Trump's name remains on Kennedy Center as appeals court weighs emergency request
The Kennedy Center board filed an emergency appeal to block a judge's order requiring Trump's name to be removed from the building's signage and materials.

Republicans just got another victory at the U.S. Supreme Court.The highest court in the land approved the redistricted congressional map for Alabama in a 6-3 decision released late on Tuesday evening. All three liberal justices dissented.'Our message to communities remains the same — the best way to express dissent is by showing up at the ballot box this election season.'One of Alabama's majority-black districts will be eliminated by the new map.The dissent, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, accused the majority justices of "unleashing chaos" with the decision, likely confusing voters at this late stage in the election season."Just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the Court today doubles down on chaos," Sotomayor claimed. "Because I choose to defend the rule of law and the right of all Alabamians to participate equally in democracy, I respectfully dissent."Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement in support of the decision."The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along, and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people, and our districts best," she wrote. "Today's decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections."Democrats were outraged over the decision."The Supreme Court has now confirmed that there is no longer a Voting Rights Act in America, and states are essentially free to discriminate against minority voters with no consequences," said Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Ala.), whose district was eliminated by the redistricting."Once again, the right-wing Supreme Court has put its blatant partisanship on full display, allowing Alabama Republicans to change the rules in the eleventh hour and use a racist congressional map that federal courts have found — on two separate occasions — intentionally discriminates against Black Alabama voters," read a statement from Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama.RELATED: Federal court strikes down Alabama redistricting effort — GOP to APPEAL at Supreme Court "This is just the latest in a pattern of outrageous Supreme Court decisions that help Republicans desperately cling to power ahead of the midterm elections while diluting Black voices and erasing decades of hard-fought civil rights progress," Sewell added.She went on to accuse Republicans of taking America "back to the Jim Crow era," an accusation that was repeated by the NAACP."This is a Court that is stripping Black voters of power and voice at a speed that would put Jim Crow jurists to shame," said Kristen Clarke, general counsel of the NAACP. "Our message to communities remains the same — the best way to express dissent is by showing up at the ballot box this election season."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The Kennedy Center board filed an emergency appeal to block a judge's order requiring Trump's name to be removed from the building's signage and materials.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard faces potential contempt of court charges after appearing on Fox News in April to discuss evidence in the high-profile Charlie Kirk shooting case, allegedly violating a judge's gag order. Fourth District Judge Tony Graf Jr. is expected to determine if Ballard's media appearance breached court restrictions on out-of-court statements, according to NBC News. Tyler Robinson's defense attorneys filed a motion characterizing Ballard's appearance as a contemptuous media tour, designed to circumvent judicial limitations. Robinson, 23, is accused of killing Kirk during a September 2025 appearance at Utah Valley University. Robinson faces multiple felony charges, including aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and commission of a violent offense in a child's presence. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if the defendant is convicted. Robinson has yet to enter a plea.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
A dispute over player eligibility now has Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) involved after he entered himself into the fray on Thursday.The Big 12 Conference finds itself with its hands tied after a court ruling pumped the brakes on the NCAA punishing a Texas Tech player.'Any such action would be unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability.'Quarterback Brendan Sorsby was caught earlier this year gambling on NCAA games, and it turned out he had been betting on his own team for years. Sorsby wagered approximately $90,000 over four years, On3 reported, and he also allegedly used sportsbook accounts registered to his friends and family.Earlier this week, a Texas judge in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located, temporarily prevented the NCAA from enforcing a permanent eligibility ban on Sorsby, meaning the 22-year-old will be able to play this season for the Red Raiders, apart from the first two games.Then came reports that the Big 12 and other conferences were considering boycotting Texas Tech altogether, with Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor telling Yahoo Sports that the Big 12 had "serious conversations" about it.Enter Texas AG Paxton's office, which sent a letter to the conference saying the state could seek "substantially more than $200 million" if the Big 12 tries to move forward with the boycott.Reporter Pete Nakos posted the AG's letter, which said Texas is aware of the attempted sanctioning of Texas Tech for "continuing its support of Mr. Sorsby as a student-athlete.""This letter serves to notify the Big 12 that any such action would be unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability," Paxton's antitrust chief, Thomas York, wrote.RELATED: 'USA!' chants rock Madison Square Garden as Trump attends NBA FinalsFrom the letter: "Should the Big 12 seek. to sanction Texas Tech for acting consistent with the Order, Texas Tech will pursue all legal avenues to protect its interests and those of Texas Tech’s student-athletes."https://t.co/Q8ap2Ezie4 https://t.co/jPc4uAixce pic.twitter.com/gAE15NqykH— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) June 11, 2026The letter continued, describing the possible plan as "a naked horizontal agreement among competitors to disadvantage Texas Tech by cutting off access to the resources it needs to compete."The state government argued this would open up the conference and its members to potential damages stemming from Texas Tech's "lost football revenues, damages to its alumni contributions, and damages to its recruitment, plus attorneys' fees."Paxton's office also cited a possible breach of contract and "tortious antitrust," described as "any sanction that disrupts or interferes with Texas Tech's existing or potential contracts associated with its football team."This includes the disruption of potential sponsorships, ticket sales, and other commercial relationships, for example.Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) then fired off a letter of his own, calling Paxton's claims "meritless" and "facially absurd."Drummond also expressed support for the Big 12 sanctioning Texas Tech over the Sorsby saga. Texas Tech "has shirked responsibility by running with a bogus claim to a friendly court. Its leadership has prioritized winning over sport, over honor, and over integrity. If Texas Tech will not do the right thing, the Big 12 should," he wrote, according to images of the letter shared by ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel.RELATED: 'I had the right papers': Somali World Cup referee booted from US gets an answer from the White House John E. Moore III/Getty Images As Blaze News previously reported, members of the Big Ten and the SEC have also discussed refusing to play Texas Tech.Thamel cited three unnamed Big Ten sources on Monday night who said they planned on discussing the possible sanction, while University of Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks reportedly issued an internal memo to his school's coaches advising them not to schedule any games against Texas Tech in any sport without conference approval.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A federal judge expressed doubts that President Donald Trump's slush fund is truly dead, and she's not alone in her skepticism.U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a court order Friday blocking the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund and gave the Department of Justice one week to decide whether Attorney General Todd Blanche or another top-ranking Justice Department official would provide a sworn statement declaring the fund dead.The Bill Clinton nominee's injunction extends a previous order prohibiting the government from creating or dispersing money from the $1.776 billion settlement agreement the president reached with the IRS.Social media users welcomed the judge's action and shared her suspicions about whether the fund was truly defunct — and made some predictions about what comes next."Gonna make a thrilling appeal to Sammy Alito," predicted legal expert Marcy Wheeler."The Justice Dept has one week to produce EVIDENCE that the slush fund is abandoned and won’t move forward ever, or she’ll allow civil case to go forward," reported MeidasTouch correspondent Scott MacFarlane. "Big loss for team Trump.""Contrary to some claims, judges have had no problem finding standing for plaintiffs - here the National Abortion Federation - to challenge Trump's Slush Fund," argued attorney Eric Lisann. "And this judge found the issue is not moot so long as Blanche refuses to backup his words in writing.""Don't be fooled, this is still a TEMPORARY block," cautioned Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). "Donald Trump has made it clear he still wants this slush fund to pay out his buddies and January 6 rioters who beat up police officers, and I don’t trust his cronies to put an end to it.""As we've said all along, the slush fund is ILLEGAL," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). "Donald Trump: Stop it once and for all and start focusing on things people care about, not yourself.""We’ve successfully blocked the President’s personal slush fund, for now," announced Common Cause, one of the plaintiffs in the challenge. "We will keep the pressure on until it's shut down for good. The Trump administration cannot be trusted with the public's money and today's ruling is a massive win to protect taxpayer dollars.""The corruption doesn't ever go away; like reptiles, it sometimes dives back into the swampy muck and resurfaces elsewhere," opined conservative attorney George Conway.
Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas predicted that President Donald Trump will experience "disaster" in the 2026 midterm elections.
Former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews on Friday tore apart Republicans who have suddenly found their backbones after losing in GOP primaries. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Thursday got into an online battle with outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) over Republican-on-Republican attacks. Cornyn spent the past several months being attacked by his own party for not being pro-Donald Trump enough, despite having a 99 percent voting record with the president. Cornyn's interview with The New York Times cautioned that he thinks the worst is coming for the GOP in the final two years of the Trump administration. "He's going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster," Cornyn said. After harsh primary races, Republicans have often pivoted to try and appeal to voters outside of the MAGA wing. Trump may not be up for reelection, but one reporter explained he's not going to pivot to being more moderate or more focused on issues that matter to voters.MS NOW White House reporter Laura Barrón-López said that the White House told her, "There is no pivot," even if some of the aides around the president want there to be one, want more focus on the economy and domestic issues," said Barrón-López. "The president himself isn't focused on that. And there are others around the president who genuinely believe, this former official told me, that he has the unique ability to turn out republicans in election cycles."That hasn't necessarily worked out in past midterm elections. This time around, Trump has told reporters that he doesn't care about the midterms. "But another source close to the White House did tell me that they think that Senate Republicans don't really fear the president anymore," she continued. "And you're starting to slowly see over the course of the last month or so, even though the president has clearly knocked out Republican incumbents and attacked members of his own party, there are Republicans across the Senate, especially, and also the House, who are voting against him on key issues."But it was Matthews who clapped back at Cornyn for only now standing up to Trump. "There is never going to be enough for him, other than 100 percent, you know, slavish adherence to whatever he wants. But obviously that's not what the Senator's role is supposed to be," Cornyn told the Times."Yeah, it's a little rich to hear him say that now, because this is what we've known all along about Donald Trump," Matthews said of Cornyn. "That loyalty is a one-way street with himwith him. He demands it from everyone, but he gives it to no one. And so, it's nice to hear Senator Cornyn find his voice and some of these other Republicans be more emboldened now."The problem, she said, is that this is always the way Trump operated, and it should have been something Republicans realized much sooner. "He's always operated not in the best interest for the Republican Party or for the American people. It's always been what is in Donald Trump's best interest," explained Matthews. "And we're seeing that play out with all the things that he has been focused on in this second term, whether it be the ballroom or the arch or the UFC event at the White House for his birthday, he's not actually focused on the priorities of the American people, which would then help the Republicans in the midterm elections, because Donald Trump doesn't care about the Republican Party."She said that she's happy to see Cornyn finally pushing back, but it should have been something he did long ago. "I guess I'm happy to see Cornyn, you know, pushing back on Trump now that he's going to be leaving office because he lost his primary election. And it's not just Cornyn I'm singling out. There are other republicans like [Thom] Tillis and [Bill] Cassidy who have now become a little bit more emboldened," she name-checked. But she sees this with Republicans frequently. They suddenly "find their voice when they're retiring, or they've been primaried out." She said she wishes that "more of them had a backbone" to push back against Trump. With more willing to do that, "Trump wouldn't have been able to get away with some of these other things that we've seen take place in his second administration," she said.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified intelligence about a constellation of biological laboratories the Ukraine on Friday, four years after the members of Congress and biodefense […]
Why is this MAGA court so obsessed with a horse racing law?