Trump administration

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, signed legislation Wednesday that aims to shield California elections from federal interference, saying he expected Donald Trump’s administration to try to meddle in the midterms this year.

The law, which took effect immediately and came days before next Tuesday’s primary, prohibits any person – including federal agents – from accessing voter rolls or election technology without a court order. Law enforcement officers are restricted from disrupting election workers, except in public safety emergencies.

Six states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to cancel a major offshore wind lease off the coast of New York.

In March, federal officials announced they would pay nearly $1bn in taxpayer dollars to French energy firm TotalEnergies in exchange for the company killing plans to erect two offshore windfarms off New York and North Carolina. TotalEnergies agreed to terminate the projects and pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States, while investing hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas projects.

The deal was unlawful, says the lawsuit, led by Letitia James, New York’s attorney general.

“The Trump administration is once again trying to kill clean energy projects and destroy good-paying jobs for New Yorkers,” she said in a statement to the Guardian.

Some scientists expressed dismay at the plan, while Democratic lawmakers said they would fight it, including Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who called it a “shortsighted move” that would “end up costing American taxpayers more not less”, the New York Times reported.

The ballroom security proposal had triggered a major congressional standoff, with the Senate’s Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, saying his party would fight the funding “with every tool we have”. That included proposing amendments to the bill that could force vulnerable Republicans into tough votes ahead of November’s midterm elections, when the GOP will defend its control of Congress.

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the re-detention of Mahmoud Khalil as his legal team prepares to petition his case with the US supreme court.

The decision on Tuesday from the third circuit court of appeals gives the 31-year-old activist and US green card holder a temporary reprieve as the broader legal fight over his detention and immigration status continues.

Seven Republican senators joined Democrats early on Friday to block the extension of a powerful government surveillance program, a rebuke to Donald Trump for choosing an inexperienced ally as the country’s top intelligence official.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s sweeping demands for confidential transgender patient information from Rhode Island’s largest hospital that provides gender-affirming care to minors.

The US district judge Mary McElroy’s ruling on Wednesday is the latest setback for the US Department of Justice, with at least seven other federal courts having agreed to quash or limit the expansive civil subpoenas sent to more than 20 doctors and hospitals last summer.

McElroy’s decision also echoed similar concerns raised by judges surrounding the broad scope of the subpoenas, describing the justice department as having “immense prosecutorial authority and discretion” but no longer being trustworthy that it will enforce its power fairly and honestly.

“[The justice department] has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case,” McElroy wrote.

Albanese’s husband and daughter, who is a US citizen, sued the Trump administration in February, alleging that the US sanctions are “effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life”.

US district judge Richard Leon in Washington DC found that Albanese’s residency outside the US does not undercut her protections under the first amendment of the US constitution and that the Trump administration sought to regulate her speech because of the “idea or message expressed”.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in his opinion. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions-they are nothing more than her opinion.”

Eighteen American youth are demanding that a court immediately halt the Trump administration’s repeal of the scientific finding underpinning virtually all US climate regulations.

The plaintiffs sued the Trump administration in February days after officials revoked the 2009 endangerment finding, which found that greenhouse gas pollution threatens public health and welfare. Filed in the Washington DC circuit court of appeals Venner v EPA alleges that the move infringes upon rights guaranteed by the US constitution, including to religious freedom, life and liberty.

Yassin said a coalition of lawyers was preparing a civil lawsuit alleging violations of the volunteers’ constitutional rights. Supporters chanted, “Trump, escucha, ¡estamos en la lucha!” (in English, “Trump, listen, we’re in the fight!”). Passing cars honked and federal officers watched from behind glass doors.

“We’re gonna continue to fight back, we’re gonna continue to organize, we’re not gonna stop,” said Lainy Yompian, a VC Defensa leader.