US politics

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.

New Jersey senator Andy Kim and Governor Mikie Sherrill were outside the facility Monday morning to speak with detainees’ relatives.

“I’m back at Delaney Hall with @GovSherrillNJ and other members of the NJ delegation to meet with families of detainees and listen to community advocates,” Kim said on X. “We’re working together to make sure they’re heard and to speak out with them.
Delaney Hall must be shut down immediately. ICE cannot be allowed to continue operating in this way.”

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.

The No Kings movement has announced a nationwide event on 14 June, directly counter-programming Donald Trump’s 80th birthday celebrations and a Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on the south lawn of the White House.

The centerpiece is a 90-minute concert at New York’s Town Hall featuring entertainer Bette Midler, songwriter Patti Smith, actor Jane Fonda, musician Rufus Wainwright and commentator Joy Reid – streaming free nationwide, while local groups host watch parties across the country. The event is co-presented by the Committee for the First Amendment, a coalition of artists and cultural figures, and frames the US’s 250th anniversary as a moment of democratic reckoning.

The first No Kings day, held on Trump’s 79th birthday last June to coincide with a military parade in Washington DC, drew an estimated 5 million participants nationwide, and by October, organizers claimed 7 million people turned out.

A third mobilization in March brought an estimated 8 million people into the streets in all 50 states and more than two dozen countries – which organizers described as the largest single-day protest ever recorded.

This year’s action adds a cultural dimension to the street protests, pairing the concert format with local community gatherings that organizers say will include art-making and civic action alongside the broadcast.

The New York Times has filed a second lawsuit against the Pentagon, arguing that its recent policy requiring journalists to have official escorts when on Pentagon grounds is unconstitutional.

The Trump administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on press access at the US Department of Defense, which it calls the Department of War, last September.

In a suit filed in the US district court in Washington on Monday, the Times argued that an interim policy introduced in the spring had imposed “utterly unreasonable” restrictions on journalists attempting to cover the department.

“Vote by vote, Democrats are breaking through Republicans’ wall of silence on Trump’s illegal war,” the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said in a statement. “For more than 80 days, Trump has dragged America into a costly, chaotic conflict with no plan, no objective, and no legal authority. Today proved our pressure is working: Republicans are starting to crack, and momentum is building to check him. We are not letting up.”

Tuesday’s vote marks just the first step toward full passage of the resolution, which Trump will almost certainly veto even if it does pass in both the Senate and the House.

Still, Democrats see the resolution’s advancement as a way to force Republicans to take a stance on Trump’s unpopular war.

“The Senate should use this moment to do what we should have done before the war started – discuss the rationale, strategy, end state, and costs to American taxpayers and our economy,” said the bill’s sponsor, Virginia senator Tim Kaine, in a statement before the vote.

Attorney Carrie McNamara of the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Florida called Brown’s settlement deal “a hard-won vindication” that sends a message to the state’s officials that they cannot punish speech they dislike.

“The first amendment does not disappear when someone accepts a government job,” McNamara said, alluding to the part of the US constitution which grants the right to free speech.

Brown’s former supervisor at the agency, habitat and species conservation director Melissa Tucker, had claimed that Brown’s post generated hundreds of formal complaints and caused significant disruption. Discovery in the case later revealed that the agency only received about 50 complaints.

US district judge Mark Walker imposed sanctions against Tucker recently for exaggerating the amount and then not correcting the record.