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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opinion
Climate Crazies Are Putting Energy Executives on Trial for Murder
As climate lawsuits falter around the country, left-wing litigators are exploring a risible new legal strategy—trying energy companies and their executives for homicide and wrongful death, a climate change Nuremburg. Left-wing climate groups are mobilizing around a precedent-setting wrongful death lawsuit in Washington State, which contends that energy companies are directly responsible for… -
opinion
Democrats Repeat Their Despicable History of Encouraging Defiance of Federal Laws
In their attempts to thwart federal enforcement of our immigration laws, politicians like Democrat state Rep. James Hawkins of Massachusetts apparently want to make it even easier for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (and their families) to be doxed, harassed, and attacked. It’s hard to come to any other conclusion when, in the face of the open… -
news
‘ZERO TOLERANCE’: Border Czar Homan Issues Warning to ICE Attackers
There’s a new border czar in town, and he says he has “zero tolerance” for attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. “This ridiculousness is over,” Tom Homan told The Daily Signal. “You put a hand on an ICE officer, you’re going to prison. You impede an ICE officer, you’re getting prosecuted,” he said Friday… -
opinion
Why American AI Could Die in Court Before It Ever Takes Off
“Uh oh—have you guys completed your income tax? Things kind of happened real fast down there, and I need an extension.”—Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert Even in space, Americans worry about taxes. That’s not a screenwriter’s joke. Hours before Apollo 13 almost ended in disaster, astronaut Jack Swigert, called in as a last-minute replacement, wasn’t… -
news
Trump to Sign Bill Cracking Down on Fentanyl
President Donald Trump will sign into law a bill cracking down on the fentanyl crisis while surrounded by an audience of 200 lawmakers, activists, and Americans who have lost loved ones to the deadly substance, a White House official confirmed to The Daily Signal. “President Trump has made securing the border and ending the drug… -
opinion
Congress Keeps Pushing Colleges to Discriminate—but the Fight Back Has Finally Begun
This June, Tennessee joined the civil rights organization Students for Fair Admissions to file a lawsuit opposing racial discrimination in higher education. That might give you a sneaking sense of déjà vu—didn’t the Supreme Court crack down on racial preferences two years ago in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard? While the court made it… -
opinion
Judges Should Get Judged Too
Who judges the judges? That question has taken the forefront in recent days as questions swirl about whether certain federal judges have the authority to block many of President Donald Trump’s actions from early in his second term. But outside of this federal court limelight, many more decisions—and in some ways even more consequential decisions—are… -
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
First Amendment Triumph: IRS Recognizes Pastors’ Right to Free Speech
Surely, in today’s America, the federal government can’t punish pastors for preaching from the pulpit about how to apply God’s Word to everyday life. And yet, for 70 years, the Internal Revenue Service did just that. It used a provision of the Internal Revenue Code called the Johnson Amendment—inserted in 1954 by then-Sen. Lyndon B…. -
news
‘One Big Beautiful Lawsuit’ Seeks to Eliminate Gun Control Law
Second Amendment advocates hope what they dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Lawsuit” will strike a final blow to a near century-old gun control law. The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that President Donald Trump signed on July 4 included a provision to reduce the $200 excise tax on buying certain firearms, suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled… -
opinion
What the Hell Happened With the Jeffrey Epstein Case?
This week, the internet was set abuzz by a memo from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice about the Jeffrey Epstein case. Epstein, of course, was found hanging in his cell in a New York jail in August 2019, after his arrest on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls. Ever… -
news
There’s More to the Story About Former Muslim Chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Detained by ICE
Imam Ayman Soliman, formerly a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with suspected ties to a terror watchlist, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported such news on Wednesday, though it left out some crucial details. The original headline and a post shared over X failed to mention that Soliman… -
news
FBI Data Show Disturbing Rate of Police Solving Murder Cases
Just three years after the left-wing “defund the police” movement swept across the United States, the FBI reports, only about 58% of murders and nonnegligent manslaughters were cleared by the police in 2023 in the United States. The clearance rate is the total number of arrests or exceptional clearances made for a given crime in… -
news
Woman With ‘Urgent Message’ for Trump Arrested Outside Mar-a-Lago
Police arrested a Florida woman outside of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Monday after she told Secret Service agents she had an “urgent message” for the president, the Palm Beach Post reported. Caroline Shaw, 49, of Orlando, had a handgun in her gray Mercedes van, which was taken during her arrest. She told officers… -
opinion
Sorry, Planned Parenthood. Congress Doesn’t Have to Give You a Dime.
When the Founders wrote the Constitution, they unambiguously gave Congress control over federal spending. But Planned Parenthood is now suing the federal government in denial of this fact—claiming the Constitution requires the federal government to give money to organizations that are abortion providers. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution plainly states: “No… -
news
EXCLUSIVE: Indiana Gov. Braun Exposes Over 350 Instances of DEI in State Programs
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Indiana is forging ahead in its efforts to dump diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in state government. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, after signing a January executive order banning DEI programs from state agencies, released a report on Wednesday with a list of over 350 instances of DEI policies, programs, and hiring… -
opinion
Virginia AG Reveals Shocking Consequences of Democrats’ Soft-on-Crime Policies
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is fighting against what he calls a “criminal-first, victim-last mindset” that has swept through the commonwealth’s justice system under previous Democrat administrations. As he campaigns for reelection, Miyares is armed with alarming statistics: Over 9,600 inmates were released early in fiscal year 2023 alone, with roughly 50% being rearrested—resulting in… -
news
California Defies Trump Again as State Refuses to Follow Trans Athlete Order
Not satisfied with the disastrous Los Angeles riots, the Golden State of California has picked up the cudgel once more against President Donald Trump and his administration. The California Department of Education sent a letter July 7 to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon informing her of the state’s refusal to sign a resolution requiring… -
opinion
Supreme Court Tells Judge to Fall in Line
In polite but firm judicial language, the Supreme Court made it clear on July 3 that Massachusetts federal district court Judge Brian Murphy wouldn’t get away with dodging the stay the court had issued against him in an important immigration case. According to the court, Murphy is bound by the prior order and cannot “enforce… -
news
BREAKING: Supreme Court Allows Trump’s ‘Transformation of the Federal Bureaucracy’ to Proceed
The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed a district judge’s injunction blocking President Donald Trump from carrying out a “critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy.” Trump signed Executive Order 14210 on Feb. 11, implementing the Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative. On Feb. 26, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Office of Personnel…