Latest news with #ToddBlanche
Times of Oman
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Times of Oman
Trump hails Supreme Court's "monumental" order on birthright citizenship limiting nationwide injunctions
Washington: US President Donald Trump hailed Supreme Court's ruling to limit the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide orders that temporarily stop the government from enforcing a policy, allowing his executive order restricting birthright citizenship to go into effect in some areas of the country, for now, by curtailing judges' ability to block the president's policies nationwide, reported New York Times. The Supreme Court on Friday limited the ability of lower-court judges to block executive branch policies nationwide, opening the door for a majority of states to at least temporarily enforce President Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship. President Donald Trump called the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. CASA "monumental" and thanked the court for curbing injunctions from the briefing room podium, flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. "This morning, the Supreme Court has delivered a monumental victory for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law in striking down the excessive use of nationwide injunctions to interfere with the normal functioning of the executive branch," said Trump. Nationwide injunctions have frequently been used by lower courts to stop executive actions from applying across the board rather than just granting relief to plaintiffs who sued. Trump's actions had been the subject of 25 injunctions between the start of his term in January and the end of April, more than any other president over the same time period, according to data from the Congressional Research Service and a Harvard Law Review tally, reported New York Post. Trump went on to thank the conservative justices on the court -- including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who authored the majority opinion -- and said this allows his administration to move ahead with "numerous polices" now that lower court judges have been limited in their ability to issue nationwide injunctions. "Radical-left judges effectively tried to overrule the rightful powers of the president, to stop the Americans people from getting the policies that they voted for in record numbers. So, thanks to this decision, we can now promptly file to proceed with these numerous policies and those that have been wrongly enjoined on a nationwide basis, including birthright citizenship; ending sanctuary city funding, suspending refugee resettlement, freezing unnecessary funding, stopping federal taxpayers from paying for transgender surgeries and numerous other priorities of the American people. Our country should be very of the Supreme Court today," added Trump. Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution's 14th Amendment. For now, the justices narrowed the lower court rulings to only block Trump's order as applied to the 22 Democratic-led states, expectant mothers and immigration organizations that are suing, "but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue." The justices ordered the lower courts to move "expeditiously" to refashion their injunctions to comply with the new ruling, reported The Hill. Though the court curtailed nationwide injunctions, the decision leaves the door open for plaintiffs to try to seek broad relief by pursuing class action lawsuits. Within hours, one group of plaintiffs quickly took the hint. Three federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state imposed sweeping injunctions halting the order from taking effect in response to lawsuits from plaintiffs including immigration groups and nearly two dozen states. A coalition of expectant mothers and immigration organizations suing asked a district judge in Maryland to issue a new ruling that applies to anyone designated as ineligible for birthright citizenship under Trump's order -- the same practical effect as a nationwide injunction, reported The Hill. The American Civil Liberties Union brought an entirely new lawsuit Friday seeking to do the same. The efforts could quickly bring the birthright citizenship battle back to the Supreme Court. The states have vowed to press ahead, believing that nationwide relief is still necessary. The majority also left the door open for plaintiffs to still try to seek broad relief by filing class action lawsuits, which quickly commenced in two separate cases. The Trump administration can now resume developing guidance to implement the order, though it must wait 30 days before attempting to deny citizenship to anyone, reported The Hill. Trump v CASA was the most high-profile proceeding before the Supreme Court this term, which has now wrapped up. The Supreme Court will convene for its next term on October 6.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump exploits Supreme Court ruling to attack transgender people in reality-challenged White House briefing
President Donald Trump on Friday seized on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about nationwide injunctions by federal district court judges to renew his attacks on transgender rights and LGBTQ+ families, twisting an unrelated legal victory into a platform for his administration's anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. Standing in the White House press briefing room Friday, Trump celebrated the court's 6-3 decision limiting lower federal courts from issuing nationwide injunctions — rulings that have often blocked his policies. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Flanking him were U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, two longtime loyalists. Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, rose to national prominence for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Blanche, now the second-ranking official at the Justice Department, previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney in the New York state case that led to Trump's 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to bisexual adult film star Stormy Daniels. Related: Donald Trump rails against transgender athletes in U of Alabama commencement speech At Friday's briefing, Trump praised the Supreme Court ruling, describing it as a chance to bulldoze through legal obstacles to a raft of policies, including efforts to block federal funding for gender-affirming care. 'Thanks to this decision, we can now properly file to proceed with these numerous policies and those that have been wrongly enjoined on a nationwide basis, including birthright citizenship, ending sanctuary city funding, suspending refugee resettlement, freezing unnecessary funding, stopping federal taxpayers from paying for transgender surgeries and numerous other priorities of the American people,' Trump said. 'We have so many of them. I have a whole list. I'm not going to bore you.' Related: BREAKING: Supreme Court allows Maryland parents to opt their kids out of LGBTQ+ lessons in schools Trump appeared to reference his administration's sweeping January executive order declaring it the policy of the United States not to 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support' gender transition care for anyone under 19. That order sent shockwaves through hospitals and clinics nationwide, leading several to abruptly suspend care, cancel appointments, and turn away transgender patients — even those who had been receiving care for years. The executive order quickly drew lawsuits. In March, a federal judge in Maryland granted a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement, ruling in PFLAG v. Trump that the policy could not stand while legal challenges continued. Civil rights advocates argued the order was discriminatory and endangered the health and wellbeing of transgender youth. At Friday's news conference, Bondi tied the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions to another significant decision handed down the same day: Mahmoud v. Taylor. The court ruled that parents had the right to opt out of lessons about the existence of LGBTQ+ people out of religious reasons. Related: Here are all of Trump's executive orders that have targeted transgender people — so far That case involved parents in Maryland who sued to opt their children out of public school lessons featuring LGBTQ+ picture books that depict families with same-sex parents as part of the factual diversity of family life in the United States. Bondi hailed the opt-out ruling as 'a huge win' that 'restores parents' rights to decide their child's education.' She claimed it would allow families to avoid what she described as 'dangerous trans ideology.' Blanche echoed Bondi's sentiments, calling the decision 'another great decision that came down today.' He argued that the ruling 'restores parents' rights to decide their child's education,' adding: 'It seems like a basic idea, but it took the Supreme Court to set the record straight, and we thank them for that. And now that ruling allows parents to opt out of dangerous trans ideology and make the decisions for their children that they believe is correct.' Pressed by reporters about the opt-out ruling, Trump insisted it was 'a great ruling for parents,' claiming families had 'lost control of the schools' and that the decision was 'a tremendous victory.' He added, 'We will give you back your parental rights. They were taken away.' Related: Donald Trump's government declares that transgender and nonbinary people don't exist Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing in a blistering dissent, warned that the decision 'threatens the very essence of public education,' arguing it hands veto power to parents who object to curricula meant to reflect America's diversity. Civil rights advocates condemned the Supreme Court's ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor. LGBTQ+ advocates fear it could pave the way for broader censorship and further marginalization of queer youth in schools. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a leading non-partisan Jewish civil rights organization, also sounded the alarm about the decision's consequences. 'SCOTUS's ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor sets a dangerous precedent,' the group said in a statement. 'Inclusive education is essential to a safe, democratic society, and this decision risks sidelining, stigmatizing, or erasing LGBTQ+ students from the classroom.' GLAD Law, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case alongside the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Family Equality, COLAGE, Free State Justice, the Human Rights Campaign, GLSEN, and The Trevor Project, emphasized that public schools have an obligation to prepare students for life in a diverse democracy. Mary L. Bonauto, senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLAD Law, said the ruling doesn't eliminate schools' responsibility to help students succeed in an increasingly diverse society. She noted that Montgomery County's reading curriculum — and similar programs nationwide — uses stories as 'windows and mirrors,' helping children build literacy while also seeing themselves and understanding others. She stressed that LGBTQ+ people and families exist, many students have LGBTQ+ parents, and books that feature queer families shouldn't be singled out for censorship. 'This ruling not only tells LGBTQ+ students that they don't belong, but that their experiences and existence are less worthy of respect,' said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement. 'It's wrong, it's dangerous, and it's cruel—plain and simple.' This article originally appeared on Advocate: Trump exploits Supreme Court ruling to attack transgender people in reality-challenged White House briefing Donald Trump's government declares that transgender and nonbinary people don't exist Trump and El Salvador's president attack transgender people during White House meeting Trump signs executive order banning federal support of gender-affirming care for anyone under 19
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Top DOJ official faces test in Senate over nomination to become federal judge
Emil Bove will appear Wednesday before the Senate, where he is expected to face tough questions during a hearing about his controversial entrance into Justice Department leadership and former role as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Trump nominated Bove, who fiercely defended the president during his criminal prosecutions, to serve in a lifetime role as a judge on the Pennsylvania-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump said Bove would "restore the Rule of Law," a remark that came as sitting judges have drawn Trump's ire for handing down dozens of orders blocking parts of his agenda. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has worked closely with Bove for years, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that Bove was a "freaking brilliant lawyer" and that his nomination to the appellate court was a "no-brainer." Blanche described his colleague as the "most gentle, empathetic, great person that anybody could ever work with," a characterization sharply at odds with some who have been in Bove's crosshairs. Bove's background In his early years, Bove was a high-achieving student, a division one athlete on his college lacrosse team and a Georgetown University law school graduate. He went on to clerk for two federal judges and worked for about a decade as federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he led high-profile terrorism and drug trafficking cases through 2019. Blanche brought Bove into his private practice, where they tag-teamed Trump's prosecutions, including by appearing by the president's side during his six-week hush money trial in Manhattan last year. At the end of it, Trump was convicted by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records, marking the lone case out of Trump's four to lead to a conviction. 'Superb' legal writer Blanche said that behind the scenes, Bove was critical to their defense work and wrote the vast majority of their legal briefs. In letters to the Senate, a group of Republican state attorneys general said Bove was courageous for representing Trump "when few other attorneys would step up." Attorney Gene Schaerr called Bove's brief writing "superb." One of Bove's past law firms said he was "eminently qualified." Nearly three dozen retired law enforcement officials praised Bove as a "trusted and respected partner," saying he had a profound understanding of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was responsible for breaking apart transnational criminal networks. "His efforts have directly contributed to high-impact cases that have saved lives and protected vulnerable populations," the retired officials wrote. Others heaped similar praise. Eric Adams debacle The rosy picture that Blanche and Bove's supporters paint is drastically different from the one presented by a handful of DOJ officials who left the department because of Bove and defense lawyers who observed him in action during his time as a New York prosecutor. While Bove was serving as acting deputy attorney general ahead of Blanche's confirmation in March, two top lawyers in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and five officials in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section chose to abruptly leave their jobs instead of complying with Bove's order to drop New York Mayor Eric Adams's federal corruption charges. During the debacle, a judge dismissed the Democratic mayor's charges with prejudice, instead of without prejudice as Bove had requested, meaning the Trump administration could not bring the case again. The judge's decision came after the ousted lawyers blasted Bove for engaging in a dishonest quid pro quo with the mayor. The chain of events left some conservative legal analysts harshly questioning the wisdom of Bove's actions, saying it undermined the DOJ's work. Immigration whistleblower Trump's mass deportation plan involved the unprecedented move of invoking a wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act. Bove indicated during an internal meeting in March that he anticipated judges would attempt to shut down the operation, according to attorney Erez Reuveni. Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran who was fired after struggling to defend one of the Trump administration's deportation during a Maryland court hearing, said in a whistleblower complaint published Tuesday that Bove shocked meeting attendees by telling them they would "need to consider telling the courts 'f*** you' and ignore any such court order." Reuveni said Bove's remarks were far afield of anything he had heard at DOJ during his tenure there and that court defiance and misleading judges were a hallmark of the department during some of the most controversial immigration cases that arose in March. DOJ attorneys have been admonished by judges for appearing to flout court orders, but they have, thus far, avoided being held in contempt of court and other sanctions. 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' Bove was known by some of his peers as a zealous prosecutor during his SDNY days, but defense lawyers were alarmed by his ruthlessness. Some viewed him as vicious, rude and power-hungry, according to interviews with attorneys and media reports. One longtime defense lawyer who crossed paths with Bove in New York told Fox News Digital the nominee was an arrogant "bully" and browbeat people. In 2018, a band of defense lawyers said in emails reported by the Associated Press that Bove needed "adult supervision" and could not "be bothered to treat lesser mortals with respect or empathy." A retired New York City FBI agent told the Associated Press that Bove's perceived turnabout on Jan. 6 riot cases was "almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Bove showed no outward concerns while in New York when he helped with prosecuting the cases, the retired agent said. When Bove stepped into his role at Trump's DOJ, he warned the FBI in a formidable memo that leadership would take "personnel action" against FBI agents who participated in Jan. 6 cases, which Trump "appropriately described as a 'grave national injustice' that has been perpetrated upon the American people," Bove wrote. The notion that thousands of employees who interacted in some way with a Jan. 6 case would see their jobs at risk prompted Bove to issue a follow-up note clarifying that employees who merely followed orders had no reason to worry. An online petition launched by retired New York federal prosecutor Laurie Korenbaum has dozens of signatures as of this publishing and calls Bove's nomination a "travesty." Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have demanded more information on Bove's time at SDNY, signaling they plan to grill Bove over it during the hearing. Blanche told Fox News Digital the viewpoints surfacing in the media about Bove were "distorted." "The misconception about him is completely driven by kind of a fear that if he takes the bench, he's going to do something crazy, which he will not," Blanche said.
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Ex-Trump defense attorney Kendra Wharton to depart Justice Department
WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - Kendra Wharton, a former member of President Donald Trump's criminal defense team who serves as the Justice Department's senior ethics official, plans to leave the department in July, she told Reuters. Wharton replaced Bradley Weinsheimer, the department's career designated ethics official who resigned in February after Justice Department leaders reassigned him along with about a dozen other senior lawyers to a newly created Sanctuary Cities Working Group. The designated ethics official serves as a crucial gatekeeper who provides advice to department employees about potential conflicts of interest, including whether they should be recused from working on particular cases. That role is also responsible for reviewing disciplinary recommendations by the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates attorney misconduct, and referrals for discipline or prosecution from the Office of the Inspector General. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wharton, who serves as Associate Deputy Attorney General, plans to return to private practice, according to a person familiar with the matter. Prior to joining the department, she worked with now Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and the now Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to defend Trump against two federal indictments over Trump's retention of classified records and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as against New York state charges alleging he falsified records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star. Trump was convicted of the state charges. Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped both federal indictments after Trump won the election in November due to the department's longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. In addition to serving as the department's ethics official, Wharton supervised several other DOJ components, including the Bureau of Prisons, the Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Parole Commission, the U.S. Trustee Program and the Justice Management Division. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Wharton, who first started working on Trump's legal matters two years ago, has been commuting back and forth between Washington and her home in Florida, where she has two small children. She will be returning to the law firm she founded in September 2023.
New York Times
10-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Justice Dept. to Take Narrow Approach to Prosecuting Corporate Bribery Abroad
The Justice Department has closed about half of its open investigations into bribery by U.S. businesses overseas, but plans to initiate prosecutions to more narrowly focus on misconduct that hurts the country's capacity to compete with foreign companies, officials said on Tuesday. President Trump signed an executive order in February pausing all of the department's investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, pending a review of enforcement policies by Todd Blanche, the department's No. 2 official. Good government groups criticized the freeze as the elimination of guardrails needed to prevent corporate abuses. The move coincided with the closing of investigations into the aircraft manufacturer Bombardier and the medical device maker Stryker, among others. But Mr. Blanche, in a statement, said the decision was made to align enforcement of the act with the administration's broader goal of increasing U.S. leverage against foreign businesses and governments, by 'shifting prosecutorial resources to cases that clearly implicate U.S. national security and competitiveness.' Mr. Blanche, a former criminal defense lawyer for Mr. Trump, accused the Biden administration under Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of opening too many cases, 'burdening companies' and damaging national interests. Critics said the new guidelines were a dangerous reversal that abandoned major investigations, including a deal the Justice Department struck in May with Boeing that spared the company from taking criminal responsibility for deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. Many families of the victims vigorously opposed the agreement. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
