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
‘The Lunacy Is Over’: UK Supreme Court Decision Deals Blow to Transgender Ideology
The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court delivered a stunning rejection Wednesday of transgenderism, as it declared that transgender individuals who are biological males cannot be treated as women under law. The case first came to the court when representatives of For Women Scotland, a feminist organization, sought clarification of the definition of “women” in a legal…George Caldwell -
- Opinion
Trump Moves to Stop ‘Climate Lawfare’ Driving Up Energy Costs, Endangering US Energy Dominance
President Donald Trump’s critics are right about one thing: The first few months of his second term have been a reckoning. Starting with the federal government’s pursuit of law firms and organizations that committed lawfare against the president to hobble his political comeback, Trump has now supercharged executive authority to stop the flood of ideologically based lawsuits…Yaël Ossowski -
- News
Dem-Appointed Federal Judges Are the Big Losers at Supreme Court This Week
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Supreme Court has struck down orders issued by Democrat-appointed district court judges five times in the past week. Without addressing the merits of the issues—which include consequential questions about immigration, funding, and the president’s authority to remove agency officials—the high court has for procedural reasons issued back-to-back rulings undoing restrictions district…Katelynn Richardson -
- Opinion
Trump Order Would Force the ACLU to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is on Lawfare
What if I told you that when federal district judges issue injunctions blocking President Donald Trump’s policies in a judicial insurrection, they were the ones breaking the law? No, it’s not just because these judges are effectively usurping the authority of the president over the executive branch. It’s more clear-cut than that. When Chief Judge…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Urged to Hear Case of Man Arrested for Sharing Faith in Public
Anyone who has his First Amendment rights trampled by an unconstitutional act of government should be able to regain those rights in court, but that might not be the case if the Supreme Court allows a recent federal court’s decision to stand. That’s the argument attorneys at First Liberty Institute made recently in asking the…Nate Kellum -
- News
Supreme Court Case Could Allow States to Strip Medicaid Funding from Planned Parenthood
Praise and worship music clashed with shouts of “Abortion is health care” as pro-life protesters and abortion supporters rallied outside the United States Supreme Court Wednesday during oral arguments in a case that could decide whether states can disqualify Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. When South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster disqualified Planned Parenthood from…Moira Gleason -
- News
BREAKING: Would-Be Assassin Who Targeted Supreme Court Justice Will Plead Guilty in Court
The California man who planned to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will plead guilty in federal court, his lawyers said in a Wednesday filing. Nicholas Roske, 29, who staked out near Kavanaugh’s home with weapons in 2022 before turning himself in to authorities, was set to face trial in June. The attempted assassination charge…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Lawfare Isn’t Beaten—in France or America
Elections are supposed to be decided at the ballot box, not in the courtroom—unless you’re French or, in this country, a liberal. What a judge in France has just done by disqualifying Marine Le Pen from running in that nation’s next presidential election is what Democrats dream of doing here. The controversial populist was ahead…Daniel McCarthy -
- News
Progressives Keep Wisconsin Supreme Court; More Democrat US House Seats Likely
Wisconsin residents voted on Tuesday to elect Susan Crawford as the next member of their state supreme court, according to the Associated Press, which declared Crawford the winner. The vote will put the liberals in charge of the state’s highest court during a time when the court’s decisions on congressional redistricting in the state could…Jacob Adams -
- Opinion
It’s All Lawfare: Everyone but the Cronies Get Cheated, Mistreated by Big Government
Not to get all Old World on you, but the Oxford Dictionary defines “lawfare” thusly: “Legal action undertaken in order to exert power or control, esp. as part of a hostile campaign against a particular country or group.” In New World parlance? Author Malcolm Feeley in 1979 published a tome with a title that best…Seton Motley -
- News
Euro-Lawfare? France Bans Nationalist Candidate From Running for Office
A French court banned the leader of France’s conservative nationalist party—Marine Le Pen—from running for public office for the next five years after her embezzlement conviction. Le Pen lost the 2022 French presidential election to current President Emmanuel Macron. The sentence, which also includes a partially suspended four-year prison sentence, disqualifies her from running for…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Reconsiders Constitutionality of Agency Policymaking
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case testing the limits of the nondelegation doctrine, an issue that may sound lawyerly, but which is of the utmost importance in ensuring separation among the federal branches and accountability for the important decisions that affect us all. Nondelegation is the principle that one branch of…Jack Fitzhenry -
- Opinion
Abraham Lincoln Charted a Course for Trump on Judicial Overreach, Josh Hammer Says
President Donald Trump faces a bevy of district court judges issuing restraining orders and injunctions blocking his executive actions, and Josh Hammer suggests the president take a leaf out of Abraham Lincoln’s book on the issue. Trump has responded to the orders with calls for Congress to impeach lower court judges or restrain them in…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Key Redistricting Case
THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a critical case regarding Louisiana’s redrawn congressional districts on Monday. The state is defending the existing map and plaintiffs seek an overturn on grounds of racial gerrymander. The case could be pivotal as justices could examine the criteria required of state legislatures under the Voting…Steve Wilson -
- Opinion
Trump Racking Up Important Legal Victories as Left’s Lawfare Ramps Up
The Left couldn’t defeat President Donald Trump at the ballot box. Now, their only hope seems to be defeating him at the courthouse. More than 130 cases have been filed against the Trump administration since Trump’s return to office just two months ago. With the help of activist federal judges, the Left’s large-scale lawfare operation…Bradley Devlin -
- News
Supreme Court to Decide if States Can Withhold Medicaid Funding From Planned Parenthood
The Supreme Court could soon strike a blow to America’s largest abortion provider. Amid growing concerns about the quality of care at Planned Parenthood facilities and the fact that taxpayer funding is going to facilities that provide abortions, the Supreme Court could effectively decide whether states can withhold taxpayer dollars from the organization in an…Moira Gleason -
- News
DOJ Reviewing Lawfare Case of Colorado Election Clerk Tina Peters
The Department of Justice announced in a March 3 court filing that it will conduct a “review” of Colorado’s prosecution of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County election clerk convicted in connection with her efforts to prove election software had been tampered with in the 2020 election. Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser is none too…Al Perrotta -
- News
Counselor Fights to Advise Minors Against Gender Transition in Supreme Court Case
When Erin Brewer was 6 years old, she and her older brother were accosted by two grown men. She was raped. Her brother was not. Brewer called herself a boy for the next several years because, she said, she felt vulnerable as a girl. She wore her brother’s hand-me-downs, used the boys bathroom at…Moira Gleason -
- Opinion
3 Reasons Elon Musk and George Soros Are Fighting It Out in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race on April 1 may be technically nonpartisan, but it is already shaping up to be a battle between two billionaires with incompatible political worldviews: Elon Musk and George Soros. The race appears on track to become the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Democrats have spent almost $18 million…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
Justice Alito Slams Majority for Failing to Rein in ‘Judicial Hubris’ Against Trump Admin
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Justice Samuel Alito wrote Wednesday that he is “stunned” by the majority’s failure to call out a lower court’s “judicial hubris” in the case considering the Trump administration’s foreign aid spending freeze. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court declined to block U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s order requiring the government to…Katelynn Richardson