#legal-challenges

#legal-challenges

The first year of the second Trump administration has already seen new heights in unlawful efforts to cut off access to information (and to punish newsrooms for doing their job). From unconstitutionally booting the Associated Press from the Oval Office because of its editorial stance, to creating unlawful press access policies at the Pentagon, the administration is desperately seeking to choke coverage it doesn't like. The currents shaping these efforts are only likely to intensify in 2026.

Florida's governor has designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a foreign terrorist organisation. Ron DeSantis posted his executive order to list the United States-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy group on social media on Monday. The move follows a similar declaration by the Republican governor of Texas last month. CAIR has rejected the labelling by both states and mounted legal challenges.

the White House released the text of a sprawling executive order allegedly designed to ensure the integrity of U.S. elections. It demanded that states share their voter rolls with federal officials; mandated onerous proof-of-citizenship rules for people registering to vote (rules which didn't include drivers' licenses as valid forms of ID for this purpose); threatened local and state officials who didn't cooperate with this power grab with legal sanctions; and ostensibly outlawed the counting of any mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

Control seems like it will come down to two districts in Maricopa County, Arizona. ICE agents and National Guardsmen have been deployed there since that summer, ostensibly in response to criminal immigrants, though crime has been dropping for several years. The county is almost one-third Hispanic or Latino. Voting-rights advocates say the armed presence has depressed turnout, but nonetheless, the races are close.

As the federal government shutdown drags on, the Trump administration has doubled down on a tactic of dubious legality that it has been pursuing since January: cancelling federal funding for already congressionally approved projects in blue cities and states. Back in the summer, the administration pulled $4 billion from the California high speed rail project. It followed up a month later by withdrawing another $175 million from the project.

To understand the threat to democracy, and how it might be stopped, I spoke with experts on election administration, constitutional law, and law enforcement. Many of them are people I have known to be cautious, sober, and not prone to hyperbole. Yet they used words like nightmare and warned that Americans need to be ready for really wild stuff. They described a system under attack and reaching a breaking point.

➡️ Another Republican got busted for sending racist and Nazi-liking texts to colleagues - this time Trump's nominee for the Office of Special Counsel. Meanwhile, a bar in Alabama had its liquor license denied after advertising a drag show, and LGBTQ+ college students in Texas are reporting more harassment and mistreatment under Gov. Greg Abbott's policies. Independent journalist Erin Reed reports on a federal judge ruling in favor of public schools refusing to comply with Trump's trans ban; and we spoke to transgender entertainer Ts Madison who says that the Trump administration should "pack it up."

But even as the youth-including twenty- and thirtysomething podcasters and social media influencers, as well as student members of the late Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA- brought a high-energy vibe, stalwart members got a new assignment. Where past Moms for Liberty attendees were urged to run for school boards, this year they were encouraged to turn their grievances into legal challenges.

We couldn't tell if it was day or night, said one former detainee who spent 10 months at the facility and whom the Guardian is not naming for fear of retaliation from US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the Geo Group, the private company that operates the detention center. The lights were on 24/7. We maybe saw the sun twice a week. Windows were coated in dark paint, and people made eye masks with their socks, he recalled.

US Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard X sex markers on passports and input an M or F marker instead, sending those people with an X marker into panic. X markers became available to US passport holders in 2022, in an effort to allow people with gender identities other than male and female to obtain more accurate travel documents.

When a Texas oil company first announced controversial plans to reactivate three drilling rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara County, investor presentations boasted that the venture had "massive resource potential" and was "primed for cash flow generation." But now, less than two years later, mounting legal setbacks and regulatory issues are casting increasing doubt on the project's future. Most recently, the California attorney general filed suit against Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., accusing it of repeatedly putting "profits over environmental protections."

Things escalated in June, when Trump sent troops to L.A.: Trump said he was responding to "out-of-control" immigration protests when he seized control of the California National Guard from Gov. Gavin Newsom and deployed Guard members - and eventually 700 U.S. Marines - to the nation's second largest city. State and local officials disputed that the protests were beyond their control and quickly sued, asking a court to remove the troops from the streets.

Some business owners in West Berkeley say RV outposts, like this one on Dwight Way, have driven down business. Amber Whitson, who lives in one of the RVs, acknowledged that some troubling folks have come and gone, but said she tries to keep her part of the neighborhood tidy. Credit: Alex N. Gecan/Berkeleyside A Berkeley councilmember wants to make it easier for the city to tow RVs and other large vehicles off local roads, especially if they pose environmental hazards or are blocking roadways.

This week's dramatic court ruling that Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs, which he has used to upend global trade, were in fact illegal is the latest in a series of losses for the president's radical agenda that are ultimately heading for a final showdown in the US supreme court. Trump has already asked the supreme court to overturn the lower court ruling in the tariffs case.

"The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has initiated what is known as a reduction in force (RIF) of a large number of its full-time federal employees,"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They say we don't need them. Freedom. Freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator. A lot of people are saying, maybe we'd like a dictator. So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stopped crime. So a lot of people say, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator. (END VIDEO CLIP) MELBER: Do you take it seriously? How would you fight that?