Stephen Dinan

Court upholds block on Trump plans to use post office to police election

A federal appeals court has rejected President Trump's attempt to revive his plans to have the U.S. Postal Service referee this year's elections by refusing to deliver ballots by mail unless states first verify the eligibility of the voters.

July 26, 2026

Noncitizen charged with illegal voting in Hawaii, said her uncle pressured her to cast ballot

A 19-year-old woman has been charged with illegally voting as a noncitizen after she cast a ballot in the 2024 election.

July 25, 2026

Founder of SCOTUSblog sentenced to 6 years in prison for tax evasion

Tom Goldstein, a lawyer who founded the widely read SCOTUSblog and lived a secret life as a high-stakes poker player, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for tax evasion and mortgage fraud.

July 25, 2026

Hung jury for Border Patrol charged by feds with unauthorized force against migrant

A jury acquitted a Border Patrol agent of concealing evidence and could not return a verdict on another charge accusing him of using too much force to subdue an illegal immigrant.

July 24, 2026

ICE nears 600,000 deportations since Trump took office

ICE is hitting its deportation stride under new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, averaging about 1,250 formal deportations a day over the last three months.

July 23, 2026

DHS has issued $84 billion in fines to illegal immigrants who won’t go home

Homeland Security has now issued fines to more than 100,000 illegal immigrants who have refused to leave the country even after being ordered out by an immigration judge.

July 23, 2026

House chairman asks DOJ to investigate Jack Smith for lying to Congress

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan made a criminal referral to the Justice Department on Wednesday, asking prosecutors to see if they can bring charges against former Special Counsel Jack Smith for cagey statements he made about obtaining lawmakers' text messages.

July 22, 2026

Hegseth’s new testosterone standard for troops could undercut military’s transgender ban, judge says

A federal judge suggested Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new policy requiring troops to meet testosterone levels -- and delivering testosterone replacement therapy -- could undercut the rationale behind the department's restrictions on trans troops.

July 22, 2026

Smithsonian museum director on hot seat over display of ‘crotch harness’

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History comes with a parental advisory warning, the museum's director told Congress on Wednesday, as she spent a second day struggling to defend a sexually charged exhibit that showed what one congresswoman called a "crotch harness."

July 22, 2026

Court overturns ruling that freed pro-Palestinian protester from immigration detention

A federal appeals court overturned a lower court ruling on Tuesday that had ordered a Palestinian immigrant released from immigration detention, saying the district court didn't have the authority to intervene.

July 21, 2026

Gov. Abbott announces Texas crackdown on ‘birth tourism’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced his own crackdown Tuesday to try to block migrants who game the immigration system by having babies on U.S. soil, earning automatic citizenship for those children.

July 21, 2026

New Jersey finds 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote and hundreds voting

Thousands of noncitizens were added to New Jersey's voting rolls, and hundreds of them even cast ballots in the state's elections, Gov. Mikie Sherrill acknowledged Tuesday.

July 21, 2026

Republicans accuse Smithsonian of sexualizing kids with ‘woke’ bondage and fetishist exhibits

Sex-laced bondage and transgender imagery in exhibits at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History are sexualizing and traumatizing kids, Republicans charged Tuesday, telling the museum's director that she's using her post to elevate "woke" ideology over American greatness.

July 21, 2026

Woman tried to free migrant from ICE custody with tequila bribe: DOJ

A woman tried to bribe an official at an ICE detention center to release a migrant, offering gifts of money and tequila to try to spring the person free, federal prosecutors say.

July 21, 2026

Supreme Court term saw more ideological divides; Justice Jackson furthest to the left

The number of 6-3 ideologically split decisions at the Supreme Court rose this term with rulings on transgender athletes, the Voting Rights Act, campaign finance and several immigration decisions all being won by the conservative majority, according to a prominent court scholar.

July 20, 2026

Alligator Alcatraz shut down, state official says, after funding solves ICE’s detention site issues

Alligator Alcatraz is now gone, and all that's left is empty tarmac, Florida officials told a federal judge, saying the last immigration detainees left in mid-June and all operations have ceased at the detention center the state built in the Everglades.

July 20, 2026

Republicans flood Congress with bills to confront Supreme Court on birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court may have crushed President Trump's plans to restrict birthright citizenship, but congressional Republicans are seeking legislative alternatives that could restrict it in certain cases.

July 20, 2026

Minnesota’s sanctuary policies survive DOJ challenge

A federal judge tossed out the Trump administration's challenge to Minnesota's sanctuary laws, ruling Monday that the state has the right to make decisions about how to use its resources, including the ability to decline to help the feds on illegal immigration.

July 20, 2026

Supreme Court to decide if Alaska man’s $95,000 fine for a six-pack of Budweiser was fair

Alaska doesn't mess around when it comes to illegal alcohol, authorizing severe penalties for anyone who allows it to be brought into communities where it's banned.

July 20, 2026

DHS threatens ‘prison time’ for states that don’t cooperate on Trump’s election goals

States that work with President Trump to clean up their voter rolls can get more taxpayer money to help do it, but those that refuse could face fines and penalties and, if they ignore evidence of noncitizens on their lists, the administration is threatening "prison time" for their leaders.

July 17, 2026