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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analysis
Trump’s Deportation Opponents Just Lost a Key Legal Weapon
Almost 90,000 immigrants have tried a legal maneuver to escape detention, but an appeals court ruling just significantly undermined that part of the Left’s anti-deportation strategy. ProPublica has tracked 89,170 cases in which immigrants filed writs of habeas corpus, challenging the lawfulness of their detention or imprisonment. The scale is extraordinary. Immigrants filed more habeas… -
news
Democrat-Run Cities Tried to Salvage a Biden Anti-Deportation Policy. SCOTUS Says No.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an application by three Democrat-run cities to restore a Biden-era rule that would postpone deportations of illegal aliens. The unsigned order, in the case of City of Baltimore v. Texas, had no noted dissents and left in place lower court rulings denying the cities’ request for interim relief. At… -
opinion
Bringing a Knife to a Gun Fight: 5th Circuit Declares Switchblades Are ‘Arms’ Protected
Are knives—or at least certain types of bladed weapons—presumptively protected by the Second Amendment? That’s the question the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently answered in the affirmative. This dispute dates all the way back to 1958, when Congress, worried about juvenile delinquency in the aftermath of the then-scandalous movie “Rebel Without a Cause”… -
news
DOJ Charges James Comey for Third Time, This Time Over Alleged Leak of National Defense Information
The Justice Department has charged former FBI Director James Comey with unlawfully communicating national defense information and conspiring to disclose such information. The charges mark the third time the Justice Department has brought a criminal case against Comey during President Donald Trump’s second term. Comey is already under indictment on charges that he threatened the… -
news
5th Circuit Rules Illegal Immigrants Not Entitled to Bond Hearings
Summary The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-7 that detained illegal immigrants do not have a right to bond hearings, marking an immigration win for the Trump administration. The ruling, filed on Oct. 23, states that while illegal aliens are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and are going through deportation proceedings, they… -
opinion
Want to Stop Judicial Activism? Start at the Ballot Box
Activist judges are a huge obstacle to enacting the Trump administration’s agenda. Americans can point to case after case where a judge appears to put personal or political preferences ahead of the law. When courts stop applying the law as written and begin making policy from the bench, voters are right to ask what they… -
news
SCOTUS Has a Shot to Take a Major First Amendment, Free Press Case. Here’s What’s at Stake.
An investigative reporter is asking the Supreme Court to review a court order to identify the sources behind her reporting. In a case that could set a new precedent on the First Amendment, former Fox News and CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is appealing a lower court’s order to pay an $800-per-day contempt fee… -
opinion
Is Cooking for a Terrorist Organization Enough to Deny Immigration Benefits?
What constitutes “material support … to a terrorist organization” under federal law? That’s the question the Supreme Court of the United States will decide in Blanche v. Ozurumba. This matters because the Immigration and Nationality Act makes clear that those who provide such support to terrorist organizations are ineligible for asylum and other immigration benefits… -
analysis
The Raised Eyebrow and the Closed Account
Summary In Washington, power is most potent when it’s least visible. A statute can be read, a regulation challenged, an order defied in court. But a regulator’s arched eyebrow leaves no paper trail, invites no judicial review, and is, for a bank that must face the same examiners year after year, every bit as persuasive… -
opinion
Why George Washington Would Deport Mahmoud Khalil
Summary Mahmoud Khalil wants to take the case against his deportation all the way to the Supreme Court—and if the justices accept it, they will be deciding one of the oldest and most controversial questions in American politics, a dispute more than 200 years old. Khalil is not an American: He’s a Syrian-born Palestinian, but… -
opinion
November’s Stark Choice: 2 Visions for Justice and the Rule of Law
Summary Democrats, suffering from denial and delusion, tend to think of themselves as the guardians of the rule of law. Back in reality, nothing could be further from the case. Consider Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who fancies herself a rule-of-law-championing model immigrant despite the fact that she literally conceded to her fellow Somalis that she… -
exclusive
Illinois Parents Consider Lawsuit After School District Defends Housing Boys With Girls on Overnight Trips
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Illinois parents are considering a lawsuit after their kids’ school district stood by its policy of placing males with female high school students on overnight trips while withholding information from parents. “In light of the district failing to recognize their legal obligations to D128 families and educators, Liberty Justice Center is… -
news
8-1 Supreme Court Decision Upends Student ID Fight in Battleground Days Before Key Senate Election
The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, allowed New Hampshire to block student IDs as a valid form of voter identification. In an unsigned order released Thursday, the justices paused Oct. 2 and Oct. 5 orders by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante, a George W. Bush appointee, that prevented the state from enforcing its restrictions… -
opinion
What Justice Elena Kagan Gets Wrong About Democracy
Much of the Left seems intent on defining “democracy” as bureaucratic administration, but many of the changes to the bureaucracy they condemn actually empower the people. Take Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, for instance. She suggested that the majority decisions of her conservative colleagues are undermining American democracy, citing cases involving gerrymandering, money in politics,… -
exclusive
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Is Reversing Biden Policies. Why Is His Justice Department Still Defending Them?
FIRST ON DAILY SIGNAL—Federal agencies are continuing to defend some legal positions of the Biden administration, according to an analysis by two conservative groups. Leaders of the groups Power the Future and Defend Forgotten America sent a letter Tuesday to President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche calling for a comprehensive review of lawsuits… -
breaking
Supreme Court Rules on Trump Admin Policy Blocking Sex-Rejecting Procedures for Prisoners
The Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to block a lower court order preventing the Bureau of Prisons from denying previously prescribed transgender procedures to prison inmates. The court denied the stay in an unsigned order, noting that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the stay. The Bureau of Prisons… -
opinion
An Immigration Ruling With Teeth—If It Holds Up
Sometimes a consequential immigration decision turns not on a new act of Congress or a ruling by the Supreme Court, but on whether an agency finally gives existing statutory language its full effect. That is the promise of Matter of A-V-O-, a Sept. 17 ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The board concluded that… -
exclusive
Green Group Already Under Scrutiny Honors Leader of Foundation That Gave Millions to China-Linked Entities
An environmental group facing scrutiny for its ties to China honored a leader of a major left-leaning grantmaking foundation that has given millions of dollars to China-connected entities. The Environmental Law Institute on Tuesday honored Julie Packard, vice chair of the board of trustees for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, with its 2026 Environmental… -
news
Appeals Court Deals Trump Blow in Immigration Fight Over Churches
A federal court dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda near houses of worship, allowing objecting religious groups to sue. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that religious organizations have standing to sue over the policy of allowing some immigration enforcement at churches and other religious institutions, in a case… -
analysis
Will the Supreme Court Find Room at the Grotto?
On Oct. 1, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, Inc. v. Frederic and answer an important question: Does a regulation prohibiting a church from building a religious structure on its own property violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act? The answer is…