spreading Nazi. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the idiotic right fringe to even know who he was. I’m sorry for his family that he was a hate spreading Nazi and got killed. I’m sure they deserved better. Maybe good people could now enter their lives. But geez, where was all this concern when the politicians in Minnesota were shot? And the school shootings? And Capitol Police? I have no thoughts or prayers for this hate spreading Nazi. A shrug, maybe,” Phillip Hook wrote.

In a follow-up social media post, Hook wrote: “Apparently my frustration with the sudden onslaught of coverage concerning a guy shot today led to a post I mow [sic] regret posting. I’m sure many folks fully understood my premise but the simple fact that some were offended, led me to remove the post. I extend this public apology to those who were offended. Om Shanti.”

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