California
Judge orders Trump to tell fired workers they were not let go for poor performance
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. district judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the Trump administration to provide probationary workers fired en masse a written statement saying they were not terminated for performance reasons, but as part of a government-wide termination.
Judge William Alsup is overseeing a lawsuit brought by labor unions and nonprofits contesting the mass firings of thousands of probationary workers in February under Republican President Donald Trump.
In March, Alsup ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers because their terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management, which did not have the authority to fire workers at any other agency but its own.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week blocked Alsup’s order requiring the administration to return those terminated employees to work, but did not decide whether the firings were unlawful.
Alsup was particularly upset that the firings of probationary workers — many young and early in their careers — followed an OPM template stating that the person had been fired for poor performance.
“Termination under the false pretense of performance is an injury that will persist for the working life of each civil servant,” wrote Alsup in Friday’s order. “The stain created by OPM’s pretense will follow each employee through their careers and will limit their professional opportunities.”
The administration has defined performance to account for job indispensability as Trump seeks to drastically reduce the federal workforce.
Lawyers for the administration also say that OPM did not order the firings, but Alsup found it was impossible for federal agencies to assess each worker’s performance in only a matter of days.
In Friday’s order, Alsup said the fired workers must receive the written statements by May 8. If a worker was fired after an individualized evaluation of that employee’s performance or fitness, the agency must submit by May 8 “a declaration, under oath and seal, stating so and providing the individual reasoning underpinning that termination.”
A federal judge in Maryland overseeing a similar complaint brought by 19 states found the administration did not follow laws set out for large-scale layoffs, including 60 days’ advance notice.
A preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge James Bredar ordering reinstatement of the workers was overturned last week by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Washington
Judges warn more money is needed for security
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judiciary is warning that Congress is not providing enough money for judges’ security, at a time of escalating threats and chilling efforts at intimidation.
More than five dozen judges handling lawsuits against the Trump administration are receiving “enhanced online security screening” that typically includes scrubbing their personal information from the internet, two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents wrote on behalf of the judiciary in a letter to congressional appropriators.
President Donald Trump, senior aide Stephen Miller and billionaire Elon Musk have railed at judges who have blocked parts of Trump’s agenda, threatening impeachment and launching personal attacks. Trump’s call to impeach the judge who temporarily halted deportations using an 18th century wartime law prompted a rare quick response from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roughly 50 people have been charged with crimes in connection with the threats, U.S. Circuit Judge Amy J. St. Eve and U.S. District Robert J. Conrad Jr. said. Trump appointed St. Eve to the federal appeals court in Chicago during his first term.
“In extreme cases, the U.S. Marshals Service has been required to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges,” St. Eve and Conrad wrote.
Authorities have yet to make any arrests in hundreds of increasingly unsettling and unwanted pizza deliveries to the homes of judges and their children, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas said during an online forum on Tuesday.
The most recent deliveries, this week, have been sent in the name of Salas’ late son, Daniel Anderl, who was shot dead at the family home by a disgruntled lawyer in 2020.
The message is unmistakable, Salas said. “’I know where you live, I know where your kids live, and do you want end up like Judge Salas. Do you want to end up like her son?’” she said.
Last month, a sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found, police said.
The judges’ letter was sent last week, but posted online Friday by the judiciary. It calls the current funding levels unsustainable, nearly $50 million less than what the courts requested just for security.
Mississippi
Transitioning teen cannot change name, Supreme Court rules
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling denying a transgender teen’s name-change petition.
The ruling comes nearly two years after a then 16-year-old undergoing a gender transition filed a petition to change his name to better fit his gender identity. Both of the teen’s parents consented to the name change. But Hinds County Chancery Judge Tametrice Hodges in November 2023 denied the petition, citing the teen’s lack of maturity.
The Mississippi Supreme Court voted 8-1 to uphold the ruling.
“The petitioner’s primary appellate argument is that the chancellor had no discretion to deny the name-change petition because it was uncontested and both parents agreed,” the majority opinion reads. “But Mississippi law says otherwise.”
Presiding Justice Leslie King was the sole dissenting vote. He wrote that the record in the case is deficient, leaving it unable for the Supreme Court to decide whether the lower court was wrong to dismiss the petition.
“I find that the chancery court’s order should be vacated and that the case should be remanded,” King said in his dissent.
The initial petition was filed by the teen’s mother in July 2023. She sought to change her child’s first, middle and last names. She requested to change the first name to a more masculine name, the middle name to her own middle name and the last name to the father’s last name only — the last name is currently hyphenated.
Maine
Court rules against lawmaker in lawsuit over censure for post about transgender high school athlete
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A federal court has ruled against a Republican lawmaker from Maine who sued the state’s Democratic House speaker after being censured for a social media post about a transgender athlete.
Rep. Laurel Libby posted about a high school athlete who won a girls’ track competition. Libby included a photo of the student and identified them by first name, with the name in quotation marks, saying they previously competed in boys’ track.
Libby’s post subsequently went viral and preceded a public disagreement between President Donald Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Democratic House Speaker Ryan Fecteau accused Libby of violating the state’s legislative ethics code with the post, and the Maine House of Representatives censured her in February.
Libby filed a federal lawsuit against Fecteau in March, arguing the censure violated her right to free speech.
U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose on Friday ruled against Libby’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the sanction.
DuBose said the imposition of the sanction “is not of such extraordinary character as to obliterate the formidable shield the courts have provided to legislative acts.”
Libby said in a statement Friday that she was disappointed in the decision and would appeal the ruling.
“The courts must stand up to this abuse of power, which contradicts the very rationale for representative democracy,” Libby said.
She stated in her lawsuit that the censure stripped her right to speak and vote on the House floor, and said Friday it is tantamount to disenfranchising thousands of Maine residents.
A spokesperson for Fecteau declined to comment.
Maine and the federal government have been sparring over the participation of transgender students in sports since Libby’s post, and the Trump administration sued the state on Wednesday.
South Carolina
Murdaugh accomplice pleads guilty to wire and bank fraud
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The banker accused of helping disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh hide millions of stolen funds pleaded guilty Friday to federal bank and wire fraud charges.
Russell L. Laffitte, 54, entered the plea after convictions on the same charges were overturned by an appeals court last year.
Laffitte was one of several people investigators said were ensnared by Murdaugh as he stole millions from his law firm and clients in wrongful death and serious injury cases.
Murdaugh is serving a life sentence for the killings of his wife and son in 2021.
On Friday, Laffitte, of Estill, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, separate wire and bank fraud charges and misapplication of bank funds. Under the terms of the agreement, Laffitte agreed to pay $3.5 million in restitution before his sentencing. If he complies, prosecutors agreed to propose a five-year sentence, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney in South Carolina.
Federal judge Richard M. Gergel will impose a sentence at a later date, according to the release.
“Russell Laffitte and Alex Murdaugh abused their positions of power to victimize people who trusted them,” said Ben Garner, chief of the U.S. Attorney office’s criminal division. “As of today, both have pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for their crimes in federal court.”
Laffitte became the court-appointed safekeeper of settlement money for some of Murdaugh’s most vulnerable clients, including children who lost their parents, investigators said.
Prosecutors said Laffitte collected as much as $450,000 in untaxable fees for moving the money and kept other money in his role. He also sent large checks from the settlement accounts to Murdaugh, who was juggling mounting debts he would later blame on an opioid addiction.
Laffitte’s 2022 conviction on the same charges was overturned by a federal appeals court last year after the court ruled the trial judge had interviewed a juror during deliberations without lawyers or Laffitte in the room. The court held that the interview without Laffitte or his attorney present violated his constitutional right to an impartial jury.
Judge orders Trump to tell fired workers they were not let go for poor performance
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. district judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the Trump administration to provide probationary workers fired en masse a written statement saying they were not terminated for performance reasons, but as part of a government-wide termination.
Judge William Alsup is overseeing a lawsuit brought by labor unions and nonprofits contesting the mass firings of thousands of probationary workers in February under Republican President Donald Trump.
In March, Alsup ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers because their terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management, which did not have the authority to fire workers at any other agency but its own.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week blocked Alsup’s order requiring the administration to return those terminated employees to work, but did not decide whether the firings were unlawful.
Alsup was particularly upset that the firings of probationary workers — many young and early in their careers — followed an OPM template stating that the person had been fired for poor performance.
“Termination under the false pretense of performance is an injury that will persist for the working life of each civil servant,” wrote Alsup in Friday’s order. “The stain created by OPM’s pretense will follow each employee through their careers and will limit their professional opportunities.”
The administration has defined performance to account for job indispensability as Trump seeks to drastically reduce the federal workforce.
Lawyers for the administration also say that OPM did not order the firings, but Alsup found it was impossible for federal agencies to assess each worker’s performance in only a matter of days.
In Friday’s order, Alsup said the fired workers must receive the written statements by May 8. If a worker was fired after an individualized evaluation of that employee’s performance or fitness, the agency must submit by May 8 “a declaration, under oath and seal, stating so and providing the individual reasoning underpinning that termination.”
A federal judge in Maryland overseeing a similar complaint brought by 19 states found the administration did not follow laws set out for large-scale layoffs, including 60 days’ advance notice.
A preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge James Bredar ordering reinstatement of the workers was overturned last week by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Washington
Judges warn more money is needed for security
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judiciary is warning that Congress is not providing enough money for judges’ security, at a time of escalating threats and chilling efforts at intimidation.
More than five dozen judges handling lawsuits against the Trump administration are receiving “enhanced online security screening” that typically includes scrubbing their personal information from the internet, two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents wrote on behalf of the judiciary in a letter to congressional appropriators.
President Donald Trump, senior aide Stephen Miller and billionaire Elon Musk have railed at judges who have blocked parts of Trump’s agenda, threatening impeachment and launching personal attacks. Trump’s call to impeach the judge who temporarily halted deportations using an 18th century wartime law prompted a rare quick response from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roughly 50 people have been charged with crimes in connection with the threats, U.S. Circuit Judge Amy J. St. Eve and U.S. District Robert J. Conrad Jr. said. Trump appointed St. Eve to the federal appeals court in Chicago during his first term.
“In extreme cases, the U.S. Marshals Service has been required to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges,” St. Eve and Conrad wrote.
Authorities have yet to make any arrests in hundreds of increasingly unsettling and unwanted pizza deliveries to the homes of judges and their children, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas said during an online forum on Tuesday.
The most recent deliveries, this week, have been sent in the name of Salas’ late son, Daniel Anderl, who was shot dead at the family home by a disgruntled lawyer in 2020.
The message is unmistakable, Salas said. “’I know where you live, I know where your kids live, and do you want end up like Judge Salas. Do you want to end up like her son?’” she said.
Last month, a sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found, police said.
The judges’ letter was sent last week, but posted online Friday by the judiciary. It calls the current funding levels unsustainable, nearly $50 million less than what the courts requested just for security.
Mississippi
Transitioning teen cannot change name, Supreme Court rules
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling denying a transgender teen’s name-change petition.
The ruling comes nearly two years after a then 16-year-old undergoing a gender transition filed a petition to change his name to better fit his gender identity. Both of the teen’s parents consented to the name change. But Hinds County Chancery Judge Tametrice Hodges in November 2023 denied the petition, citing the teen’s lack of maturity.
The Mississippi Supreme Court voted 8-1 to uphold the ruling.
“The petitioner’s primary appellate argument is that the chancellor had no discretion to deny the name-change petition because it was uncontested and both parents agreed,” the majority opinion reads. “But Mississippi law says otherwise.”
Presiding Justice Leslie King was the sole dissenting vote. He wrote that the record in the case is deficient, leaving it unable for the Supreme Court to decide whether the lower court was wrong to dismiss the petition.
“I find that the chancery court’s order should be vacated and that the case should be remanded,” King said in his dissent.
The initial petition was filed by the teen’s mother in July 2023. She sought to change her child’s first, middle and last names. She requested to change the first name to a more masculine name, the middle name to her own middle name and the last name to the father’s last name only — the last name is currently hyphenated.
Maine
Court rules against lawmaker in lawsuit over censure for post about transgender high school athlete
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A federal court has ruled against a Republican lawmaker from Maine who sued the state’s Democratic House speaker after being censured for a social media post about a transgender athlete.
Rep. Laurel Libby posted about a high school athlete who won a girls’ track competition. Libby included a photo of the student and identified them by first name, with the name in quotation marks, saying they previously competed in boys’ track.
Libby’s post subsequently went viral and preceded a public disagreement between President Donald Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Democratic House Speaker Ryan Fecteau accused Libby of violating the state’s legislative ethics code with the post, and the Maine House of Representatives censured her in February.
Libby filed a federal lawsuit against Fecteau in March, arguing the censure violated her right to free speech.
U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose on Friday ruled against Libby’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the sanction.
DuBose said the imposition of the sanction “is not of such extraordinary character as to obliterate the formidable shield the courts have provided to legislative acts.”
Libby said in a statement Friday that she was disappointed in the decision and would appeal the ruling.
“The courts must stand up to this abuse of power, which contradicts the very rationale for representative democracy,” Libby said.
She stated in her lawsuit that the censure stripped her right to speak and vote on the House floor, and said Friday it is tantamount to disenfranchising thousands of Maine residents.
A spokesperson for Fecteau declined to comment.
Maine and the federal government have been sparring over the participation of transgender students in sports since Libby’s post, and the Trump administration sued the state on Wednesday.
South Carolina
Murdaugh accomplice pleads guilty to wire and bank fraud
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The banker accused of helping disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh hide millions of stolen funds pleaded guilty Friday to federal bank and wire fraud charges.
Russell L. Laffitte, 54, entered the plea after convictions on the same charges were overturned by an appeals court last year.
Laffitte was one of several people investigators said were ensnared by Murdaugh as he stole millions from his law firm and clients in wrongful death and serious injury cases.
Murdaugh is serving a life sentence for the killings of his wife and son in 2021.
On Friday, Laffitte, of Estill, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, separate wire and bank fraud charges and misapplication of bank funds. Under the terms of the agreement, Laffitte agreed to pay $3.5 million in restitution before his sentencing. If he complies, prosecutors agreed to propose a five-year sentence, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney in South Carolina.
Federal judge Richard M. Gergel will impose a sentence at a later date, according to the release.
“Russell Laffitte and Alex Murdaugh abused their positions of power to victimize people who trusted them,” said Ben Garner, chief of the U.S. Attorney office’s criminal division. “As of today, both have pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for their crimes in federal court.”
Laffitte became the court-appointed safekeeper of settlement money for some of Murdaugh’s most vulnerable clients, including children who lost their parents, investigators said.
Prosecutors said Laffitte collected as much as $450,000 in untaxable fees for moving the money and kept other money in his role. He also sent large checks from the settlement accounts to Murdaugh, who was juggling mounting debts he would later blame on an opioid addiction.
Laffitte’s 2022 conviction on the same charges was overturned by a federal appeals court last year after the court ruled the trial judge had interviewed a juror during deliberations without lawyers or Laffitte in the room. The court held that the interview without Laffitte or his attorney present violated his constitutional right to an impartial jury.
