Tag: judges

DNI Gabbard presses to declassify secret but critical court opinion during FISA renewal debate

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is pushing to declassify a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion expected to reveal major compliance failures in the government’s use of Section 702 surveillance powers, Just the News has learned.

The effort comes as Congress is debating whether to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the government to collect communications of foreign targets located abroad.

Civil liberties advocates and constitutional scholars have long argued the program also sweeps in large volumes of Americans’ communications without warrants, creating what critics describe as a loophole around Fourth Amendment protections.

At the center of the controversy is the government’s ability to conduct so-called backdoor searches, in which analysts query databases containing incidentally collected American communications. 

The pending court opinion is expected to detail concerns over how federal agencies have managed queries of Section 702 databases and whether internal guardrails designed to prevent abuse were circumvented, according to a senior intelligence official.

The Justice Department reportedly discovered in 2024 that the FBI had used a filtering mechanism that enabled personnel to query Section 702 data without fully complying with oversight requirements established under the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. 

Investigators reportedly found the system lacked adequate counting, tracking, and approval procedures that are required under the law.

Although officials said the specific tool was later shut down, the still-classified court opinion reportedly indicates that similar tools may continue to exist elsewhere within the intelligence community, including at the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Gabbard announced Friday she is stepping down June 30 to spend more time with her husband, Abraham, who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer.

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Democrat Sen. Van Hollen Roasted For Celebrating Obama Judge’s Decision to Drop Criminal Case Against MS-13 Gang Member Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen got roasted for celebrating a federal judge’s decision to drop the criminal case against MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

A federal grand jury in Tennessee previously indicted Kilmar Abrego Garcia for “transporting undocumented migrants within the United States.”

He was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.

According to the indictment, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and co-conspirators from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the US were trafficking illegal aliens from 2016 through 2025.

Read the indictment here.

A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal indictment against MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss the human trafficking case for vindictive and selective prosecution in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

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Out of the Twilight Zone: Judge praises behavior of gang rapists, sentences them to ‘rehabilitation’

A judge handling the case of a teenage gang convicted of luring two young girls and then raping them gave them rehabilitation orders instead of jail.

And he praised them for their behavior.

“You have all done very well with the restrictions put in place throughout the trial,” claimed the judge, in the United Kingdom. “I think of you as very young and none of you have (sic) been in any big trouble before.”

It was in a report at Not the Bee that the details of the judge’s near-advocacy for crime appeared.

“Sane human beings know these little monsters deserve the most serve punishment available. This being in the UK, however, means they don’t even go to jail,” the report said. “The judge handed down ‘rehabilitation sentences’ for the three gypsy perpetrators while somehow excusing their despicable actions.”

The Daily Mail noted the gypsies, of the “traveller community,” were convicted of rape as well as taking indecent images of a child, because they recorded their own abuse of a 15-year-old girl.

The case was in Southampton Crown Court, where the judge said, “None of you need to go to prison.”

The boys targeted one victim on Snapchat, “before luring her to an underpass where they laughed and filmed themselves as they raped her,” the Mail reported.

First it was two 14-year-old boys. Then a few months later they were joined by a 13-year-old boy for a second attack, this time raping a young girl at knifepoint.

The Daily Mail said all three were convicted of rape during a five-week trial.

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Obama Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against MS-13 Gang Member Kilmar Abrego Garcia

A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal indictment against MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss the human trafficking case for vindictive and selective prosecution in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

The Trump DOJ vowed to appeal Judge Crenshaw’s decision.

Last October, Judge Crenshaw set a hearing on whether the child-trafficking case against MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia was due to “vindictive prosecution.”

Crenshaw set a hearing based on public statements made by Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kristi Noem, and others.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an El Salvadoran national who was illegally residing in Maryland. In 2019, an immigration judge ordered Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the dangerous MS-13 gang, removed from the US.

After a months-long court battle over his deportation, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was transported back to the United States from El Salvador to face criminal charges.

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Trump Admin Moves to Supercharge Deportations with Unprecedented Immigration Judge Addition

The Justice Department announced on Thursday the onboarding of over 80 new immigration judges, the largest addition in agency history.

The Executive Office of Immigration added 77 full-time judges and 5 temporary ones, according to a DOJ news release.

“The Trump administration is committed to reestablishing an immigration judge corps that is dedicated to restoring the rule to the law in our nation’s immigration system,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“Today, we are onboarding the largest immigration judge class in agency history. This could only happen thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders. I also applaud EOIR’s leadership team for helping facilitate these hiring efforts and recruiting highly qualified and talented personnel in record time,” he added.

EOIR has hired 153 permanent immigration judges since the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1.

The DOJ noted, “Reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for the agency. Since January 20, 2025, EOIR has completed more than 1.08 million cases and has reduced its pending caseload in immigration courts by more than 447,000 cases, bringing the pending caseload down from approximately 4 million to under 3.53 million, the sharpest decrease in caseload in EOIR’s history.”

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Judge Grants Biden’s Request to Intervene in FOIA Fight, Blocks Public Release of 70 Hours of Audiotapes of His Conversations with Ghostwriter

A federal judge on Thursday granted Joe Biden’s request to block the public release of the audiotapes of his conversations with his ghostwriter.

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

However, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, denied Biden’s request to use this case to block the release of the audiotapes to the House Judiciary Committee.

Earlier this 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.

Republicans have argued that Joe Biden cannot assert executive privilege over the audio since the transcript has already been released.

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.

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Disgusting SoCal dad pleads guilty to incest after daughter killed herself — sentenced to only 3 years in California prison

A Southern California father admitted in court to sexually abusing his biological daughter after supplying her with alcohol during a visit to his home, in a disturbing case that ended with the young woman later taking her own life.

Stephen Vincent Chavez, 41, pleaded guilty Monday to one felony count of incest and one misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor in connection with the abuse of his 18-year-old biological daughter, Makayla, prosecutors said.

The case drew outrage online after authorities revealed Chavez is expected to receive just three years in state prison, KTLA reported.

Chavez moved up his scheduled court appearance in order to enter the plea. Prosecutors said he also acknowledged abusing a position of trust and targeting a particularly vulnerable victim.

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Woke Judge Admits “Taking A Chance” On Violent Criminal… Who Then Went On Shooting Spree

A Massachusetts judge openly confessed in court that she knew she was rolling the dice by giving a light sentence to a career criminal with a 20-year rap sheet packed with violence, guns, and assault convictions.

She did it anyway. Now Tyler Brown is back in custody after opening fire with 50 to 60 rounds on a busy Cambridge roadway, critically injuring two innocent drivers.

The shocking audio, released this week, comes straight from Brown’s 2020 sentencing hearing after he fired 13 rounds at Boston police officers. Prosecutors had pushed for 10 to 12 years behind bars. The judge gave him just five. He walked out on parole in March 2025.

In the newly surfaced clip shared on X, the judge tells Brown directly:

“I do realize I’m kind of taking a chance on you — when people stand up, police, experienced police officers, experienced probation officers, and they tell me this guy is a danger to the community.”

She went on to acknowledge she could not predict the future but was still willing to release him, saying she hoped her “intuitions” would prove correct and that Brown would not “endanger other peoples’ lives as you have in the past.” 

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Convicted Pedophile on the Run for Nearly a Year After California Judge Released Him on Bail

A convicted child sex offender in California remains on the run after a judge released him on bond last summer while he was awaiting sentencing.

Authorities in El Dorado County near Lake Tahoe now are asking for the public’s help to locate Carl Cacconie, 51, who was convicted last year of six felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on an 11-year-old girl.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office described the fugitive as a “convicted and violent sexual predator” and is asking anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact law enforcement or the Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers.

On July 17, 2025, Carl Cacconie, 51, was convicted of the charges. El Dorado Judge Michael McLaughlin set his bail at $1 million, which the convicted pedophile posted.

Typically, with the help of a bail bondsman, suspects can put up just 10 percent, which in Cacconie’s case would have been $100,000. Cars, homes, and other valuables can be used as collateral.

Cacconie was instructed to return to court on August 25, 2025, for sentencing. He faces 18 years in prison.

He never showed up.

The El Dorado County Probation Department fit Cacconie with an ankle monitor in 2023, the Daily Mail reported.

That device was disconnected on August 17 on a street in San Francisco, according to a report obtained by KCRA3.

Eight days later, the day of his sentencing, his family reported him missing.

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson and the victim’s family were critical of the judge’s decision to allow Cacconie to bond out of jail.

“To expect that a person on $1 million bond, who has now been convicted, that merely adding an ankle monitor, which can be easily cut off, adds any real assurance to bringing him back to court, it’s kind of folly,” Pierson told the TV news outlet.

He added, “This is a county that prides itself on holding people accountable. And, unfortunately, that’s so far not what has happened.”

Cacconie’s family has told authorities that he left a suicide note, but police and prosecutors believe that’s a ruse by the fugitive to evade capture.

Cacconie inflicted sexual abuse on the victim, now an adult, over a period of several months in 2014 and 2015, and his felonies were facilitated by his close relationship with her family, KCRA3 reported.

“He’s a monster, and he took away my innocence,” the victim reportedly said.

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SCOTX Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock Torches Rogue Dallas Judge’s Insane COVID Mask Mandate in Courtroom – Demands She Scrap It by Friday or Else

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice James “Jimmy” Blacklock has demanded answers from a Dallas County judge accused of requiring masks and intrusive health disclosures as a condition of entering her courtroom.

In a sharply worded May 13 letter, Chief Justice Blacklock warned Dallas County Court at Law No. 1 Judge D’Metria Benson that he is “aware of no legitimate basis” under Texas law for conditioning access to a public courtroom on a mask mandate or heightened health screening.

The letter, obtained Tuesday, gives Benson until 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, to either clarify that no such policy exists, explain the legal basis for the restrictions, or withdraw them entirely.

“It has come to my attention that you may be requiring people entering your courtroom to wear facemasks and to divulge intimate information about their health,” Blacklock wrote.

He added:

“If this is true, please carefully reconsider whether you have legal authority for these actions.”

Blacklock pointed directly to the Texas Constitution, citing Article I, Section 13, which guarantees that “all courts shall be open.”

“I am aware of no legitimate basis on which a Texas judge may condition a person’s presence in a courtroom on a mask requirement or on a heightened health screening,” the Chief Justice wrote.

That is a stunning statement from the state’s highest judicial officer—and one that signals Texas’ judicial leadership may be increasingly unwilling to tolerate lingering COVID-style mandates years after the pandemic emergency ended.

Blacklock also invoked Rule 10(f) of the Rules of Judicial Administration, which gives the Texas Supreme Court authority to direct lower courts to amend or withdraw local rules, standing orders, or policies deemed unfair or unduly burdensome.

The Chief Justice’s letter was prompted by reports that Benson’s courtroom may be enforcing mask requirements and requiring visitors to disclose private health information before entry. Blacklock cited reporting by The Texas Lawbook regarding attorney Mark Curriden’s challenge to the policy.

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