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Category: Law/Crime

Judge’s order makes clear that all companies that paid illegal Trump tariffs get refunds

Judge’s order makes clear that all companies that paid illegal Trump tariffs get refunds

Jordan Rubin writes: The Supreme Court was clear last month when it ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs issued under an emergency federal law were illegal. But the high court left open the question and process of refunds, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh complaining in dissent that the majority “says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.” A federal judge’s order on Wednesday set…

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An assertive Supreme Court turns to curbing state courts

An assertive Supreme Court turns to curbing state courts

The New York Times reports: When the Supreme Court issued an emergency order this week that protected the congressional district of a New York Republican, it intervened in a voting rights dispute, pre-empting the state’s highest court before it had a chance to act. Since President Trump returned to the White House, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has shown a willingness to short-circuit lower-court proceedings with a slew of emergency rulings in federal cases. But this was a rare instance…

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Kristi Noem misled Congress about Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts

Kristi Noem misled Congress about Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts

By Joshua Kaplan and Justin Elliott This story was originally published by ProPublica Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem misled Congress on Tuesday about the powers of her controversial top aide Corey Lewandowski, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and four current and former DHS officials. Lewandowski has an unusual role at DHS, where he is not a paid government employee but is nonetheless acting as a top official, helping Noem run the sprawling agency. For months, members of Congress have…

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DOJ pushes to supress state bar ethics investigations into DOJ lawyers

DOJ pushes to supress state bar ethics investigations into DOJ lawyers

Bloomberg reports: The Justice Department is seeking to empower Attorney General Pam Bondi to suspend state bar ethics investigations into current and former DOJ lawyers—a step outside attorneys quickly criticized as an illegal intervention into state-run processes. The proposed regulation, posted in the Federal Register Wednesday, would aim to halt state-level ethics proceedings against DOJ lawyers while the department conducts its own review, which would diminish local bar associations’ power. It comes as Bondi, members of her leadership team, and…

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The casino-fication of war through Polymarket

The casino-fication of war through Polymarket

Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims report: On February 28, the United States and Israel began major combat operations in Iran. For some, the consequences of this action were fatal. By Monday, the war had claimed the lives of at least six U.S. soldiers, hundreds of people in Iran, and dozens more in neighboring Gulf states. The bombardment of Iran reportedly destroyed a girls’ primary school, killing about 150 people, the vast majority of them students. A spokesman for…

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This federal judge ruled against Trump. Then the death threats rolled in

This federal judge ruled against Trump. Then the death threats rolled in

  CBS News reports: Federal District Judge John Coughenour was unprepared for what happened after he temporarily blocked President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order last year and called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” He said he faced “dozens if not hundreds” of death threats. “I’ve been at this for 44 years. I have never encountered the hostility toward the judiciary that has existed in this country in the last year,” Coughenour said. “And I don’t think it’s because we’re making bad decisions….

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Judges in a Trump stronghold condemn ICE tactics as ‘an assault on the constitutional order’

Judges in a Trump stronghold condemn ICE tactics as ‘an assault on the constitutional order’

Politico reports: Federal judges in one of the Trumpiest states in the country have suddenly become a firewall against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. District court judges in West Virginia describe rampant lawlessness by masked ICE agents, defiance of court orders and a wanton infliction of fear and intimidation by the federal government after the Trump administration deployed a targeted immigration enforcement operation in the state last month. “Operation Country Roads,” a partnership with federal and local law enforcement…

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How Jeffrey Epstein sought to infiltrate the justice system

How Jeffrey Epstein sought to infiltrate the justice system

Miami Herald reports: Jeffrey Epstein didn’t beat the justice system by accident. For decades, the New York financier curated a network of influential people — politicians, business titans, media figures and academics — whom he leveraged to build his fortune and restore his reputation after he had been accused of preying on underage girls in South Florida in 2008. While much of the spotlight has been on the elite heavyweights who hitched themselves to Epstein’s orbit even after he was…

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Trump officials attended a summit of election deniers who want the president to take over the midterms

Trump officials attended a summit of election deniers who want the president to take over the midterms

By Doug Bock Clark This story was originally published by ProPublica Several high-ranking federal election officials attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election pressed the president to declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms. According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica, the meeting’s participants included Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election, and Heather Honey,…

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Former Jimmy Kimmel writer, Bess Kalb: ‘I thought we were entering a new golden age of free speech’

Former Jimmy Kimmel writer, Bess Kalb: ‘I thought we were entering a new golden age of free speech’

  Bess Kalb testified before the House Judiciary Committee on February 23: I am a comedy writer, I wrote for Jimmy Kimmel Live for eight years, and I am an author who recently got back from a national tour for my picture book series, Buffalo Fluffalo. So the fact that I am sitting here in a navy blue business suit in the capitol building at a hearing about the First Amendment means something has gone very, very wrong. I gotta…

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‘ICE will comply’: Top Minnesota judge threatens criminal contempt for continued defiance

‘ICE will comply’: Top Minnesota judge threatens criminal contempt for continued defiance

Politico reports: The top federal judge in Minnesota tore into Justice Department leaders Thursday and threatened potential criminal consequences for officials who he said were continuing to violate court orders at a historic clip amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. “This Court will continue to do whatever is required to protect the rule of law, including, if necessary, moving to the use of criminal contempt,” said Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz in a message posted on the docket of an…

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Trump administration is using local police to build a national deportation-policing force

Trump administration is using local police to build a national deportation-policing force

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today released a new report, Deputized for Disaster, detailing how the Trump administration is drastically expanding the federal 287(g) program to transform state and local law enforcement into a national deportation policing force — fueling racial profiling, civil rights violations, and widespread fear in communities across the country. The report examines the impact of 287(g) agreements in nearly two dozen states and finds that the Trump administration’s misuse of the 287(g) program has extended…

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Israel’s arms sales are surging. So why are its weapons expos smaller than ever?

Israel’s arms sales are surging. So why are its weapons expos smaller than ever?

Sahar Vardi writes: Walking around the exhibition [Defense Tech Expo in Tel Aviv], one could easily notice far fewer attendees and official delegations from foreign states, and generally much less English spoken. The overwhelming majority of attendees were Israelis — from companies hoping to sell their latest wares, or to scout out the competition from other companies — but not the foreign state procurement delegations that were once the core of these exhibitions. So how does this square with the…

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Anti-voting activists co-ordinate with White House on illegal draft emergency order to control elections

Anti-voting activists co-ordinate with White House on illegal draft emergency order to control elections

Democracy Docket reports: A draft emergency executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who said they are in coordination with the White House. Voting rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt would be blatantly unconstitutional. The draft order — which is said to be based…

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DHS claim that ICE recruits are getting adequate training ‘is a lie,’ says whistleblower

DHS claim that ICE recruits are getting adequate training ‘is a lie,’ says whistleblower

  The Los Angeles Times reports: Earlier this month, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons testified to Congress that while the agency had reduced the number of training days to 42 from 75, “We went from five days a week to six days a week. Five days a week was five eight-hour days and we’ve gone to six 12-hour days.” But the documents appear to contradict Lyons’ testimony. “The schedules reflected on these documents indicate that current ICE recruits receive nearly…

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Jailed for ‘standing up’: DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

Jailed for ‘standing up’: DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

  We speak with Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman, who attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Rahman was removed from the chamber Tuesday and spent several hours in jail following what she describes as an aggressive arrest by Capitol Police — all for silently challenging Trump during the speech. “There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” says Rahman….

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