Fifteen states, the governor of Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against executive agencies on Tuesday for blocking funds allocated for electric vehicle (EV) charging station programs. The suit claims that President Donald Trump’s administration has unconstitutionally withheld funding for two electric vehicle programs: the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program [...]

Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González Colón on Sunday signed into law Senate Bill 63 (SB 63), a measure that modifies public records request procedures in the US territory.  SB 63 amends the territory’s 2019 Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act, which is similar to the US Freedom of Information Act. Under the [...]

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) released its annual report Monday, finding that, while the number of executions in the US increased last year, the number of new death sentences decreased. The following is an overview of the report’s key findings. Death Sentences Decline, Executions Rise The report drew a contrast between new death sentences [...]

US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again, pending further hearings. The TRO came only a few hours after Judge Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from ICE custody in Pennsylvania. In the TRO, Judge Xinis wrote, “Abrego Garcia [...]

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 1312 into law on Tuesday, establishing protections that limit civil immigration enforcement activities across multiple public settings throughout the state. This new legislation includes Article 5, known as the Illinois Bivens Act, which establishes the right of individuals to sue for constitutional violations during civil immigration enforcement, with courts [...]

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to end its six-month federalization of the California National Guard, ruling the deployment lacks legal justification. US federal law (10 USC § 12406) permits the president to federalize National Guard troops only when the nation faces invasion, rebellion, or the president is unable to execute federal [...]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed an executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a foreign terrorist organization. The executive order, an unprecedented step at the state level, cites a supposed connection between the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as the primary justification for the designation. The Florida order specifically targets CAIR [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in a case with the potential to overturn a long-established limit on the president’s power to fire the leaders of independent agencies. The limit was established in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935). The present case, Trump v. Slaughter, centers on the legality of President Donald [...]

A coalition of civil and human rights organizations is calling for the closure of a massive immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss, Texas, alleging guards have beaten detainees and threatened violence, criminal charges and imprisonment in attempts to coerce even non-Mexican migrants into crossing the border into Mexico. The groups, including the ACLU and Human [...]

The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI on Friday, charging that it is using the news organization’s articles without permission in summaries for search requests made through its generative AI products. The artificial intelligence startup is the subject of numerous similar legal disputes from media companies, including The Chicago Tribune, Encyclopaedia Britannica [...]