Judge

Omar Yassine, 50, was arrested and charged with stalking and intimidation after allegedly hurling insults at year 8 student wearing a hijabA middle-aged man accused of a “disgusting” Islamophobic attack on a 13-year-old girl has berated a judge after he was denied bailOmar Yassine made an eventful court appearance on Wednesday after being held by police overnight for allegedly verbally abusing the Muslim schoolgirl on a Sydney bus. Continue reading...

• U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols issued a temporary freeze late Sunday on an executive order from President Donald Trump that limited mail balloting. • This ruling matches a previous directive from Judge Indira Talwani in Boston barring the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing the new regulations. • The decision prevents the administration from implementing these mail voting restrictions before the upcoming midterm elections.

The US Supreme Court is ​still weighing the administration’s ⁠request to ​overturn a separate ​order ​blocking the ​ruleSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.A second ⁠federal ⁠judge has prevented ⁠Donald Trump’s administration from implementing ⁠a ​new ‌US ‌Postal Service ‌rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements.Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the US hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average.British ministers face calls to act after US authorities secretly flew out of the UK a diplomat accused of possessing indecent images of children. US officials reportedly raided the diplomat’s London flat in August before taking him to an American airbase and flying him out of the country, without warning the Metropolitan police.A newly unveiled statue of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk was vandalized at the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. The statue was found with red spray-paint. A nearby poster memorial in front of the statue was vandalized with red paint as well.A coroner in Pennsylvania announced the death of a 40-year-old woman associated with the state’s ongoing measles outbreak. The death appears to mark the third in the US state’s ongoing outbreak. Two previous deaths in the state were in infant children. In one case, the infant was born with a genetic defect that made her vulnerable to infection. The second infant child was infected with measles, and died of a ruptured spleen.A Republican congressman said he had to swim to safety after a plane he was traveling in made an emergency landing in a lake late Saturday. Representative Tom Tiffany says he was returning from the La Crosse county Lincoln Day Dinner when the light aircraft lost power as it approached Wausau downtown airport. The pilot made an emergency landing in Lake Wausau. They both ended up in the water and swam to safety.Barack Obama urged Democrats to prioritize a “public conversation” about AI management and safety in a closed-door Manhattan fundraiser last week. The comments by the former US president reportedly urged the party to create a sweeping framework for everything from a safety “slow-down” to domestic job losses and children’s wellbeing. Continue reading...

Legal pioneer remembered as an advocate for equality and champion of women in the workplaceFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMary Gaudron, the first woman appointed to the high court of Australia, has been honoured for her contributions to the legal landscape after her death at the age of 83.Gaudron was appointed to the high court in 1987, aged 44, and served until 2003. Continue reading...

• The U.S. Justice Department failed to secure felony convictions against most of the 102 protesters arrested in four major cities last year for assaulting federal authorities. • This outcome represents a conviction rate far below the typical norm for federal assault prosecutions. • The lack of convictions suggests that judges and juries were unconvinced by the government's evidence regarding the alleged assaults.

Kevin Reddington says prosecution did not offer evidence that client’s killing of her children constituted murderLindsay Clancy’s lawyer on Thursday asked the judge who oversaw the Massachusetts woman’s murder trial to declare her not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, saying prosecutors had failed to ⁠prove that, despite being mentally ill, ⁠she knew killing her ​three young children would be wrong.Defense attorney Kevin Reddington made the request to Judge William Sullivan six days after the trial ended in a deadlock, and as a fourth member of ⁠the 12-member jury went public to describe how a single juror had prevented the panel from reaching a unanimous verdict. Continue reading...

• The Supreme Court issued several landmark judgments and legal updates during August 2026, including new training requirements for civil judges and expanded legal protections for live-in relationships. • The court extended the application of Section 498-A of the IPC, which deals with cruelty toward women, to include partners in live-in relationships. • These rulings establish new legal precedents for domestic partnerships and create standard operating procedures to prevent "digital arrests," where scammers trick victims into staying on video calls.

• A federal judge extended a prohibition on Friday against the U.S. Postal Service implementing an executive order from President Donald Trump to limit mail-in voting. • The court order prevents the administration from restricting mail voting processes specifically during the upcoming midterm elections. • This ruling ensures that voters who rely on mail-in ballots can continue to use the service without the limitations proposed by the executive order.

Ruling allows defense department to proceed for now in exerting greater editorial control over military news outletA federal judge has declined to stop the Pentagon from firing journalists who say they were illegally punished for speaking out about the need for the Stars and Stripes publication to maintain its editorial independence.The ruling by US district judge Trevor McFadden allows the Pentagon to proceed for now in exerting greater editorial control over the historically independent military news outlet. Continue reading...

Indira Talwani’s ruling presents major setback for president as first states begin to send out mail ballots for midtermsA federal judge on Friday extended her prohibition against the US Postal Service implementing Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting during the midterms, putting another major obstacle in the way of the administration as the first states begin sending out mail ballots.The preliminary injunction from US district court judge Indira Talwani replaces a temporary order she granted blocking the USPS plan. Continue reading...

• Judge Indira Talwani criticized a new Postal Service rule regarding mail-in voting that she believes could lead to major disenfranchisement of voters. • The judge described the rule as a haphazard experiment that could result in valid ballots being tossed. • This ruling suggests that state legislators in places like Texas should pass their own laws to ensure election integrity rather than relying on the U.S. Postal Service to screen votes.

The case essentially goes back to the same status as before the trial began, and prosecutors have to decide whether to try againFull report: Judge declares mistrial in Lindsay Clancy caseSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailA Massachusetts jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of murdering her three children, and a mistrial has been declared by Judge William Sullivan.The 12-person jury was made up of nine women and three men and, according to the notes given to the court, was split 11 to one. Continue reading...

Defense lawyer has asked for an hour to request emergency stay after jury deadlocked for third timeThe judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children, plans to declare a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked after a week of deliberations.Jurors in Plymouth state court spent more than 38 hours in deliberations over the charges against the 36-year-old mom, which came on the heels of a weeks-long trial that directed national attention to maternal mental health issues that can occur postpartum. Continue reading...

Jury returns to tell judge for a third time it cannot reach a verdict in case of Massachusetts woman who killed her childrenThe jury was sent out on Thursday afternoon to decide whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children – eight-month old Callan, five-year-old Cora and three-year-old Dawson – in January 2023.Over the past five weeks, the trial, which has been called “America’s saddest murder trial”, has renewed nationwide attention on postpartum mental healthcare. Clancy’s defense maintains that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis – a condition estimated to affect around two women per 1,000 births – and therefore should not be held criminally responsible for her actions. Continue reading...

• Judge Indira Talwani issued a temporary restraining order to block new USPS mail-ballot requirements. • The ruling comes just days before North Carolina is scheduled to begin mailing absentee ballots for the 2026 midterm elections. • The decision has sparked accusations from activists, highlighting tensions over voting accessibility and postal regulations.

• A federal judge is reviewing whether to extend a ban on proposed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) changes to mail ballot handling for the upcoming midterm elections. • Judge Talwani previously blocked the administration's implementation of an order from Donald Trump in June, citing concerns that the changes were being introduced too close to the election. • The Supreme Court recently ruled that the initial block was premature because the USPS had not yet published the specific regulations governing the order's application.

Cull of animals that eat native shrubs, causing spread of fast-igniting grasses, to go ahead despite fierce oppositionLocals and tourists have long fawned over Catalina Island’s mule deer population. For nearly a century, the ungulates have roamed the land’s waterfronts and woodlands, so comfortable around humans that it is not uncommon to spot deer roaming downtown Avalon.But that sight will soon disappear, after a judge this week paved the way for the island’s conservancy to kill nearly all the island’s 2,000 deer. Continue reading...

Maryland judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s executive order targeting what he termed ‘birth tourism’Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new executive order limiting who qualifies for birthright citizenship.House Democrats rejected a constitutional amendment proposed by Republicans to ensure the size of the supreme court is permanently capped at nine justices. The proposal, a Republican effort to make the supreme court a campaign issue ahead of the November midterms, failed 212-206.House Democratic lawmakers introduced a war powers resolution seeking to stop the Trump administration’s boat strikes. Gregory W Meeks, Adam Smith, Jim Himes and Bennie G Thompson said people have been killed “without due process” in attacks never authorized by Congress.Senator Richard Blumenthal pushed back against a statement from the US Postal Service about its new system to screen millions of mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections. “‘Just trust us’ is not acceptable,” he said.Donald Trump celebrated the news that Apple had fulfilled his request to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for Maps app users in the US following an executive order that came amid rising trade tensions between the US and Canada.The Pentagon introduced guidelines for the mandatory new ⁠testosterone deficiency screening required for service members age 30 and older, a policy introduced by Pete Hegseth last month.Trump – claiming that the US has control over the strait of Hormuz despite escalating conflict with Iran and extensive evidence to the contrary – has floated the idea of naming the critical waterway “TRUMP STRAIT”. Continue reading...

Jury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial have resumed for a fifth daySign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailJury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial resumed for a fifth day on Wednesday after the judge questioned jurors one by one following the arrest of a woman accused of filming them as they left the courthouse the previous day.A former labor and delivery nurse, Clancy doesn’t deny strangling her three young children at the family’s Massachusetts home in 2023, but she says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue that she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Continue reading...

In a major LGBTQ+ rights victory, the justice department cannot force the state to ban trans girls from women’s sportsA federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging California’s policy of allowing transgender youth to play on sports teams that match their gender, a major loss for Donald Trump and the Department of Justice (DoJ).The justice department had been fighting for a year to force California to ban trans girls from women’s sports, with the president directly singling out one trans track and field athlete in online attacks and regularly mocking trans athletes in his speeches. Continue reading...

The star has denied allegations of bullying and harassment in the workplace in a suit that has now been thrown out of courtA federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the remaining claims in a well-publicized lawsuit against Lizzo’s production company, declaring that the case brought by her former wardrobe stylist could not proceed.The ruling by US district judge Fernando L Aenlle-Rocha comes nearly two years after he dismissed Lizzo as an individual defendant from the case brought by Asha Daniels against the About Damn Time singer and her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc Daniels first filed her lawsuit in September 2023, alleging that she was subject to bullying as well as sexual and racial harassment in an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture”. Continue reading...

Clancy does not deny strangling her three children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actionsThe judge has told the jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial to keep deliberating after it said it was unable to come to a unanimous decision in the controversial case of the mother who killed her three children.Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse in Massachusetts, does not deny strangling her children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Continue reading...

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman’s police statementFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMolly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend will not face a life sentence for her domestic violence murder, a crime which galvanised a national movement against gendered abuse.Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in the New South Wales central-west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024. Continue reading...

• Courts have repeatedly restrained the Trump administration's 2026 policy efforts, ruling that officials attempted to achieve goals beyond the limits of existing statutory delegations. • A key ruling established that the government cannot use procurement or national-security designations as pretextual economic punishment for contractors who disagree with administration policies. • On August 27, the case of United Farm Workers v. Department of Labor addressed a 2025 H-2A rule that shifted wage methodology toward a lower percentile formula and allowed housing-cost deductions.

• An Obama-appointed federal judge criticized the Supreme Court after it refused to block the Trump administration's efforts to restrict mail-in voting. • The conflict arose on Monday when the Supreme Court paused a lower court injunction that had previously limited those voting restrictions. • Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance highlighted the judge's remarks on Friday, describing the legal rebuke as a "satisfying slap" at the high court.

Judge Indira Talwani placed a 14-day hold on government implementing Trump’s order to limit mail votingSign up for the US Breaking News emailHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.A federal judge has halted, at least temporarily, attempts to implement Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms.Documents obtained by the Guardian and interviews with military leadership show the war in Iran has depleted the US Navy’s budget.A senior Democratic senator is calling for a criminal investigation into the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, following reporting by the Guardian that indicated he lied during Senate confirmation hearings last year.Trump called the media into the Oval Office to watch him sign an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”.“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’, Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney noted. “The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”Three journalists who were fired by the Pentagon from a US government-funded news outlet sued the US Department of Defense in federal court in Washington DC on Thursday arguing that their dismissals were illegal and violated their first amendment rights to free speech. Continue reading...

President’s directive stalls for a second time about a week before the first postal ballots are due to be sent outA federal judge on Thursday halted – at least for the moment – attempts to implement Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.The president’s directive stalled for a second time about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. In the US district court, Judge Indira Talwani placed a 14-day hold on the government implementing the order in a case that could be headed back to the supreme court, which on Monday overturned an earlier ruling of hers that had blocked Trump’s order from taking effect. Continue reading...

Judge ruled Jeanine John Taele, discovered with firearm days before Trump visit, was unfit to face felony chargeA judge in California has suspended criminal proceedings against a man found with a loaded gun near Donald Trump’s golf course in Los Angeles, and instead ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.Jeanine John Taele, 38, of Downey, California, was arrested for weapons violations days before the president spoke at a 5 August Republican fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. Continue reading...