NEW: The 10th Circuit upheld a jury's verdict & $14 million award against Denver and one of its officers in a lawsuit brought by plaintiffs injured during the 2020 racial justice protests. The panel found no errors by the trial judge, and sufficient evidence:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/21/1...
NEW: There are six active federal judgeships in Kansas, and they could all soon be filled with Trump appointees. He appointed three during his first term and three more nominees just had a hearing.
All six are white. Many have connections to Kris Kobach. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/all-six-ac...
lol I am turning in my story right now
Update: The government has also moved to appeal a second order by Judge Crews -- this one merely directed ICE to release the petitioner once he posts bond. However, Crews was ruling on the legality of the "automatic stay" regulation, relying on Magistrate Judge Susan Prose's (unappealed) analysis.
1. Mr. Avila is not subject to mandatory detention pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), and Respondents are PERMANENTLY ENJOINED from redetaining him under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). 2. Respondents shall immediately release Mr. Avila from detention; however, he shall remain in Respondents’ temporary custody for the sole purpose of Respondents effectuating his return back to Rock Springs, Wyoming. 3. Respondents SHALL transport Mr. Avila back to Rock Springs, Wyoming, at their own expense, within 36 hours of the date and time of this Order. 4. To effectuate the purpose of this Court’s Order and allow Mr. Avila to return home, Respondents are also temporarily enjoined from detaining Mr. Avila pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226 for a period of fourteen days. 5. On or before Tuesday, February 17, 2026, Respondents shall confirm in writing Petitioner’s release from custody and his return to Wyoming. 6. This Court retains jurisdiction over this matter to ensure Respondents comply with this Order.
04/20/2026 NOTICE OF APPEAL as to 14 Order on Motion for TRO, by Respondents Pam Bondi, Dawn Ceja, Robert Guadian, Todd M. Lyons, Kristi Noem (Deuschle, Nicholas) (Entered: 04/20/2026) 19 04/21/2026 LETTER Transmitting Notice of Appeal to all counsel advising of the transmittal of the 18 Notice of Appeal filed by Kristi Noem, Robert Guadian, Todd M. Lyons, Dawn Ceja, Pam Bondi to the U.S. Court of Appeals. ( Retained Counsel, Fee paid,) (Attachments: # 1 Preliminary Record)(jrobe, ) (Entered: 04/21/2026)
Strangely, the government is appealing Judge Kato Crews's now-garden variety order in a Colorado habeas case from February, which directed that a petitioner be released, that the government transport him home at its expense, and that it can't detain him without a bond hearing again.
Colorado's justices spoke with students from 8 rural schools last week, and it was Justice Susan Blanco's first time participating in the "Courts in the Community" program since joining the Supreme Court six weeks ago:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/17/c...
The Colorado Supreme Court seemed to agree that a man relinquished his personal injury claims when, in the middle of his lawsuit against a ski resort operator, he bought a new ski pass waiving all prior claims he had against the company:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/17/c...
The Colorado Supreme Court seems cool with the revised reasonable doubt jury instruction, especially after a defendant's lawyers didn't engage with the Court of Appeals' critiques and relied on a study they funded to allege the instruction is problematic:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/17/c...
What you can't see in the pictures of pedestrian streets: the QUIET. Hundreds of people out, and all you hear are birds singing, the click of a bike mechanism, and the murmer of conversation.
📷 Ave Mont-Royal, Montréal
Newly released records on the police response to the assassination of Melissa Hortman show officers knew a woman was lying motionless on the top of the stairs inside the Hortman home but waited 30 minutes to physically check on her.
It now appears that Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson is following the lead of his colleague in Colorado, William Martínez, in directly ordering habeas petitioners be released -- sidestepping immigration judges who are holding sham bond hearings.
8. Judgment shall enter in Singh’s favor and against Respondents on April 15, 2026, UNLESS prior thereto the Court is informed that Respondents have failed to fully and timely comply with the terms of this Order. Dated this 1st day of April, 2026.
7. The Court will enter a separate judgment in Andreu’s favor and against Respondents at the appropriate time, after it is persuaded the Respondents are and remain in full compliance with the terms of this Order and all binding constitutional and statutory requirements. Dated this 17th day of April, 2026.
Judge William Martínez of Colorado has tinkered with the language in his immigration habeas orders. Previously, he was entering judgment for the petitioners unless someone told him the govt. failed to comply. Today, he held off on entering judgment until he is sure the govt. has complied.
Curious.
No but it's 26-cv-00269, Ayatighaffari v. Baltazar
evidence to suggest that the same result will not occur again. In addition, the United States is now at war with Iran, which began on February 28, 2026. See David Brennan, Iran war timeline: 1 month of escalating strikes, broadening conflict, ABC NEWS (Apr. 1, 2026, 12:25 PM), https://abcnews.com/International/iran-war-timeline1-month-escalating-strikes-broadening/story?id=131606351. The conduct Respondents point to in support of their argument all occurred before the war began. The Court is skeptical that Petitioner’s removal can occur in the reasonably foreseeable future to a country with which the United States is at war, and in the least, Respondents have offered no explanation on the point. Accordingly, this Court finds that Petitioner’s nearly 10-month detention violates his due process rights, and he should be immediately released.
Judge Kato Crews of Colroado released an Iranian man from ICE custody today in part because the U.S. probably can't deport him to Iran anytime soon while the countries are at war.
Colorado police can get orders specifically to collect someone’s DNA or fingerprints. But is it kosher if they interrogate the person first before carrying out the order? The Court of Appeals said no, and the state Supreme Court seems to be in the same boat:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/15/c...
The Colorado Supreme Court wondered whether requiring prosecutors to prove a defendant’s knowledge on leaving-the-scene crimes would incentivize everyone to say they didn’t know they hit someone. On the hand, proving mental state apparently works OK elsewhere
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/15/c...
@mayor.nyc.gov: "If you are a Mario Kart fan, government is Yoshi and philanthropy is the Golden Mushroom, that edge we need to beat Bowser on the Rainbow Road. To belabor this metaphor even further, Bowser is corporate greed in this scenario."
Yesterday: “This is someone who maybe had one speeding ticket in the last 30 years and [is] being treated like a notorious criminal.”
Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu translator taken by ICE.
There are legitimate arguments on both sides, and neither construction of Section 1225 fully harmonizes all of the various related provisions of the INA. But “statutes, no matter how impenetrable, do—in fact, must—have a single, best meaning.” Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369, 400 (2024). While I appreciate the analyses of the judges in this District and elsewhere who have reached the opposite conclusion, regrettably for the petitioner, I am persuaded that the Fifth and Eighth Circuits and the growing minority of district courts holding that Section 1225(b)(2)(A) applies to “applicants for admission” in this situation have the better interpretation of the statutory text.
The fact that district courts have reached inconsistent outcomes in these cases is unfortunate. But “absent further guidance from its reviewing courts, this Court remains duty-bound to follow its best understanding of the law, even when that means taking the less-traveled path.” Andres Lopez, 2026 WL 261938, at *1. My best understanding of the statutory scheme is that the petitioner is subject to mandatory detention under Section 1225(b)(2)(A). The petitioner is therefore not entitled to habeas relief on the basis that detention without a bond hearing is unlawful under the INA.
Today, by his own admission, Chief Judge Dan Domenico (a Trump appointee) became the first federal judge in Colorado to rule that a man already released into the country was properly in immigration detention without a bond hearing. He called the differing interpretations of the law "unfortunate."
The Colorado Supreme Court struggled with how Donald Trump has pitted trans children against a hospital that provided them gender-affirming care until recently. What happens if they order care to resume and the feds punish the hospital, staff, and patients?
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/14/c...
The Colorado Supreme Court appeared receptive yesterday to upholding the constitutionality of the state’s unique requirement for ballot measure committees to disclose the name of their legal representative on their advertisements:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/14/c...
I actually found this the most surprising tidbit—judges calling HLS students to ask about other students? What???
"The Hamburgler is incorrect on matters of burgling hamburgers."
![JUSTICE GABRIEL: Kind of a bigger picture, and again I understand the position Children’s Hospital is put in here. My concern would be, pick [a] rogue administration down the road. It would seem your argument is they could take any number of absurd positions on saying whatever care could be unsafe and that may be targeted at a particular identifiable group, and that identifiable group will always have no remedy because the government has all the cards and they control all the money.
I’m concerned with that precedent. How do we write if you were to win? How do you write that narrowly to avoid that? Because your argument is, ‘We’re just subject to the federal government and they’ve adopted a policy,’ which I’m not sure if Children’s necessarily agrees with. But you feel like you’re just beholden to the money and therefore they’re always gonna win because we’re subject to them. That concerns me. How do we deal with that?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:63qzp63fz5q45anhnxhoxhl5/bafkreigqyperyatign2ln7faivyhrrcqjympgucukbpucpyyave4vnifzy)
JUSTICE GABRIEL: Kind of a bigger picture, and again I understand the position Children’s Hospital is put in here. My concern would be, pick [a] rogue administration down the road. It would seem your argument is they could take any number of absurd positions on saying whatever care could be unsafe and that may be targeted at a particular identifiable group, and that identifiable group will always have no remedy because the government has all the cards and they control all the money. I’m concerned with that precedent. How do we write if you were to win? How do you write that narrowly to avoid that? Because your argument is, ‘We’re just subject to the federal government and they’ve adopted a policy,’ which I’m not sure if Children’s necessarily agrees with. But you feel like you’re just beholden to the money and therefore they’re always gonna win because we’re subject to them. That concerns me. How do we deal with that?
Colorado's Supreme Court just heard arguments on whether Children's Hospital Colo. should resume gender-affirming care to trans plaintiffs in the face of federal threats. Everyone sees the hospital is caught between Trump and the child patients. Justice Rich Gabriel summed up the existential problem
By 4-3, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that expert witnesses are allowed to say whether child witnesses exhibited signs of coaching whenever a defendant makes it a focal point at trial. The dissent argued that's improper vouching and will happen frequently:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/13/d...
A woman tripped on a defective Manitou Springs sidewalk. She notified Manitou Springs. She sued Manitou Springs. A year later, Manitou Springs said "actually, *Colorado Springs* is responsible."
The state Supreme Court said her time to sue had passed:
www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/04/13/c...
Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health. When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.” Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”
This is NUTS
www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...
When you add it all up, the collapse in immigration looks like this: a decline of roughly 50K for illegal (even including the people arrested and not released) and a decline of about 132K for legal. Over 70% of the cut in immigration has come from LEGAL immigration.
I'm thinking about this article while reading the briefs in a case to be argued at the Colorado Supreme Court tomorrow, where Children's Hospital Colorado is saying it shouldn't be ordered to resume gender-affirming care for minors. Not for medical reasons, but for political ones.
