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Category: Law/Crime

Chicago Latina activist shot by Border Patrol survives, lawyers up

Chicago Latina activist shot by Border Patrol survives, lawyers up

Pablo Manríquez writes: On Saturday, federal agents shot Marimar “La Maggie” Martinez five to seven times in Brighton Park. Yesterday, she walked out of the hospital—bandaged, limping, but alive—flanked by her lawyer, Christopher Parente, and a crowd chanting her name. That image—a Latina activist standing upright after federal bullets tore through her car and body—belongs to a long ledger of American overreach. CBP called it an “ambush.” Her community calls it what it looks like: an execution that failed. The…

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Federal grand jury refuses to indict couple found with guns outside ICE facility

Federal grand jury refuses to indict couple found with guns outside ICE facility

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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No, Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to deploy troops to wherever he wants

No, Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to deploy troops to wherever he wants

Stephen I. Vladeck writes: President Trump’s escalating efforts to deploy armed troops onto the streets of several American cities run by Democratic officials are raising a question courts have been all but completely able to avoid since the Constitution was drafted: Can presidents unleash the armed forces on their own people based on facts that they contrive? The text of the relevant statutes doesn’t answer that question. But our constitutional ideals, to say nothing of common sense, should — and…

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Federal agents taunted Chicago woman to ‘do something, b—-’ before shooting her, attorney claims

Federal agents taunted Chicago woman to ‘do something, b—-’ before shooting her, attorney claims

Chicago Sun-Times reports: Body-camera video of a Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting of a woman who was allegedly chasing agents in Brighton Park over the weekend shows an officer saying, “Do something, b—-,” before pulling over and shooting the woman five times, the woman’s attorney said in federal court Monday. The video appears to contradict the government’s allegation that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire on her late Saturday morning on Kedzie…

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OMB tries to evade law that Trump signed guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds

OMB tries to evade law that Trump signed guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds

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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Trump’s plan to invoke the Insurrection Act

Trump’s plan to invoke the Insurrection Act

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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Donald Trump is destroying the Constitution

Donald Trump is destroying the Constitution

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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Trump officials can’t keep their mouths shut about DOJ’s biggest prosecutions — putting cases in jeopardy

Trump officials can’t keep their mouths shut about DOJ’s biggest prosecutions — putting cases in jeopardy

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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How Chief Justice Roberts and his accomplices rewrote the Constitution and took away our rights

How Chief Justice Roberts and his accomplices rewrote the Constitution and took away our rights

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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Inside Stephen Miller’s war on political dissent

Inside Stephen Miller’s war on political dissent

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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Federal thugs assault 84-year old couple during Portland protest

Federal thugs assault 84-year old couple during Portland protest

The Oregonian reports: An elderly couple says they were charged and knocked down by federal agents as they peacefully protested on Saturday in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, just blocks from their home. Laurie Eckman, 84, said she and her husband Richard Eckman, also 84 and a Vietnam war veteran, were rushed by federal officers “for no apparent reason.” She said her husband was leaning on his walker and wearing his Vietnam veterans…

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Portland Police are recognized nationally and internationally as leaders in public order management

Portland Police are recognized nationally and internationally as leaders in public order management

Portland Police Chief Bob Day writes: Five years ago, some city and state leadership left the police bureau isolated. Today, that has changed. The bureau is part of a united statewide effort, backed by strong leadership from the mayor, city council, city administrator, governor, our congressional delegation and fellow Portlanders. Yet there is no ignoring that we are facing an extraordinary time in our city’s history, with the deployment of both federal law enforcement and the Oregon National Guard. One…

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Rejecting injustice: The jury’s role in a politicized justice system

Rejecting injustice: The jury’s role in a politicized justice system

In “Operation Midway Blitz” — an operation that was clearly scripted as a piece of political propaganda (including an action-movie soundtrack) rather than an exercise in law enforcement — Bovino cast himself in the starring role: DHS law enforcement has made OVER 900 ARRESTS during Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois. To every criminal illegal alien: Darkness is no longer your ally. We will find you. pic.twitter.com/m9PxbuK5Ua — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 2, 2025 Coverage of ICE/FBI raids in Chicago detaining…

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Stephen Miller accused of ‘incitement to violence against judges’

Stephen Miller accused of ‘incitement to violence against judges’

Raw Story reports: U.S. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller Saturday was accused of “incitement to violence against judges.” Miller, who has been accused of making his subordinates cry at work, took to social media over the weekend to make several proclamations related to “leftist” judges. “The Democrat Party has filled our legal and judicial system with radicals who protect leftwing terrorists,” Miller wrote Saturday. “This is a very real and dire crisis for our Republican form of…

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Trump officials discussed sending Army’s 82nd Airborne division to Portland, text messages show

Trump officials discussed sending Army’s 82nd Airborne division to Portland, text messages show

Minnesota Star Tribune reports: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth considered sending an elite U.S. Army strike force to Portland, Ore., to quell protests that President Donald Trump has characterized as “lawless mayhem,” according to images of messages provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The messages, casually exchanged last weekend in a crowded, public space, show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne, an infantry division that has been deployed to combat zones in both…

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Trump’s so-called ‘compact’ with universities is simply extortion

Trump’s so-called ‘compact’ with universities is simply extortion

Erwin Chemerinsky writes: On Wednesday, the Trump administration sent letters to nine major universities proposing a “compact.” As The Times reports, the agreement would, among other things, require these universities to freeze tuition rates for five years, limit the enrollment of foreign students and be bound to specific definitions of gender. It would also require them to prohibit anything that would “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” In exchange, these universities would receive “multiple positive benefits,” including…

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