What did President Trump discuss with his advisers about putting his name on the Kennedy Center and closing it for two years? The White House just told a federal judge those conversations are off-limits. Rep. Beatty’s lawyers call the move “unprecedented,” and DOJ calls her requests a “fishing expedition.” Here is what is being shielded and what the judge decides next.

A made-up online romance. A cheap fake diamond ring. Cash paid at every step. Federal prosecutors say a Massachusetts man was paid to marry a Chinese national in Ohio so she could get a green card, and that he later admitted it to immigration officers. Here is what the indictment alleges. The charge is an allegation; he is presumed innocent.

John Brennan went to court to make sure the government could not lose records from the investigations into him. On the same day he was subpoenaed to a Florida grand jury, a federal judge threw the case out. Why did the judge call his fear a “legitimate grievance” and still rule against him? His lawyers told TDFP what the ruling really turned on.

Fourteen news organizations, The New York Times and the conservative group Judicial Watch filed separate requests Thursday asking a federal judge in Washington to unseal the search warrant records behind the Oct. 12 federal search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. home. Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the government to respond to two of the requests by Oct. 22. Omar has not been charged.

Alexander Suvorov, 52, a Russian national, was extradited from Sweden to Albany on Oct. 15 to face a three-count complaint alleging he ran a Hong Kong front company, GS Group, that bought U.S. electronic components with radar and military-communications uses and routed them to Russia in 2022-2023. Prosecutors say a St. Petersburg buyer on the Entity List asked for “a company that is not Russian.” The charges are allegations.

Baltimore, Columbus, New Haven and Centro Legal de la Raza asked the Supreme Court to stay a Texas judgment that vacated the 2024 immigration-court administrative-closure rule the same day Texas sued, with DOJ joining the motion within hours. They call it "egregious collusion" to skip APA rulemaking. Justice Alito set an Oct. 22 response deadline.

Ten noncitizens, nine green-card holders and one illegal alien, were indicted in federal court in Raleigh for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register and vote in 2024, prosecutors announced Thursday as early voting opened in North Carolina. Several allegedly voted in general elections going back to 2004. One defendant told WRAL he voted for Trump and thought he was a dual citizen. The charges are allegations.

The Justice Department and the FTC sued San Diego ticket broker REPS & Company and three executives on Oct. 15, alleging they used thousands of accounts, buyers in the Philippines, masked IP addresses and SIM banks to beat ticket limits. The complaint says they spent $1.3 billion on 18.5 million tickets and made at least $120.8 million reselling them. The claims are allegations only.

A federal judge in Brooklyn dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against New York City’s sanctuary laws on Oct. 15. Judge Ramón E. Reyes Jr. ruled the government lacked standing to challenge the city’s limits on ICE detainers, found the information-sharing rules consistent with federal law, and held that two federal statutes, 8 U.S.C. 1373(a) and 1644, violate the Tenth Amendment. The government can appeal.

The Justice Department sued St. Paul and Portland on Oct. 15 over city laws that bar federal officers, including ICE agents, from wearing masks and require them to display ID. DOJ says the rules violate the Supremacy Clause, and its Portland complaint quotes the city’s own attorney warning the law would likely be held unconstitutional. The cities have not yet responded in court.

The Justice Department sued California on Oct. 15, alleging more than 20,000 likely noncitizens are registered to vote and have been mailed ballots for the Nov. 3 election. It wants those ballots set aside until citizenship is verified. L.A. County says it refused to open the USB drive of names the government sent with a handwritten password. The allegations have not been tested in court.