US justice system

Subterms

    Latest story

    163 Shares71 Views

    Yet again, released Epstein files raise more questions than answers | Moira Donegan

    by

    The documents are disturbing. But they seem largely to reflect information that has already been made publicAfter months of public outcry and pressure from within the Maga coalition, Donald Trump’s justice department released what it called The Epstein Files, with the Trump world’s typical fanfare. A media frenzy ensued. But the “files” that were released by Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice left many observers frustrated and confused. The release was partial and heavily redacted; much of the information had already been made public. Media figures were incensed, and members of Congress pledged to push the Trump administration for more. The episode left Washington watchers frustrated. It fueled speculation that Trump, who had long opposed the release of the documents, had something to hide.That was on 27 February, when a group of 15 rightwing media figures who had taken a special interest in the Epstein case were summoned to the White House and given white binders labeled “The Epstein Files”. The release was meant to allay pressure from the president’s conspiracy-minded base and neutralize the Epstein issue, which has dogged Trump since the financier, sex offender and former close friend of the president died in prison during his first term in 2019. But those who received the binders said that there was little new information in them. The episode only further inflamed tensions and increased the salience of the Epstein issue. Continue reading… More

    More stories

    • 288 Shares41 Views

      in US Politics

      Fairer laws passed, polluting factories shuttered, charges against innocent people dropped – and 10 more ways our US reporting made change in 2025

      by

      Our work would not be possible without the support of our readers. From everyone at the Guardian US: thank youPlease consider supporting us as we approach the deadline of our crucial year-end appealAfter we exclusively revealed that Israel’s elite spy agency was using Microsoft technology to store recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Microsoft announced it was terminating the Israeli military’s access to services used in that surveillance system. According to sources, the sweeping and intrusive surveillance program was used to shape military operations and facilitate the preparation of deadly airstrikes. Our report, in collaboration with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, prompted protests at Microsoft’s US headquarters and pressure from employees and investors that led to the tech company’s extraordinary decision. Continue reading… More

    • 138 Shares46 Views

      in US Politics

      Luigi Mangione lawyers fight death penalty, saying Pam Bondi is biased

      by

      Lawyers also attempting to throw out two federal charges, saying US attorney general has ties to UnitedHealth GroupLawyers for Luigi Mangione are attempting to avoid the death penalty and throw out two federal charges in the justice department’s case against him, arguing that attorney general Pam Bondi is biased because she used to work at a lobbying firm that represents UnitedHealth Group.In court documents filed on Friday, Mangione’s lawyers said that Bondi has a “profound conflict of interest” because her former employer, Ballard Partners, a DC-based lobbying firm founded by the Trump donor Brian Ballard, counts UnitedHealth Group as one of its clients. Continue reading… More

    • 113 Shares83 Views

      in US Politics

      Beware Trump’s two-pronged strategy undermining democracy | David Cole

      by

      The president announces non-existent emergencies to invoke extraordinary powers – and neutralizes the oppositionThis month, we learned that, in the course of bombing a boat of suspected drug smugglers, the US military intentionally killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage after its initial air assault. In addition, Donald Trump said it was seditious for Democratic members of Congress to inform members of the military that they can, and indeed, must, resist patently illegal orders, and the FBI and Pentagon are reportedly investigating the members’ speech. Those related developments – the murder of civilians and an attack on free speech – exemplify two of Trump’s principal tactics in his second term. The first involves the assertion of extraordinary emergency powers in the absence of any actual emergency. The second seeks to suppress dissent by punishing those who dare to raise their voices. Both moves have been replicated time and time again since January 2025. How courts and the public respond will determine the future of constitutional democracy in the United States.Nothing is more essential to a liberal democracy than the rule of law – that is, the notion that a democratic government is guided by laws, not discretionary whims; that the laws respect basic liberties for all; and that independent courts have the authority to hold political officials accountable when they violate those laws. These principles, forged in the United Kingdom, adopted and revised by the United States, are the bedrock of constitutional democracy. But they depend on courts being willing and able to check government abuse, and citizens exercising their rights to speak out in defense of the fundamental values when those values are under attack.David Cole is the Honorable George J Mitchell professor in law and public policy at Georgetown University and former national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. This essay is adapted from his international rule of law lecture sponsored by the Bar Council. Continue reading… More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Trump pardons Giuliani, Meadows and others over plot to steal 2020 election

      by

      Federal clemency towards president’s close allies largely symbolic as some still face legal exposure at state levelRudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, both close former political allies of Donald Trump, are among scores of people pardoned by the president over the weekend for their roles in a plot to steal the 2020 election.The maneuver is in effect symbolic, given it only applies in the federal justice system and not in state courts, where Giuliani, Meadows and the others continue facing legal peril. The acts of clemency were announced in a post late on Sunday to X by US pardon attorney Ed Martin, covers 77 people said to have been the architects and agents of the scheme to install fake Republican electors in several battleground states, which would have falsely declared Trump their winner instead of the actual victor: Joe Biden. Continue reading… More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      MyPillow founder defamed Smartmatic election tech company, judge rules

      by

      Mike Lindell alleged Los Angeles county devices were rigged in 2020 to change Trump votes to Biden votesMyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed the election technology company Smartmatic with false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled recently.But US district judge Jeffrey Bryan deferred until future proceedings the question of whether Lindell – one of the country’s most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud – acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic still needs to prove to collect any damages. Continue reading… More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Georgia supreme court ends Fani Willis bid to reverse removal from Trump case

      by

      Election interference case in limbo as court declines to hear appeal against disqualification of Fulton county prosecutorThe Georgia supreme court on Tuesday declined to hear Fani Willis’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling disqualifying the Fulton county prosecutor from prosecuting Donald Trump’s election interference case.In a 4-3 decision, the state’s highest court let stand the lower court order disqualifying Willis from the racketeering and election interference case that initially snagged 19 defendants, including Donald Trump, in 2023. Continue reading… More