Category: Justice

Federal Judge Strikes Down Louisiana Law Mandating Ten Commandments in Classrooms as ‘Unconstitutional’

Daily Caller News Foundation
Louisiana AG

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted a Louisiana mandate requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom by Jan. 1, deeming the law “unconstitutional on its face.”

U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge ruled that the statute had a clear religious purpose and dismissed state arguments that the commandments’ historical relevance justified their display, according to Politico. He said that no other key documents, including the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, are mandated for display in schools.

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Laken Riley Murder Suspect Waives Right to Trial by Jury

American Greatness

On Tuesday, the illegal alien who has been accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley elected not to face a trial by jury, and instead have his guilt determined by the judge overseeing the case.

As Fox News reports, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal, was arrested for the murder of Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia Athens (UGA) while she was out for a morning jog on February 22nd. His lawyers asked Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard for a bench trial rather than a jury trial. Judge Haggard agreed, with the trial set to begin on Friday.

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Nashville Police Claim Covenant Killer Investigation Still Underway, ‘Some Work’ Still Needed to Document March 2023 Attack

Tom Pappert
Covenant School shooting scene

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) told The Tennessee Star earlier this month that its investigation of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale remains ongoing, with “some work” still needed to document the March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three school staff members.

MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron told The Star the investigation is still underway and remains in a documentation phase in a November 1 email. The MNPD official wrote, “Considerable progress has been made, though there is still some work to complete,” and said there is not a specific date for completion.

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Reporter Steve Baker Enters Guilty Plea in January 6 Case to ‘Avoid Shaming Exercise of a Trial’

Tom Pappert
Journalist Steve Baker

Reporter and January 6 defendant Steve Baker entered an Alford plea on Tuesday, acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict him without admitting guilt, in what he later called a move to avoid the “shaming exercise of a trial.”

Then working as an independent journalist, Baker was inside restricted parts of the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. Three years after the protest, he was charged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice for attempting to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory with his presence.

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Justice Alito Has No Plans to Retire: Report

Daily Caller News Foundation
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito does not intend to retire in light of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump’s election sparked speculation Alito and Thomas, 74 and 76 years old, respectively, would retire to enable Trump to appoint younger conservative justices to the bench. However, people close to the justice told the WSJ this is not a factor in Alito’s plans.

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Tennessee Governor Asks Attorney General to Investigate FEMA for Political Discrimination After Hurricane Helene

Tom Pappert
Skrmetti FEMA

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Sunday revealed he is working with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to investigate whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) discriminated against Tennesseans affected by Hurricane Helene based on their political views.

Lee made the announcement after a FEMA official directed relief workers to avoid homes advertising support for President-elect Donald Trump after Hurricane Milton in Florida, specifically through guidance that told workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” and “practice de-escalation and preventative measures” as best practices when providing relief.

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Legal Expert Braden Boucek Details How New York Judge Could Still Sentence Trump to Prison This Month

Kaitlin Housler

Braden Boucek, vice president of Litigation for Southeastern Legal Foundation, explained the different avenues New York Judge Juan Merchan can pursue on Tuesday when he decides whether President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case should be overturned in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. United States that Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office.

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Trump’s Former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Files Appeal of Recommendation to Suspend His Law License with Disciplinary Board

Rachel Alexander
Jeffrey Clark

Donald Trump’s former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is appealing a recommendation to suspend his law license over his work for Trump addressing 2020 election irregularities. A three-member committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility found on August 1 that he breached broad and vague attorneys ethics rules by drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options for handling the 2020 election problems.

Clark first filed a Petition for Review with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on August 7, requesting consideration of his interlocutory appeals. Interlocutory appeals are appeals conducted while other proceedings are still ongoing.

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Female Athletes Who Challenged Connecticut Trans Policy Score Win for Women’s Sports

The Daily Signal
Connecticut Female Athletes

A federal court upheld four female high school track athletes’ challenge to a Connecticut policy allowing male participation in female sports.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert N. Chatigny, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, ruled in favor of allowing the athletes’ case against the Connecticut Association of Schools to proceed, rejecting the request of state officials to dismiss it.

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Trump Attorney to New York AG: We’ll ‘Put Your Fat A– in Prison’ If Lawfare Against Trump Doesn’t End

Just the News
New York Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney Mike Davis dared New York Attorney General Letitia James to continue her prosecution of Trump after his electoral victory.

“Let me just say this to Big Tish James, the New York Attorney General … I dare you to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term,” he said on “The Benny Show” podcast on Thursday. 

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Court Forces Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to Turn Over Voter Registration Information on 218,000 Voters Lacking Proof of Citizenship

Rachel Alexander
AZ Sec State Adrian Fontes

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was ordered on Thursday to turn over by Monday the voter registration information on 218,000 voters in Arizona who are registered to vote but who failed to provide proof of citizenship. He appealed the decision immediately afterwards, with two organizations submitting amicus curiae briefs supporting him, but the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an order Monday morning affirming the lower court’s decision to require the list in response to a public records request from America First Legal (AFL). 

James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, said in a statement regarding the case, “When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone.”

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Philadelphia D.A. Larry Krasner Threatens ‘Jail Cell’ over ‘Bad Faith’ Election Challenges amid Musk Lawsuit Resolution

Tom Pappert
Krasner and Musk

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner condemned election “bullying” and intimidation during a Monday press conference, when he revealed his office is concerned about poll watchers bringing “bogus challenges” against voters.

The district attorney repeatedly warned would-be violators of election laws to, “F around and find out,” especially those who seek to “play militia,” insult or “mistreat” election workers and voters, or “threaten people,” “bully votes,” or to “erase votes.”

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Georgia Supreme Court Rules County May Not Count Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day

Just the News
Ballot Counting

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday that Cobb County may not accept absentee ballots after Election Day.

Last Thursday, the Cobb County Board of Elections said that it had not sent out more than 3,000 absentee ballots in a timely manner and would mail them via express shipping or overnight delivery the next day, according to Democracy Docket. Three voters sued, arguing that there was not enough time to ensure the ballots would be received in time to be counted. 

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Judge Rules Musk’s Giveaway Can Continue After Lawyer Says That Winners Are Not Chosen by Chance

Just the News
Elon Musk

A Pennsylvania judge on Monday ruled that Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaway can continue through Election Day, after attorneys for Musk’s political action committee said the results of the giveaway were not “random” like Musk had advertised.

Musk launched the daily giveaway last month, which was organized to give $1 million to one voter from a swing state every day, if they signed a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. 

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FBI Used Confidential Human Sources, Undercover Agents to Monitor Alleged Nashville Energy Bomber for Months Prior to Arrest

Tom Pappert
Skyler Philippi, Nashville Electric Company

The Biden-Harris Department of Justice announced on Monday the arrest of 24-year-old Skyler Philippi, who prosecutors claim plotted to use a weapon of mass destruction to bomb a Nashville energy facility, as part of what Attorney General Merrick Garland called a “violent white supremacist ideology.”

In his Monday statement, the attorney general revealed, “the FBI had already compromised his plot,” and charging documents reveal the federal agency first gained knowledge of Philippi in June.

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Self-Described ‘Hamas Operative’ Allegedly Behind Antisemitic Vandalism in Pennsylvania Leaves Jail on $50,000 Bail

Tom Pappert
Mohamad Hamad

Court documents from the U.S. District Court in Western Pennsylvania reveal alleged antisemitic vandal Mohamad Hamad was released on a $50,000 bond by Magistrate Judge Kezia O.L. Taylor after he paid a $50,000 unsecured bond on Thursday.

Hamad was charged in on October 25 with committing vandalism at two Jewish community buildings in Pittsburgh alongside an alleged associate named Talya Lubit, with both facing one count of defacing and damaging religious real property and one count of conspiracy.

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Kroger to Pay $42.9 Million Settlement to Tennessee for Role in Opioid Crisis

Kaitlin Housler
Kroger Store

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Monday that the state will receive approximately $42.9 million from a settlement with Kroger over the grocery chain’s opioid-related misconduct.

The Volunteer State’s settlement with Kroger is part of a combined $1.37 billion settlement agreement between the grocery chain and a bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general.

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Claims Fraudulent Voter Registration Schemes Discovered, ‘Defeated’ in Four Counties

Tom Pappert
Michele Henry

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry on Thursday confirmed at least four counties in the commonwealth had “defeated” fraudulent voter registration schemes after multiple counties went public with their findings.

The attorney general, a Democrat who was nominated to the position by Governor Josh Shapiro after his election in 2022, confirmed “[a]pparent attempts to submit fraudulent voter registration forms in Berks, Lancaster, Monroe, and York Counties,” in a press release posted to her office’s website.

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Texas Sees 51 Percent Drop in Border Apprehensions After Operation Lone Star Expands

The Center Square
Operation Loan Star

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers in Texas dropped 51% in one year, according to federal data. The stark decline comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded Operation Lone Star border security efforts in the state.

In fiscal 2023, Border Patrol agents reported 1,045,655 apprehensions of illegal border crossers in five U.S. Customs and Border Protection sectors in Texas, excluding those apprehended in New Mexico which fall into one of these sectors, in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, the number dropped to 534,333, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and exclusive data obtained by The Center Square.

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Biden-Harris DOJ, FBI Silent on Alleged Shooting of Jewish Man by Illegal Immigrant Who Reportedly Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’

Tom Pappert
Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi

The Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI did not respond to Friday press inquiries from The Tennessee Star that sought to establish whether the federal government is investigating the Mauritanian illegal immigrant who allegedly shot an orthodox Jewish man in Chicago on October 26.

Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Mauritania, was arrested by local police and charged by county prosecutors after the shooting, but authorities have yet to reveal a motive for the attack despite reports the shooter allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” in a shootout with police after that happened immediately after he shot the orthodox Jewish man, and after additional hate crime and terrorism charges were announced against Abdallahi by Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx on Thursday.

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Secret Service Brass Interfered in Inspector General Assassination Probe

RealClearWire
U.S. Secret Service

Secret Service leaders meddled in an independent government investigation of the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and are still not following many basic agency security protocols for presidential candidates, presidents, and vice presidents in the final days before the election, according to emails reviewed by RealClearPolitics and several sources in the Secret Service community.

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MTSU Student Logan Birdsong, Who Identified as Transgender Woman, Named in Campus Suicide

Tom Pappert
Logan Serenity Birdsong

Police identified the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) student who claimed his own life on Monday as 21-year-old Logan Birdsong, who identified as a transgender woman and preferred the name Serenity.

On Wednesday, the Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD) wrote in a post to the social media platform X that Birdsong is the student who allegedly committed suicide at the James E. Walker library on the MTSU campus, and LGBTQ Nation confirmed both that Birdsong identified as a transgender woman and was vice president of MT Lambda, an LGBT organization at MTSU.

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Commentary: The Left Wants to Delegitimize the Supreme Court

Daily Caller News Foundation
Supreme Court

The Biden-Harris administration has made undermining trust in institutions a central tactic. While they claim to fight authoritarianism, their real battle is against the checks and balances that limit their power. For them, separation of powers, Article III, and the First Amendment are affronts to their quest for centralized authority.

Leaks, once a tool for exposing corruption, are now wielded as political weapons — not to uncover wrongdoing but to sow chaos and erode public confidence in the courts. This is not about transparency; it’s about controlling the narrative.

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Non-Citizen Allegedly Cast Ballot in Michigan, Faces Criminal Charges

Just the News
Voting Stickers

A non-citizen allegedly cast a ballot in Michigan and is facing criminal charges, according to the Michigan secretary of state’s office.

The non-citizen allegedly registered to vote and cast a ballot at an Ann Arbor early voting site on Sunday, per a joint statement from the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office and the Michigan secretary of state’s office. The alleged non-citizen voter faces charges of Unauthorized Elector Attempting To Vote and Perjury – Making a False Affidavit for Purpose of Securing Voter Registration.

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Nearly 565,000 Illegal Border Crossers in Arizona in Fiscal 2024

The Center Square
Illegal Immigrants

There were nearly 565,000 illegal border crossers reported in Arizona in fiscal 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Arizona’s 378 miles of shared border with Mexico is staffed by CBP and Border Patrol agents in the CBP sectors of Tucson and Yuma. Tucson Sector’s 262-mile shared border with Mexico extends from the Yuma County line to the Arizona-New Mexico state line. Yuma Sector’s nearly 182,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain extends from Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line.

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Legal Expert Phill Kline: DOJ’s ‘Radical’ Election Interference Operation on Full Display in Virginia Case

Kaitlin Housler

Phill Kline, former Kansas Attorney General and current law professor at Liberty University School of Law, said the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “radical” election interference operation is on full display following Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows Virginia to remove individuals identified as noncitizens from its voter rolls.

Earlier this month, the DOJ sued Virginia over removing non-citizens from its rolls ahead of the November 5 general election.

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