Tag: judges

Judge Orders Trump Admin To Release Billions In Frozen Foreign Aid Funding

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot withhold billions of dollars in foreign assistance approved by Congress, including aid that the White House recently said it would not spend.

The Trump administration must release $11.5 billion in foreign aid that is set to expire at the end of the month, said U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in a Sept. 3 decision.

“There is not a plausible interpretation of the statutes that would justify the billions of dollars they plan to withhold,” Ali wrote in his ruling.

“To be clear, no one disputes that Defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the Court is not directing Defendants to make payments to any particular recipients. But Defendants do not have any discretion as to whether to spend the funds.”

The Trump administration last week requested that Congress rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid. The $11.5 billion figure includes the $4.9 billion.

In accordance with the Impoundment Control Act, a rescission is when the White House requests Congress to reverse government funding that has been appropriated by Congress. Typically, it must be approved within 45 days of the request being sent to Congress, or else the money must be spent.

Given that this request was made within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, the cancellation could take effect without Congress approving it. This maneuver is known as a pocket rescission.

Ali wrote that the funding is to be spent since Congress appropriated it.

“It is undisputed the relevant appropriations acts have been valid law from the time they were enacted to today. For almost all that period, Defendants did not even dispute that the laws were mandatory and required them to spend the funds,” he wrote. “The President never asked Congress to rescind the funds at issue even though he successfully sought rescission of analogous funds in May 2025.”

The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 4.

“President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

Keep reading

Obama Judge Says to Hell with Supreme Court, Blocks Trump Admin From Canceling Protected Status For 1.1 Million Venezuelans and Haitians

A San Francisco-based federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump Administration from canceling Protected Status for 1.1 million Venezuelans and Haitians.

US District Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee, acknowledged the Supreme Court’s ruling but claimed the high court did not bar him from adjudicating the case on the merits.

Earlier this year Judge Chen temporarily paused Trump’s plans to end Biden’s TPS program.

The DOJ argued that the parole programs were discretionary and it is up to the government to decide when it can cut the program.

In May, the Supreme Court in an 8-1 decision lifted Judge Chen’s block on Trump’s order to revoke protected status for hundreds of thousands of migrants while the policy was challenged in court.

Judge Chen said the Supreme Court didn’t bar him from issuing an order.

The Associated Press reported:

A federal judge on Friday ruled against the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire Sept. 10 have status to stay and work in the United States.

Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s actions in terminating and vacating three extensions granted by the previous administration exceeded her statutory authority and were arbitrary and capricious.

CBP data found that over 1 million illegal aliens have been allowed into the US through what the Biden Regime defined as “legal” means.” The Biden-Kamala admin used the CBP One App and the CHNV program to allow illegals entry into the US.

These numbers are not included in the millions of illegals that have entered the US under Joe Biden’s watch.

Keep reading

Top German Judge Says Overzealous ECHR ‘Endangers The Existence Of Western Democracies’

Hans-Jürgen Papier, Germany’s former chief justice and one of the country’s most senior legal scholars, has warned that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is undermining national sovereignty by creating what he called a “de facto right to immigration through the back door.”

The 82-year-old Ludwig Maximilian University professor, who led Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court at the start of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, told The Times newspaper that a growing body of asylum case law from national courts and the ECHR in Strasbourg had created an “ever deeper reaching and ever more closely meshed agglomeration” of rulings. These, he said, were now “settling like mildew over the states’ political power to take action.”

In his view, the result has been a dramatic broadening of the right to asylum, far beyond what was originally intended under the Geneva Convention.

“The citizens expect those with political responsibility to revise the asylum policies to suit the changed circumstances. But that is in danger of failing because of the ossification of a body of law that is getting increasingly rarefied and ultimately looks irreversible to many politicians,” he said.

Papier criticized the way European courts have interpreted Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR — the rights against inhuman treatment and to family life — to block deportations, including cases where asylum seekers could face homelessness or irregular work in other EU states.

“That simply goes too far,” he argued.

“Here, human dignity is being treated like small change and thereby robbed of its special dignified status.”

The former judge warned that the overzealous application of human rights laws by the ECHR was “generally destroying the European citizen’s trust in the capacity of their democratic institutions to act, and so at the end of the day endangering the existence of Western democracies.”

Keep reading

Far-Left Judge SCREAMS at DOJ Lawyers From the Bench During Hearing on DC Man Who Threatened to Kill Trump After Grand Jury Declines Indictment – Pirro Responds

A far-left magistrate judge erupted during a hearing on Thursday after the DOJ dismissed a case against a DC man who threatened to kill President Trump.

Earlier this week, a DC grand jury declined to indict Edward Dana after he was arrested for damaging a light fixture at a DC restaurant.

Dana also allegedly threatened to kill President Trump and the DC Metro officer who arrested him.

“I’m not going to tolerate fascism. … And that means killing you, officer, killing the president, killing anyone who stands in the way of our Constitution,” Dana allegedly said, according to KTLA. “You want to stand in the way of our Constitution, I will f—ing kill you.”

Federal Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Thursday screamed from the bench and blasted DOJ lawyers during a hearing to dismiss the case.

The judge also apologized to the defendant who threatened kill Trump!

This thread…documenting a federal judge’s stark warnings, literally screaming from the bench about the Trump DOJ abusing rights in DC.

Judge Farriqui: “It’s September 4.. as of now we still have a Constitutional democracy” https://t.co/2rSn0U79Gm

— Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) September 4, 2025

CBS News reported:

A federal judge excoriated the Justice Department over its handling of criminal cases during the Trump administration’s ongoing federal takeover of Washington, D.C., saying at a hearing Thursday that the department has brought “embarrassment and shame” on the government during its “rush” to charge individuals.

U.S. District Judge Zia Faruqui apologized to Edward Dana, a man who was charged for what the Justice Department and U.S. Secret Service said was a threat to kill President Trump last month. Dana spent a week in jail, only to have the charges against him dropped Thursday.

Faruqui said the U.S. is “past the point of constitutional crisis,” as the Trump administration “is playing cops and robbers, like children” during the federal takeover of Washington’s police department.

The judge also criticized the Justice Department over the D.C. U.S. attorney’s multiple failed indictments in recent weeks, saying he had a “grave concern” that in a “rush to get stats on Twitter or Truth Social” touting the takeover, the Justice Department has not given time to those who have been “illegally detained.”

Keep reading

Amy Coney Barrett Fires Shot Across the Bow at Activist Judges: ‘Not Kings’

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett threw a shot across the bow at fellow activist judges, warning them that they are “not kings,” but simply referees who decide whether people have played by the rules that are already established.

In an article for The Free Press written by Barrett, the SCOTUS justice reflected on her jurisprudence, making it clear that her personal views have no place dictating what happens when she’s sitting in the highest court of the land, nor do any other justices.

The Free Press headline read, “Amy Coney Barrett Speaks: People think the Supreme Court is about promoting justice. It’s really about judging what the law requires.”

“On the restraint judges must exercise, Justice Amy Coney Barrett writes, ‘We judges don’t dispense justice solely as we see it; instead, we’re constrained by law adopted through the democratic process,'” one post on X read about the article.

Keep reading

Liberal Federal Judge Lets 22-Year-Old “Transgender” Accused of Threatening to Kill Sen. Marsha Blackburn Walk Free

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, a liberal federal appointee, has granted pretrial release to 22-year-old Penelope Convertino, who is accused of threatening to assassinate U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

According to The Tennessee Star, Penelope R. Convertino, who was reportedly born a male, allegedly left death threats against Senator Marsha Blackburn in a voicemail on May 30.

“My name is mother**ker and I’m gonna kill Marsha Blackburn,” the voicemail said. “I’m gonna shoot her with a gun. I’m gonna blow up her head on national TV. She will literally have brains splattered behind her because she will not be a person. She will be a dead f**king body,” the voicemail stated.

(Disclaimer: The Gateway Pundit has not independently verified the claims regarding Convertino’s biological details reported by outside sources.)

According to the press release on August 30:

“Penelope R. Convertino, age 22, of Murfreesboro, has been charged by criminal complaint with making a threat to murder a federal official with the intent to impede, intimidate, and interfere with U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn while she was engaged in the performance of her official duties, announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee.

“Our public officials should be able to do their jobs without receiving vile death threats,” said Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire. “Threatening public officials with deadly violence cannot and will not be tolerated. We will not hesitate to hold those who make these kinds of violent threats accountable for their crimes.”

According to court documents, on Friday, May 30, 2025, a voice message was left on the voicemail for Senator Blackburn’s Nashville satellite Senate office. One of Senator Blackburn’s staff listened to the voicemail the following Monday. In it, the caller said, “My name is mother**ker and I’m gonna kill Marsha Blackburn. I’m gonna shoot her with a gun. I’m gonna blow up her head on national TV. She will literally have brains splattered behind her because she will not be a person. She will be a dead f**king body.”

Convertino was arrested earlier today by FBI agents.

If convicted, Convertino faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.”

Instead of ensuring the safety of an elected official and her constituents, Judge Holmes ordered Convertino’s release, continuing a disturbing trend of leniency toward dangerous offenders with politically fashionable identities.

Keep reading

Woman Arrested for Threatening to Kill President Trump Quietly Released by Obama Appointed Judge James Boasberg

Less than two weeks ago, a woman named Nathalie Rose Jones traveled from New York to Washington, DC with the intent of killing President Trump.

US Attorney For DC Jeanine Pirro announced her arrest saying, “She was working to have [Trump] eliminated. She’s now in custody, she will be prosecuted to the fullest extent to the law.”

Now this woman has been quietly released by Obama appointed Judge James Boasberg. That would be the same Judge Boasberg who has repeatedly interfered in efforts to deport illegal alien criminals.

The New York Post reports:

NYC woman busted for threatening to kill President Trump quietly released by Obama-appointed judge

A New York City woman locked up for making deranged social media posts threatening to kill President Trump was quietly released by an Obama-appointed judge last week.

Chief US District Judge James Boasberg released Nathalie Rose Jones, a 50-year-old Big Apple resident, under electronic monitoring on Aug. 27 and ordered she see a psychiatrist once back home, court documents revealed.

The surprise release comes just days after US Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya denied Jones bond over the persistent threats on Trump’s life she issued over social media earlier this month…

Officials were aware of concerning posts starting on Aug. 2 and Jones herself told Secret Service agents in an Aug. 15 interview that she would “carry out the mission of killing” Trump with a “bladed object” if she was given the chance.

Many of her social media posts tagged federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Keep reading

President Trump Calls on Judge Jia Cobb to Recuse Herself From Lawsuit by Fired Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook After Sorority They Are Both Members of Releases Statement in Support of Cook

President Donald Trump posted a statement Sunday night calling on U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb to recuse herself from presiding over the lawsuit by Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook challenging Trump’s firing of her from the Fed last Monday over allegations of mortgage fraud.

Cook filed suit on Thursday. Cobb held a hearing Friday in D.C., but made no immediate ruling reported CNN (excerpt):

Cobb has asked for more written arguments to be submitted to her by next Tuesday. It’s possible she rules after then, or takes additional time to sift through how to best proceed with the case. Her options include setting it on an expedited track for a prompt resolution of Cook’s underlying claims.

Though Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, held off for now on making an initial ruling in the case, she also made clear that she wasn’t prepared to fully buy into arguments pushed by either Cook or Trump.

The judge pushed back on a suggestion by Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth that federal courts have no authority to second-guess a decision by a president to fire a member of the Federal Reserve “for cause.” But even with that judicial power, Cobb said, there still may be some level of deference by a court to the president’s decision-making.

Trump posted a copy of a statement issued Thursday by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority–that both Cobb and Cook belong to–that expresses support for Cook, “This is a total Conflict of Interest. The Judge must RECUSE IMMEDIATELY!!! President DJT.”

Keep reading

Guatemala Requests Migrant Children Back – But Biden Judge Blocks Reunification to Keep Children Trapped at American Shelters

The Gateway Pundit first reported this weekend that Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan blocked the deportation of more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors. 

The Trump administration had begun removal flights after advocacy groups sued, and the Biden judge quickly issued an emergency restraining order to stop them.

But there is a new and even more disturbing layer to the story. The government of Guatemala has now formally requested that these children be returned home. 

These minors are not “stateless,” nor are they abandoned. All have self-reported that their parents live in Guatemala, and the Guatemalan government is publicly asking for their reunification. 

Still, Democrats and their allies in the courts are refusing to let them go.

This is not a question of children being left without guardians. Guatemala has agreed to take responsibility. 

The reality is that these children were smuggled into the United States, often at the hands of cartels, and wound up stranded in federal custody. 

Now, instead of being sent back to their families, they are trapped in American shelters. 

Judge Sooknanan’s order blocks their deportation for at least two weeks, but advocacy groups are already seeking a class-action expansion that could tie up the issue for months or years.

It is hard to overstate how absurd this is. A sovereign government is requesting the return of its children. 

Keep reading

CONFLICT OF INTEREST EXPOSED: Corrupt Judge Jia Cobb Who Blocked Trump’s Mass Deportations and Now Oversees Federal Reserve Mortgage Fraudster Lisa Cook Revealed as SORORITY SISTER!

You can’t make this up.

On Friday morning, embattled Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, recently fired by President Trump over allegations of fraud and misconduct, appeared in federal court to challenge her dismissal.

The case was heard by none other than Judge Jia Cobb, a radical Biden-appointed judge already notorious for shamelessly blocking Trump’s lawful mass deportation orders.

It can be recalled that US District Judge Jia Cobb called President Trump’s expedited removal of illegal aliens from the interior of the US a “skimpy process.”

“The procedures the government currently uses in expedited removal, however, create a significant risk that it will not identify these disqualifying criteria before quickly ordering someone removed. And the lack of available review means that once the removal happens, it is largely too late to correct the error,” Judge Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion on Friday.

The Gateway Pundit reported on Friday morning that Judge Cobb wasted no time holding an emergency hearing that dragged on for over two hours. Attorneys for Lisa Cook and the DOJ clashed as they desperately tried to salvage her cushy position on the Federal Reserve Board.

Cook’s high-powered lawyer, Abbe Lowell, the same guy who’s been defending Hunter Biden in his scandals, went full attack mode on President Trump, whining that the Commander-in-Chief makes his orders and policies via “tweets.”

During the hearing, Judge Cobb openly cast doubt on Trump’s executive order firing Cook, but she stopped short of issuing a ruling. Court will resume next Tuesday.

Lisa Cook, fired by Trump this week for alleged mortgage and financial misconduct, is suing to keep her cushy Federal Reserve seat. The lawsuit should have been randomly assigned.

But in a shocking twist, the case landed before Judge Cobb, who just so happens to be Cook’s sorority sister in Delta Sigma Theta.

Keep reading