Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has sued the Pentagon over attempts to punish him for his warnings about illegal orders. He's claiming the Trump administration trampled on his constitutional rights to free speech. Kelly, a former Navy pilot who represents Arizona, is seeking to block his censure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week. Hegseth said he censured Kelly over his participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
A top European Union official has warned the United States against interfering in European affairs. European Council President António Costa was reacting Monday to the Trump administration's new national security strategy. The document criticizes European allies and offers tacit support to far-right parties in Europe. Costa emphasized that only European citizens can choose their political leaders. The strategy released Friday questions Europe's free speech and migration policies. It underlines the importance of ending Russia's war in Ukraine and improving U.S.-Russia relations. But Costa says it focuses chiefly on the end of hostilities rather than peace and on the stability of relations with Russia.
In my last column I shared the story of the trauma residents of an apartment building in Chicago endured when federal agents stormed them in t…
I have a fairly good gauge of when the community is under stress based on the outreach I receive. People are angry, upset, they seek justice. …
Texas' attorney general is praising a Supreme Court ruling upholding a state law aimed at blocking children from seeing pornography online. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday companies "have no right to expose children to pornography and must institute reasonable age verification measures." Nearly half the states have passed similar age verification laws as smartphones and other devices make it easier to access online porn. The Free Speech Coalition says the Texas law puts an unfair burden on adults by requiring them to submit personal information that could be vulnerable to hacking. District courts initially blocked laws in Indiana, Tennessee and Texas, but appeals courts let the laws take effect.
Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the "precious gift of free speech and the press." He spoke in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff. Leo received a standing ovation as he entered the Vatican auditorium for his first meeting with representatives of the general public. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, elected in a 24-hour conclave last week, called for journalists to use words for peace, to reject war and to give voice to the voiceless.
A federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to stop blocking The Associated Press' from presidential events has refused to take immediate steps to get White House officials to comply. It's an incremental development in a two-month dispute between the global news agency and administration officials over access. The case has significant free-speech implications under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. It centers on the government blocking AP's access to cover events because the outlet won't rename the Gulf of Mexico in its reports. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden says it's too soon to say that President Donald Trump is violating his order — as the AP suggests.
A government lawyer has asked a federal judge to move the legal fight over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil to either New Jersey or Louisiana. The request was made Wednesday during a hearing in New York City. Khalil is a Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump Administration is trying to deport over his role in pro-Palestinian protests at the Ivy League school last year. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident and is married to an American citizen. After the 30-year-old's detention last weekend, Judge Jesse M. Furman in New York ordered that Khalil not be deported while the court considers his lawyers' legal challenge.
In stark contrast to the spring when hundreds of students were arrested and suspended for violating campus policies, far fewer participated in…
