Four of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, including two for the Southern District of Texas, declined under oath to answer whether Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election or whether the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021, during Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, instead saying Biden had been “certified” as the winner and characterizing …
NPR reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has advanced a proposed rule that would let the Attorney General intervene in — and potentially delay or block — state bar investigations into federal prosecutors. The proposal, advanced under former AG Pam Bondi and still pending after her removal on April 2, has drawn pointed opposition …
In an April 23, 2026 analysis, CBS News reports that multiple former federal prosecutors have identified serious legal weaknesses in the SPLC indictment that they say could lead to dismissal of some or all charges. The article notes that the indictment struggles to clearly articulate the elements of wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracy as applied …
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights organization known for tracking hate groups, on charges of wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid more than $3 million …
A CBS News Sunday Morning report by Ted Koppel examines the Trump administration’s restructuring of the U.S. immigration court system, which falls under the Department of Justice rather than the judicial branch. Over the past 14 months, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, retired, or forced out, and former judges interviewed—including Ryan Wood, …
The Trump administration fired two immigration judges this past weekend who had earlier dismissed deportation cases against two pro-Palestinian student activists. Judge Roopal Patel had ruled there were no grounds to deport Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was held in detention for 45 days, while Judge Nina Froes dismissed proceedings against Columbia University …
The Washington Times reported on April 12 that senior DOJ officials themselves attribute the department’s growing courtroom difficulties to three compounding factors: the sheer volume of litigation (particularly immigration cases), an unprecedented wave of adverse judicial rulings, and decimated staffing at U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country. A senior official described the removal of experienced …
CNN reported on April 11 that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s public statements about Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national whom the government wrongly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador — may lead a federal judge to dismiss human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia on grounds of vindictive prosecution. Blanche publicly linked Abrego …
A Bloomberg Law report from April 10, 2026 highlights a troubling pattern of errors and inaccuracies by U.S. Justice Department lawyers in federal courts, raising concerns among judges about the DOJ’s credibility. In March alone, DOJ attorneys disclosed relying on incorrect information in an immigration case in Manhattan, made inaccurate statements in a Rhode Island …
On April 7, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in filing a formal comment opposing a proposed DOJ rule (OAG199) that would require state bar disciplinary authorities to defer investigations into DOJ attorney misconduct to the department’s own internal review process — and would subject states that refuse …