Roger Rogoff’s was selected by panel of judges for top prosecutor job after interim US attorney’s term ended

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Donald Trump fired the new top federal prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.

Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as US attorney before 8am at the US courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the US attorney’s office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.

Journalists who had reported on security concerns around the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, received summons

The New York Times on Wednesday filed a motion to quash subpoenas the justice department served journalists who reported on security concerns involving the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, teeing up a significant court fight over press freedom and the government’s ability to force reporters to identify sources.

“As we set out in our motion, these subpoenas are brought in bad faith to punish the Times for its coverage. They violate the constitutional rights of the Times and its journalists. We are going to court to defend our journalists’ rights to report freely on the administration and to provide the public with stories that matter,” David McCraw, the newspaper’s senior vice-president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement.

Since start of Trump’s second term, 14 Mexican immigrants have died in ICE custody and three in agency operations

Mexico formally requested that US state attorneys general criminally investigate cases of immigrants who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or during raids, the Mexican government said Tuesday.

The request follows the death of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, 17 Mexican immigrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.

Plaintiffs allege ‘profound’ chilling effect on protected work of international criminal court officials and others

Two US advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, alleging that sanctions targeting Palestinian rights organizations, international criminal court (ICC) officials and a UN expert have unlawfully violated Americans’ first amendment rights.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, argues that the administration’s sweeping 2025 sanctions package has had a “profound” chilling effect on Palestine-related advocacy, compelling Americans to sever professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected work.

President’s pick for attorney general faces tough questions over purging of career prosecutors, January 6 and Epstein

Todd Blanche sought to downplay his close relationship with Donald Trump, tried to distance himself from decisions regarding January 6 rioters, and defended his handling of files regarding Jeffrey Epstein as well a settlement agreement that created a $1.8bn slush fund and giving the president and his family immunity from audits during his confirmation hearing to be the next attorney general in front of the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday.

Blanche served as Trump’s personal attorney before being tapped to be the deputy attorney general – the No 2 position at the justice department at the start of last year. He has been serving as the acting attorney general since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi, and has amped up Trump’s retribution agenda.

Judge says he’s granting request to dismiss prosecutions even though request is clearly based not on facts or the law

A federal judge nominated by Donald Trump during his first term reluctantly agreed on Friday to grant the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the seditious conspiracy convictions against leaders of the Proud Boys who were convicted by a jury of serious crimes during the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters on 6 January 2021.

The US district judge Timothy Kelly noted in a seven-page memorandum that the Proud Boy leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were all convicted of multiple crimes, including seditious conspiracy, and a fourth member of the group, Dominic Pezzola, was convicted of assaulting an officer and “breaking a Capitol window, thereby helping to create the first entry point through which hundreds of rioters streamed into the building”.

Hannah Dugan was fined $5,000 for ushering a Mexican defendant out of her courtroom to evade ICE agents

A former Wisconsin judge who was convicted of felony obstruction for ushering a Mexican defendant out of her courtroom to evade US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has been spared prison.

A federal judge on Wednesday instead fined Judge Hannah Dugan $5,000, citing her otherwise law-abiding life in issuing the sentence.

Pardons issued to nine people charged with violating Clean Air Act as extreme heat smothers much of US

Donald Trump on Friday issued pardons to 11 men – two convicted fraudsters and nine charged with having violated the federal Clean Air Act by disabling or otherwise modifying trucks’ emissions controls.

Those executive pardons – coming amid US semiquincentennial celebrations blanketed in extreme heat exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions – were among a broader wave of acts of clemency from Trump during his second presidency, chiefly for those he considers to be aligned with him.

In latest legal twist, appeals panel rules US does not have to reinstate signage on climate, immigration and slavery

The Trump administration does not have to reinstate materials related to climate change, immigration and slavery that it has removed from national parks, a US appeals court ruled on Thursday.

It’s the latest twist in a legal battle over how history is remembered at American public monuments.