The U.S. Supreme Court could ultimately decide the issue.
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Judge says Ghislaine Maxwell court documents can be released as part of the push for information on Jeffrey Epstein
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.
Epstein files: Judge releases grand jury materials from the Ghislaine Maxwell case
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.
No indictment for Netanyahu
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
US official says shooting suspect was vetted by intel agencies and “clean on all checks”
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.
Afghan national charged in Guard ambush shooting drove across US to carry out attack, officials say
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.
National Guard shooting suspect served in CIA counterterrorism unit, group says
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.
Attentat auf Nationalgarde: Wie Trump den Angriff instrumentalisiert
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.
Entscheidung von US-Richterin: Einsatz der Nationalgarde in Washington ist illegal
Die Regierung von US-Präsident Donald Trump habe die Einheit der Hauptstadt nicht ohne ausdrückliche Anforderung der lokalen Behörden aktivieren dürfen. Zudem hätte sie Nationalgardisten aus anderen Bundesstaaten zu polizeilichen Zwecken nicht nach Washington beordern dürfen, hieß es in der Verfügung weiter.
Cobb ordnete an, den Einsatz der Nationalgarde zu beenden, setzte ihre Entscheidung jedoch für drei Wochen aus, damit die Trump-Regierung in Berufung gehen kann. Die Anordnung bleibt damit bis zum 11. Dezember außer Kraft.
Trump administration ordered to halt ‘unlawful’ Guard deployment in D.C.
U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb wrote in her opinion that the deployment was “unlawful,” has caused D.C. “irreparable harm to its sovereign powers under the Home Rule Act” — the 1973 law that gave D.C. residents their own elected government — and has “infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself.”
Judge permanently blocks deployment of National Guard to Portland, saying Trump exceeded his authority
In a 106-decision, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut made permanent an order she issued last month blocking the deployment into the city.
„The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon‘s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the president‘s authority,“ the judge wrote.
SNAP update: Trump admin will pay 50% of food stamp benefits in November amid shutdown
McConnell, in a written order on Sunday, gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture two options.
One option was to make the full payment of SNAP benefits for November by the end of the day Monday by using Section 32 Child Nutrition Program fundings and other unspecified funds.
The other option was to “make a partial payment of the total amount of the contingency fund and … expeditiously resolve the administrative and clerical burdens it described in its papers, but under no circumstances shall the partial payments be made later than Wednesday.”
Food stamp benefits for 42 million Americans in jeopardy today amid shutdown
Democrats are suing the Trump administration in part over its refusal to use the SNAP emergency fund, which they contend has about $5 billion, to fund the program. But a recent memo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) argued there was no legal standing to use the fund and that federal SNAP funds would run dry by Nov. 1 if Democrats did not vote to end the shutdown.
A pair of federal judges ruled on Friday that the administration would have to pay out the food stamp benefits for November, either in full or partially.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins affirmed the memo during a Friday press conference,
Judge orders Trump administration to fund food aid for millions of Americans
U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.’s oral order Friday came just before the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, is set to run out of money this weekend. Trump administration officials have not yet indicated whether they will appeal the ruling.
Court permits Trump‘s troop deployment in Portland, pending further appeal
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders early this month — one that prohibited Trump from calling up the troops so he could send them to Portland, and another that prohibited him from sending any National Guard members to Oregon at all, after the president tried to evade the first order by deploying California troops instead.
The Justice Department appealed the first order, and in a 2-1 ruling Monday, a panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the administration.
Immergut’s second order remains in effect, so no troops may immediately be deployed.
Judge halts National Guard deployment to Portland from any state to perform federal duties
“The court recognized what we’ve said all along: there is no rebellion, no invasion, and no justification for militarizing our communities,“ Rayfield said in response to the ruling. „The President cannot keep playing whack-a-mole with different states’ Guard units to get around court orders and the rule of law.”
Illinois files a lawsuit to block Trump deploying the National Guard, joining Oregon
Oregon and Portland went back to the court — this time with California as an additional party to the lawsuit — and asked U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut for a new temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending the California National Guard to Oregon.
In her ruling, Immergut barred any National Guard members from being relocated from any state for service in Oregon. One day earlier, she had temporarily blocked the Trump administration from federalizing the Oregon National Guard.
Appeals court blocks Trump‘s use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans
The ruling barred the use of the act in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, which fall under the Fifth Circuit‘s purview. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department will almost certainly appeal to the wider appeals court or the Supreme Court.
Trump deployment of military troops to Los Angeles was illegal, judge rules in blistering opinion
Experts say the ensuing judicial dust-up it will clarify precedent in a murky corner of the law. But some warn it could also unearth a road map for future deployments in cities across the U.S.
“If Breyer sides with Newsom and the 9th Circuit sides with Trump, we now have a playbook to use the National Guard and maybe the military around the country,” said Mark P. Nevitt, a law professor at Emory University and one of the country’s foremost experts on the law at the heart of the case.
“He’d have a ruling from the most liberal circuit in America giving the legal go-ahead for this deployment,” Nevitt said. “That would make bad law for the country.”
SCOTUS Limits Federal Judges’ Ability to Block Executive Actions Nationwide
The ruling “is an existential threat to the rule of law,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted in a dissent.
In win for Trump, US Supreme Court limits judges‘ power to block birthright citizenship order
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent joined by the court‘s other two liberal members, wrote, „The majority ignores entirely whether the President‘s executive order is constitutional, instead focusing only on the question whether federal courts have the equitable authority to issue universal injunctions. Yet the order‘s patent unlawfulness reveals the gravity of the majority‘s error and underscores why equity supports universal injunctions as appropriate remedies in this kind of case.“
Supreme Court schränkt Möglichkeit von Bundesrichtern ein, Trumps Verordnungen zu blockieren
Die Richter des Supreme Court schränken die Möglichkeit ein, dass Bundesrichter in ihren Urteilen Executive Orders – also die Verordnungen des jeweils amtierenden Präsidenten – vorübergehend landesweit pausieren.
Judge slams ‘perverse reading’ of Constitution by Trump admin fighting lawsuit challenging DOGE, but puts one less case on the president’s docket
“Defendants appear to sanction unlimited Executive power, free from checks and balances, but the Constitution prohibits unilateral control over ‘official appointments’ by ‘dividing the power to appoint the principal federal offices … between the Executive and Legislative Branches,‘” Chutkan added.
The judge further dispatched the defendants’ argument that a court cannot review the president’s actions in this case.
“The fact that President Trump purports to create a position and assign it powers by Executive Order does not preclude review under the Appointments Clause,” she wrote.
“No branch may aggrandize its own appointment power at the expense of another and no branch may abdicate its Appointments Clause duties,” Chutkan added. “And the Judiciary has a duty to maintain ‘the constitutional plan of separation of powers.’ Consequently, the court will reject Defendants’ perverse reading of the Appointments Clause.”
Judge Says Musk Must Face Lawsuit Over His Role In DOGE
A federal judge in D.C. Tuesday greenlit lawsuits challenging Elon Musk’s position in the federal government and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as unconstitutional.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said 14 states and a group of advocacy organizations plausibly argued that Musk and DOGE’s efforts to slash the government violate the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
Judge allows 14 states‘ lawsuit against Elon Musk and DOGE to proceed
Driving the news: U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a motion to dismiss the case.
She wrote in a 42-page order: „The Constitution does not permit the Executive to commandeer the entire appointments power by unilaterally creating a federal agency pursuant to Executive Order and insulating its principal officer from the Constitution as an ‚advisor‘ in name only,“ the judge wrote. „This is precisely what Plaintiffs claim the Executive has done.“
Trump temporarily backs down on Harvard student ban as judge sides with college
A Boston federal judge said at a hearing May 29 that she planned to issue a preliminary injunction that blocks the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard‘s ability to enroll foreign exchange students.
The comments from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs came as the Trump administration attempted to walk back its May 22 directive that immediately revoked Harvard‘s participation in a federal exchange student program.
Second court blocks Trump tariffs as ‚unlawful‘
In an opinion on Wednesday, the three-judge panel struck down Trump‘s global tariffs as „contrary to law.“
The judges found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — which Trump used to enact his tariffs — does not give him the „unlimited“ power to levy tariffs like the president has in recent months.
Trump backs down in legal fight over canceling international students’ status records for now
The database, which is operated by the Department of Homeland Security, tracks the immigration status of international students and is used by universities to maintain information about the students’ enrollment.
The SEVIS revocations occurred alongside visa cancellations for many students, putting them ultimately at risk for deportation, multiple attorneys representing students have said in court documents. The DOJ continues to claim that SEVIS changes did not cause visa terminations.
The Trump administration began to cancel visas and launched deportation proceedings in March, which initially targeted students who participated in protests against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses last year.
Van Hollen: ‚I am not defending the man, I am defending the rights of this man to due process‘
Karl asked the senator what Abrego Garcia shared during their meeting.
“He told me about the trauma he had been experiencing, both in terms of the abduction and the fact that he was originally sent to CECOT, which is this notorious prison,” Van Hollen said. “He specifically mentioned his 5-year-old boy who has autism, because that boy had been in the car with him when U.S. agents had stopped them and handcuffed him and then taken him away.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen says U.S. is in a ‚constitutional crisis‘ as Trump disregards court orders in the Abrego Garcia case
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of sending the U.S. into a constitutional crisis, saying members of the Trump administration “are very much flouting the courts as we speak.”
Asked directly on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether the U.S. is currently in a constitutional crisis, Van Hollen said, “Yes, we are.”