The Trump administration imposed the sanctions after accusing Albanese of “biased and malicious activities” and “lawfare,” including recommending that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
“It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions – they are nothing more than her opinion,” Leon said in his decision.
(May 15, 2026)
Judge Leon made preliminary findings that President Donald Trump’s administration likely violated Albanese’s right to free speech by imposing sanctions against her. In his 26-page decision, he discussed the applicability of the First Amendment to Albanese, including an extensive discussion of the significance of free expression. He wrote:
Albanese has done nothing more than speak! It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions–they are nothing more than her opinion… Finally, protecting the freedom of speech is “always” in the public interest… Indeed, the “proudest boast” of our First Amendment is that it protects the freedom to express even “the thought that we hate.” Enough said.
(May 13, 2026)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, last July under an executive order President Donald Trump signed authorizing such actions against people “directly engaged” in the International Criminal Court’s investigations related to alleged atrocities in Gaza.
However, in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the administration’s sanctions against Albanese violate the First Amendment because they’re based solely on her encouraging the ICC to investigate and prosecute.
In the 228-197 final vote, a total of four Democrats—Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Thomas R. Suozzi of New York—joined with all but 25 Republicans who voted to pass a 10-day extension. Twenty GOP members voted against it, while five did not vote.
Ahead of the votes—including on separate versions asking for a 5-year and then 18-month extensions of Section 702—opponents of any clean extension, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said anyone opposed to warrantless spying on Americans must vote no.
(February 3, 2026)
“[T]he United States must not release any document or material from the purported ‘Epstein Files’ that mentions or references any of the above-listed Defendants [Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander], explicitly or implicitly, before a jury verdict has been rendered in this case,” Caproni’s order says.
Caproni ordered U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to sign off on having notified U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about her order, as well as the U.S. deputy attorney general and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
(February 26, 2026)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva, GS ’26, in a Columbia Residential building Thursday morning, after acting University President Claire Shipman, CC ’86, SIPA ’94, announced that agents had lied in order to enter a residential building and detain an affiliate.
A person with knowledge of the situation told Spectator that ICE agents impersonated New York Police Department officers in order to enter Aghayeva’s dorm.
Aghayeva’s arrest marks the fourth of a Columbia affiliate amid the federal government’s immigration crackdown, which has continued to target international students at the University.
(February 3, 2026)
House Democrats on Monday demanded the Department of Homeland Security rescind a controversial directive allowing federal immigration agents to forcibly enter people’s homes without a signed warrant from a judge, following the leak of a memorandum detailing the agency’s broad assertion of law enforcement authority.
Lawmakers say the memo took “a battering ram” to the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure — and pushed back on the Trump administration’s claims that non-U.S. citizens are not subject to those rights.
In a list of demands they sent to the White House last week, Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said DHS officers should not be able to enter private property without a judicial warrant and that warrant procedures and standards should be improved. They have said they want an end to „roving patrols“ of agents who are targeting people in the streets and in their homes.
“Democrats have been very clear. We will not support an extension of the status quo, a status quo that permits masked secret police to barge into people’s homes without warrants, no guardrails, zero oversight from independent authorities,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote.
(February 2, 2026)
A warrant signed by a judge who is independent of the executive branch is a constitutional safeguard that separates legitimate law enforcement from arbitrary government power. This bedrock principle applies with equal — if not greater — force when the government is merely enforcing a civil immigration order.
Today the Department of Homeland Security seeks to justify forcible home entries on the basis of administrative warrants — warrants issued by the executive, not the judicial branch.
(February 8, 2026)
The agency did not specify what type of warrant officers were carrying. Judicial warrants are approved by judges, while administrative warrants are issued by immigration authorities; civil rights advocates note that administrative warrants generally do not permit officers to enter a home without consent or emergency conditions.
(January 25, 2026)
The Central District Court in Lod on Sunday extended restrictive conditions on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior adviser, Yonatan Urich, for an additional 60 days, accepting a police appeal in the ongoing investigation into the leak of classified intelligence to the German newspaper Bild.
The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn‘t be held in contempt.
In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.
“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” Schiltz continued.
The judge wrote that ICE and Homeland Security officials “have continually assured the Court that they recognize their obligation to comply with Court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure that those orders will be honored going forward. Unfortunately, though, the violations continue.”
Judge Kate M. Menendez ordered agents not to retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” and not to use pepper spray or other “crowd dispersal tools” in retaliation for protected speech. The judge also said agents could not stop or detain protesters in vehicles who were not “forcibly obstructing or interfering with” agents.
The ruling, which granted a preliminary injunction, stems from a lawsuit brought by activists who said agents had violated their rights. The suit was filed before an immigration agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
January 12, 2026)
Minnesota and the Twin Cities are suing the Trump administration to stop its latest immigration enforcement surge, alleging that the increased federal actions are unconstitutional and a violation of federal law.
(…)
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a ruling by a federal judge in Chicago that bars the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois.
“The Department of Justice is openly defying the law by refusing to release the full Epstein files. Millions of files are being kept from the public,” Khanna said in a statement last week. “The DOJ has failed to make the necessary redactions to protect survivors while removing records after publication without any explanation.”
Massie accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of “egregiously violating the requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” the law passed by Congress late last year to facilitate the release of the materials.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer — the Barack Obama appointee in charge of Maxwell’s case — gave the Justice Department until Friday to respond to the lawmakers’ claims.
Kurz vor Weihnachten hatte Trump vor dem Obersten Gerichtshof der USA bei seinen Plänen eines Nationalgarde-Einsatzes in Chicago eine Niederlage kassiert. Der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA wies einen entsprechenden Eilantrag ab.
His announcement comes after the US Supreme Court last week rejected his request to allow him to deploy the guard to Chicago to protect ICE agents as part of the administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
“At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in its unsigned order.
The decision, which came over dissents from conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, was a substantial setback and appeared almost certain to jeopardize deployments of the National Guard in other cities as well.
ARTICLE 3
1. Any person commits an offence if that person unlawfully and intentionally:
(a) seizes or exercises control over a ship by force or threat thereof or any other form of intimidation; or
(b) performs an act of violence against a person on board a ship if that act is likely to endanger the safe navigation of that ship; or
(c) destroys a ship or causes damage to a ship or to its cargo which is likely to endanger the safe navigation of that ship; or
(d) places or causes to be placed on a ship, by any means whatsoever, a device or
substance which is likely to destroy that ship, or cause damage to that ship or its cargo which endangers or is likely to endanger the safe navigation of that ship; or
(e) destroys or seriously damages maritime navigational facilities or seriously interferes with their operation, if any such act is likely to endanger the safe navigation of a ship; or
(f) communicates information which he knows to be false, thereby endangering the safe navigation of a ship; or
(g) injures or kills any person, in connection with the commission or the attempted
commission of any of the offences set forth in subparagraphs (a) to (f).
2. Any person also commits an offence if that person:
(a) attempts to commit any of the offences set forth in paragraph 1; or
(b) abets the commission of any of the offences set forth in paragraph 1 perpetrated by any person or is otherwise an accomplice of a person who commits such an offence; or
(c) threatens, with or without a condition, as is provided for under national law, aimed at compelling a physical or juridical person to do or refrain from doing any act, to commit any of the offences set forth in paragraph I, subparagraphs (b), (c) and (e), if that threat is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship in question.
(…)
ARTICLE 7
1. Upon being satisfied that the circumstances so warrant, any State Party in the territory of which the offender or the alleged offender is present shall, in accordance with its law, take him into custody or take other measures to ensure his presence for such time as is necessary to enable any criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted.
2. Such State shall immediately make a preliminary inquiry into the facts, in accordance with its own legislation.
The ruling from Judge Paul Engelmayer opens the door for the department to publicly release evidence it had gathered against Maxwell, an associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The trove of documents, which will be redacted to protect victims’ identities and other identifiable information, includes grand jury transcripts, financial records, travel documents, and notes from victim interviews obtained during the investigations.
It is not yet clear when the department plans to make the documents public or how much of the material will be new.
A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of grand jury materials related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein, who is currently in prison after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor and other counts.
Judge Paul Engelmayer made the order in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan at the request of the Department of Justice, citing the Epstein Files Transparency Act that Congress passed almost unanimously last month, per CNBC.
At the time, the CIA would have done its own vetting of him through a variety of databases, including the National Counterterrorism Center database, to see if he had any known ties to terrorist groups. The CIA did its own vetting before he started working with them and kept the identities of those they worked with secret, the official said.
NCTC would have vetted him again during Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 for any ties to terrorism before he was allowed into the US. He was clean then as well and did not show any ties to terror organizations, per the senior US official.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence which occurred just blocks from the White House. The presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man who allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, previously served in one of Afghanistan‘s elite counterterrorism units, according to AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by U.S. veterans and others who served in Afghanistan.
The unit was operated by the CIA with direct U.S. intelligence and military support, according to AfghanEvac.
Washingtons Bürgermeisterin und auch die örtliche Polizei haben sich immer wieder gegen den Einsatz der Nationalgarde in ihrer Stadt ausgesprochen. Der Bundesdistrikt Washington D.C. hatte sogar eine Klage gegen die Trump-Regierung eingereicht – und recht bekommen. Eine Bundesrichterin entschied vor etwa einer Woche, dass der immer wieder verlängerte Einsatz der Nationalgarde in der Stadt illegal sei.
Von dieser Entscheidung zeigt sich der US-Präsident aber unbeeindruckt. Nach den Schüssen auf die beiden Nationalgardisten fühlt er sich im Recht. Seinen Pentagon-Chef hat er jetzt sogar angewiesen, noch weitere 500 Nationalgardisten in die Hauptstadt zu schicken.