Federal Judge

• A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's attempts to implement mail-in voting restrictions and create a national voter database ahead of the midterm elections. • The administration argued these measures were necessary to strengthen election integrity and combat potential voter fraud. • A key point of contention involves a proposed U.S. Postal Service rule that would require states to provide lists of eligible absentee voters to the federal government to ensure ballot delivery.

• A federal judge struck down key portions of an executive order issued by President Trump that aimed to restrict mail-in voting procedures. • The ruling, issued on Thursday, explicitly stated that the U.S. Constitution does not grant the President specific powers to alter federal election procedures. • This decision is significant as it prevents the administration from unilaterally changing how voters cast ballots via mail, preserving existing access.

• U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston has permanently barred the Trump administration from implementing a proof of citizenship requirement for voters. • The ruling converts a preliminary injunction issued one year ago into a permanent ban, blocking several of the administration's attempts to overhaul election rules. • Judge Casper rejected the administration's claim that the lawsuit, filed by Democratic state attorneys general, was premature since the rules had not yet been implemented.

Ruling is win for democracy advocates who have fought back against Trump’s push to take power over votingA US federal court blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to regulate elections via executive order, a win for democracy advocates who have fought back against the US president’s push to take power over voting.Trump issued an executive order on elections, including a documentary proof of citizenship requirement that would have necessitated that people show passports, birth certificates or other documentation when they registered to vote, or changed their registration. Continue reading...

Judge vacates administrations policies, finding actions of ICE and another government arm ‘arbitrary and capricious’A federal ⁠judge in California vacated the ⁠Trump administration’s ​nationwide policies expanding arrests at immigration courthouses and the duration for detaining noncitizens in short-term facilities, finding the actions of US Immigration ⁠and Customs Enforcement and another government arm “arbitrary and capricious”.US district judge P Casey Pitts of the northern district of California on Tuesday vacated ICE’s ⁠policies that had rescinded previous strictures on arrests at immigration courthouses and allowed detainees to ​be held in short-term cells for up ‌to 72 hours. He ‌did the same for a similar policy undertaken by the US Department of Justice’s ‌executive office for immigration review that removed limits on courthouse arrests. Continue reading...

Emily C Marks finds method proposed to kill Jeffery Lee violates ban on cruel and unusual punishmentA federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing a man with nitrogen gas after declaring the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.US district judge Emily C Marks issued the decision a day after an appeals court reversed her ruling that the method is constitutional. Continue reading...

President dramatically raised cost of visa for highly skilled workers in executive order last yearA federal judge on Monday declared a $100,000 fee that Donald Trump imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers is unlawful and must be invalidated.US District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas. Continue reading...

• A federal judge declined to block President Trump’s executive order creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, allowing the policy to move forward for now. • U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, rejected arguments from Democrats and civil rights groups that the order likely exceeds presidential authority. • The dispute is significant because it could affect how elections are administered, with states and Congress typically controlling election rules under the Constitution.