Legal News
Reports on lawmaking, constitutional issues, and court cases. The Daily Signal combines news reporting with conservative commentary and legal analysis.
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news
US Judge Won’t Block Trump’s Mail-In Voting Executive Order for Now
REUTERS—A U.S. judge on Thursday declined to immediately block President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening rules on mail-in voting, but left the door open for the Democratic Party to challenge it again after the administration takes further steps to implement the measure. Washington-based U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols’ order did not address whether Trump’s March 31… -
news
New York Ban on Nonlethal Weapons ‘Undermines’ Supreme Court, Expert Warns
A federal appeals court is defying a pivotal Supreme Court opinion on the Second Amendment and making New Yorkers less safe by upholding a New York City ban on nonlethal electronic weapons like Tasers and stun guns, legal experts warn. “The 2nd Circuit [Court of Appeals] has found a way to undermine” a key Supreme… -
news
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s $1.8 Billion ‘Weaponization’ Fund
REUTERS—A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from setting up a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of what Trump has called government “weaponization.” The order by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia blocks the Trump administration from “taking any further action” to set up… -
analysis
Biden Sues Trump DOJ Over Audio Recording Release
The saga surrounding Joe Biden’s audio recordings continues, as lawyers for the former president on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the release of conversations that were part of an investigation into classified documents. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to block the Department… -
news
DC Area Police Investigate Swatting Incident Targeting a Supreme Court Justice
The Fairfax County Police Department in Northern Virginia is investigating a swatting call at the residence of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett Wednesday night. “Yesterday evening at approximately 9:02 p.m., officers responded to a swatting call at the residence of U.S. Supreme Court Justice in Fairfax County,” the department’s public information officer told the… -
news
Is Instagram Designed to Be Addictive? Supreme Court Rejects Meta’s Appeal
The Supreme Court rejected Meta Platforms’ attempt to block a lawsuit from Vermont’s attorney general accusing the company of designing the social media app Instagram to be addictive for young users. Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, a Democrat, sued Meta in 2023, alleging violations of the state’s consumer protection laws. Meta sought to have the… -
opinion
The Case for Climate Lawsuits Just Got Weaker
Climate litigation is having a difficult month. As plaintiffs suing energy companies for global warming gear up for their upcoming Supreme Court hearing, the plans to extract billions under local tort laws suffered significant setbacks in recent weeks. Last week, the modeling scenarios used to predict the most dire consequences from global warming were deemed “implausible” by the U.N.’s… -
news
Murder Case at Senior Facility Sparks Negligence Litigation
A Maryland murder case involves a suspect ruled not competent to stand trial and a civil negligence lawsuit against a suburban Washington, D.C., senior living center that asserts the crime could have been prevented. Robert Gorham Fuller Jr., 87, was shot and killed on Feb. 14 at Cogir of Potomac in Potomac, Maryland. Fuller was… -
news
Judicial Confirmation Hearing Has ‘You’re No Justice Jackson’ Moment
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to confirm former Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers to a vacancy on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals notably mentioned Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. During Wednesday’s hearing, Republican and Democrat members brought up the justice’s viewpoint on commenting on the 2020 election. In one of… -
news
Cooke on Newsmax: SPLC Controversy Raises New Questions About Fraud and Accountability
The Daily Signal’s Senior Political and Legal Analyst Mehek Cooke said on Newsmax Wednesday that congressional scrutiny of the Southern Poverty Law Center over fraud concerns is long overdue, arguing that Americans deserve answers about whether the organization engaged in political targeting and how it used donor funds. A federal grand jury in April charged… -
news
Supreme Court Weighs in 8-1 on Cuba-Tied Lawsuit
The Supreme Court determined that a U.S.-based company—Havana Docks—can recover damages from four major cruise lines that used its docks previously confiscated by the Cuban government. Havana Docks, a U.S. company, built docks in Havana’s port before the Cuban Revolution. The Castro regime revoked the company’s legal right to the docks, and the company later… -
opinion
Victor Davis Hanson: Kamala Harris and the Adolescents of the Left
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to Victor Davis Hanson’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes. Jack Fowler: All right, here’s the headline, Victor. Kamala Harris torched for progressive wish list. Here’s the first few paragraphs of this… -
news
GOP Win in Missouri Court Ruling Adds Fuel to Growing Redistricting Wars
Missouri continues to be a key battleground in the redistricting wars after the state Supreme Court handed Republicans a victory, allowing a congressional map approved by the state Legislature last year to go into effect. The state’s high court rejected Missouri Democrats’ attempt to overturn maps adopted by the Missouri Legislature. The legal challenge centered… -
opinion
Democrats Just Can’t Help but Signal How They Plan to Lock In Permanent Power
“Mainstream” Democrats are doing a good job right now of telegraphing to America what they plan to do with national power the second they get it back. They plan to make it permanently theirs, by any means necessary. You can be sure that they will be even more maniacally committed to this agenda following the Supreme… -
opinion
How Left-Wing Climate Plaintiffs Have Hijacked the Federal Judiciary
The defining feature of the American judicial system is that every litigant walks into the courtroom with the belief that they will have a fair shot to present their case. That foundational principle is under assault. Several weeks ago, the Oversight Project published a report highlighting the threat to judicial independence posed by the left-wing… -
news
DOJ Creates $1.776 Billion ‘Anti‑Weaponization Fund’ After Trump IRS Settlement
The Justice Department has established an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” of nearly $1.8 billion that could pay people who were targets of “lawfare” or the weaponization of federal agencies. The funding is the result of a settlement in the case of President Donald Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, where the president and members of his family sued… -
opinion
Texas Children’s Hospital Settlement Deals Massive Defeat to Medical Transgender Agenda
THE WASHINGTON STAND—The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced a settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) in which the hospital not only committed to never again carry out gender transition procedures on minors, but also agreed to open the nation’s first detransitioner clinic and fully fund it for five years. TCH gained notoriety in 2023 when… -
opinion
How ESG Will Destroy Your Company
On Feb. 26, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a “first of its kind” settlement with the Vanguard Group, which, together with BlackRock and State Street, makes up the “Big three” asset managers representing “the largest shareholders in 88 percent of S&P 500 companies.” Among other things, the press release announcing the settlement noted that “Vanguard… -
news
Plastic ‘Crisis,’ ‘Environmental Racism,’ and Other Woke Lawfare Cases to Watch That Could Shape National Policy
While “woke” policies, such as environmental and diversity initiatives, might appear to be on life support in the political realm, they are still very active in state courts, with pending cases. State lawsuits can still have a national impact, warns O.H. Skinner, executive director of the watchdog group Alliance for Consumers. This is also the… -
breaking
US Supreme Court Turns Down Virginia Gerrymander
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Virginia to honor gerrymandered districts that favor Democrats. This comes a week after the state’s high court issued a rebuke to the redistricting effort that would have created a map with a 10-1 party advantage. Democrats made an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the…