Federal Government

Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to have his charges of mishandling classified documents dismissed on the grounds that a federal records law protected him from prosecution.

Apr 4, 2024 2:15 PM CDT

Trump ramps up attacks on judges, sparking concerns as criminal trial nears

Former President Donald Trump is ramping up efforts to disparage judges overseeing his criminal and civil cases—reprising a long-standing strategy as a high-profile trial draws near and prompting growing concerns from legal experts and an expanded gag order late Monday.

Apr 2, 2024 2:45 PM CDT

Republican-appointed judges raise alarm over Trump attacks on law

Several federal judges in Washington appointed by Republican presidents have spoken with increasing urgency about former President Donald Trump’s disregard for historical facts and alarmed at his increasingly graphic and at times violent description of defendants prosecuted in the Jan. 6 riot as “political prisoners” and “hostages” who did nothing wrong.

Apr 1, 2024 10:30 AM CDT

Nina Olson has devoted her career to protecting taxpayer rights

When Nina Olson retired from the Internal Revenue Service in 2019, she knew her work wasn’t finished. “I kept saying, ‘I’m privileged and lucky to have been in the IRS for 18 years, and to have a sense of how the IRS works,’” she says. “I needed to share it in some way.” That same year, Olson started the Center for Taxpayer Rights.

Mar 28, 2024 2:55 PM CDT

U.S. appeals court keeps block on Texas immigration law

A new Texas law that empowers state officials to detain and deport migrants will remain on hold, after a divided appeals court ruling late Tuesday that said the statutes “significantly impair the exercise of discretion by federal immigration officials.”

Mar 27, 2024 12:15 PM CDT

Is ex-DOJ official facing ethics trial for ‘thought crime’? His election-fraud letter was based on sincerely held belief, lawyer says

A former Department of Justice official accused of drafting a letter with false allegations of election fraud that he hoped to send to Georgia officials did not violate ethics rules, his lawyer said at a disciplinary hearing Tuesday.

Mar 27, 2024 10:01 AM CDT

Supreme Court skeptical of efforts to restrict access to abortion pill

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed unlikely to limit access to mifepristone, a key medication that is used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions and has emerged as the next front in the battle over how and whether women can terminate their pregnancies.

Mar 27, 2024 9:30 AM CDT

Texas AG Ken Paxton makes deal to avoid felony securities trial

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), a conservative firebrand acquitted last year in a historic impeachment trial, has reached an agreement with prosecutors to avoid trial on long-standing state felony securities fraud charges.

Mar 26, 2024 3:00 PM CDT

7th Circuit nominee faces questions about motions backlog

A nominee to a federal appeals court based in Chicago defended her record as a district judge when Republican senators criticized her case backlogs during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week.

Mar 25, 2024 3:33 PM CDT

Texas officials ask appeals court to allow state immigration crackdown

Texas officials on Wednesday urged a U.S. appeals court to unblock a new law that would allow authorities to arrest and deport migrants, saying the state has been forced to take extraordinary measures to try to stop soaring levels of illegal border crossings.

Mar 21, 2024 10:45 AM CDT

Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants

A federal appeals court has again blocked a law that makes it a state crime for migrants to illegally cross the border into Texas, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority allowed the law to take effect while challenges to it continue through the court system.

Mar 20, 2024 9:50 AM CDT

Cannon tells lawyers to weigh if Trump conduct can’t be reviewed by courts

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified-documents case issued an unusual order late Monday regarding jury instructions at the end of the trial—even though she has not yet ruled on when the trial will be held, or a host of other issues.

Mar 19, 2024 2:30 PM CDT

Supreme Court clears way for Texas to enforce immigration law for now

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Texas to immediately begin enforcing one of the nation’s harshest immigration laws, which opponents say would disrupt more than a century of federal control over international borders.

Mar 19, 2024 1:50 PM CDT

Supreme Court hears free speech case that united the NRA and the ACLU

The Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a case in which the National Rifle Association accused a former New York state official of improperly pressuring banks and insurers to cut ties with the gun-rights group after the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre in 2018.

Mar 19, 2024 10:20 AM CDT

Supreme Court likely to reject limits on White House social media contacts

The Supreme Court seemed prepared Monday to reject a Republican-led effort to sharply limit the federal government from pressuring social media companies to remove harmful posts and misinformation from their platforms.

Mar 19, 2024 9:45 AM CDT