Legal News
Reports on lawmaking, constitutional issues, and court cases. The Daily Signal combines news reporting with conservative commentary and legal analysis.
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news
Kilmar Abrego Garcia Released Following Judge’s Order
A federal judge is blocking U.S. immigration officials from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the illegal alien was ordered released. Abrego Garcia appeared for a scheduled Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday morning, but immigration officials were blocked from re-detaining him due to a judge’s order. The order comes after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland granted Abrego Garcia’s petition for release from immigration… -
news
IQ on Death Row: Supreme Court Weighs Relevance of Convicted Killer’s Test Scores
The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether the death sentence applied to a convicted murderer represents cruel and unusual punishment based on his debatable intellectual disability. The state of Alabama argues that five IQ test scores for Joseph Clifton Smith, convicted of capital murder for the 1997 killing of Durk Van Dam, demonstrate that… -
opinion
DOJ Drops ‘Disparate Impact’ Standard in Civil Rights Law. It’s a Huge Win for Equality Under the Law.
The Trump administration is conducting a profound revolution in civil rights law. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced that it is ending the use of disparate impact in enforcement of Title VI under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is a huge deal. “The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people… -
SLAPP DOWN: Court Defends Trans Activists Who Allegedly Lied to Get Real Estate Agent Fired
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transgender activists are “weaponizing” a law meant to protect participation in public debate, flipping it “on its head” to further a “personal vendetta” against a Georgia mom and real estate agent whom the activists previously tried to get fired, the mom’s lawyer says. Julie Mauck, the Georgia mom, publicly addressed a… -
news
Sonia Sotomayor Says Trump Will Have ‘Absolute Power’ If the Court Overturns Humphrey’s Executor
The Supreme Court’s conservative-leaning majority seems poised to scrap a 90-year precedent that has insulated the deep state for decades. Justices are weighing whether an elected president can remove executive branch officials serving on supposedly “independent” commissions or boards, and whether blocking the president from doing so violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers…. -
news
How Liberal Lawfare Actors Spearheaded Case That Got Trump-Appointed Prosecutor Disqualified
A three-judge panel disqualified President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer as the acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, in a case pushed by the head of a liberal lawfare group, and by Hunter Biden’s former lawyer. The panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit determined Monday that Alina Habba’s appointment violated… -
news
Teachers Union Anti-Trump Lawfare Cases Have Little Connection to K-12 Public School Education
After President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term in January, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten asserted she was “really sad” about the inaugural speech. “Rather than unifying people and building on America’s best qualities, Trump delivered a speech that was laden with divisiveness, showing that he is the president of… -
opinion
Local Climate Lawfare Is Undermining US Foreign Policy and National Security
Lawfare has grown to be a huge problem. If a set of activists cannot win an election or get a favorable bill passed, they find and run to a sympathetic court. An additional emerging form of lawfare has now taken root in America: local governments and states suing domestic energy producers over their alleged role in climate change…. -
opinion
Arizona’s Attorney General Wages Lawfare on Families
Arizona is one of the nation’s leading states in offering families education choice—and families are loving it. Three out of four parents support the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program, which enables families to choose the learning environments that work best for their children. Parents can use these funds to pay for private school tuition, tutoring,… -
news
Here’s How Trump’s Judicial Nominees Are Stacking Up So Far
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—President Donald Trump’s second-term judicial nominees share similar qualities with his first-term picks, though a limited number of vacancies mean his impact remains an open question. Trump began this term with just 40 vacancies to fill, less than half of the open seats as he inherited starting in his first term. Confirming 234 judges to the… -
news
‘This Is Lawfare’: AGs Draw Attention to Leftist Group Training Judges to Push Climate Alarmism
Twenty-three Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, demanding the EPA investigate funding for the Environmental Law Institute, which the AGs said attempts to “rig the courts” against American energy. The EPA confirmed receipt and reiterated Zeldin’s dedication to cutting down on wasteful spending from the previous administration…. -
news
State Department Slams Latest Instance of Leftist ‘Judicial Overreach’
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The State Department is condemning a Biden-appointed federal judge’s ruling barring the Trump administration from using the president’s latest travel ban to deny visas to foreigners from certain countries. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a 2024 appointee of then-President Joe Biden, ruled Thursday that the State Department cannot rely on the… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: How Marc Elias Group Used States to Ramp-Up Anti-Trump Lawfare
A litigation group run by veteran Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias helped coordinate legal challenges from California and Illinois to stop President Donald Trump’s agenda. Democracy Forward, where Elias is chairman, coordinated an online conference with lawyers working for the California and Illinois state attorneys general offices to challenge executive orders from Trump, according to… -
news
‘Blue Slip’ Brouhaha: Trump, Grassley Spar Over Judicial Nominee Confirmation Procedure
President Donald Trump is seeking to end the long-standing “blue slip” tradition of giving senators veto power over some judicial nominees from their states—but he’s getting pushback from the Republican senator whose mind he needs to change. “I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults,”… -
opinion
Justice Kagan Hits the Nail on the Head in Her Complaint About How the Supreme Court Restrains the Judicial Insurrection
District court judges have usurped President Donald Trump’s control over the executive branch, too often requiring the Supreme Court to intervene to stop the judicial insurrection. Unfortunately, the court has often done so via the “shadow docket” by acting on emergency petitions the administration has appealed to the top. While the court has often made… -
news
Ex-DOJ Lawyers Join DNC, Left’s Lawfare Against Trump
Media accounts have cast departing Justice Department lawyers as principled nonpartisan civil servants too conscientious to serve a politicized Trump administration. But several of these lawyers have taken up very political roles after they’ve left the department. Dan Freeman, the litigation director for the Democratic National Committee, touted his time in the Justice Department in… -
opinion
What Made Justice Kagan Change Her Mind on Universal Injunctions?
When judges change their mind, they explain their reasons. Or at least they ought to, because that’s what makes their judgments trustworthy. But when the Supreme Court decided Trump v. CASA this term, Justice Elena Kagan suddenly changed her mind on universal injunctions—and didn’t explain why. There, the Supreme Court held that federal courts likely… -
opinion
Here’s Why the Supreme Court Striking Down Nationwide Injunctions Won’t End the Judicial Insurrection
The Supreme Court case Trump v. CASA cut right to the heart of the judicial insurrection, the trend of district court judges siding with leftist activists to block President Donald Trump’s policies through nationwide preliminary injunctions. The court’s decision rightly struck down the judicial insurrection’s No. 1 strategy, but that doesn’t mean rogue judges won’t… -
opinion
Judicial Insurrection Breaks New Ground as Judge Defies Supreme Court Itself
District court judges aren’t just striking down President Donald Trump’s orders, arguably taking presidential power on themselves. In at least one case, a district judge appears to have openly defied the Supreme Court itself. The Supreme Court Monday issued a stay on an April 18 injunction in the case D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security…. -
news
Supreme Court Takes Up Case After Democrat AG Demands Sensitive Docs From Pro-Life Pregnancy Center
The Supreme Court Monday took up the case of a pro-life pregnancy center that claimed religious and political discrimination after New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, issued a subpoena demanding documents on the suspicion that the center had violated a consumer fraud law. Lower courts had ruled that the pregnancy center, First Choice…