Court Orders

Rule would require states to provide federal government with information on voters in return for delivering ballotsThe US Postal Service prepared to publish a final ⁠rule late ⁠on ​Friday to impose new requirements on states to provide the federal government with information on voters before the November ⁠midterm congressional elections, despite a ​pair of court ‌orders ‌that currently block the ‌changes from taking effect.The USPS acknowledged in the text of the final rule posted online Friday, which is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week, that two injunctions issued by federal courts in California and Massachusetts currently bar it from moving ahead with the changes to comply with a March executive order signed by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Ruling comes as part of second phase of landmark trial that found social media company enabled harm against usersA New Mexico court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to pay $567m for mental health harm to children from its platforms.Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the bulk of the money – $420m – would be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years. Continue reading...

• The ACLU has condemned President Trump's new executive orders targeting birthright citizenship, arguing the measures are unconstitutional and destined to fail in court. • These orders follow a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a previous administration attempt to restrict citizenship rights enshrined in the US Constitution. • In separate developments, leaked emails suggest Palmer Luckey engaged in political fundraising while his company secured sole-source government contracts.

Exclusive: court records reviewed by the Guardian show medical procedures included force-feeding, intravenous forced hydration and involuntary blood drawsHomeland security officials under the Trump administration have quietly attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in US immigrant detention to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, a Guardian investigation has found.In 2025 and 2026, officials had definitely performed the procedures on at least three detained immigrants and likely subjected two more to the forced treatment – widely considered torture by human rights groups. The other five people gave in and broke their hunger strike at the last minute as force-feeding procedures loomed.One Kurdish asylum seeker and hunger striker detained at the privately-run Port Isabel service processing center in Los Fresnos, south Texas, was subjected to force-feeding for nearly eight months, according to a series of filings in the southern district of Texas federal court, beginning in May 2025 and ending only when he was deported.Another hunger striker at the same facility was subjected to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, for nearly six months between September 2025 and March 2026, filings in the same court show.Someone detained at the Krome service processing center in Miami, a privately-run ICE jail, was subjected to forced medical procedures for nearly three months, filings in the southern district of Florida federal court show. DHS seemingly began the forced practices three days before Trump’s 2025 inauguration for a second term, then continued.Two other hunger strikers, one at the Northwest ICE processing center in Washington state and another inside the Montgomery processing center on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, were likely subjected to forced medical procedures, according to filings in the western district of Washington and in the southern district of Texas federal courts.In at least five cases, hunger strikers detained in Texas, Arizona and Florida, ended their hunger strike right before officials began with the forced medical procedures, filings in the southern district of Texas, district of Arizona and southern district of Florida federal courts show.The forced procedures were performed inside the detention centers.In six cases reviewed by the Guardian, detained immigrants did not have any legal representation during the court proceedings granting the involuntary medical procedures.DHS and ICE have conducted these procedures throughout the years, regardless of which presidential administration is in power. In 2024, under Joe Biden, the Guardian found that DHS attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in ICE detention to forced medical treatment. It definitely proceeded with at least two people, and likely subjected at least four more people to them. However, since the return of Trump to the White House and the dramatic increase in immigration arrests and detention , medical experts and advocates worry more hunger strikes will occur and strikers will be subjected to the practices.Look out for Force-fed by ICE parts two and three in the coming days Continue reading...

Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, John Micklethwait, stands by reporting, saying ministers who sued ‘imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid ​story’Bloomberg News and one of its reporters have been ordered to pay S$460,000 (US$355,734) in damages after an article it published was found to have defamed two Singapore government ministers, the city-state’s high court said in a judgment released on Tuesday.Bloomberg and the reporter, Low De Wei, are liable to jointly pay S$230,000 to each minister, comprising S$170,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages, ⁠the judgment said. Continue reading...

Court shortens electoral ban but custodial sentence could complicate far-right leader’s campaign hopesA French court of appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen’s ⁠conviction ⁠for embezzling European parliament funds but shortened her ban ⁠on running for elected office, potentially reopening a narrow path for the far-right ​leader ‌to run ‌in the 2027 presidential race.However, ‌the court also handed Le Pen a three-year jail term, with two years suspended and one year in which she must wear ​an electronic ankle tag for monitoring. This could make a presidential campaign politically ⁠and logistically difficult. Continue reading...

Tina Peters, an election denier, was found guilty in 2024 of allowing unauthorized access to county’s voting equipmentA Colorado appeals court on Thursday ordered the resentencing of a former Colorado election official who was found guilty of allowing unauthorized access to her county’s voting equipment, the latest development in a closely watched case that has attracted considerable attention from Donald Trump and other election deniers.Tina Peters, the former clerk in Mesa county in western Colorado was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2024 after a jury found her guilty on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with the secretary of state. Peters was the county clerk in 2020 and later allowed an unauthorized person to access the county’s Dominion voting machines. Sensitive information from the machines later wound up on the internet. Continue reading...