Florida’s legislature on Thursday gave approved a bill that would ban so-called “sanctuary cities,” requiring local government agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. SB 168 was approved by a vote of 22-18 in the Senate and a vote of 68-45 in the House. The bill now heads to Governor Ron DeSantis, who has previously [...]
Deputy US Attorney Rod Rosenstein submitted his letter of resignation Monday, effective May 11. Rosenstein was appointed by US President Donald Trump and oversaw the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He was sworn in in April 2017. In his letter to Trump, Rosenstein wrote: I am [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday allowed the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender service members. The order lifts an injunction that had been put in place and upheld by the lower court. However, the ruling has no immediate effect, as orders in three other cases still block the [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed Friday once again to take up partisan gerrymandering cases from Maryland and North Carolina. The court postponed further consideration of the question of jurisdiction in Rucho v. Common Cause, the North Carolina case, and Lamone v. Benisek, the Maryland case, and set arguments for March. Both cases have been before [...]
Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker announced Tuesday that a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regulation has been amended to ban bump stocks, drawing a legal challenge the same day. Whitaker said the final rule states that bump stocks fall within the federal definition of “machine gun,” so the rule clarifies existing [...]
A federal judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing of former national security advisor to Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, allowing him more time to cooperate with ongoing investigations. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia called Flynn’s crimes “very serious” and asked him numerous pointed questions. Flynn had pleaded guilty [...]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing Friday that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort lied about his contacts with the Trump administration after President Donald Trump took office. In the heavily redacted document, Mueller also said that Manafort lied about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, an alleged Russian intelligence agent. As summarized [...]
Federal prosecutors filed a sentencing memorandum Friday seeking a “substantial” prison term for US President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. As set forth in the Probation Department’s Presentence Investigation Report … the applicable United States Sentencing Guidelines … range is 51 to 63 months’ imprisonment. This range reflects Cohen’s extensive, deliberate, and serious criminal [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Monday expressed concern over the recent violence along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel that has left multiple Palestinian civilians dead. Speaking to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Zeid noted that the past two [...]
The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday criticized Russia over its treatment of three members of Pussy Riot and its handling of the investigation into the death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya . The court found that Russia had violated five articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in its arrest and conviction of [...]
