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Category: Law/Crime

Call for investigation of raid on Ilan Omar’s home: ‘This is the textbook case’ of violating the Hatch Act

Call for investigation of raid on Ilan Omar’s home: ‘This is the textbook case’ of violating the Hatch Act

The New York Times reports: The president on Tuesday suggested on social media that Ms. Omar had engaged in fraud to make millions of dollars. He also suggested she had engaged in immigration fraud. “America wants answers, and we want them, NOW!” he said. Randall D. Eliason, a former federal prosecutor and retired law professor, said that the Trump Justice Department had so eroded trust that it had “sort of forfeited the right to a presumption of regularity,” a legal…

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Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, claims she’s a lawyer but there’s no evidence she’s licensed

Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, claims she’s a lawyer but there’s no evidence she’s licensed

The Hill reports: President Trump’s new press secretary Katie Zacharia raised eyebrows on Tuesday when she was asked where she passed the bar exam, telling reporters that she did so when she moved to China. Zacharia made the remarks on the White House South Lawn alongside Trump before heading to Alaska with him for a campaign rally. “Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?” a reporter asked Trump, who turned to Zacharia to ask her, “which state?” “When…

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ICE raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar shows how dangerous two years of flailing Trump could get

ICE raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar shows how dangerous two years of flailing Trump could get

Natasha Lennard writes: In the mode of historic fascist regimes, President Donald Trump’s administration sent federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to raid the home of a political opponent, singled out for her race and religion, in a transparent effort to strip her of her citizenship. On Monday, agents with Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative wing, conducted a search of the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., with federal officials describing the incursion as part of…

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DHS secretary says livestreaming Hasan execution is part of ‘restoring American values’

DHS secretary says livestreaming Hasan execution is part of ‘restoring American values’

The Hill reports: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin stood behind the Trump administration’s decision to livestream the military execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, despite growing bipartisan criticism over the plan. In an interview with CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Mullin dismissed concerns coming from across party lines that publicizing Hasan’s death by firing squad could inspire extremists or turn the convicted mass murderer into a martyr. “First of all, no one has…

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AI firms prepare for a catastrophic AI event, such as a banking shut down, seen as inevitable in months

AI firms prepare for a catastrophic AI event, such as a banking shut down, seen as inevitable in months

Axios reports: Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event. Why it matters: These officials anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water. The first example of significant real-world harm caused by unsafe AI would turn an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders, including Anthropic…

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‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

The Guardian reports: The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on 3 December. The United Nations’ office of the high…

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Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Democracy Docket reports: In a major ruling Friday, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s nationwide voter roll campaign, delivering a damaging blow to the Department of Justice’s effort to obtain states’ unredacted voter rolls, compare them against federal data and pressure states to remove voters it deems ineligible. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated what DOJ internally called its “list maintenance project,” finding that the department exceeded its statutory authority and violated federal law. The ruling goes far…

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U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

Reuters reports: US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on the ​International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies. The court denounced the ‌move as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” and called on its 125 member states to take action to defend it. “The Court cannot stand alone. Its…

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Hegseth wants Americans to watch Nidal Hasan’s execution — the first military execution since 1961

Hegseth wants Americans to watch Nidal Hasan’s execution — the first military execution since 1961

MeidasTouch Network reports: Hegseth has promised a public execution, while the Army’s official notice offers only the bare machinery of a death warrant. The Pentagon and Army have declined to provide reporters details about the firing squad’s personnel, its procedures or the location on the base where Hasan would be executed, according to an Associated Press account published Wednesday. The Trump regime has supplied a date. It has not supplied the rules. The prospect of a public execution would place…

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Trump-appointed federal judge accuses ICE of lying and fabricating records

Trump-appointed federal judge accuses ICE of lying and fabricating records

The New York Times reports: A federal judge in New York reprimanded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Monday, accusing its officers of lying, lacking proper training and fabricating records to cover up illegal arrests. In a scathing 28-page ruling, the judge, Gary R. Brown, condemned the agency’s tactics when it mistakenly arrested two Hispanic men, including a U.S. citizen, in the Bronx in May, finding that ICE had “falsified official records trying to conceal” its “illegal actions.” Judge…

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FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional probe of protesters

FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional probe of protesters

NBC News reports: The Trump administration pushed the FBI to investigate Los Angeles protesters in violation of their constitutional rights and the bureau’s policies, a former FBI supervisor alleges in a new whistleblower complaint. Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, made a formal whistleblower complaint to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders over the federal response to anti-ICE protest activity around federal buildings, as well as in a residential area, early last year. Fields…

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506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents

506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents

ProPublica reports: The Trump administration says none of this is happening. “DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops.” Allegations of “racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.” “The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force.” “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children.” But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported. We know because we have once again done what the government hasn’t: We…

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Trump doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for propaganda ads

Trump doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for propaganda ads

The New York Times reports: A day after President Trump said his super PAC would pay for television ads promoting him that had been funded by taxpayers, White House officials said the group did not plan to reimburse the government for the more than $10 million it had already spent on the ads. Mr. Trump announced on Monday evening that he was planning to have his super PAC, MAGA Inc., pay for the ads, which had drawn backlash from members…

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The new science that has oil companies running scared

The new science that has oil companies running scared

Jeff Goodell writes: On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Suncor Energy, Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, a case that could give fossil fuel companies a get-out-of-jail-free card for the harms caused by climate change. That is not exactly how Kannon Shanmugam — who represents Suncor and Exxon Mobil, another petitioner in the case — framed the argument. He said that dozens of active lawsuits that use state tort law to sue fossil fuel companies…

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Only one GOP Supreme Court justice needs to flip for Big Oil to face climate accountability

Only one GOP Supreme Court justice needs to flip for Big Oil to face climate accountability

Slate reports: The Supreme Court officially began its new term on Monday morning with oral argument in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County. Befitting an institution with vast power over the public despite historically low public support, the court’s opening case this term is about elite impunity: Suncor will determine whether communities may sue oil and gas companies in state court and hold them financially responsible for literally fueling climate change. Back in 2018, Boulder County filed a lawsuit in a…

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DOJ sued by NAACP for records on ‘unprecedented’ plan to deploy 1,000 election monitors in midterms

DOJ sued by NAACP for records on ‘unprecedented’ plan to deploy 1,000 election monitors in midterms

Democracy Docket reports: The NAACP sued the Trump administration Friday, seeking records about its plan to deploy roughly 1,000 federal personnel to polling places during the 2026 midterms. The planned effort represents an extraordinary expansion of federal election monitoring. It has already sparked confrontations with state officials and concerns about voter intimidation. The civil rights organization filed its lawsuit in federal court, one month before the Nov. 3 election. The case seeks to force the Civil Rights Division of the…

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