Four federal courts have now declined to reinstitute President Donald Trump's ban on automatic birthright citizenship after an injunction temporarily blocked it, setting up a Supreme Court fight over the issue.
The latest rejection was from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with Judge Danielle Forrest, a Trump appointee, ruling that the Trump administration did not qualify for emergency relief from the injunction.
The ruling says “nothing about the merits of the executive order or how to properly interpret the Fourteenth Amendment,” she made clear.
She said it was too early to consider the merits of the case.
“Judges are charged to reach their decisions apart from ideology or political preference,” Forrest wrote in a concurring opinion. “When we decide issues of significant public importance and political controversy hours after we finish reading the final brief, we should not be surprised if the public questions whether we are politicians in disguise.”
If the court rules too easily on emergency requests, she argued, it diminishes trust in the judicial system.
“There must be a showing that emergency relief is truly necessary to prevent immediate irreparable harm,” he wrote. “The Government did not make that showing here, and, therefore, there is no reason for us to say anything about whether the factors governing the grant of a stay pending appeal are satisfied.”
John C. Coughenour, an 83-year-old federal judge in Seattle, blocked Trump's original order to ban birthright citizenship last month pending legal challenges to it.
Critics say the order clearly violates the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which says that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.
Others point to wording in the amendment that limits citizenship to those willing to be "subject" to the laws of the United States.
The issue is one that will be fought over when the case is finally heard, but Trump knows his order will have a better chance of standing if it is already implemented than if it isn't.
Democrats seem to have a strategy to challenge all of Trump's policies in court, hoping they will be rejected there.
The executive and legislative branches are beyond their grasp right now, but the courts are not all dominated by Republicans yet.
If the case goes to the Supreme Court, though, Democrats are probably out of luck.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, proclaimed himself "king" on Wednesday, as he praised his administration's attempt to halt federal approval of New York's "congestion pricing."
Congestion pricing is a toll on automobiles that was implemented one month ago in order to raise funds for the region's obsolete mass transport system, as the New York Post reported.
Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation, wrote a letter to Kathy Hochul, the Governor of New York, stating that the federal government had control over roadways that led to Manhattan and that the additional tolls posed an unjust hardship for vehicles who were traveling outside of the city.
The prospective elimination of congestion charging was something that President Trump hailed as a triumph, going so far as to compare himself to royalty on Truth Social.
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" he wrote on social media.
Within the framework of the system, the majority of vehicles that entered Manhattan's central business area were required to pay a peak cost of $9 between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.
This fee was applicable from 60th Street all the way down to the southern edge of the Financial area.
This change wasn't welcomed by the New York governor's office, a group that historically has gained much from increased collections on toll roads.
Hochul firmly stated at a news conference held not long after the announcement by the Trump administration that the toll cameras will continue to operate and criticized Trump.
"President Donald Trump tweeted, 'Long live the king.' I’m here to say New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years," she told reporters at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. "And we sure as hell are not going to start now."
According to Duffy, the tolls, which were imposed on traffic heading to Manhattan, were "backwards and unfair."
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” he said in statement: “Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes."
Others in power outside of Manhattan have applauded the Trump administration's move to terminate the program, claiming that the program unfairly taxes their drivers.
“Today is a huge win for Jersey families, their wallets, and the environment," Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said in statement. "From Day One, when we first started this fight, we knew that the Congestion Tax was just a giant cash grab for New York and the MTA — all on the backs of hardworking Jersey families."
The Washington Post withdrew a "Fire Elon Musk" ad, which would have demanded the firing of the Tesla CEO and SpaceX creator, who holds U.S. government authority as DOGE's head.
A spokeswoman for Musk critic Common Cause told reporters that the Post pulled the ad. The Washington, D.C.-based paper partnered with Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund to publish the ad in Tuesday's issue for $115,000, as The New York Post reported.
Submitting artwork to the Post, Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón was informed the ad might be placed inside the paper but not as a wrap: "We said 'thanks, no thanks' because we had a lot of questions."
The ad would have filled the front and back pages of the Tuesday Post and had a full-page segment with the same theme inside, Common Cause told The Hill.
The advocacy group's representative said Common Cause learned Friday that the Post would not print the Musk ad.
The Post's owner, Jeff Bezos, publicly backed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, and the publication took a lot of heat for not endorsing a candidate. This led to the decision to pull the plug.
"It's deeply concerning that our ad was censored and rejected without a valid reason. We believe this is limiting our freedom of expression at a critical time in our nation's history," a joint statement emailed to USA TODAY from Solomón and Margaret Huang, Southern Poverty Law Center president & CEO, reads.
"This seems to show the Washington Post is feeling pressure to cover the news a certain way."
A representative from The Washington Post informed reporters via email that the publication would rather not discuss internal decisions on individual advertising campaigns, instead referring to its broad advertising guidelines.
Journalists were provided with the design of the advertisement by Common Cause.
The advertisement featured a giant photo of Elon Musk laughing with his head cocked back, as well as a cutout image of the White House and large white writing that says, "Who's running the country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?"
On the lower area of the first page of the ad, a smaller text says, "Since day one, Elon has created chaos and confusion and put our livelihoods at risk. And he is accountable to no one but himself."
"The Constitution only allows for one president at a time. Call your senators and tell them it's time Donald Trump fire Elon Musk," the ad reads, followed by the URL FireMusk.org. The second page of the ad says, "No one elected Elon Musk to any office."
On August 5, 2013, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the space corporation Blue Origin, acquired the Post for $250 million.
Since that time, the publication has been subjected to scrutiny for certain political decisions, such as choosing not to endorse a candidate during the 2024 presidential election.
"The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election," Post publisher Will Lewis said in a statement. "We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates."
According to Solomón, the Post’s decision not to run the ad could be attributed to the relationship between Bezos and Trump.
"Is it because we're critical of what's happening with Elon Musk? Is it only OK to run things in the Post now that won't anger the president or won't have him calling Jeff Bezos asking why this was allowed?" Solomón told the Hill.
Acting Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Michelle King quit her position over the weekend after she disagreed with giving Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers access to taxpayers' private data.
Three sources close to King confirmed her departure, and Trump appointed Leland Dudek to take her place on Monday while his nominee for the position, Frank Bisignano, undergoes the confirmation process.
The White House expects Bisignano to be confirmed within the next few weeks.
"In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner," Principal Deputy Press Secretary at the White House, Harrison Fields said about Bisignano. "President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long."
Bisignano reportedly has posted positive comments about the efforts of DOGE to find and cut federal fraud and waste.
DOGE reported over the weekend that it found more than 20 million people in the Social Security database that were 100 years old or older, despite census data putting that number at more like 80,000.
DOGE wants to find out how many are collecting benefits fraudulently so it can correct the situation and save taxpayers billions more dollars.
According to SSA's numbers, the average Social Security check in January 2025 was $1,976.
If 19,920,000 people are getting fraudulent checks every month, that's a potential fraud of over $39 billion per month or $472 billion per year, which is almost half a trillion dollars.
It stands to reason that a career SSA employee like King might not want that level of fraud to be known, or may not want to be blamed for it.
Musk said that it's probably magnitudes larger than the largest private scam ever.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, commented on Musk's X post that "this problem has been known for at least a decade and now @realDonaldTrump, through @DOGE and @ElonMusk's team, wants to finally do something about it!"
Half a trillion dollars is about a quarter of the amount DOGE aims to find in yearly savings to balance the U.S. budget and reverse the decades-long trend of deficit spending.
How many more secrets are hiding in our government agencies that have contributed to the more than $36 trillion in debt our nation now carries?
Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, is facing more calls to move out of his royal residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle after he hosted the Chinese Ambassador to the UK in December.
Ambassador Zheng Zeguang met with Middle East investment firm Waterberg-Stirling CEO Oleg Firer at Prince Andrew's royal residence on December 9, the Sun reported.
The meeting happened three days before the UK press highlighted the close relationship between Prince Andrew and business adviser Yang Tengbo, who has been accused of being a Chinese spy.
It's the latest in a number of scandals involving Andrew, including his close relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations he assaulted a then-underage girl at Epstein's compound.
“Andrew goes from one disaster to another, and shows a complete lack of judgment,” former Home Office Minister Norman Baker told the Sun. “He also shows he’s interested in pursuing things for himself rather than on behalf of this country."
Baker called Andrew's involvement in yet another scandal "extraordinary."
Andrew has lived in the royal residence since 2004, but more are calling for him to be removed from it amid the numerous scandals.
“It seems that every single time he [Charles] is leaving him [Andrew] to sort out his own affairs, another matter of concern is raised,” a royal insider said.
Andrew stepped down as a working royal in 2019, and the crown does not fund him or his security anymore.
In 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped him of his royal titles after he settled a sexual assault lawsuit with Virginia Guiffre for an undisclosed amount.
He cannot be called "His Royal Highness" or any honorary military titles since his mother did so.
Andrew and King Charles are not on speaking terms due to the many scandals and the way they have damaged the royal family's reputation, according to reports.
Because of the latest scandal with Tengbo, Andrew skipped Christmas at the family estate in Sandringham and didn't go to the pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace.
Instead, he remained at Royal Lodge with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
The Justice Department has fired multiple immigration judges in a decision on Friday that came as a shock to many observers considering the Trump administration's ambitious deportation goals.
The firing announcement was confirmed on Friday by insiders who confirmed that the decision was made by the acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Justice Department.
The decision ignited outrage from a judge's union which criticized the decision to conduct layoffs while the Trump administration is in the middle of deporting thousands of illegal immigrants.
Matt Biggs, the president of the IFPTE representing immigration judges wrote, "You have a president now who campaigned on immigration and removing people from the country on the one hand. And on the other hand, he’s actually firing the very judges that have to hear these cases and make those decisions. So, it makes no sense. It’s a head scratcher."
Clearly, the Trump administration has already determined that these judges are no longer necessary or are unfit to serve in their positions due to ideological reasons considering the new immigration policy that Trump will be implementing.
The Trump administration is leaving no stone unturned and is overhauling the federal workforce at every level both to purge leftist ideologues and to cut down on the size of the federal government to reduce spending.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review has been especially hard hit by cuts as five significant executives have been let go since Trump was sworn into office last month.
In the case of the immigration judges who have been let go, it appears that the reason for their firing comes down to ideological reasons.
Judge Kerry Doyle, who was one of those judges fired by the Trump administration, posted to her LinkedIn that all of the judges who had been fired were appointed by former President Joe Biden.
Clearly, the Trump administration does not trust individuals appointed by the previous administration to appropriately review immigration litigation and asylum applications.
Judges appointed by the past regime are more likely to be lenient with illegal immigrants as reflected by the open borders policy of the past administration. The Trump administration likely viewed these judges as a liability, but there has been no confirmation of these allegations.
For years, economic immigrants have gained access "legally" to the United States by applying for asylum and disappearing into the country while their case awaited a review that would take years.
The Biden administration was more than happy to facilitate this "legal" exploit of our broken immigration system as there are literally millions of immigration cases in a backlog.
An overwhelming number of these applicants do not fit the conventional definition of asylum seeker as many of them are economic migrants coming from a variety of countries few of which are war-torn or even notably unstable.
With Trump in charge, this abuse of our immigration system will not be tolerated and many of those economic migrants awaiting a hearing will likely find their applications rejected and subject to immediate deportation in the coming months.
The Department of Justice has requested that a federal district court drop its corruption charges with prejudice against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was recently confirmed by the Senate, said on Friday that the September corruption charges against Adams were going to be dismissed later in the day.
In the official request, DOJ lawyers wrote, "The United States respectfully submits this motion seeking dismissal without prejudice of the charges in this case, with leave of the Court."
This would effectively end the corruption case against Adams which was pushed aggressively by the previous Biden administration after Adams began complaining about the impacts of Biden's open border policies on New York City.
Adams quickly claimed that the corruption investigation was a political hitjob designed to punish him for speaking out against Biden and the Trump administration seems to agree.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove explained that the Trump administration has an interest in shutting down the political indictment against Adams in order to accomplish greater objectives as well as create a useful ally.
Ending the questionable investigation into Adams gives the Trump administration a friend in an otherwise extremely unfriendly Democrat state.
Bove explained on Friday "that continuing these proceedings would interfere with the defendant’s ability to govern in New York City, which poses unacceptable threats to public safety, national security, and related federal immigration initiatives and policies."
Bove also noted that the indictment against Adams "improperly interfered” with his reelection campaign as well as the aforementioned issues with tackling “illegal immigration and violent crime."
Adams is essentially going to ensure that the Trump administration's agenda will not be opposed in New York City and in return the DOJ is shutting the indictment down.
This has spawned a flurry of outraged responses from Democrats who want to see Trump's immigration agenda opposed. There has also been a flurry of resignations at the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
President Trump himself likely won't shed tears over the resignations at the SDNY as New York's court system has already proven its corruption in the indictments that Trump himself had to defeat prior to the 2024 presidential election.
So the news that interim attorney Danielle Sassoon and many others had resigned in protest to the DOJ's decision to request charges against Adams be dismissed is another win for Trump.
Democrats who weaponized the DOJ for years are now complaining that the Trump administration is killing a blatantly political indictment that was designed to silence a critic of the Biden administration
This is a new era for America under Trump and the rules of the game have changed after four years of chaos and kangaroo courts.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that 53 Venezuelan illegal immigrants were sent to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military detention facility in Cuba that houses terrorists and other serious criminals, mostly from other countries.
The Times thinks the story is a scoop because the prisoners are being guarded by members of the U.S. military, while the government under President Donald Trump has said that civilian ICE agents and other personnel are doing that job.
"The civilian law enforcement role of immigration detention is being essentially militarized," the Times claimed.
“This is the first time we’ve seen the government send people from U.S. soil to an overseas camp, and it’s been unclear exactly what role the military is playing,” Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union immigrant rights lawyer, said. “All of this potentially raises legal issues we’ve never seen before.”
No doubt the ACLU is salivating at the idea of challenging the administration's actions in court.
The administration confirmed that the Venezuelans--"violent gang members and other high-threat illegal aliens"--are being held at Guantanamo.
That's all it's saying for now.
As far as what the American people see, it's an administration that is doing what it said it would do--getting criminal illegal immigrants off the streets and out of the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted photos of some detainees as they boarded planes for Guantanamo.
"President @realdonaldtrump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today," she wrote.
President @realdonaldtrump has been very clear: Guantanamo Bay will hold the worst of the worst. That starts today. pic.twitter.com/Iqxt5rCfWa
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 4, 2025
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted back on February 4 that flights to Guantanamo had begun.
"Flights to Guantanamo Bay have begun. The worst of the worst have no place in our homeland," it captioned a video showing shackled detainees boarding planes.
Other than the photos, the administration is being tight-lipped about who was sent there, at least for now. But it's clear that Trump has gotten serious about criminal migrants and getting them away from any Americans they could potentially harm.
Some officials considering the idea of a plan that would "delete entire agencies," as the government transitions to a new administration.
This idea comes from tech billionaire and Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, who made the recent comments as part of his overarching mission to push toward government that is cost and efficiency-driven, as The Associated Press reported.
The technology tycoon reportedly wants to leave a legacy that will last beyond the term of the current president.
"I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind. ... It's kind of like leaving a weed," Musk said.
The new head of the Department on Government Efficiency went on to say that there has to be systemic change if this is to be more than just a passing phase in government.
"If you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back," Musk said.
"But if you remove the roots of the weed — it doesn't stop weeds from ever going back, but it makes it harder."
While participating in a discussion moderated by Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s minister of artificial intelligence, Musk—who also created SpaceX and owns the social media platform X—made the remarks while speaking to an audience at Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit via video link.
"So we have to really delete entire agencies, many of them," Musk said.
"And that's not to say there won't be an increase over time of bureaucracy in some new administration, but it will be from a much lower baseline. So certainly it's a step in the right direction."
"Nothing's forever," he added, "but I think we can strengthen the foundations of the United States substantially."
Trump named the South African-born engineer and internet entrepreneur a "special government employee" and head of the Department of Federal Efficiency.
Musk stated on Thursday that his efforts to streamline government and cut red tape may cut the federal budget by $1 trillion by 2026, which would significantly decrease the national debt.
Musk attacked the budget line by line for the U.S. Agency for International Development and in the process moved his agenda forward by furloughing most workers and withholding financing internationally.
In early February, the Trump administration announced that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would be disbanding as an independent agency and relocating to the State Department, a move that would necessitate the approval of Congress.
A bill that would give Greenland a new name has been filed to the House of Representatives by a Republican congressman from Georgia.
This comes at a time when President Donald Trump is continuing his efforts to acquire the island, Fox News reported.
The measure, which has been given the name "Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025," was proposed by Representative Earl "Buddy" Carter. The purpose of the bill is to rename the island from Greenland to a more colorful name, red, white, and blueland.
Under the act, the newly appointed Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, would be given the responsibility of overseeing the transition and ensuring that it is reflected on official papers and maps so that Greenland is referred to by its new name.
“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a press release.
“President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”
Despite Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede's repeated statements that the island is not for sale, Trump is pushing for the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, which is why the bill is being proposed.
Trump has maintained an interest in purchasing the island for what he claims are "national security purposes" since his win in November.
Trump has also questioned whether Denmark, which has controlled Greenland since 1814, has a "legal right" to the territory and predicted that Greenland's people will vote to join the U.S. He warned that if Denmark does not give up Greenland, the U.S. will "tariff Denmark at a very high level."
Additionally, Trump has not explicitly said that acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal via military means is not an option.
"No, I can't assure you of either of those two. But I can say this: We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago home.
A majority of Greenlanders, as much as 85%, do not want their Arctic island, which is a semi-autonomous Danish colony, to join the United States. Almost half of those Greenlanders consider Trump's interest in the island as a danger.
According to a poll conducted by pollster Verian and funded by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, just 6% of Greenlanders are in favor of their island becoming a U.S. territory, while 9% are still uncertain.
According to the results, 45% of respondents saw Trump's interest in Greenland negatively, 43% positively, and 13% were unsure.