update - Fed'l judge finds overwhelming evidence of gratuitous violence and misconduct by ICE in Chicago

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Court permanently blocks Trump’s executive order to dismantle federal agency for America’s libraries

Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

www.ala.org

Washington – Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The decision was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 21 states.

ALA President Sam Helmick said, “Today's court decision is a powerful affirmation of what libraries mean to America. It restores everything that the executive order tried to take away: shared access to books in rural and remote areas, essential virtual learning tools, children's reading programs and the countless library services available to anyone who walks into a public, school or academic library. This isn't just a win for the 21 states who filed the case--it's a win for every library user and every American in every state and territory.

“Convincing a federal judge that shuttering a supposedly obscure agency would have an immediate and devastating impact on millions of Americans is no small feat. Libraries also strengthen local economies by supporting jobseekers, small businesses and community learning. Protecting these resources matters. ALA is proud to be in the company of dozens of library workers, associations, Friends of libraries, parents, educators, leaders at every level of government and every American who showed up for our libraries.

“This victory belongs to all of us, and we build the future of our libraries together. As we celebrate this decision, ALA invites everyone to keep using and speaking up for libraries. Your voice makes a difference, and your community leaders need to hear it.”

IMLS is the only federal agency dedicated to the nation’s libraries and museums. On March 14, President Trump issued Executive Order 14238, which directed the elimination of the agency. Subsequently, the Trump administration began mass termination of the agency’s grants, dismissed all members of the IMLS board, halted crucial data collection and research, and intended to lay off nearly all of the agency’s staff. These actions left IMLS unable to fulfill its duties required by federal law and interrupted library services across the country.

Today’s court ruling found that those actions were arbitrary and capricious and contrary to federal law that established IMLS and directed it to carry out programs, including funding for libraries and museums across the nation. The ruling nullifies the Administration’s actions to dismantle IMLS and permanently prohibits the Administration from taking such actions in the future. The ruling has immediate nationwide effect.

ALA also has led efforts in Congress and the courts to preserve IMLS, in parallel to the states’ litigation. ALA filed its own lawsuit challenging the Administration’s actions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which remains ongoing. In May, ALA’s lawsuit won a temporary restraining order, which prevented the mass layoff of nearly all IMLS employees, days before it was scheduled to take effect.

ALA also mobilized thousands of contacts from library supporters nationwide urging Congress to protect IMLS. As Congress continues work to finalize appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026, ALA urges advocates to contact their Representatives and Senators in support of continued funding for the agency’s vital work.

 

[mandrill]

Trump makes multi-million-dollar purchase of company debt


Buried within a mountain of financial disclosures made public recently is a potentially multi-million-dollar purchase made by President Donald Trump between August and October, a purchase that has left some critics stunned by its lack of news coverage.

“In a normal administration, this would be a huge scandal,” wrote journalist and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast in a social media post on Tuesday on X.



The purchase was, according to a report Tuesday from The New York Times, for between $1 million and $5 million worth of corporate debt of the technology company Intel. The disclosure was published amid the Trump administration’s decision to secure a more than $11 billion stake in the company, making the U.S. government hold 10% of the company’s stock.

“This is truly insane,” wrote journalist Ryan Grim in a social media post on X Tuesday, responding to the news.



Intel is not the only company Trump has personally invested in. Last week, reporting showed that Trump had also purchased as much as $6 million in corporate bonds for the weapons manufacturer Boeing, a purchase made close to the company being awarded a $877 million contract from the Defense Department.

Back in September, Trump also purchased between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Boeing bonds. Since January, Trump has purchased, at a minimum, $185 million worth of bonds.

These personal investments of the president continue to run in tandem with the Trump administration’s unprecedented purchases of company stocks and bonds, which officials say are being carried out in the interest of national security.

“It is an unusual new strategy that has already committed more than $10 billion in taxpayer funds and shows little sign of slowing,” wrote the Times reporter Ana Swanson in a report on Tuesday.

“The government’s growing portfolio of corporate ownership involves minority stakes, or the option to take them in the future, in at least nine companies involved in steel, minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductors, a New York Times analysis found. The deals were all struck in the past six months, with the bulk made in October and November.”

 

[mandrill]

MAGA officials picked a fight in court


A newly revealed transcript of a courtroom deposition in Chicago shows MAGA officials picking fights over immigration enforcement — and an exasperated judge accusing Trump's Border Patrol chief, Greg Bovino of constantly dodging questions and making false statements, reported the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday.

This comes after U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis issued a blistering opinion last week based on this hearing, accusing Bovino of "outright lying" as part of a lawsuit brought to stop the Trump administration's federal raids in Chicago.



The tension began almost immediately, according to the report, as Justice Department attorney Sarmad Khojasteh accused plaintiffs' attorney Locke Bowman he was being disrespectful by not shaking Bovino's hand.

"What followed was nearly seven hours of terse and sometimes evasive answers from Bovino, punctuated by an occasional longer explanation about the allegedly violent mobs attacking and threatening immigration agents," said the report. "The questioning was almost constantly interrupted by bickering between the attorneys, mostly instigated by Khojasteh, who at one point called Bowman a 'petulant old man.'" At the same time, Bowman slammed Khojasteh for showboating, snapping, "You don't need to give speeches."


One of the most damning moments of the deposition, the report continued, came when Bovino was challenged on his claim that he threw tear gas canisters at the crowd because one of the protesters hit him in the head with a white rock.

After further questioning, Bovino admitted he was "mistaken," saying, “The white rock was thrown at me, but that was after I deployed less lethal means in chemical munitions. I was mixed up with several other objects in a very chaotic environment. And I confused that white rock with other objects that were thrown at me.”

After Bowman showed an image of the protesters and asked if this was the "violent mob" he had talked about seeing before throwing the canisters, he said, “Well, this is, you know, I, can’t tell exactly what’s happening from, from a picture. This is, this, this, this picture here that you’ve given me is — this is a snapshot in time.”

All of this comes as Trump dukes out another series of legal battles over whether he can deploy the National Guard to Chicago to back up the immigration agents. A New York Times report on Tuesday reveals the DOJ's filing to the Supreme Court to be full of errors and false claims about the protesters.

 

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Trump admin told Supreme Court that Chicago police refused to help ICE agents


The Trump administration made mistaken and misleading claims over the deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago in an emergency docket to the Supreme Court, according to a new report.

A New York Times investigation published Tuesday revealed that the administration erroneously distorted Chicago Police Department officers' responsiveness and protesters' actions in a filing that requested the high court to allow the troops in the Windy City.


"The emergency request, filed by the solicitor general, D. John Sauer, which draws heavily from court declarations made by two Homeland Security officials, misstates what happened in the aftermath of a car crash and shooting on Oct. 4 in Chicago that involved Border Patrol agents," The Times reported.

After analyzing hundreds of videos and hours of police radio, The Times debunked the federal government's claims that police were slow to respond and left ICE agents on their own in "what they called a riot." During the Oct. 4 crash and shooting, The Times found that police responded within seven minutes and found that "protesters were peaceful for the first two hours, before a forceful federal response."

"That contention is central to the administration’s legal rationale for deploying the National Guard: that 'violent protests' are preventing agents from enforcing immigration law," according to The Times.

The case could set a stunning legal precedent for authorizing the military in American cities.

"The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on the fast-track emergency docket after lower courts granted Illinois’s request to block the troop deployment. The court could rule any day. If the justices decide in favor of the Trump administration, the emergency ruling, although temporary, could lay the legal groundwork for the deployment of National Guard troops to more U.S. cities," The Times reported.

 

[mandrill]

Court official dismisses Justice Department's misconduct complaint against a federal judge in DC


A court official has dismissed a Justice Department complaint that accused a federal judge of “hostile and egregious” misconduct during hearings for a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops serving in the military.

The complaint accused U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., of inappropriately questioning a government lawyer about his religious beliefs and of trying to embarrass the attorney with a rhetorical exercise during a February hearing.

In a Sept 29 order that wasn't made public until Monday, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the complaint. Srinivasan said a motion for Reyes' recusal would have been the proper means for the Justice Department to contest her impartiality and seek her removal from the case.

The department didn't explicitly ask for Reyes' removal from the transgender troops' litigation. And it didn't file a petition for a review of the chief judge's order, which didn't reach any conclusions about the merits of the complaint's allegations.

“If a party that believes a judge’s conduct in a case raises serious questions about her impartiality were to press its concerns in the ordinary way — by seeking her recusal in the case itself — the standards for resolving the matter are well established,” Srinivasan wrote.



The Justice Department had no immediate comment on Tuesday. Reyes declined to comment on the chief judge's order or the department's complaint.

The complaint was filed by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s then-chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, who has since left the department. Mizelle claimed Reyes' behavior “compromised the dignity of the proceedings and demonstrated potential bias.”

“When judges demonstrate apparent bias or treat counsel disrespectfully, public confidence in the judicial system is undermined,” he wrote.

Mizelle’s complaint cited an exchange in which Reyes asked a government attorney: “What do you think Jesus would say to telling a group of people that they are so worthless, so worthless that we’re not going to allow them into homeless shelters? Do you think Jesus would be, ‘Sounds right to me'?” The attorney responded by saying, “The United States is not going to speculate about what Jesus would have to say about anything.”

The complaint also refers to a rhetorical exercise about discrimination. Reyes spoke of changing the rules in her courtroom to bar graduates of the University of Virginia law school from appearing before her because they are all “liars and lack integrity.” She instructed the government attorney, a graduate of the school, to sit down before calling him back up to the podium.

Reyes was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Trump and Republican allies have mounted an escalating series of attacks against the federal judiciary since the start of his second term.

Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order claims without presenting evidence that the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness. It required Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a revised policy.

Six transgender people who were active-duty service members and two other plaintiffs seeking to join the military sued to challenge Trump's order. Reyes blocked the order's enforcement in March, ruling that it likely violates the plaintiffs' constitutional rights. A federal judge in Washington state also blocked enforcement of the order.

Reyes agreed to suspend her order pending the government's appeal, which hasn't been resolved yet. But the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to ban transgender people from the military in the meantime.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

 

[mandrill]

Trump considers ousting his FBI Director


President Donald Trump has been considering removing Kash Patel as the FBI director has come under criticism for using private security for his country singer girlfriend and his use of a government jet, according to a MS NOW report published Tuesday

Patel is on "thin ice" as top Trump aides complain that Patel has used government resources for personal use and has had fights with other Trump loyalists, the report adds. It was published at a time when Patel's FBI was facing growing criticism over its use of resources and its investigations into Trump's political enemies.




The "unflattering headlines" have reportedly prompted Trump to confide in his allies about his concerns over the embarrassing stories, MS NOW's report added.

Three people aware of the situation spoke anonymously and told MS NOW that Trump is considering cutting Patel and putting Andrew Bailey as the FBI's new director. Bailey is a top agency official.



Patel's ouster "appears closer than ever, with Bailey as the logical replacement, two of the sources with knowledge of the situation said, though Trump could change his mind in the weeks to come," MS NOW reported.

Patel was at the White House on Tuesday for the pardoning of turkeys, whom Trump dubbed "Chuck and Nancy."

Trump mentioned Patel during the turkey pardoning. He praised him and said he was “very busy doing a great job.”

After several people clapped, Trump said, “See, you’ve got a following, Kash.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson denied that Trump is interested in removing Patel from his role.

 

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