Illinois
Sweeping review of grand jury presentations underway in Chicago following misconduct revelations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department officials are conducting a sweeping review of more than 1,000 grand jury presentations made by Illinois prosecutors following the dismissal of a high-profile case over misconduct, the top federal prosecutor for Chicago said on Wednesday.
Andrew Boutros, the U.S attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the massive review will include all pending grand jury proceedings in his district as well as other presentations by prosecutors going back almost 20 years. It was sparked by revelations of grand jury misconduct that forced prosecutors to abandon a closely watched case against four activists who protested outside a federal building during last year's immigration crackdown in the city.
"It's going to be a massive review, a comprehensive review and it is underway," said Boutros, who was in Washington for an unrelated news conference. Boutros said the process is meant to ensure that his prosecutors have "acted ethically" and to provide "assurances and confidence" that other pending cases have not been tainted by similar issues.
The Justice Department dropped charges against the activists in May after a judge scrutinized allegations of misconduct, which included a prosecutor meeting with a grand juror outside proceedings and other jurors who disagreed with the case being dismissed prevented from participating.
When the case was dismissed, Boutros told a judge that the conduct was upsetting, adding that: "No one acted with the intent to mislead, your honor."
The judge overseeing the case took the extraordinary step last month of releasing the transcripts of the presentation made by prosecutors, who were seeking to secure an indictment against the activists in the most high-profile cases to come out of the crackdown that rippled across the nation's third-largest city and its suburbs last year.
The transcripts showed that one of the grand jurors called the case a "crock of (expletive)." The grand juror was subsequently excused from the proceedings.
Washington
Ex-CIA Director John Brennan seeks court order requiring records be preserved
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “phantom criminal conduct.”
Brennan said in the lawsuit that the records would be essential for him to mount a defense on vindictive prosecution grounds in the event of a future indictment brought by the administration. Such a defense, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Donald Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Department of Justice to initiate cases “without regard to factual or legal justification.”
“To fully consider those motions, the reviewing judge would need to scrutinize the motivations of the Justice Department officials who directed, oversaw, or undertook those actions to determine whether they violated Director Brennan’s rights, and specifically whether they were motivated by a desire to vindictively prosecute him as an act of retribution,” Brennan’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.
The lawsuit names as defendants Trump and other top law enforcement officials from his administration, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and the prosecutors in Florida who have been overseeing investigations related to Brennan and other former perceived Trump adversaries.
The lawsuit says Brennan is facing separate investigations based in Florida, including one examining whether he made a false statement to Congress related to an assessment by intelligence agencies documenting Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, when Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. The other investigation aims to determine whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired to undermine Trump, including during the course of the Russian interference investigation.
No charges have been brought. The Department of Justice has denied claims of weaponization.
Washington
DOJ sues Virginia and California over new gun laws
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration sued California and Virginia on Wednesday over new laws in both states that restrict the sale of semiautomatic firearms.
The two separate lawsuits filed by the Justice Department in federal court say the laws violate the Second Amendment.
“The Constitution is not a suggestion, and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release announcing the lawsuit against Virginia.
Virginia’s Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed legislation earlier this year banning the sale and manufacture of certain semiautomatic firearms. The law, which took effect Wednesday, is facing at least four other lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
The California law prohibits gun shops from selling certain handguns that can easily be made fully automatic.
Attorneys general in both states vowed to defend their gun laws.
In a statement, the office of Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said the ban on selling certain semiautomatic firearms was a “commonsense” measure that “keeps Virginians safe, protects law enforcement, and safeguards communities across the Commonwealth.”
The California attorney general’s office said in a statement the state had “effective and constitutional gun safety laws” that “helped drive firearm death rates to record lows.”
The California law largely bans the sale of Glock and Glock-style pistols, among the most popular type of handgun in the U.S., according to the DOJ suit.
The lawsuit is also challenging additional restrictions on handguns sold in California.
States controlled by Democrats and those led by Republicans have diverged in recent years over gun legislation, with some Republican states passing laws to relax firearm restrictions.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up another major Second Amendment case. The justices will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate the Constitution. Arguments are expected in the fall.
The court, which has a conservative majority, has expanded gun rights, including in two cases this term.
Ohio
Judge to make ruling next week in lawsuit against NCAA regarding age-eligibility rule
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio judge will make a ruling next week on a preliminary injunction request from 24 men’s and women’s college basketball players suing the NCAA, claiming the new age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition.
Judge Christopher Wagner, who previously denied a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed, said Wednesday during a hearing that his written order will be made on July 9.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a monumental change in eligibility rules last month.
“When each plaintiff completed their fourth season of competition during the 2025-26 academic year, they had every reason to know it was the end of the line and time to make way for the next generation of college athletes,” the NCAA wrote in a filing.
The plaintiffs are seeking to be eligible to play a fifth year during the upcoming season, representing athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and began their college sports careers that fall and never redshirted.
“Each plaintiff was harmed each time he or she competed in a basketball game against a fifth or sixth-year player without being offered the same opportunity to compete in a fifth season themselves,” attorney Ryan Downton wrote in a filing.
The NCAA now allows athletes five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.
The move will all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, pregnancy or active-duty military service. Extensions will no longer be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired by spring 2026 under the traditional model — four years of competition over five years — will not be allowed a fifth year of competition under the new rules that go into effect this fall.
Similar lawsuits are being filed in other states.
The Division I Cabinet has said in a statement posted on X that it was aware of legal action challenging its decision and that “we do not intend to change course.”
Washington
Alibaba to pay US $600M to settle allegations it allowed illegal drug and equipment sales
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Chinese tech giant Alibaba will pay $600 million to resolve a dispute with the U.S. government over allegations that the Hangzhou-based firm sold and imported illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, regulated chemicals, and pill-making equipment into the U.S.
Alibaba operates some of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com.
The U.S. alleges that Alibaba’s U.S.-based payment processor, AUS Merchant Services, violated federal law by failing to prevent merchants from selling and importing illegal products into the U.S. through Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com.
Alibaba acknowledges in an agreement with the Justice Department that between January 2016 and December 2024, it failed to stop roughly 80,000 product sales involving unlawful imports that violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other federal laws.
A news release on the settlement resolution says that Alibaba employees raised concerns that the company’s compliance controls were inadequate and failed to prevent the sale of illegal products — and, in some instances, merchants used Alibaba’s messaging service to direct buyers to third-party messaging platforms to facilitate illegal sales.
Law enforcement officers across the FDA, FDIC, IRS-CI, and other agencies conducted more than 40 undercover purchases of pharmaceuticals and equipment that were illegal to import into the U.S., according to the news release. A non-prosecution agreement was crafted between Alibaba and the Justice Department.
IRS Criminal Investigations’ Chief Jarod Koopman said the resolution “underscores IRS Criminal Investigation’s commitment to following the money and ensuring that companies operating in the United States comply fully with federal law.”
Sweeping review of grand jury presentations underway in Chicago following misconduct revelations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department officials are conducting a sweeping review of more than 1,000 grand jury presentations made by Illinois prosecutors following the dismissal of a high-profile case over misconduct, the top federal prosecutor for Chicago said on Wednesday.
Andrew Boutros, the U.S attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the massive review will include all pending grand jury proceedings in his district as well as other presentations by prosecutors going back almost 20 years. It was sparked by revelations of grand jury misconduct that forced prosecutors to abandon a closely watched case against four activists who protested outside a federal building during last year's immigration crackdown in the city.
"It's going to be a massive review, a comprehensive review and it is underway," said Boutros, who was in Washington for an unrelated news conference. Boutros said the process is meant to ensure that his prosecutors have "acted ethically" and to provide "assurances and confidence" that other pending cases have not been tainted by similar issues.
The Justice Department dropped charges against the activists in May after a judge scrutinized allegations of misconduct, which included a prosecutor meeting with a grand juror outside proceedings and other jurors who disagreed with the case being dismissed prevented from participating.
When the case was dismissed, Boutros told a judge that the conduct was upsetting, adding that: "No one acted with the intent to mislead, your honor."
The judge overseeing the case took the extraordinary step last month of releasing the transcripts of the presentation made by prosecutors, who were seeking to secure an indictment against the activists in the most high-profile cases to come out of the crackdown that rippled across the nation's third-largest city and its suburbs last year.
The transcripts showed that one of the grand jurors called the case a "crock of (expletive)." The grand juror was subsequently excused from the proceedings.
Washington
Ex-CIA Director John Brennan seeks court order requiring records be preserved
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “phantom criminal conduct.”
Brennan said in the lawsuit that the records would be essential for him to mount a defense on vindictive prosecution grounds in the event of a future indictment brought by the administration. Such a defense, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Donald Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Department of Justice to initiate cases “without regard to factual or legal justification.”
“To fully consider those motions, the reviewing judge would need to scrutinize the motivations of the Justice Department officials who directed, oversaw, or undertook those actions to determine whether they violated Director Brennan’s rights, and specifically whether they were motivated by a desire to vindictively prosecute him as an act of retribution,” Brennan’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.
The lawsuit names as defendants Trump and other top law enforcement officials from his administration, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and the prosecutors in Florida who have been overseeing investigations related to Brennan and other former perceived Trump adversaries.
The lawsuit says Brennan is facing separate investigations based in Florida, including one examining whether he made a false statement to Congress related to an assessment by intelligence agencies documenting Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, when Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. The other investigation aims to determine whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired to undermine Trump, including during the course of the Russian interference investigation.
No charges have been brought. The Department of Justice has denied claims of weaponization.
Washington
DOJ sues Virginia and California over new gun laws
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration sued California and Virginia on Wednesday over new laws in both states that restrict the sale of semiautomatic firearms.
The two separate lawsuits filed by the Justice Department in federal court say the laws violate the Second Amendment.
“The Constitution is not a suggestion, and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release announcing the lawsuit against Virginia.
Virginia’s Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed legislation earlier this year banning the sale and manufacture of certain semiautomatic firearms. The law, which took effect Wednesday, is facing at least four other lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.
The California law prohibits gun shops from selling certain handguns that can easily be made fully automatic.
Attorneys general in both states vowed to defend their gun laws.
In a statement, the office of Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said the ban on selling certain semiautomatic firearms was a “commonsense” measure that “keeps Virginians safe, protects law enforcement, and safeguards communities across the Commonwealth.”
The California attorney general’s office said in a statement the state had “effective and constitutional gun safety laws” that “helped drive firearm death rates to record lows.”
The California law largely bans the sale of Glock and Glock-style pistols, among the most popular type of handgun in the U.S., according to the DOJ suit.
The lawsuit is also challenging additional restrictions on handguns sold in California.
States controlled by Democrats and those led by Republicans have diverged in recent years over gun legislation, with some Republican states passing laws to relax firearm restrictions.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up another major Second Amendment case. The justices will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate the Constitution. Arguments are expected in the fall.
The court, which has a conservative majority, has expanded gun rights, including in two cases this term.
Ohio
Judge to make ruling next week in lawsuit against NCAA regarding age-eligibility rule
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio judge will make a ruling next week on a preliminary injunction request from 24 men’s and women’s college basketball players suing the NCAA, claiming the new age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition.
Judge Christopher Wagner, who previously denied a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed, said Wednesday during a hearing that his written order will be made on July 9.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a monumental change in eligibility rules last month.
“When each plaintiff completed their fourth season of competition during the 2025-26 academic year, they had every reason to know it was the end of the line and time to make way for the next generation of college athletes,” the NCAA wrote in a filing.
The plaintiffs are seeking to be eligible to play a fifth year during the upcoming season, representing athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and began their college sports careers that fall and never redshirted.
“Each plaintiff was harmed each time he or she competed in a basketball game against a fifth or sixth-year player without being offered the same opportunity to compete in a fifth season themselves,” attorney Ryan Downton wrote in a filing.
The NCAA now allows athletes five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.
The move will all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, pregnancy or active-duty military service. Extensions will no longer be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired by spring 2026 under the traditional model — four years of competition over five years — will not be allowed a fifth year of competition under the new rules that go into effect this fall.
Similar lawsuits are being filed in other states.
The Division I Cabinet has said in a statement posted on X that it was aware of legal action challenging its decision and that “we do not intend to change course.”
Washington
Alibaba to pay US $600M to settle allegations it allowed illegal drug and equipment sales
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Chinese tech giant Alibaba will pay $600 million to resolve a dispute with the U.S. government over allegations that the Hangzhou-based firm sold and imported illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, regulated chemicals, and pill-making equipment into the U.S.
Alibaba operates some of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com.
The U.S. alleges that Alibaba’s U.S.-based payment processor, AUS Merchant Services, violated federal law by failing to prevent merchants from selling and importing illegal products into the U.S. through Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com.
Alibaba acknowledges in an agreement with the Justice Department that between January 2016 and December 2024, it failed to stop roughly 80,000 product sales involving unlawful imports that violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other federal laws.
A news release on the settlement resolution says that Alibaba employees raised concerns that the company’s compliance controls were inadequate and failed to prevent the sale of illegal products — and, in some instances, merchants used Alibaba’s messaging service to direct buyers to third-party messaging platforms to facilitate illegal sales.
Law enforcement officers across the FDA, FDIC, IRS-CI, and other agencies conducted more than 40 undercover purchases of pharmaceuticals and equipment that were illegal to import into the U.S., according to the news release. A non-prosecution agreement was crafted between Alibaba and the Justice Department.
IRS Criminal Investigations’ Chief Jarod Koopman said the resolution “underscores IRS Criminal Investigation’s commitment to following the money and ensuring that companies operating in the United States comply fully with federal law.”
