A federal judge ruled that the Agriculture Department lacked the authority to approve state waivers that restrict what SNAP participants can buy with their benefits.
A U.S. District Judge ruled the Trump administration's use of grand jury subpoenas against Minnesota state and local officials was retaliatory and unlawful, finding no legitimate investigatory justification for them.
The Jusice Department’s Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation into a woke Park Slope coffee shop that denied service to a pro-Israel politician, and warned an enforcement action could be coming.
President Donald Trump's administration is conditioning nearly $1 billion in public safety grants on local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, a move critics argue is designed to exclude Democratic-led cities. Approximately $700 million flows through the existing COPS grant program. NPR reports this new $300 million Model Cities Initiative will go to just two to four cities, bypassing standard competitive peer-review processes, explained Amy Solomon, senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and former head of the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs.Any program that impedes or hinders federal immigration enforcement will not receive funding, according to the mandate. This includes failing to honor requests from the Department of Homeland Security. Legal experts warn the approach is highly unusual, with critics predicting only Republican-led jurisdictions will apply, allowing the administration to portray Democrats as soft on crime. Police chiefs have long opposed linking local law enforcement to immigration enforcement, citing erosion of community trust and witness cooperation. Federal data shows over 70 percent of immigrant detainees lack criminal convictions. The DOJ defended the policy, while the first Trump administration's similar tactic was previously challenged in court and reversed under Former President Joe Biden.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
A Brooklyn coffee shop criticized Rep. Dan Goldman after he bought coffee there, saying it would have turned him away as a "genocide enabler."
President Donald Trump has struck out nine times in court in his quest to obtain voter registration data from states, reports Democracy Docket.On Thursday, a federal judge threw out the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking voter data from Maryland.“This Court joins every court to have addressed this issue in concluding that an [statewide voter registration list] is not a record or paper that a state must produce to the United States under the CRA,” District Judge Stephanie Gallagher wrote in the ruling.The DOJ’s quest to weaponize voter registration data as part of its immigration crackdown has not been going too well. So far, it has not prevailed in a single case: The suits have been dismissed in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Wisconsin, Maine, and now Maryland.And these dismissals aren’t just coming from Democratic-appointed judges. Five of the nine judges were appointed or renominated by Trump, including Gallagher.The DOJ could still see a victory: It has sued 31 states and Washington, D.C. Outside of lawsuits, the DOJ has sent letters to all states asking for their voter rolls. At least 16 Republican-led states have complied, according to Democracy Docket.The administration’s quest for complete, uncensored voter data is chilling—especially because it won’t provide a legitimate reason for this federal overreach, although some reporting hints at its plans. Over the course of the Maryland lawsuit, DOJ officials refused to answer the judge’s questions about what the agency planned to do with the data.
A Utah judge denied an effort by Tyler Robinson’s lawyers to have his former roommate and lover be subpoenaed to testify at next month’s preliminary hearing ahead of Robinson’s trial for allegedly killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Judge Tony Graf denied two motions by Robinson’s lawyers in a Utah County court Monday, including one to have […]
A DC federal judge blocked the Trump administration Monday from consulting a revamped federal database of Americans' personal information, warning that the White House had "knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote."
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from using expanded government databases in its effort to purge voter rolls of foreigners.U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the government "trampled" on the privacy rights of Americans and risked wrongfully purging voter rolls of Americans legally allowed to vote.'It's amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist.'"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," Sooknanan said. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."The administration added government data, including Social Security data, to the SAVE federal database, which stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements. SAVE is used to detect ineligible voters.However, Sooknanan ruled that the expansion of the database violated privacy protections passed by Congress. She said the administration ignored the rules in order to "comply with an executive order aimed at reshaping federal elections, which directed them to create a system for mass voter verification."James Percival, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling on social media."It's amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist," he wrote. "Judge Sparkle Soknanan's [sic] latest ruling preventing DHS from addressing alien voting is just the latest example!"Democracy Forward represented the group that challenged the expanded database."As the Trump-Vance administration continues its attack on the right to vote, this is an important victory for the American people and our democracy," said Skye Perryman, the group's CEO and president. "The data at the heart of this lawsuit was unlawfully consolidated in violation of privacy laws intended to protect sensitive personal information.”The group added in a statement on social media: "This protects millions from baseless investigations and unlawful voter roll purges — a critical win for voting rights."RELATED: Trump order leads to investigation of 33 potential incidents of noncitizen voting, AG Paxton says Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also praised the ruling."We got a big win in court today for free and fair elections, blocking Donald Trump's efforts to set up a massive voter purge database," he wrote on social media."I called this out months ago as one of Trump's most sinister strategies for subverting our elections this November," he added. "That's why Democrats blocked the wretched SAVE Act in the Senate — and we'll do so again, and again, and again. Democrats won't stop fighting until all of Trump's plans to rig the system are defeated."Sooknanan was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden in Jan. 2025 just ahead of Trump entering his second term.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!