Attention to the Unseen

The New York Times reports: More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public. At issue are the quick-turn orders the Supreme Court has issued dictating whether Trump administration policies should be left in place while they are litigated through…

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The New York Times reports: Escalating a standoff with federal prosecutors, a judge in Washington on Thursday formally declined to accept an indictment against a man whose case he said had morphed into an “unprecedented workaround” of the normal system of justice. The highly unusual rejection came from Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a magistrate judge, who refused to accept an indictment that prosecutors secured from a local grand jury in Washington only after a federal grand jury had declined to…

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  The Oregonian reports: A nine-day-old snippet of testimony in front of Oregon lawmakers is rocketing around social media as Portland awaits word from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on President Trump’s troop deployment plans. Oregon’s top military leader offered some reassuring — or infuriating, depending on one’s political perspective — comments about the role of National Guard soldiers during a proposed federal troop deployment to Portland. Speaking before a state Senate subcommittee, Brigadier General Alan…

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Axios reports: Members of Congress pushed back Friday against the White House announcing layoffs of federal workers as part of the government shutdown. Why it matters: The blowback includes Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who called the layoffs “arbitrary” and said she “strongly” opposes them. “Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said. Members of Congress from the Washington, D.C….

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Chicago Sun-Times reports: With an unusually loud bang of his gavel Wednesday morning, a federal magistrate judge agreed to dismiss charges against a Chicago couple found lawfully carrying loaded pistols last month outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview. A grand jury on Tuesday returned a “no bill” in the case of Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo, a prosecutor explained. In doing so, the grand jurors refused to hand up an indictment in the high-profile case resulting…

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Government Executive reports: The Office of Management and Budget on Friday quietly revised a shutdown guidance document to remove references to a law passed in 2019 to guarantee that all federal workers are provided backpay at the conclusion of a lapse in appropriations. Prior to Oct. 3, OMB’s Frequently Asked Questions During a Lapse in Appropriations document highlighted the Government Employees Fair Treatment Act, the law enacted in 2019 as part of the deal to end the 35-day partial government…

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Robert Reich writes: The direction we’re going is either martial law or civil war. Americans from so-called “red” states, with the backing of their Republican governors and legislatures, are on the brink of using lethal force against Americans in so-called “blue” states, whose Democratic governors and legislatures strongly oppose the moves. I pray we don’t come close to this but Trump has now ordered the deployment of 400 members of the Texas National Guard to several states, including Oregon and…

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Chris Edelson writes: Donald Trump has effectively declared war on U.S. cities that he perceives as enemy territory, expanding the military offensive he started this summer in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Last week, he ordered federal troops to Portland, Oregon, instructing them to use “full force” if necessary in order to respond to what he falsely described as a “war ravaged” city. After threatening to send the Texas National Guard to Chicago for over a month, the first wave of troops is set to deploy this week. Trump has also…

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Politico reports: President Donald Trump is deploying the Justice Department to punish and prosecute his perceived enemies and advance his political agenda. But his color commentary — and that of senior members of his administration — about the cases is threatening to derail them in court. Public comments by Trump and high-ranking officials including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have already become flashpoints in high-profile cases. Judges overseeing criminal proceedings against Luigi Mangione, charged with…

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Lisa Graves writes: John Roberts ascended to the Supreme Court and for nearly two decades maintained a reputation as a fair referee. But most people really have no idea who Roberts is, what a destructive force he is to American jurisprudence, and how he has helped fracture our political system and our society. In 2002, as part of my work for the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, one of my first tasks was to evaluate Roberts, whom George W. Bush had nominated…

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Rolling Stone reports: They didn’t waste a day. In the aftermath of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Donald Trump’s government immediately got to work crafting its road map for cracking down on liberal groups and the president’s domestic foes. According to sources with direct knowledge of the matter, within 24 hours of the Kirk shooting, top Trump officials and administration lawyers — at the White House, Justice Department, and so forth — had already put pen to pad, drafting legal…

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