Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, resigned Thursday in the agency’s first departure since the midterm elections.
Read the full storyHarmeet Dhillon Resigns from DOJ, Blanche Confirms
Category: Justice
CVS Announces Plan to Separate Pharmacies from PBM Business amid Federal Lawsuit Challenging Tennessee Law
CVS Health said on Wednesday that it will split its retail pharmacy business from its pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and health insurance operations in a restructuring announced months after the retail pharmacy giant sued Tennessee over the FAIR Rx Act, which prohibits vertical integration between pharmacies and PBMs.
CVS Health said it will be split into two companies, with the first set to become a “leading healthcare solutions company,” that will include Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Speciaty, Oak Street Health, and Oak Street Health. This company will continue to be known as CVS Health, according to its corporate press release.
Read the full storyDHS Chief Vows ‘Deportations Will Continue’ after Republicans Lose Midterm Elections
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin vowed Wednesday that deportations of illegal migrants will continue, despite a Democratic victory on election night Tuesday.
Read the full storyTrump Predicts Hegseth Would Be ‘Very Popular’ If Tapped by Blackburn for U.S. Senate, but Denies He’s Considering Replacing War Secretary
President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied he is considering a replacement for U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, but predicted Hegseth would be “very popular” if U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) selected him to finish her term in the Senate after she becomes Tennessee’s 51st governor in January.
Amid reports claiming that Trump may hold Hegseth responsible for the lack of a satisfying conclusion to the conflict in Iran, which Vice President JD Vance said caused the Democratic Party victories in the 2026 midterms on Tuesday, the president on Wednesday told reporters that he thinks Hegseth is “doing a great job.”
Read the full storyCommentary: The Weaponization Ledger Comes Due
In the space of two weeks in October, federal agents searched the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) under a judge’s warrant, and two former senior FBI officials surrendered on charges that they lied to Congress about the Bureau’s Hunter Biden investigations. Furthermore, former FBI director James Comey is fighting a federal indictment in North Carolina and, as of October 26, a third set of federal charges in Washington accusing him of directing a classified leak to the press. Former CIA director John Brennan’s own lawyers have disclosed that prosecutors formally told him he is a grand jury target.
The response from Democrats has been a single word, repeated at every podium: weaponization. One hundred seventy-five of them even issued a joint response complaining about the “weaponization of law enforcement” after a pre-dawn FBI raid was conducted on the Washington, D.C., residence of Ilhan Elmi (Omar) under a warrant signed by a Democrat-appointed judge who donated to the Clintons. The evidence must be strong with that one, Obi-Wan!
Read the full storySupreme Court Hears Contentious Arguments on Religious Freedom Fight Over Preschool Program
The Supreme Court could deliver another blow to Colorado in a religious liberty case over the state’s exclusion of a Catholic church from a “universal” preschool program.
Justices heard oral arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on Tuesday.
Read the full storyEscaped Tennessee Inmate Captured Near Kansas City
Escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Allen Morley, who was serving a life sentence for murder, has been captured near Kansas City, Missouri, following a multi-state manhunt, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced Tuesday.
“Fugitive Jacob Allen Morley is in custody near Kansas City, Missouri,” the TBI said in a social media post. “Thank you to the public for your assistance, vigilance, and the tips provided during this investigation.”
Read the full story25 Shelby County Voters Cast Ballots Outside Legal Voting Hours, Tennessee Secretary of State Confirms
A spokesman for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett on Tuesday confirmed to The Tennessee Star that 25 voters in Shelby County cast early ballots outside the county’s publicly advertised voting hours, a practice the spokesman said “was not consistent with legal requirements.”
The Star contacted Hargett’s office after a source claimed an early voting location in Cordova opened one hour before the advertised start time so a high school class could vote early. Though the spokesman did not confirm the date or location where the 25 voters were allowed to cast ballots outside normal hours, Hargett’s office confirmed the incident occurred.
Read the full storyTrump DOJ Deploys Election Monitors to Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis in 50-State Initiative
Federal election monitors have been deployed to Davidson County, Knox County, and Shelby County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, which confirmed Tennessee is included in the Trump administration’s effort to send monitors to all 50 states.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the three Tennessee counties are part of the civil rights division’s effort to deploy about 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states. The three Tennessee counties named in the press release are home to Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis.
Read the full storyTennessee Supreme Court Upholds Law Reducing Size of Metro Nashville Council
The Tennessee Supreme Court on Monday upheld a state law capping the size of metropolitan councils at 20 members, rejecting a constitutional challenge brought by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County over legislation that would reduce the size of its 40-member Metro Council by half.
Read the full storySix Foreign Nationals Accused of Illegally Voting in Elections Across Tennessee, Federal Prosecutors Say
Amid a nationwide crackdown on illegal voting, federal prosecutors in Tennessee on Friday reported six foreign nationals living in the Volunteer State who are accused of illegally voting in United States elections.
In the Middle District of Tennessee, U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek revealed charges against three foreign nationals who allegedly voted in 2024.
Read the full storySCOTUS Rejects DOJ Attempt to Segregate 20,000 California Ballots
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Monday by the Trump administration to segregate 20,000 California ballots for fears of noncitizen voting in the midterm elections, one day before polls close.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked justices to temporarily block an order preventing officials from segregating mail-in ballots ahead of the election. Justice Elena Kagan denied the motion in a brief unsigned order that did not indicate opinions of others on the court.
Read the full storyEscaped Tennessee Murder Convict Allegedly Seen Inside Indiana Casino, TBI Directs Local Agency to Review Security Footage
An escaped Tennessee convicted murderer was reportedly spotted playing slot machines inside an Indiana casino, prompting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to request assistance from local law enforcement in checking surveillance footage and searching the property.
Read the full storyGovernor Lee Names Chris Hansen TDOC Interim Commissioner
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee appointed Christopher Hansen as interim commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) as the state’s correctional system faces scrutiny following a series of recent security and operational failures.
Read the full storyObama-Appointed Judge Says Dan Sullivan Running Against Dan Sullivan Doesn’t Confuse Voters
A federal judge on Sunday blocked a lawsuit from the Department of Justice against Alaska over confusion at the ballot box related to the state’s handling of two Senate candidates with nearly identical names.
In a 20-page ruling issued Sunday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason — nominated by President Barack Obama in 2011 — blocked the federal government’s lawsuit claiming a lesser-known candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, improperly filed his declaration for Senate candidacy intending to mislead voters by running under the same name as incumbent Republican Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Read the full storyPro-Illegal Alien Nonprofit Suing Tennessee over New Driver’s License Law Received $735,000 from Nashville Taxpayers
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), the pro-illegal alien nonprofit that on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) in Davidson County Chancery Court over the new driver’s license law passed in Tennessee last year, earlier this year was allocated $735,000 in the budget approved by the Metro nashville Council in June.
In their Friday complaint, TIRRC challenged a portion of one of Tennessee’s new immigration laws that requires lawful immigrants to provide a qualifying visa, immigration documentation, or resident card, in order to receive a special license authorizing them to drive in the Volunteer State.
Read the full storyPlayer Eligibility in Limbo as College Basketball Season Tips Off
As the college basketball season starts, numerous player eligibility cases are still moving through the court system, creating uncertainty for players and coaches.
Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court and a Kentucky appeals court left the protections in place for dozens of athletes, including college basketball players, to compete while their legal cases work out. Neither ruling guarantees these athletes can play for their whole sport’s season.
Read the full storyPaxton Announces Arrests of Convicted Felons Accused of Illegally Voting in Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced over the weekend that convicted felons accused of illegally casting ballots in Texas have been arrested.
According to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, a concerned citizen reported that convicted felons who were incarcerated, on parole, or on probation allegedly voted in Harris County.
Read the full storyCommentary: Senator Bill Hagerty and Tennessee’s Federal Courts are on the Ballot Tuesday
Every day, federal judges make decisions that impact the businesses we build, the constitutional freedoms we exercise, and the safety of our communities. As U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty stands for his first reelection to the U.S. Senate, it’s worth reflecting on his contributions to the federal courts across Tennessee.
Read the full storyFederal Prosecutor in Alaska Confirms Criminal Investigation into Senate Dem Nominee Is Underway
The feds’ top prosecutor in Alaska confirmed Friday that the Justice Department is investigating allegations of a plot to confuse voters in the midterms by recruiting a candidate with the same name as the state’s incumbent senator.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said the investigation has been going on for a while, but the confirmation comes after The New York Times reported this week that Alaska Senate Democratic nominee Mary Peltola’s campaign helped recruit a retiree named Dan J. Sullivan to run against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in next week’s elections.
Read the full storyU.S. Marshals Arrest Panamanian Baseball Coach in Dominican Republic, Announce Return to Tennessee to Face Child Sexual Assault Charges
The U.S. Marshals Service on Wednesday announced the arrest of Fernando Gonzalez Ramirez, a 32-year-old Panamanian citizen who is wanted in Franklin, Tennessee, where the Marshals said “he is alleged to have sexually assaulted multiple boys while helping run a youth baseball program” from 2023 to 2024.
According to the press release, federal law enforcement tracked Gonzalez Ramirez to Mexico, Japan, and Panama before the Marshals arrested him in the Dominican Republic “within hours” after their foreign field office received a tip about his location.
Read the full storyDays Before Midterms, ICE and DOJ Announce New Wave of Noncitizen Voting Arrests
The Trump administration continues to investigate and arrest illegal immigrants accused of unlawfully registering to vote or voting in American elections.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Thursday that it had arrested dozens of illegal immigrants for alleged voter fraud, including many accused of actually casting a ballot illegally.
Read the full storyConstitutional Crisis in Poland as PM Sends Police to Storm Top Court
Poland appears to be in a state of constitutional crisis on Friday after Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent police to install a loyalist to control the nation’s constitutional court, in defiance of President Karol Nawrocki and the judicial body.
Video footage showed police entering the Constitutional Tribunal on Friday evening. President Nawrocki was en route to Senegal, but has turned his plane around to address the situation.
Read the full storyIowa AG Sounds Alarm About Possibility Taxpayers Were on Hook to Benefit China
Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird pressed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Friday about whether American tax dollars were used to support projects benefiting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Bird asked in the letter, exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, whether American tax dollars were ever funneled through the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) under the Biden administration to support institutions with ties to the CCP. Bird raised concerns about the ELI’s close relationships with Chinese government entities and demanded the EPA disclose whether any American grants were used to benefit Chinese institutions.
Read the full storyJustice Department Tells Federal Judge That It May Seek Further Charges Against Comey
The Justice Department on Friday told a federal judge overseeing a new case against former FBI Director James Comey that it is working on obtaining a grand jury indictment based on new evidence it gathered in the case concerning alleged leads to the media.
Comey is charged with allegedly conspiring to share sensitive information with a media outlet in 2016 to correct reporting from another news outlet, CNN reported.
Read the full storyPappert: Cartel-Linked Drug Operation Adds to Growing Questions Over Tennessee Prison System
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, warned that serious leadership and accountability problems are plaguing the state’s correctional system, raising questions about the management and security of Tennessee’s prisons amid a series of recent incidents involving a failed execution, an inmate escape, and an alleged cartel-linked drug operation.
Read the full storyAnalysis: New FBI Statistics Show Crime has Dropped to 1950s Levels
According to crime statistics released Aug. 24 from the FBI, which aggregate data from the previous year to calculate crime rates, violent crime fell 9.3 percent in 2025, the sharpest year-over-year decline since the FBI began aggregating crime data in 1936.
Read the full storyObama-Era Feds Reportedly Had Evidence Indicating Ilhan Omar’s Alleged Marriage to Brother Was Fraudulent
Federal authorities during former President Barack Obama’s administration reportedly found evidence that Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar entered into a fraudulent marriage, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Read the full storyMother of TN-9 Democrat Nominee Justin Pearson Accused of Assault at Memphis Polling Location
A Memphis Police Department (MPD) report obtained by The Tennessee Star reveals that the mother of State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), the Democratic nominee for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, was accused of slapping an election worker during a dispute at a Memphis polling location on Wednesday.
The Daily Memphian first reported that Owens Pearson was accused of causing a “disturbance,” while The Mighty 990 shared the news in a post to social media, including redacted information from the MPD report obtained by The Star.
Read the full story24 Indicted After Investigation Uncovers Alleged Sinaloa Cartel-Linked Drug Operation Directed from Tennessee Prisons
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced 24 indictments as the result of a Homeland Security Task Force investigation, which prosecutors say determined a Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated drug trafficking operation was being directed by two men serving time inside Tennessee prisons. Their conspiracy allegedly included about 500 kilograms of methamphetamine, 60 kilograms of cocaine, and $375,000 in cash.
According to the DOJ press release, all 24 defendants are charged with the same 33-count indictment, which also accuses them of distributing or possessing fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana, while nine of the defendants face additional firearm and drug trafficking defendants.
Read the full storyReward Increases to $15,000 in Search of Escaped Tennessee Inmate
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of escaped convicted murderer Jacob Allen Morley to $15,000.
Read the full storyDEA Memphis Investigation Leads to Guilty Plea by Guatemalan National Who Conspired to Smuggle 450 Kilograms of Cocaine into America
An investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Memphis led to a guilty plea by a Guatemalan national who admitted to conspiring to smuggle 450 kilograms of cocaine, or about 992 pounds, the DEA and Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday.
According to court documents cited by the DOJ, Donelfert Monterroso Vasquez coordinated “multi-hundred-kilogram” shipments of cocaine through Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico, in order to “generate the highest profit” by selling the illicit substance in the United States.
Read the full storyIllegal immigrant Admits in Federal Court She Made Up ICE Kidnapping Story to Smear Agency
An illegal immigrant from Mexico pleaded guilty Monday to making up her story about a kidnapping, where she claimed bounty hunters took her captive at gunpoint outside a fast-food restaurant and tried to force her to self-deport.
Yuriana Julia Palaez Calderón, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair, and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Read the full storyJudge in D.C. Golf Course Case Orders New Hearing After Trump Appears to Ignore Stop-Work Order
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a new hearing on President Donald Trump’s plan to convert a beloved public golf course into a world-class venue after he appeared to deny her stop-work order and say the project will start as scheduled.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the new hearing after granting a preliminary injunction Monday requested by a preservationist group and group of local D.C. golfers asking her to stop the Trump administration from cutting down trees at the park as part of the redevelopment project.
Read the full storyICE Says Purported Lyft Driver Arrested at Nashville Airport is Illegal Alien from Venezuela, Suspected Tren de Aragua Member
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of Salin Dahel Ramos Alvarez to The Tennessee Star, describing Ramos Alvarez as a known or suspected member of Tren de Aragua.
A spokesman for ICE told The Star that Ramos Alvarez was arrested last Thursday as part of a “targeted enforcement operation” in Nashville, when the spokesman said Ramoz Alvarez told officers “he was not a Lyft driver but had been paid by an acquaintance to drive them to the airport.”
Read the full storyTennessee Chancery Court Upholds Education Freedom Scholarship Act
A three-judge panel of the Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed a constitutional challenge to Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, ruling the state’s school voucher program does not violate the Tennessee Constitution’s education clause.
In an October 19 final order in Apryle Young, et al. v. Bill Lee, et al., the court granted motions to dismiss filed by state officials and parents who intervened to defend the law, entering judgment in favor of the defendants. The ruling ends the plaintiffs’ challenge at the trial-court level.
Read the full storyBlackburn Confirms Support for Trump Judicial Nominee Sam Adkisson After Previously Withholding Blue Slip
After previous reporting indicated she would block his confirmation, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has reportedly confirmed her support for Sam Adkisson, whom President Donald Trump announced he would nominate to serve as a district court judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee in August.
Bloomberg Law first reported last week that Blackburn would support Adkisson, a Vanderbilt University graduate and White House attorney, citing a White House official who confirmed the senator returned a favorable blue slip.
Read the full storyFBI Raids Beverly Hills Mansion in Connection with Swalwell Probe
FBI agents on Tuesday raided a Beverly Hills mansion reportedly owned by a donor to former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
Multiple news sources report also the raid and the home are connected to the ex-lawmaker, citing “two people familiar with the probe.”
Read the full storyManhunt Underway After ‘Dangerous’ Inmate Escapes Tennessee Prison
The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) are turning to the public for help locating escaped inmate Jacob Allen Morley after newly obtained video showed him allegedly stealing a pickup truck in Lake County early Tuesday morning.
Read the full storySupreme Court to Hear School Discrimination, Immigrant Labor in November
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in cases over universal preschool discrimination, temporary immigrant workers and oil pipelines during the November argument session.
Justices on the high court plan to hear cases over a range of issues during the November sitting. Legal analysts weighed in on the most high profile cases during the month’s session and how justices will debate them.
Read the full storyCommentary: Trump’s Deportations Are Making America Safer
The restoration of law and order in America is happening in large part because of President Donald Trump, in particular, his insistence that immigration laws be enforced and criminal illegal aliens be deported.
The administration should double and triple down on this message. America’s return to normalcy is contingent on making border security and deportations a top priority.
Read the full storyTrump DOJ Charges James Comey with Transmission of National Defense Information in Third Case
The Trump administration charged former FBI Director James Comey for the third time on Monday, with the latest accusing him of transmitting national defense information and conspiring to transmit national defense information.
A grand jury has not indicted Comey on the latest charges, but the case has been playing out under seal since Oct. 5, according to NBC News. Comey’s defense attorneys sought to have the charges dismissed last week.
Read the full storyEmails Cast Doubt on Jack Smith Testimony He Followed Rules to Protect Attorney-Client Privilege
Then-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigators improperly saw potential attorney-client privileged materials on multiple occasions during its probes of President Donald Trump, calling into question the controversial prosecutor’s recent Senate testimony that his team had always followed so-called filter team protocols to protect such information.
Emails obtained under federal open records laws by The Oversight Project, a nonprofit investigative watchdog, show that Smith’s team internally acknowledged on at least six occasions between December 2022 and August 2023 when it had accidentally or improperly let suspected attorney-client privileged materials or other sensitive communications slide through filter team reviews. The documents were sent to frontline investigators, like FBI agents.
Read the full storyDOJ Touts Major Drops in Crimes amid Enforcement Surge
A report from the Department of Justice released Monday highlighted a significant drop in violent crime and other offenses from 2024 to 2025, which comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he has sent the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and other major cities, in a bid to crack down on crime and illegal immigration in urban areas.
Read the full storyDivision III Athletes Sue NCAA over Scholarship Ban
The NCAA faces an antitrust lawsuit from three current and former Division III athletes seeking class-action status and challenging the division’s ban on athletic scholarships.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to stop the NCAA from enforcing its ban on athletic scholarships for Division III schools and to award damages to athletes who lost financial aid because of it.
Read the full storyDOJ Announces Charges Against 48 Noncitizens Nationwide for Illegal Voting
The Department of Justice on Monday announced charges against 48 noncitizens in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York, and Nevada for election crimes, including illegal voting and fraudulent voter registration.
The accused, all but one lawful residents, come from Belize, India, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cambodia, Honduras, Pakistan, Canada, the Philippines, Myanmar, Tonga, Ecuador, Cuba, Brazil, Guyana, Jamaica, Poland, Ireland, Israel, Russia, Kenya, Denmark and Greece.
Read the full storyMemphis Safe Task Force Reports More than 1,500 Narcotics Arrests
The Memphis Safe Task Force announced that it has surpassed 1,500 arrests for illegal narcotics offenses since launching in September 2025, as federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies continue targeting violent crime in Memphis.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced the milestone in a press release Monday, reporting the multi-agency operation has made 13,876 arrests since its inception, including 1,561 arrests involving known gang members and 448 juveniles. Authorities operating under the initiative have also seized 2,329 illegal firearms.
Read the full storyAppeals Court Finds Illegal Aliens Have No Right to Bond Hearings
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an opinion finding that illegal aliens are not entitled to a bond hearing under the Constitution, regardless of how long they remain in custody.
The decision is a significant win for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, as it defeats one of the more pervasive challenges to keeping illegal aliens in custody pending deportation.
Read the full storyMemphis Safe Task Force Catches Convicted Murderer ‘Erroneously Released’ in September 2025
The U.S. Marshals Service announced on Thursday that the Memphis Safe Task Force (MSTF) apprehended Anthony Green, who was convicted of first-degree murder in September 2025, but nonetheless released by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).
Green was first indicted in March 2021 for the murder of Octavious Atkins, who was struck multiple times after Green shot into his vehicle in June 2020. According to the Marshals, he was convicted on September 24, 2025, but “erroneously released” the same day. Action News 5 reported last year that that the SCSO acknowledged Green was released as a the result of a “miscommunication,” and pledged to “reinforce training, improve oversight, and ensure strict compliance with all courtroom and bail-related procedures.”
Read the full storyWhite House Docs Latest to Expose Scheme to Obstruct Biden Corruption Probes
Substantial evidence gathered over the past four years demonstrates that the federal government, along with congressional and private-sector partners, attempted to shield the Biden family from revelations regarding its foreign business endeavors and Hunter Biden’s unlawful actions.
Memos released Thursday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force revealed a new chapter in the saga. They show that the FBI and State Department moved in September 2020 to keep Ukrainian witness Andrii Telizhenko from meeting with Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who were investigating Biden family business in Ukraine and China, Just the News first reported yesterday.
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