Daily Beast: Judge Embarrasses Stephen Miller in High-Profile Court Ruling

A judge has shut down arguments pushed by the Trump administration and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in a ruling surrounding the high-profile case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Tennessee Magistrate Barbara Holmes ruled Sunday that Abrego Garcia is not the dangerous gang member Trump allies like Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly claimed he is.

Abrego Garcia is pending trial on human smuggling charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In March, the Trump administration admitted to mistakenly deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. The Supreme Court ordered them to facilitate his return to the United States.

In her 51-page report, Holmes disputed claims made by the U.S. government that Abrego Garcia was a member of international crime gang MS-13.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-embarrasses-stephen-miller-in-high-profile-court-ruling

Newsweek: Amazon worker fears deportation after humanitarian parole revoked

An Amazon employee in Indiana fears she will be deported to a war-torn country after her humanitarian parole was revoked by the Trump administration.

Now, her husband believes that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will come for her.

Daphnee S. Poteau, 33, originally from Haiti, had been working at an Amazon customer returns center in Speedway since entering the United States on July 4, 2023, under the Biden-era CHVN humanitarian parole program. On June 14, she was sent home mid-way through her shift after she lost her right to work.

The CHNV parole program was launched in early 2023 by the Biden administration to provide a lawful pathway for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. temporarily under humanitarian parole. Participants with U.S.-based sponsors could live and work in the country for up to two years.

Though Poteau has not been arrested or detained by immigration authorities, Poteau’s husband, Kristopher D. Vincent, 45, an Amazon associate and U.S. citizen, says the family is feeling “frustrated and scared.”

“I am afraid they will come looking for her eventually. We’ve seen it in the news a lot lately. People in black masks snatching—or attempting to snatch—migrants up, even at immigration hearings,” Vincent told Newsweek. “When judges, and even U.S. representatives, are facing arrests and indictments, how are the little people like us supposed to feel? Her only ‘crime’ seems to be coming from the ‘wrong’ country.”

https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-worker-deportation-humanitarian-parole-revoked-2089333

India Today: JD Vance’s Bluesky account suspended minutes after first post on trans youth care

US Vice President JD Vance’s Bluesky account was suspended minutes after his first post, which included criticism of transgender medical treatments and Big Pharma. Bluesky has yet to comment on the suspension.

US Vice President JD Vance’s foray into Bluesky was remarkably brief, with his account suspended just minutes after his inaugural post.

Yet, by 6:30 p.m., attempts to access his page were met with a message: “Account has been suspended.” The Vice President’s posts had reportedly included criticisms of medical treatments for transgender youths and claims regarding pharmaceutical influence on healthcare decisions.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/jd-vances-bluesky-account-suspended-minutes-after-first-post-on-trans-youth-care-glbs-2742845-2025-06-19

Axios: Senate Democrats press Hegseth on domestic military deployment plan

Senate Democrats on Wednesday demanded the Trump administration to share its plans to deploy active duty military in cities across the U.S.

President Trump’s decision to send active duty Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles following pro-immigrants’ rights protests sparked more demonstrations nationwide.

  • Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked additional backlash after she said the goal is to “liberate” Los Angeles from its elected Democratic leaders during a press conference where Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed.
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that the Trump administration would not respect district court orders to disband troops, but that it would abide by a Supreme Court ruling.

“I have been deeply disturbed and alarmed by the use of active-duty troops, Marines in Los Angeles,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.

  • “And President Trump has made clear his intentions to continue to use the military to suppress dissent and likely inflame tensions there and elsewhere all under the guise of enforcing the law. What he’s doing may well be illegal.”
  • Hegseth pushed back on the claim that the deployments have been illegal, but he did not confirm whether contingency plans were in place for using military in other cities.

“I take it from your answer that you do have contingency plans for the use of military in other cities,” Blumenthal said.

Hegseth did not address Blumenthal’s request.

Hegseth is a slimy, slippery snake who will never give an honest answer to a direct question.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/18/hegseth-senate-testimony-blumenthal-military-domestic-protests

Law & Crime: ‘Lied to courts’: Appeals court affirms disbarment recommendation for Trump attorney John Eastman

The legal disciplinary board for attorneys in California has affirmed a recommendation that former law professor John Eastman be disbarred over his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election to favor President Donald Trump.

On Friday, a three-judge panel on the California State Bar Court’s Review Department ruled on two separate requests by  Eastman and the Office of Chief Trial Counsel – seeking review of a March 2024 decision recommending he lose his law license.

The panel, effectively a court of appeal in the Golden State’s lawyer discipline system, declined to disturb the lower court’s ruling.

Sounds like King Donald’s kind of guy!!!

Axios: Judge orders Trump admin. to restore hundreds of terminated NIH grants

A federal judge Monday ordered the National Institutes of Health to restore grants that the agency cut based on gender ideology or diversity, equity and inclusion, calling the move illegal.

District of Massachusetts Judge William Young told the attorneys that the case raises serious concerns about racial discrimination on the basis of health and said some evidence points to potential discrimination against women’s health.

“I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable,” Young said Monday afternoon. “I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this.”

https://www.axios.com/local/boston/2025/06/16/nih-grants-ordered-restored

Law & Crime: ‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

4-star admirals, generals serving from JFK to Obama warn Trump’s deployment of National Guard poses ‘potentially grave risk’

Ahead of a Zoom hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of retired four-star generals and admirals who served under presidents ranging from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama filed court documents warning that President Donald Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk of irreparable harm.”

Seeking the appellate court’s leave to file a brief and enter the case as amici curiae — Latin for “friends of the court” — the retired generals, admirals, and former U.S. Army and Navy secretaries did not explicitly take Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side in the case. They did suggest Sunday, however, that the Trump administration’s bid for an emergency stay of a lower-court ruling and continued push to quell “violent riots” in Los Angeles amid nationwide “No Kings” protests over ICE raids may not pass legal muster when compared to historical precedents.

Again, although the retired admirals and generals did not support either party to the case, they implicitly warmed to Breyer’s ruling that the definition of “rebellion” has not been met and that, in the proposed amici’s words, the “recent and ongoing situation” in Los Angeles “appears to be different in kind” from the “extreme circumstances” of the 1992 Rodney King riots and the times when state governors “openly” and defiantly stood against the end of racial segregation during the Civil Rights era.

The brief concluded that Trump’s injection of the military into “domestic political controversies” — “undermining its ability to achieve its core mission of protecting the nation” — is a case in point as to why troops “should be kept out of domestic law enforcement whenever possible.”

Bloomberg: Trump Administration Orders 500,000 Immigrants to Leave US

Immigrants admitted to the US from a Biden-era parole program for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have begun receiving notices of termination urging them to depart the US.

Participants in the “CHNV” parole program were also told that their employment authorization is revoked effective immediately in email messages from the Department of Homeland Security, the agency said Thursday.

The notices follow a US Supreme Court decision last month allowing DHS to move forward with revocation of parole benefits for half a million immigrants after a lower court preserved the protections. A legal challenge to the Trump administration’s dismantling of parole programs including the CHNV process is still ongoing.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said the immigrants receiving termination notices this week had played by the rules and already passed security screenings and secured legal work authorization.

“Instead of rewarding responsible migration through orderly legal pathways, this action punishes those who jumped through every hoop asked of them,” she said in a statement.

“Instead of rewarding responsible migration through orderly legal pathways, this action punishes those who jumped through every hoop asked of them,” she said in a statement.

“There is no question that the Trump administration is needlessly and flagrantly flouting U.S. law, and we will continue to fight in the courts to ensure justice for our communities,” she said in a statement.

This is unconscionable! The Trump regime is manufacturing illegal immigrants and thriving on the misery of thousands.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-12/dhs-tells-half-a-million-immigrant-parolees-to-leave-country

Also here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/trump-administration-orders-500-000-immigrants-to-leave-us/ar-AA1GBBn8

Politico: Hegseth won’t commit to obeying courts on Marines in Los Angeles

The Defense secretary said he’d comply with a Supreme Court order blocking Trump’s domestic deployment, but did not commit to the other courts.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he would obey a Supreme Court order to remove troops from Los Angeles but declined to show similar deference to other courts considering the issue.

The Pentagon chief initially deflected when asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing whether he would abide by a court’s decision if it determined President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and Marines was unlawful.

“What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country,” Hegseth said.

But the Defense secretary later clarified that he would obey a decision from the high court.

“We’re not here to defy a Supreme Court ruling,” he said.

The comments mirror other officials who have criticized court rulings that go against the Trump administration, often directing withering criticism at lower-court judges while vowing deference to the justices.

The troops and their commanders might need a reminder that their oath is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the ego of a drunk O-3 wife-beater. Soldiers can be prosecuted for following illegal orders, i.e. being ordered to ignore a legitimate decision of a circuit or appellate court. Any arrests and charges by the troops under such circumstances should be null & void.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/12/hegseth-marines-los-angeles-00402794

Newsom Beats Trump As Court Curtails POTUS’ “Illegal” Use Of Troops In L.A.

Donald Trump has just been ordered by a federal judge to “return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”

In an order handed down Thursday just a couple of hours after a pitched hearing in San Francisco between Department of Justice lawyers and Golden State attorneys, Judge Charles Breyer awarded Gavin Newsom the temporary restraining order he sought over Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard on June 7 after protests over ICE raids of undocumented immigrants in and around L.A.

“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions,” the judge wrote in a 36-page order this evening. “He did not.” The Bill Clinton appointed judge added: “His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Newsom and the state Attorney General first filed suit against Trump, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth and others in the administration on June 9. The gist of their argument was that the president overstepped his authority when he dispatched National Guard troops to the region to respond to protests of ICE immigration raids late last week. The governor said the president violated the law by not consulting with him first before the deployment.

On June 11, Newsom upped the ante and demanded a TRO to halt the troop movement and Trump’s brazen authoritarian tactics ASAP

Having already warned on “a monarchy” in the hearing earlier today, Breyer worried that “Defendants’ actions also threaten to chill legitimate First Amendment expression.” To that, and with the overriding Constitutional and jurisdictional issues at play, he laid out exactly what’s next for Newsom and Trump with this halting of military deployment to America’s second-largest city:

For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order:
Defendants are temporarily ENJOINED from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles.

Defendants are DIRECTED to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom. 
The Court further STAYS this order until noon on June 13, 2025.

Plaintiffs are ORDERED to post a nominal bond of $100 within 24 hours. The bond shall be filed in the Clerk’s Office and be deposited into the registry of the Court. If said bond is not posted by the aforementioned date and time, this Order shall be dissolved.

Defendants are further ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why a preliminary injunction should not issue. A hearing on this order to show cause will be held on June 20, 2025 at 10 a.m. Plaintiffs’ moving papers shall be filed no later than June 16, 2025; Defendants’ opposition shall be due no later than June 18, 2025, and Plaintiffs’ reply shall be due on June 19, 2025.

Whether or not this White House complies with Breyer’s order is another matter.

https://deadline.com/2025/06/trump-court-ruling-troops-la-newsom-1236432420