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Category: Legal System

  • Harvard Sues White House Over Foreign Student Ban

    Harvard University announced on 23 May that it is suing the White House for what it called “clear retaliation” against the school for “exercising its First Amendment rights” after the government barred international student enrollment.

    US President Donald Trump has sought to punish colleges and universities where student protests against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza have taken place.

    International students are a large source of income for many US colleges and universities.

    On Thursday, Trump blocked Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, requested that Harvard’s international student records be provided within 72 hours, and said those currently enrolled should transfer to another school or leave the country.

    The post Harvard Sues White House Over Foreign Student Ban appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Charging The US Government With Genocide Before The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights

    We stand here today, as Americans who are fed up with the way the United States government has spent our tax dollars. While several programs across housing, education, and healthcare are gutted, our politicians think the better use of that money should be going towards killing children, massacring families, and leveling churches, schools and hospitals. Instead of taking care of our veterans, we are sending more of our soldiers to fight a population of civilians, putting them in the crosshairs of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, and giving them a lifetime of PTSD that our government will refuse to treat.

    The post Charging The US Government With Genocide Before The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • From Permanent Precarity To Permanent Power

    In Florida, the carceral system coerces workers with records into low-wage, precarious jobs by tying their freedom to employment. Background checks bar them from stable work, leaving only the jobs others avoid, quit, or fight to change. At the same time, probation agreements make employment and the payment of court fines and fees a condition of release. Workers with records are destabilized by an economic system that withholds continuity, protections and dignity by design.

    No other institution — not schools, employers or prisons — invests in the leadership potential of workers with records.

    The post From Permanent Precarity To Permanent Power appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Federal Judge Orders Release Of Palestinian Student Mohsen Mahdawi

    Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi is free on bail after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release.

    It’s the first order mandating the release of a student detained by the Trump administration. The New York Times called his release “a defeat” for the administration’s “widening crackdown against student protesters.”

    “The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said Judge Geoffrey Crawford at an April 30 hearing. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”

    Crawford also compared Trump’s crackdown to the Red Scare and said that period of history wasn’t one that people should be proud of.

    The post Federal Judge Orders Release Of Palestinian Student Mohsen Mahdawi appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Iraqi MP Files Lawsuit Against Syrian President Over ‘Terrorist’ Past

    Iraqi Member of Parliament Alaa al-Haidari has filed a lawsuit with the Iraqi Public Prosecution against the new Syrian President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, Shafaq News reported on 29 April.

    In a video statement from the Supreme Judicial Council building, Haidari said, “I filed the complaint against the terrorist Julani, known as Ahmad al-Sharaa,” who “was part of ISIS organizations in Iraqi territory.”

    This comes as the Syrian President received an official invitation from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on 27 April to attend the Arab League Summit scheduled to be held next month in the capital, Baghdad.

    The post Iraqi MP Files Lawsuit Against Syrian President Over ‘Terrorist’ Past appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • FBI Arrests Judge Who Blocked ICE From Detaining Immigrant

    On Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X that the FBI had arrested a state judge in Wisconsin, allegedly over her efforts to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents out of her courtroom while she was adjudicating a case involving an immigrant they were targeting.

    Patel bragged about the arrest on social media, then deleted the post, which claimed there was evidence of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan “obstructing an immigration arrest operation” on April 18.

    “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be,” Patel wrote.

    The post FBI Arrests Judge Who Blocked ICE From Detaining Immigrant appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Apache Stronghold Makes Emergency Appeal To Save Oak Flat

    A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies asked a federal court late yesterday to stop the U.S. government from handing over their sacred site at Oak Flat to a multinational mining giant as early as June 16, 2025. In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year refused to stop the federal government from transferring Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a Chinese-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever. The emergency appeal comes after the government announced last week it will forge ahead with the transfer even though the case is currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The post Apache Stronghold Makes Emergency Appeal To Save Oak Flat appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court Denies Mumia Abu Jamal’s Appeal

    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – On March 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal permission to appeal a September 2024 Pennsylvania Superior Court denial of his latest petition to reverse his 1982 conviction. The Supreme Court ruling ends Mumia’s state court challenge at this time.

    Mumia’s sixth petition was based on credible new evidence of prosecutorial misconduct — including Brady violations based on incentives given to the state’s key witnesses Cynthia White and Robert Chobert to give false testimony.

    The new evidence, found buried in storage boxes in a remote area of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office and turned over to Mumia’s lawyers in December 2021 also included evidence of racial bias in jury selection, a Batson violation.

    The post Pennsylvania Supreme Court Denies Mumia Abu Jamal’s Appeal appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • If Fear Is The Goal, Then Solidarity Is The Antidote

    Many of us are angsting these days about the mounting repression coming from the White House. 

    In my community, many are worried about rumors of possible executive orders targeting climate and other nonprofit groups. The concern is well-founded. As Bloomberg reports, these executive orders — expected on Earth Day — would try to strip some groups of their tax exempt status, similar to the threats the president has made to Harvard.

    I’m now thinking about the many teachers, students, nonprofit staff, lawyers, university staff and faculty and beyond who are worried, concerned and uncertain about what is coming.

    The post If Fear Is The Goal, Then Solidarity Is The Antidote appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Tallahassee Demands Release Of US Citizen Illegally Detained By ICE

    Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, April 16, about 75 community members rallied at the Leon County Jail to demand the immediate release of Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S. citizen illegally detained by ICE. The emergency mobilization was called by the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance (TIRA).

    Lopez-Gomez, who lives in Georgia and works in Tallahassee, was detained by Florida Highway Patrol during a traffic stop after crossing state lines Wednesday morning. Despite presenting his U.S. birth certificate to the court, ICE formally requested that Lopez-Gomez be held in jail for pickup and processing, superseding Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans’s assessment that the birth certificate was in fact legitimate.

    The post Tallahassee Demands Release Of US Citizen Illegally Detained By ICE appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Failing To Rise To The Constitutional Crisis

    As the Trump administration openly defies court orders to return a man wrongfully deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, some American outlets are underplaying the significance of this constitutional crisis.

    In a unanimous decision the Supreme Court “declined to block a lower court’s order to ‘facilitate’ bringing back Kilmar Ábrego García,” a Salvadoran who had legal protections in the United States and was wrongfully sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT (BBC, 4/11/25).

    The White House is not complying (Democracy Docket, 4/14/25). “The federal courts have no authority to direct the executive branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner,” Trump’s Justice Department insists (CNN, 4/15/25). Fox News (4/16/25) said of Attorney General Pam Bondi: “Bondi Defiant, Says Ábrego García Will Stay in El Salvador ‘End of the Story.’”

    The post Failing To Rise To The Constitutional Crisis appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Chevron Ordered To Pay More Than $740 Million To Restore Coast

    Pointe a la Hache, LA. — Oil company Chevron must pay $744.6 million to restore damage it caused to southeast Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, a jury ruled on Friday following a landmark trial more than a decade in the making.

    The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast. The verdict – which Chevron says it will appeal – could set a precedent leaving other oil and gas firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages tied to land loss and environmental degradation.

    The post Chevron Ordered To Pay More Than $740 Million To Restore Coast appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Mahmoud Khalil’s Immigration Status Will Be Determined Friday

    Mahmoud Khalil’s immigration hearings began in Louisiana on April 8. Supporters who tried to observe the proceedings virtually were not allowed in.

    ABC News reported that during this hearing, Judge Jamee Comans determined that the Trump administration has 24 hours to provide evidence of allegations they’ve made to justify Khalil’s deportation. The administration has made bogus claims that Khalil poses a threat to national security. Once Khalil’s team has reviewed and responded to whatever information the Trump administration provides, Comans will decide at another hearing this Friday if Khalil can stay in the United States.

    The post Mahmoud Khalil’s Immigration Status Will Be Determined Friday appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • The Degradation of Big Law

    By intimidating and disarming potential sources of legal resistance, Trump weakens one of the last institutional barriers standing between his administration and unbridled executive power.

    This post was originally published on Dissent Magazine.

  • Momodou Taal, Who Sued Trump, Voluntarily Leaves The Country

    Momodou Taal, a pro-Palestinian activist and international Ph.D student, announced his decision to leave the country on Monday — ending a weeks-long struggle with the federal government that began when he sued the Trump administration.

    Soon after Taal announced his decision on X and Instagram, his lawyers withdrew his lawsuit in federal court.

    Taal first made national news when he, alongside Sriram Parasurama, a Ph.D. student in plant sciences, and Prof. Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, literatures in English, sued the Trump administration for allegedly violating their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

    The post Momodou Taal, Who Sued Trump, Voluntarily Leaves The Country appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Respect For The Law Is The Strongest Weapon Against Fascism

    The well-prepared, abundantly funded Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025’s implementation overwhelms all that has come before. The ill-prepared, leaderless Democrats and opposition are stymied to stop it. No March on Washington like the 1963 March for civil and political rights or the 1967 March against the Vietnam War will slow down the Trump steamroll. Neither the high price of eggs nor Wall Street jitters have had any effect.

    What to do? Could courts be the deciding factor to halt the United States slide towards fascism?

    Rules are essential to any organized society.

    The post Respect For The Law Is The Strongest Weapon Against Fascism appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Judges Weigh Appeal By Whistleblower Who Exposed Cover-Up Of War Crimes

    A three-judge panel in the Australian capital is weighing an appeal by whistleblower David McBride that could determine if a soldier’s duty is to serve the public or only his superior officers even if it means covering up evidence of his nation’s war crimes.

    The judges are also considering the question of whether Australian soldiers owe their allegiance to the British crown or to the people of Australia.

    The three Court of Appeal judges have been deliberating for four weeks to determine if the trial judge erred in not permitting McBride a public interest defense.

    The post Judges Weigh Appeal By Whistleblower Who Exposed Cover-Up Of War Crimes appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Chaos Under Heaven: South Korea’s Deepening Political Debacle

    Morse Tan, a high-ranking former US State Dept. official, recently let the cat out of the bag on the US ruling elite position on South Korea’s Martial Law.  He declared that “Yoon declared Martial Law to preserve South Korea’s Democracy”.  Having previously labeled South Korea a model democracy, this is a No-Scotsman-move taken to absurdity.  

    Now Tan is not a current US government official, but he is an indicator of what the US national security state is thinking, in particular, what its neocon wing is thinking.  Tan also recently claimed that “the impeachment against Yoon is an insurrection” led by opposition party leader Lee Jae Myung “who wants to turn the country over to the Chinese communists”. 

    The post Chaos Under Heaven: South Korea’s Deepening Political Debacle appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Chaos Under Heaven: South Korea’s Deepening Political Debacle

    Morse Tan, a high-ranking former US State Dept. official, recently let the cat out of the bag on the US ruling elite position on South Korea’s Martial Law.  He declared that “Yoon declared Martial Law to preserve South Korea’s Democracy”.  Having previously labeled South Korea a model democracy, this is a No-Scotsman-move taken to absurdity.  

    Now Tan is not a current US government official, but he is an indicator of what the US national security state is thinking, in particular, what its neocon wing is thinking.  Tan also recently claimed that “the impeachment against Yoon is an insurrection” led by opposition party leader Lee Jae Myung “who wants to turn the country over to the Chinese communists”. 

    The post Chaos Under Heaven: South Korea’s Deepening Political Debacle appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Will Trump Send US Citizens To El Salvador?

    Donald Trump is in a position to do almost anything he wants. He was the clear favorite of republican voters and won the popular vote and majorities in congress. Not content to be satisfied with what he says is a mandate, Trump has upped the ante and departed from the traditional definitions of power in Washington. He has legislative control, but he is making an end run around it with executive orders and defiance of the courts. At a moment of radical political change which includes firing thousands of federal workers and claiming that programs supported by most people are no longer needed, the democrats provide only the thinnest veneer of opposition when the public want them to step up.

    The post Will Trump Send US Citizens To El Salvador? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • AFGE Wins! Judge Orders Trump To Rehire Fired Probationary Employees

    In a major victory for AFGE, allies, and federal workers, a judge in California ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary employees fired at six agencies, saying the firing “is based on a lie” and that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) didn’t have the authority to order it. The administration’s request for an emergency administrative stay has also been denied by the 9th Circuit.

    This lawsuit was brought by AFGE and our allies.

    Another judge in Maryland also ordered the administration to temporarily halt its planned reductions in force (RIFs) at 18 agencies, including the Department of Education that announced it would fire half of its staff.

    The post AFGE Wins! Judge Orders Trump To Rehire Fired Probationary Employees appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • AFGE Wins! Judge Orders Trump To Rehire Fired Probationary Employees

    In a major victory for AFGE, allies, and federal workers, a judge in California ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary employees fired at six agencies, saying the firing “is based on a lie” and that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) didn’t have the authority to order it. The administration’s request for an emergency administrative stay has also been denied by the 9th Circuit.

    This lawsuit was brought by AFGE and our allies.

    Another judge in Maryland also ordered the administration to temporarily halt its planned reductions in force (RIFs) at 18 agencies, including the Department of Education that announced it would fire half of its staff.

    The post AFGE Wins! Judge Orders Trump To Rehire Fired Probationary Employees appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Jury Delivers Verdict Finding Entities Liable For More Than $660 Million

    Mandan, North Dakota — A Morton County jury of nine reached a verdict in Energy Transfer’s meritless lawsuit against Greenpeace entities in the US (Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund), and Greenpeace International, finding the entities liable for more than US$660 million, today. Big Oil Bullies around the world will continue to try to silence free speech and peaceful protest, but the fight against Energy Transfer’s meritless SLAPP lawsuit is not over.

    “This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” said Sushma Raman, Interim Executive Director Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund.

    The post Jury Delivers Verdict Finding Entities Liable For More Than $660 Million appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Legal Coalition To Pursue Israelis Accused Of War Crimes

    Lawyers have launched a global coalition to pursue legal action around the world against Israelis and Israeli dual nationals accused of involvement in suspected war crimes in Gaza.

    At a launch event in London on Tuesday, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said the Global 195 initiative would seek to use domestic and international legal mechanisms to seek justice against Israeli soldiers and others “spanning the entire Israeli military and political chain of command”.

    Speaking at a press conference, Tayab Ali, director of the ICJP, began his remarks by paying tribute to the hundreds of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes after it broke the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

    The post Legal Coalition To Pursue Israelis Accused Of War Crimes appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Historic Lawsuit Filed Challenging Trump’s Attack On Free Speech

    A Cornell professor and two graduate students are suing the Trump administration for violating the First Amendment as it seeks to deport international students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza under the guise of protecting national security.

    Trump’s salvo of executive orders targeting what amounts to student thought crimes means the Cornell scholars “now fear government retaliation for engaging in constitutionally protected expression critical of U.S. foreign policy and supportive of Palestinian human rights,” according to the lawsuit, filed Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District.

    The post Historic Lawsuit Filed Challenging Trump’s Attack On Free Speech appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Trump Administration’s ‘Alien Enemies Act’ Deportation Program

    On Friday, the Trump administration appeared to start the process of carrying out the deportation of Venezuelan nationals pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority that legal experts warn is clearly not applicable to those individuals. 

    The Act requires invocation of its authorities to be made public, but as of the time of publication there is no indication that a presidential proclamation has been publicly released. CNN has reported, however, that President Donald Trump was set to issue such a proclamation as soon as Friday and described senior White House officials stating that the executive action would target Venezuelan nationals alleged to be affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang.

    The post Trump Administration’s ‘Alien Enemies Act’ Deportation Program appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Mahmoud Khalil Will Remain Detained In Louisiana

    Mahmoud Khalil will continue to be detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana following a brief hearing in New York City on Wednesday morning.

    In response to a habeas corpus petition and a request to have him transferred back to New York, where he was arrested, federal judge Jesse Furman called for more briefs from Khalil’s lawyers and the U.S. government.

    Trump attorneys informed the court that they will submit a motion to transfer or dismiss Khalil’s habeas corpus petition, as they view New York as “an improper venue” for the case and do not believe it has any jurisdiction.

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  • Incarcerated Transgender Women Challenge Trump’s Order

    Among the most horrific executive orders signed by Donald Trump on Jan. 20, were those withdrawing protection for transgender women incarcerated in federal prisons and terminating all their necessary gender-affirming medical care. The orders, which explicitly prohibit women’s prisons and detention centers from housing transgender female inmates, placed 22 trans women in imminent risk of transfer to a men’s facility where they would be subjected to strip searches and showering in front of men, violating the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

    The post Incarcerated Transgender Women Challenge Trump’s Order appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • In Maryland, Cracking Down On A Crime Wave That Doesn’t Exist

    Here in this deep blue state, a coalition of judges, attorneys, youth advocates, civil liberties and racial justice organizations are trying to persuade Maryland lawmakers to amend Draconian legislation that requires prosecutors to charge children as young as 10 in adult criminal court for a wide range of felony offenses.

    At issue is Senate Bill 422 , which, if passed by Maryland’s General Assembly in this legislative session, would reduce by nearly two-thirds the 33 criminal offenses for which juveniles in Maryland are automatically charged as adults.

    The post In Maryland, Cracking Down On A Crime Wave That Doesn’t Exist appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • Free Yves Engler

    On February 20, long-time Canadian Dimension columnist and contributor Yves Engler was arrested by Montréal police at the behest of pro-Israel media personality Dahlia Kurtz. In today’s Canada, offending Zionist influencers is apparently enough to land you behind bars.

    Canadians involved in progressive politics, from the left-wing of the NDP and Greens to the Communist Party, read Engler’s work and admire his commitment to social struggle. For decades, he has organized in support of just causes, from helping stop war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Concordia University in 2002, to tirelessly confronting Canadian politicians about their complicity in the genocide in Gaza, to penning a vast catalogue of work that shatters complacent illusions about Canada’s benevolence and reveals the often cynical, profit-driven, anti-democratic heart of Ottawa’s foreign policy.

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