WASHINGTON — Taking up a case that could further erode the rights of people to sue federal officers for constitutional violations, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a prison inmate could sue a nurse for failing to provide medical assistance after a riot
A group of New Yorkers mowed down by reckless e‑bikers is taking Mayor Zohran Mamdani to court, accusing his administration of letting the growing menace to pedestrians run wild -- while a delivery industry‑backed nonprofit tightens its grip on City Hall policy.
A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections.
A Texas judge who was disciplined for recusing herself from performing same-sex marriages has won a $640,000 lawsuit. McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, who’s […]
Grassroots canvassers are hitting the streets to urge voters to defend abortion rights in their states this November.
The crisis extends far beyond abortion access and threatens the future of reproductive health in communities nationwide.
A federal judge has killed most of President Donald Trump’s first executive order changing election rules.U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper permanently banned the administration Wednesday from implementing most components of the president’s 2025 order, which required individuals to provide “documentary proof of U.S. citizenship” before they registered to vote. In addition to lifting that requirement, the ruling also bans the president from requiring all mail ballots to be received by Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then.Under Trump’s order, states that refused to comply would have been punished by having their federal funding withheld.The government had argued that Democratic challenges to Trump’s executive order were premature and therefore illegitimate since the changes had not yet been implemented—but the Boston-based judge wasn’t having it. Instead, she noted that Trump’s office had effectively violated the necessary separation of powers, as only states and Congress are permitted to regulate elections.The Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Casper wrote.Trump officials responded quickly to Casper’s decision, hinting online that the ruling would be appealed.“I hope the Chief Justice understands the path these rogue judges have charted for the judiciary,” deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on X.Meanwhile, Trump has worked overtime to force his unpopular election reform proposals through the legislature, throwing confirmation hearings and bipartisan bill signings to the wayside while demanding Republicans prioritize passing the SAVE America Act.The backlash to the bill—which was introduced months ago on Capitol Hill—has been grave, so much so that it gummed up efforts to fund Homeland Security for several months. Republicans eventually had to bail on the package to end the congressional gridlock.Since he lost the 2020 election, Trump and his allies have amped up their base over contrived claims of voter fraud, a statistical nonissue in U.S. elections. For instance, a statewide audit out of Georgia, the epicenter of Trump’s baseless theory, revealed in 2024 that just 20 non-citizens out of 8.2 million residents existed on the state’s voter roll, just 0.00024 percent of the state’s voting population. Out of those 20, only nine participated in elections years ago, before ID was required as a part of the voter verification process. The other 11 individuals were registered but never actually voted, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.This story has been updated.
Courtroom No. 2B in the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, will take center stage Wednesday, with attorneys for Rep. LaMonica McIver scheduled to appear before a U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals panel there in a bid to get her federal assault charges thrown out.The court hearing comes nearly 14 months after a confrontation outside Newark migrant jail Delaney Hall earned McIver national notoriety and landed her in the Trump administration’s crosshairs.Federal officials have compared McIver, a first-term Democrat from Newark, to “Antifa-aligned left-wing violent extremists.” She and her allies argue she is a political target, prosecuted because she vocally opposes the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation policies.“They want to criminalize oversight and lock me up. Whatever they try, we’re not backing down,” McIver said during a meeting of House Democrats in Newark last week.McIver, who is now expecting her second child, faces up to 17 years in prison.One of her close allies is Rep. Rob Menendez, a Jersey City Democrat who was with McIver at Delaney Hall last year when the melee broke out that resulted in her assault charges.In an interview ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Menendez said he has major concerns about what precedent could be set in a case like McIver’s and hopes the appeals panel will toss the charges she faces.Rep. Rob Menendez speaks outside of Delaney Hall on Dec. 23, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor)He called the continuing legal battle a “complete abuse” of the U.S. Department of Justice that is “consistent with this administration’s abuse at every level of power.” But he said McIver remains optimistic and productive, noting her recent return visits to Delaney Hall to inspect the facility and speak to detainees housed there.“I think she’s hopeful, she’s feeling positive. We’re all here to support her as she continues to challenge this,” he said.A request for comment from McIver was not returned.McIver, Menendez, and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman were at Delaney Hall on May 9, 2025, to conduct an oversight visit shortly after private company Geo Group opened the detention center.During the visit, federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who joined the congressional delegation and was invited into a fenced area of the property by a Geo Group staffer. Baraka, a Democrat who at the time had been trying to get city health inspectors inside the jail, remained in the parking lot for about 40 minutes before being asked to leave. Agents arrested him for trespassing on his way off the property, setting off a fracas between the elected officials, protesters, and federal agents.Body camera footage released later shows McIver shoving at least one officer during the chaotic scene.Video footage of a May 9, 2025, confrontation between protesters and federal agents outside a migrant jail in Newark shows Rep. LaMonica McIver (in red) pushing one of the agents. (Courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security)Ten days after that brawl, federal prosecutors announced they were dropping the trespassing charge against Baraka but hitting McIver with assault charges. A federal grand jury indicted her in June 2025.McIver’s legal team is seeking to dismiss the charges by arguing she has legislative immunity for the acts that occurred at Delaney Hall last year — the Constitution’s speech or debate clause protects members of Congress from prosecution over legislative acts — and by claiming she is the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution. Prosecutors argue that her actions during the fight that broke out during Baraka’s arrest were not legislative acts, and that the speech or debate clause “doesn’t immunize Members of Congress who engage in violent or forcefully obstructive acts, full stop.”McIver’s attorneys attempted to have the federal judge overseeing her case toss the charges, but he rejected her argument that she is shielded by legislative immunity and found that her alleged criminal conduct “did not occur during Defendant’s inspection of Delaney Hall,” setting up her appeal to be heard by the 3rd Circuit panel Wednesday. QuotationWe’re all here to support her as she continues to challenge this.– Rep. Rob MenendezIn a brief filed in the case in April, 20 former members of Congress — 17 of them Republicans — wrote that if the charges proceed, members of Congress would be deterred from carrying out their essential oversight responsibilities and “insulate executive abuses from the checks and balances the Constitution intends.”“Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that if this prosecution is allowed to proceed, it would imperil the constitutionally mandated powers of Congress and the fabric of our constitutional order,” they wrote.McIver has paid multiple visits to Delaney Hall since the incident that led to her assault charges, most recently last week, as the detention center has become a flashpoint in the fight against the Trump...
