Latest news with #dueprocess
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
U.S. law firm Susman Godfrey defeats Trump executive order
June 27 (Reuters) - Law firm Susman Godfrey convinced a judge on Friday to permanently block a White House executive order against it, capping a string of court victories for firms targeted for their association with U.S. President Donald Trump's perceived enemies. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan said Trump's order unlawfully retaliated against Susman for cases it has taken and its efforts to promote racial diversity, violating the firm's rights to free speech and due process of law under the U.S. Constitution. AliKhan is the fourth federal judge in Washington to reach a similar conclusion, following wins for Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale in parallel cases. The rulings by a mix of Democratic and Republican-appointed judges each decisively rejected Trump's orders suspending security clearances at the firms, restricting their access to government officials and seeking to cancel federal contracts held by their clients. Nine prominent law firms, including Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps, Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis, have settled with the White House to avoid similar actions against them by the administration. Those firms cumulatively pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to support causes backed by Trump. Some later argued that the threat of being targeted by the administration left them no alternative. Susman in its lawsuit called Trump's order retaliation for its defense of the integrity of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. The firm represents election technology supplier Dominion Voting Systems in cases that challenged false claims the election was stolen from Trump through widespread voting fraud. Trump also had accused Susman of racial discrimination in its hiring practices. AliKhan at a hearing on May 8 repeatedly questioned a lawyer for the Justice Department about the administration's failure to show that the firm's employment programs or its work for Dominion violated the law. The Justice Department and White House have defended Trump's executive orders against law firms as lawful exercises of presidential power. Trump accused the firms of "weaponizing" the justice system against him and his political allies.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries to Which They Have No Connection
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to deport migrants to countries other than their own, pausing a federal judge's ruling that they must first be given a chance to show that they would face the risk of torture and letting the administration send men held at an American military base in Djibouti on to South Sudan. The court's brief order gave no reasons and said the judge's ruling would remain paused while the government pursues an appeal and, after that, until the Supreme Court acts. The court's three liberal members issued a lengthy dissent. The order was the latest in a series of rulings related to immigration decided by the justices in summary fashion on what critics call its shadow docket. Among those rulings were ones calling for due process for migrants before they are deported under a rarely invoked 18th-century wartime law. Other rulings allowed the administration to lift protections for hundreds of thousands of people who had been granted temporary protected status or humanitarian parole. This case arose from a trial judge's order that applies to migrants cleared for removal from the United States whom the administration seeks to deport to third countries — ones where they do not hold citizenship and where they may have no connection. The judge said such migrants were entitled to due process, meaning notice of where they were going and the chance to argue that they were at risk of harm if sent there. Though the judge's order applied to many migrants, it captured public attention in May when the government loaded eight men onto a plane said to be headed to South Sudan, a violence-plagued African country that most of them had never set foot in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Judge denies government's motion to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia
A magistrate judge in Tennessee has denied the government's motion to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the mistakenly deported Salvadoran native who was brought back to the United States earlier this month. In her order on Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said the court "will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed." Judge Holmes scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to review the conditions of release. Abrego Garcia faces criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
DEA Judge Mulrooney's MMJ Marijuana Ruling May Be DEA's Last Stand Before the Constitution Strikes Back
Judge Mulrooney's decision may have handed MMJ BioPharma Cultivation a defeat inside the DEA's walls, but in doing so, he may have handed MMJ a powerful victory in federal court. The record of constitutional violations and DEA violations is now preserved - the 'Axon-Jarkesy defense' is primed - and the very administrative law judge system the DEA clings to may not survive scrutiny. WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / June 22, 2025 / In a move that now appears both unconstitutional and strategically reckless, the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Chief Administrative Law Judge John J. Mulrooney II has ruled against MMJ BioPharma Cultivation - not by adjudicating evidence, but by canceling the hearing altogether, shutting the courtroom door before any facts could be presented. This denial of due process is not just procedural misconduct. It stands in direct violation of recent Supreme Court precedent - namely, Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC (2023) and Jarkesy v. SEC (2024) - which fundamentally altered the authority of federal agencies to conduct internal administrative hearings shielded from constitutional scrutiny. Why DEA's ALJ System is Constitutionally Cracked In Axon v. FTC, the Supreme Court held that constitutional challenges to federal administrative adjudication systems need not wait until after the agency's internal process is complete. The ruling opened the door for early judicial review - precisely to prevent agencies like the DEA from causing irreparable harm to regulated parties before a federal court can weigh in. Justice Gorsuch put it plainly: 'A proceeding that has already happened cannot be undone.' But that is exactly what happened to MMJ BioPharma Cultivation. Despite spending seven years pursuing a legally sound registration to grow marijuana for FDA-sanctioned clinical trials, MMJ was denied the chance to be heard. Judge Mulrooney ruled - without trial - that the case could be decided on the papers, ignoring contested facts, ignoring ex parte communications concerns, and ignoring the constitutional structure of justice itself. Jarkesy and the Death Knell for DEA's Shadow Court The Supreme Court's decision in Jarkesy v. SEC went even further. The Court ruled that administrative adjudications violate the Constitution on multiple fronts: The DEA's administrative system which allowed Judge Mulrooney to operate unchecked, issue rulings without testimony, and sabotage a life sciences company without judicial oversight - now sits squarely in the crosshairs of both Axon and Jarkesy. MMJ BioPharma Cultivation: The Victim of an Unconstitutional Machine MMJ BioPharma Cultivation is not a fringe operation. It is the only DEA applicant actively pursuing pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoid therapies under FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) protocols, including a manufactured softgel formulation for Huntington's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Despite this, Judge Mulrooney's June 2025 ruling canceled a long-scheduled hearing without any opportunity for MMJ to introduce its DEA-compliant facility documentation, binding supply agreements, or evidence of DEA ex parte interference. Even worse, the company was never formally noticed of the pretrial decision - a basic requirement of any fair proceeding. Instead of adjudicating facts, Mulrooney rubber-stamped DEA's bureaucratic inertia. What's Next? The Courts Must Clean Up the DEA's Mess The Supreme Court has been crystal clear: agencies like the DEA do not have unreviewable authority over people's rights, livelihoods, or innovations. Congress did not create 'mini-courts' within executive agencies to bypass the Constitution. Judge Mulrooney's decision may have handed MMJ a defeat inside the DEA's walls, but in doing so, he may have handed MMJ a powerful victory in federal court. The record of constitutional violations is now preserved - the 'Axon Side-Step' is primed - and the very administrative law judge system the DEA clings to may not survive scrutiny. If MMJ's case advances to the D.C. Circuit or even the Supreme Court, it may well be the case that dismantles the DEA's internal adjudication regime once and for all. In the end, the question is no longer whether MMJ BioPharma has been mistreated. The question is whether the DEA's system can survive the Constitution. MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT: Madison Hisey [email protected] 203-231-8583 SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings press release
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawyer for Venezuelans deported to El Salvador prison arrested
The head lawyer of a human rights group representing the families of Venezuelan immigrants imprisoned in El Salvador after being deported from the United States has been arrested. Ruth López, an outspoken critic of President Nayib Bukele, was detained late on Sunday under an order from the prosecutor's office which accused her of 'embezzlement' when she worked for an electoral court a decade ago, the human rights group Cristosal said in a statement. The prosecutor's office confirmed the arrest in a post on X. López runs Cristosal's anti-corruption and justice division and has been a vocal critic of Bukele's sweeping arrests of 85,000 mostly young men without due process under the state of exception that began in 2022. Neither López's family nor her legal team knew where she was taken after police removed her from her home shortly before midnight on Sunday. 'The authorities' refusal to disclose her location or to allow access to her legal representatives is a blatant violation of due process, the right to legal defence and international standards of judicial protection,' Cristosal said in a statement. The arrest is part of an accelerating government crackdown on civil society and the free press as Bukele is apparently emboldened by his close relationship to the Trump administration, which is paying El Salvador to hold deported immigrants in its prison system. Related: Venezuelans deported by Trump are victims of 'torture', lawyers allege Earlier this month, seven journalists from the investigative news outlet El Faro, who had exposed details of Bukele's alleged deals with the country's gangs had to leave the country after they were tipped off that the government was preparing arrest warrants for them. Many other journalists and activists had already fled. In 2023, El Faro moved its business and legal operations to Costa Rica. Last week, after protesters gathered outside Bukele's house, he accused NGOs of 'manipulating' them and proposed a bill to tax 30% of all contributions to NGOs, echoing a law passed by Nicaragua's autocratic government to silence its critics. Shortly after López's arrest, Andrés Guzmán, Bukele's presidential commissioner for human rights and freedom of expression, announced his resignation, without giving a reason. In a statement, international organisations said they were 'deeply concerned at the increasingly pervasive environment of fear that threatens freedoms in the country' and called on 'US policymakers and the diplomatic community at large to urge President Bukele to cease all attacks against human rights defenders'.
