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
Mehek Cooke Warns Ideological Decisions Are Hurting American Consumers
Mehek Cooke, senior national security and legal analyst at The Daily Signal, warned that the shutdown of Spirit Airlines exposes a broader failure by the Biden administration and Democrat leaders to think through the real-world consequences of ideologically driven policy decisions, which she says are now directly hurting American consumers. Appearing on NewsNation over the… -
news
Trump Crackdown Yields Results: Illegal Aliens Sentenced for Drugs, Guns Trafficking, SNAP Fraud
As the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration, the Justice Department this week advanced cases against illegal aliens running criminal enterprises—including a gun trafficking scheme orchestrated from behind bars. In Georgia, the Justice Department announced the 25-year sentence of a Mexican illegal immigrant who used a contraband cell phone from inside a Georgia state… -
news
Georgia GOP Could Move Toward Redistricting, Top Officials Say
After the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Louisiana’s proposed congressional map for relying too heavily on race, Georgia Republican leaders signaled renewed interest in redrawing the state’s own congressional districts—raising the prospect of expanding the GOP’s delegation. “These new maps must prioritize traditional redistricting principles—contiguity, compactness, respect for political subdivisions, and communities of… -
opinion
The Supreme Court’s Redistricting Ruling Sent Shockwaves Far Beyond One State—and Democrats Know It
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of video analysis by The Daily Signal’s Senior National Security and Legal Analyst Mehek Cooke. Louisiana v. Callais is the test case, but the real fight is in the Southern House map. This is why the Supreme Court ruling matters far beyond one state, one district, and… -
news
Louisiana Must Redraw Congressional Map After SCOTUS Ruling, Governor Says
After the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana congressional district on Wednesday as “unconstitutional racial gerrymandering,” the state will have to redo its congressional map, Gov. Jeff Landry said in a joint statement with state Attorney General Liz Murrill. Before the Supreme Court ruling, a federal district court issued an injunction against using the current… -
opinion
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: The Left’s War on the Supreme Court
The following is a preview of Daily Signal Politics Editor Bradley Devlin’s “Signal Sitdown” interview with Mollie Hemingway. The full interview premieres on The Daily Signal’s YouTube page at 6:30 a.m. EST on April 30. This transcript has been slightly edited for clarity. Bradley Devlin: You start at the end of the [Brett] Kavanaugh saga to talk about… -
opinion
SCOTUS Says Voting Rights Act Doesn’t Compel Discrimination During Redistricting
The Constitution prohibits sorting citizens based on race. And yet, for far too long, lower federal courts had interpreted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to require states to do just that—particularly when it came to drawing legislative districts. This put states between a rock and a hard place: They either had to comply… -
news
Supreme Court Appears Open to Trump Ending TPS for Haitians and Syrians
The Supreme Court’s conservative-leaning majority seemed favorable to the Trump administration during Wednesday’s arguments about terminating Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Syrian and Haitian immigrants. After President Donald Trump’s second term began, the Department of Homeland Security ended the status for 13 countries. The high court is weighing whether Trump can legally end the… -
news
Wigs, Makeup, and Millions: Ex-College Star Pleads Guilty in Wild NFL Impersonation Scam
A former college football national champion pleaded guilty to involvement in a $19.8 million fraud scandal for impersonating NFL players—wearing wigs and makeup in some cases to fool lenders—according to the Justice Department. Luther Davis, 37, of Roswell, Georgia, was a defensive tackle for the Alabama Crimson Tide when the team won a national championship… -
opinion
Supreme Court Fist Pumps for the First Amendment
Today, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a religious nonprofit that provides counseling and resources to pregnant women in New Jersey, had established a present injury to its First Amendment associational rights to confer standing to challenge a subpoena from the state to disclose private donor information. First Choice does… -
news
New Jersey AG Violated Pregnancy Center’s Free Association by Demanding Donor Info, Supreme Court Says
The Supreme Court delivered a unanimous rebuke to New Jersey Democrat Attorney General Matthew Platkin for his demand that a pro-life pregnancy center hand over its donor information. Platkin had issued a subpoena to First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, seeking to prove that the pregnancy center was misleading donors. The Supreme Court cited NAACP v…. -
news
SCOTUS Issues Redistricting Ruling That Could Impact Midterms
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a Louisiana congressional district’s boundaries relied too much on race, in a redistricting case that could impact which party controls Congress in the years ahead. The district is represented by Rep. Cleo Fields, a Democrat. During arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts said the district was drawn like a “snake,”… -
news
SCOTUS Skeptical of Lawsuit Accusing Cisco of Aiding China’s Torture of Falun Gong
A majority of justices, though sympathetic, seemed reluctant to allow members of the Falun Gong movement to sue a U.S. tech firm they accused of assisting the Chinese communist government of “aiding and abetting” in torture. In the case of Cisco v. Doe, the Supreme Court is considering a lower court’s ruling that would have… -
news
Mehek Cooke: Trump Assassination Attempt Was Not Just a Security Failure. It Was a National Warning.
The Daily Signal’s Senior National Security and Legal Analyst Mehek Cooke said the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump should be treated as a clear, intentional act of political violence and a warning sign of a broader national security crisis. In an appearance Monday on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight,” Cooke addressed the legal consequences facing… -
breaking
Report: James Comey Indicted Again
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for a second time, CNN first reported on Tuesday. The Justice Department confirmed the indictment later Tuesday afternoon in a press conference. “A grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned an indictment against James Comey on two counts. The first count is that on… -
opinion
Thomas: Can Virginians Count on a Simple Reading of the Law?
The Virginia Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments from Republican plaintiffs and Democrat defendants regarding the legality of the April 21 redistricting referendum. The issue before the court is the process the General Assembly used to approve a special election for redrawing the commonwealth’s congressional districts. The Supreme Court heard two challenges. The first case… -
news
Justices Push Back on Claim That Google Geofence Warrants Are Unconstitutional
Most justices seemed unconvinced Monday that law enforcement’s use of Google data to track a bank robber violates the Constitution. The case stemmed from the prosecution of Okello Chatrie, who conditionally pleaded guilty in 2022 to robbing a Midlothian, Virginia, credit union. He reserved his right to make the case for suppressing evidence if it… -
news
Supreme Court Punts on Parental Rights Case of School District Concealing Gender Transition
The Supreme Court on Monday opted not to hear a gender secrecy case out of Florida, in which parents objected to a policy that kept their child’s school from informing them of a gender transition. The case involves the School Board of Leon County, Florida, which in 2018 said that when students informed their school’s… -
opinion
Monsanto v. Durnell Could Hand Pesticide Manufacturers Sweeping Liability Protections
Across the country, lawmakers and industry groups are pushing to make it harder to sue pesticide manufacturers when their products fail to adequately warn consumers about risks or how to protect themselves when using these chemicals. That debate between consumers and industry has now found its way to the Supreme Court. On April 27, the… -
opinion
Clarence Thomas’ Great Speech on the Declaration
Many speeches will be delivered this year about the Declaration of Independence as we celebrate its 250th birthday. However, I think the greatest was just delivered by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on April 15 at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. The force of Thomas’ words does not just result from his deep…