Category: Justice

Commentary: Trump’s Ballot Disqualification Case Reaches Supreme Court

Minnesota Sun Staff

In what may turn out to be the most pivotal election case since Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a short order on Jan. 5 granting the request by former President Donald Trump asking the court to overturn the Colorado state Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 decision disqualifying him from appearing on the state’s presidential primary ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court moved with unprecedented speed; Trump filed his petition for certiorari on Jan. 3, and the court granted the appeal only two days later.

The case has been put on what, for the Supreme Court, is a “rocket docket.” Trump’s brief and any amicus briefs supporting the former president in Trump v. Anderson have to be filed by Jan. 18; the challengers’ brief and amicus briefs supporting Trump’s removal have to be filed by Jan. 31. Trump’s reply brief is due on Feb. 5, and oral arguments will be held on Feb. 8. 

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Federal Court Greenlights Alabama’s Ban on Sex Change Hormones, Surgeries for Minors

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary order to lift an injunction preventing an Alabama law banning sex-change surgeries for minors from going into effect, according to court documents.

The law was halted in 2022 for the duration of the lawsuit by a district court, which claimed that the legislation illegally intruded into a patient’s medical decisions, according to the Associated Press. The appeals court ruled against the lower court’s decision in August, and on Thursday it lifted the injunction to allow the law to take effect while the appellate court continues to weigh the law.

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Oregon Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case to Remove Trump from 2024 Ballot

Just the News

The Oregon Supreme Court declined Friday to hear a bid to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, saying it wanted to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter. 

The bid was filed by Free Speech For People, a liberal advocacy group late last year.

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Commentary: Biden ‘Saves’ Democracy by Destroying It

Minnesota Sun Staff
Biden Smiling

When faced with the possible return of President Donald Trump, the current agenda of the Democratic Party is summed up simply as “We had to destroy democracy to save it.”

The effort shares a common theme: any means necessary are justified to prevent the people from choosing their own president, given the fear that a majority might vote to elect Donald Trump.

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Harvard Students Sue over Alleged Campus Antisemitism

Minnesota Sun Staff
Harvard University

Harvard University students sued the university Wednesday over alleged antisemitism on campus.

Harvard University has come under fire for alleged antisemitic incidents on campus, including pro-Palestinian protests that use anti-Israel slogans and the reported mobbing of a Jewish student. The students filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and accused the university of selectively applying its policies on discrimination and allowing Jews to be discriminated against on campus, according to court filings.

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Federal Judge Rejects Challenge to Trump’s Eligibility for Nevada Ballot

Minnesota Sun Staff
Trump Nevada

A federal judge rejected on Monday a challenge to former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the Nevada ballot.

U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro found John Anthony Castro, a self-proclaimed Republican primary candidate who has filed challenges to Trump’s eligibility to appear on ballots across the nation, did not have standing to sue. Federal judges in West Virginia, Arizona and Rhode Island have made similar rulings, and the Supreme Court declined in October to take up Castro’s appeal of a case he filed in Florida.

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Court Blocks Biden Effort to Tighten Regulations on Washing Machines, Dishwashers

The Center Square
Dishwasher

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals pushed back on a Biden administration effort to tighten regulations on dishwashers and washing machines.

In 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office that led to the Department of Energy replacing a less strict Trump-era rule on those appliances with a more stringent rule for energy and water use.

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Lawsuit: Minnesota Department of Corrections Canceled Christian Rehab Program for Conflicting with DEI

Minnesota Sun Staff
Minnesota Correctional Facility–St. Cloud

A federal lawsuit filed Monday argues that the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) violated the First Amendment when it abruptly canceled a Christian rehab program.

The voluntary program, called “Quest for Authentic Manhood,” was available to inmates at the Minnesota Correctional Facility–St. Cloud thanks to Anthony Schmitt, who taught the program over the course of a decade until it was canceled in 2023.

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Ray Epps, Accused of Being FBI Informant on January 6, Sentenced to One Year Probation

Just the News
January Six

An Arizona man who was believed to an FBI plant in the Jan 6. Capitol riot, was sentenced Tuesday to one-year probation for his participation in the incident. 

The rioter, 62-year-old Ray Epps, was sentenced to probation in deal with federal prosecutors, after pleading guilty in September to a single charge of engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, according to The Hill newspaper.

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Internal Secret Service Records Undercut Another Key J6 Committee Democrat Narrative

Just the News

It has become one of the enduring messages of the House Democrats’ final report on the Jan. 6 riot: Donald Trump had a plan and an intention to go directly to the U.S. Capitol to join those disrupting the certification of the 2020 election results.

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Commentary: As DOJ Threatens to Charge ‘Thousands’ over J6 Trespassing, Judges Signal Skepticism

Julie Kelly

In a brazen act of political theater worthy of an ethics investigation, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves gave an hourlong rehash of the events of January 6 to a handful of reporters last week. Graves, a Biden 2020 campaign advisor who was appointed by Biden in November 2021, is overseeing the Department of Justice’s unprecedented and ongoing criminal investigation into the four-hour disturbance that has so far resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 Americans.

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Prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Team Shut Down FBI Investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016

Minnesota Sun Staff
Clinton Foundation

A top prosecutor on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team recommended that the FBI shut down an investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016, despite ample evidence of suspicious activity related to hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign transactions, Fox News reported.

In his May 2023 report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Special Counsel John Durham identified Ray Hulser, the former chief of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), as the official who “declined prosecution” of the Clinton Foundation. Hulser now serves on Smith’s team currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump for alleged crimes related to January 6.

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Nation’s Capital Devastated by Crime Spike in 2023

Minnesota Sun Staff
DC Skyline

The District of Columbia experienced a 39% increase in violent crime in 2023, according to data published by its Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

The District has long experienced issues with crime and property theft, despite having the most police officers per capitaof any jurisdiction in the country, due to the significant presence of federal law enforcement to protect the seat of the government of the United States. In 2023, overall crime increased by 26% over 2022, with 34,414 instances of violent and property crime reported to police, with property crime alone rising by 24%.

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Eric Adams Sues Bus Companies Used by Texas to Transport Migrants

Minnesota Sun Staff

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams is suing several bus companies used by the state of Texas to send migrants to his sanctuary city, he announced Thursday.

Adams signed an executive order on Dec. 27 to restrict the arrival of migrant buses, which includes requiring at least a 32-hour notice of their arrivals. The city is now suing 17 bus companies for transporting migrants to the Big Apple, saying that they’re skirting state law.

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Trump’s Legal Team Says Prosecutors are Harassing Ex-President to Help Biden

The Center Square
Trump Courtroom

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team alleged Thursday that federal prosecutors have deliberately violated a stay order in his Washington D.C. case to thwart his presidential bid.

In the defense’s clearest attack yet, they alleged special counsel Jack Smith and his team were trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

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DOJ Sues Texas to Prevent State from Arresting Migrants Who Enter Illegally

Minnesota Sun Staff
Illegal Immigrants

The Biden administration is suing Texas to prevent the state from arresting migrants who flout U.S. immigration law to enter the state illegally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.

The DOJ is making good on its threat to sue Texas over enforcing S.B. 4, a new law signed in December 2023 that would permit local and state authorities to arrest and prosecute individuals suspected of entering the U.S. illegally, according to the DOJ and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Texas Illegal immigration has surged to record levels under the Biden administration, with Texas seeing a massive influx of migrants arriving at its border with Mexico.

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Police Officers Shot on the Job in 2023 Hit New High, Report Says

The Center Square

A new report shows the number of police officers shot on the job hit a new high in 2023.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, a national police group with nearly 400,000 members, released the report, which showed 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, up 14% from the previous year, when 330 were shot.

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Federal Judge Says West Point Can Continue Using Race in Admissions

Minnesota Sun Staff
West Point

A federal judge allowed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Wednesday to continue considering race as a factor in its admissions process.

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the same group whose lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina prompted the Supreme Court to overturn affirmative action in June, sued West Point in September. U.S. District Judge Philip Halpern, a Trump appointee, declined to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the military school’s use of race, noting in his 27-page ruling that it is currently “mid-admissions cycle.”

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SEC Rules Tech Company Can’t Block Free Speech Resolution

Minnesota Sun Staff
Apple Store

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declined on Tuesday Apple’s request to block votes for a “free speech” shareholder resolution.

The resolution, submitted by the American Family Association (AFA), would have Apple investigate how it curates content and issue a report to address concerns that company policies enable restricting speech based on viewpoint. The SEC shot down Apple’s bid to exclude the resolution from the ballot at its upcoming 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, ensuring a vote on the resolution in the spring, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

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Federal Appeals Court Blocks Biden Admin Bid to Require ER Doctors to Perform Abortions

Just the News
Doctor

A federal appeals court on Tuesday sided with a coalition of Christian medical professionals who had objected to guidance from the Biden administration requiring that emergency room doctors perform abortions.

The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, as well as the state of Texas, had challenged the Department of Health and Human Services guidance and secured an initial win at the lower court, blocking the guidance.

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Commentary: The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ People Have Heard Next to Nothing About

RealClearWire
Gretchen Whitmer

In a fiery exchange last month, CNN anchorwoman Abby Phillip told GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that there was “no evidence” to support his claim that federal agents abetted protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Ramaswamy shot back that the FBI conspicuously has never denied that law enforcement agents were on duty in the crowd. He argued that federal officials have repeatedly “lied” to the American people about not only that investigation but one that has gotten much less attention: the alleged failed plot to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.

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Democratic Senator Charged with Aiding Qatar in New Corruption Charges

The Center Square
Bob Menendez

Embattled U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is facing new federal charges alleging that he worked as an agent for Qatar in exchange for monetary bribes.

Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, was charged with receiving gifts from Qatar in a new superseding indictment made public Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Department that alleges the bribery and extortion scheme continued into 2023, nearly a year longer than initially alleged by federal prosecutors. 

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Prosecutors Ask for January 6 Conspiracy Figure Ray Epps to Receive 6-Month Prison Sentence

Just the News
January Six Riot

Federal prosecutors are asking the court to sentence Ray Epps, the defendant at the center of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot conspiracies, to six months in prison. 

In a 29-page court filing Tuesday, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Epps to six months in prison, which they said is the “high end” of the applicable sentencing guidelines. Epps, a retired 62-year-old former Marine and former Arizona Oath Keeper leader, pleaded guilty in September to disorderly conduct in a restricted building, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay $500 in restitution as part of a plea agreement.

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Epstein Docs Include Big Names: Prince Andrew, Dershowitz, Ex-FBI Director Freeh

Just the News

The Southern District of New York on Wednesday published a batch of 40 documents related to a defamation case filed by Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex crimes.

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Minnesota Mom Slams ‘Two-Tiered Justice System’ Ahead of Family’s January 6 Trial

Minnesota Sun Staff
Rosemarie Westbury

A Minnesota family is facing an uncertain future as their trial dates move closer in connection to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach.

On the latest episode of Liz Collin Reports, Rosemarie Westbury of Lindstrom, Minn., spoke out about the pre-dawn raids that rattled her family’s quiet community as her husband and three sons prepare for their Feb. 12 trial dates.

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Chinese Energy Exec Tied to Hunter Biden Participated in Patrick Ho Bribery Scheme, Court Files Say

Just the News
Patrick Ho

Court documents from the New York trial of Patrick Ho continue to shed light on who Hunter Biden was dealing with when he entered into business with CEFC, a Chinese energy conglomerate founded by Ye Jianming that would give millions to Hunter Biden and the Biden family.

Transcripts from Ho’s trial show that Zang Jianjun, the person Ho described as the number two executive at CEFC China Energy was present when the company offered bribes to African officials in pursuit of special oil privileges. Ho was sentenced to three years in federal prison after his conviction, yet, Zang was not charged in the case brought against Ho in the United States.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Lower Courts Dare SCOTUS to Act with Lawless Rulings, But Will They?

Julie Kelly

Throughout 2020, both Republicans and Democrats warned that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately determine the winner of the presidential election — albeit for different reasons.

Democrats feared a conservative majority would uphold what they called “voter suppression” laws to tighten voting requirements that might benefit President Trump. Republicans worried how the court would handle cases related to lax absentee voting measures enacted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that gave Joe Biden a big advantage.

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Religious Liberty Had Major Court, Legislative Wins in 2023

Minnesota Sun Staff

Advocates for faith won several major victories this year through the legislature and the court, despite a growing hostility toward religious communities.

There were several examples of anti-religious sentiment over the past year, some of which included an FBI-drafted memo targeting traditional Catholics as “potential domestic terrorists” and the University of West Virginia’s transgender training labeling Christians as oppressors. However, 2023 also boasted several victories for religious Americans in schools, the workplace and the pro-life movement.

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HealthPartners Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit over Use of Remdesivir for COVID

Minnesota Sun Staff
Regions Hospital

Two Minnesotans have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against HealthPartners, Regions Hospital, and affiliated healthcare workers relating to the hospital’s protocols for treating COVID-19. The lawsuit claims that these protocols caused the deaths of two patients.

Specifically, the civil suit alleges that the plaintiffs’ spouses “were given Remdesivir against their wishes as part of a protocol which actually harmed them; and which protocol has served to financially enrich Health Partners, Inc., and Regions Hospital.”

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Commentary: Trump Is Correct About Presidential Immunity

Minnesota Sun Staff
Trump Mount Rushmore

The media has driven itself into a tizzy in recent days, claiming that despite serving as president of the United States (and being poised to reclaim that office in less than a year’s time), Donald Trump should not be granted the same kinds of immunity and executive privilege that every other chief magistrate enjoyed before him. Showcasing their ignorance of both the Constitution and history, the mainstream media has framed the concept as something of a novel innovation for President Trump’s lawyers, who are advocating for “broad immunity,” implying that no other presidential officeholder has ever made that claim. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Oregon Mother Appeals Court Ruling Denying Her Ability to Adopt Children After Not Accepting ‘Gender Ideology’

Minnesota Sun Staff

A mother of five in Oregon appealed a ruling on Dec 13. prohibiting her from adopting children due to her refusal to adopt the tenets of “gender ideology” because of her Christian beliefs, according to a press release.

Jessica Bates wanted to adopt a sibling pair in 2022, but after going through the application process, she was told by Oregon’s Department of Human Services (ODHS) that she would need to support her adopted child’s desire to change his or her sex and to “affirm” their “gender identity.” Bates filed a lawsuit against the state on religious grounds challenging the gender identity policy in Oregon, which an Oregon district court ruled against in November, and Bates appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Colorado GOP Appeals Removal of Trump from Ballot to U.S. Supreme Court

The Center Square
Trump SCOTUS

The Colorado Republican Party is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case where the state Supreme Court ruled to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.

The appeal automatically places the former president on the March 5, 2024, primary ballot when certification takes place on Jan. 5, 2024, due to a stipulation in the Colorado Supreme Court ruling, according to a news release from Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold. However, if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear the case or if it affirms the Colorado Supreme Court, Trump would not appear on the ballot.

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Man Who Allegedly Stabbed Tourists While Shouting He Wanted ‘White People’ Dead Was Released by Judge Just Weeks Prior

Minnesota Sun Staff
Steve Hutcherson

A man who allegedly stabbed two tourists at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Day was released by a judge weeks prior to the incident, according to a report by The New York Post.

Steven Hutcherson, an African-American man aged 36, was arrested by city law enforcement authorities for allegedly assaulting a civilian in the Bronx in November, according to the Post. Even as prosecutors sought to have him committed to a psychiatric institution, he was conditionally released on Dec. 12 by Judge Matthew V. Grecio, an appointee of Democratic Mayor Eric Adams to the New York City Criminal Court.

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FBI Agent Told Boss Biden Laptop Could be Russian Disinformation, But Team Knew Otherwise

Just the News

The FBI agent who ran the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) during the 2020 election admitted in Congressional testimony that he advised his leadership that Hunter Biden’s laptop could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign, apparently unaware his team already knew that the FBI had obtained and corroborated the computer as “real,” according to interview transcripts reviewed by Just the News.

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Commentary: 11 More Examples of Defensive Gun Use to Fend Off Criminals

Minnesota Sun Staff
Gun Bullets

As cities across the country reel from explosive crime rates, many politicians at the local, state, and federal levels are too preoccupied with disarming peaceable American gun owners to identify, arrest, and prosecute actual criminals adequately.  

Two masked attackers met their match last month when they attacked Los Angeles resident Vince Ricci as he walked toward the front door of his house. The pair brandished a firearm at Ricci, who pulled out his own gun and shot at the thugs, who ran away.

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Officials Say Border Crisis Tied to Break-Ins Orchestrated by Columbians, Chileans

The Center Square

The border crisis has hit several milestones, with an estimated 10 million illegal entries since January 2021, increased reports of infectious disease spreading, and a crime wave being reported in states nationwide.

A county executive from Long Island, New York, told U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee members at a hearing held earlier this month that illegal foreign nationals released into the U.S. by the Biden administration are dealing drugs, stealing cars, burglarizing and committing violent crimes.  

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Lawyer Sues Wisconsin Bar over Clerkship Program That Allegedly Selects Students Based on Race

Minnesota Sun Staff
Lawyer Group

A Wisconsin lawyer sued the state bar Wednesday over a diversity clerkship program that allegedly limits eligibility to students who are minorities or who identify as LGBT.

Attorney Daniel Suhr, backed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, filed the lawsuit because he objects to his bar membership dues being used to fund an “unconstitutional program” that selects participants based on protected traits like race. The “Diversity Clerkship Program,” which has offered paid internships to nearly 600 students, is restricted only to students “with backgrounds that have been historically excluded from the legal field,” according to its website.

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Commentary: A Glaring Sign of Rot Within the CIA

Minnesota Sun Staff
CIA Building

In his powerful new book, Neutering the CIA: Why Us Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-term Consequences, former CIA analyst John Gentry discusses how the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) agenda has harmed national security by elevating the goals of left-wing identity politics as paramount in the selection and promotion of officers. For example, late last month, the Financial Times revealed that a CIA officer posted pro-Palestinian images on her Facebook page and a selfie photo with the caption “Free Palestine.”

The agency officer, later identified as Amy McFadden, reportedly posted at least one of these images to the Internet after the horrific October 7, Hamas attack on Israel in which more than 1,300 Jews were killed by Hamas terrorists, many of them raped and mutilated, and more than 250 taken hostage.

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Federal Judge Halts Minnesota DFL’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Campaign Finance Law

Admin

A federal district judge in St. Paul on Wednesday put the brakes on a campaign finance law set to take effect next month that would bar businesses in Minnesota with minimal investment from foreign-based persons or entities from contributing to political campaigns.

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DOJ Charges Two in Scheme to Supply Iran with Military Technology

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Justice Department announced charges against two men in a scheme to supply electronic technology to Iran, according to multiple media outlets.

Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and Gary Lam were indicted in September 2020 on charges of conspiracy to provide Iran with microelectronic technology to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Agence France-Presse reported. The pair, who made the purchases in 2014 and 2015, allegedly used front companies to carry out their plot, according to ABC News.

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Pro-Palestinian Vandals Desecrate Cherished Nativity Scene in Boston

Minnesota Sun Staff
Nativity Scene

Pro-Palestinian vandals graffitied a nativity scene in Boston, Massachusetts, on Thursday, according to the Boston Police Department (PD).

Boston PD responded to a call on Thursday morning alerting them that a nativity scene at the Boston Common City park had been vandalized, an officer told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Police arrived on scene to find the base of the nativity scene graffitied with white paint that wrote out “Jesus was Palestinian,” according to the Boston Herald.

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Commentary: Trump Should Love the Colorado Ruling

RealClearWire
Trump Colorado Supreme Court

The Colorado Supreme Court, acting as supplicants for the enemies of Donald Trump seeking the most extreme remedy for driving the former president into the ditch, may have just unwittingly gifted the former president a Rocky Mountain high – in the polls. 

This time, four left-wing Colorado justices attempting to kneecap Trump were not even going to wait on due process – the very foundation of law – to effectively declare Trump guilty of insurrection, a crime for which he has not, repeat not, even been charged. After believing their attempts to wipe Trump off the ballot would be a knockout punch, it is the left that is about to get walloped to the canvas with a right hook. 

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Ketanji Brown Jackson Hit with Ethics Complaint over Income Disclosures

Just the News
KBJ SCOTUS

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson faces an ethics complaint from a conservative non-profit alleging that she failed to disclose income from her husband’s business for more than a decade.

The Center for Renewing America filed the complaint on Monday with the Judicial Conference Secretary alleging that she “willfully failed to disclose required information regarding her husband’s medical malpractice consulting income for over a decade.”

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