2026 – Page 3 – Texas Weekly Online

Homan warns Spanberger blocking access to Virginia jails could force more ICE street operations: ‘Do the job’

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, blasted Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger over her policies surrounding federal immigration officials and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests that have been ignored by the state under her leadership. Homan sat down with Fox News Digital for an exclusive interview, where he said if Spanberger is unwilling to cooperate with federal law enforcement, the border czar is willing to “send more teams into the streets.” “Elections have consequences,” Homan explained. “[Spanberger] ran on a law enforcement position that she was a career law enforcement person. [She] is a much different person now since she’s in that governor’s slot.” TRUMP BORDER CZAR LEAVES DOOR OPEN TO ICE DEPLOYMENT IN OTHER SANCTUARY CITIES AS FEDS LEAVE MINNEAPOLIS “Bottom line is, I wish she’d take a page out of the Minnesota chapter when the president sent me to Minneapolis to get more cooperation with the county jailers, which means less public safety threats in the communities,” Homan added. The border czar said, “ICE is not going to stop enforcing law” and that if blue states like Virginia continue to uphold strict sanctuary laws, the Trump administration will deploy more immigration enforcement agents into the streets. “We’ll just send more teams into the streets, into the neighborhoods,” Homan told Fox News Digital. “Because we’re going to do the job that President Trump promised, to make his country safer again, especially against illegal aliens that committed other crimes while they’re here.” WEST VIRGINIA WORKED WITH ICE — 650 ARRESTS LATER, OFFICIALS SAY MINNESOTA-STYLE ‘CHAOS’ IS A CHOICE A Washington Post-Schar School poll released earlier this week showed a dramatic 46% of Virginians disapprove of Spanberger’s job performance — the lowest since 1994 compared to previous Republican and Democratic Virginia governors. During a press gaggle on Wednesday, Spanberger said it is an “absolute lie” that state and local police are unwilling to work with federal agencies, including ICE, and addressed her poll numbers. “Virginia State Police is a top-notch law enforcement agency, and I don’t think it’s responsible for us, for me as governor, for the commonwealth of Virginia, to put Virginia State Police under the supervision or direction of ICE,” Spanberger told reporters. “That is a change I made, I think it is the right one, I know it is the right one, and I stand by it.” The Virginia governor also addressed the recent poll when speaking with the press. “I would say if everyone hated me, then why is everyone putting my face on their mailers, for the referendum, would be question number one,” Spanberger said. “The only poll that matters, is my election, 17 point win, and now I’m doing the work for Virginians, so what matters to me in the end, is what I’m delivering for the people.” In early February, Spanberger issued an executive directive cutting off collaboration between state agencies and federal immigration officials. HOMAN VOWS IMMIGRATION MISSION ‘WON’T SKIP A BEAT’ AS BONDI EXITS DOJ She also rescinded the 287(g) program put in place by former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin’s program authorized local law enforcement to carry out certain immigration enforcement duties while operating under ICE supervision. This includes stopping the release of undocumented individuals with criminal records and helping federal immigration agencies identify those already held in local jails. Homan said the concept of releasing illegal migrants accused of committing crimes from jail without notifying ICE is “ridiculous.” “These people are in the country illegally, they commit a serious crime, public safety crime, and the local jurisdiction chooses to release them into the community rather than turning them over to ICE,” Homan told Fox News Digital. HOMAN BLASTS ‘AGITATORS’ ACCUSED OF HELPING RAPE SUSPECT EVADE ICE: ‘THEY’RE JUST IDIOTS’ “The Department of Justice has got lawsuits pending against sanctuary jurisdictions,” Homan added. “I think they’ll win them in the long run, because I think sanctuary cities are illegal.” “We’re out there trying to educate these sanctuary cities that if you let us in the jail… that means less of our agents are in the street,” he said. Homan also said the administration has their “foot on the gas” when it comes to enforcing the president’s campaign promise to secure the border and deport migrants living in the U.S. illegally, while echoing a popular message from the administration that criminal migrants will be the first to go. “As a guy who’s done this over 40 years, you have a criminal here and a non-criminal here, you’re always gonna get the criminal first because they pose the biggest threat to our neighborhood,” Homan explained. “Prioritization will remain public safety threats and national security threats.” HOMAN FIRES BACK AT BOOKER AFTER SENATOR VOICES ‘OUTRAGE’ OVER ICE AIRPORT DEPLOYMENTS “But as I said from day one, if you’re in the country legally, you’re not off the table,” Homan added. “And if we find you, we’re gonna arrest you and deport you.” Homan has served as the border czar since the beginning of the Trump administration. Kristi Noem formerly served as DHS secretary prior to her reassignment in March. Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican representing Oklahoma, was appointed to the role following Noem’s departure. Mullin affirmed that he believes sanctuary cities are not lawful during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier earlier this month, and Mullin has been leading DHS during a spending fight and partial government shutdown over funding for his department. Homan told Fox News Digital he thinks Mullin is the right man for the job and said he talks to Mullin daily, “if not several times a day.” “I think he’s the right guy, the right time, and the right job,” Homan said. “I think you’re going to see great things from Markwayne Mullin.”

Minnesota fraud scandal: Sixth family member who met with AG Ellison set to plead guilty

Yet another member of a family within Minnesota’s Somali community is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the massive fraud scandal that has drawn national attention and prompted criticism of Attorney General Keith Ellison over a meeting he held with members of the family in question. Gandi Mohamed, 45, is expected to either plead guilty at a change of plea hearing scheduled for Thursday or choose to enter a plea of no contest, which would allow him to accept conviction and be sentenced without admitting guilt, according to court records. Mohamed is the sixth member of his family who would be pleading guilty in the scheme prosecutors say fraudulently claimed to be serving meals while instead pocketing $14 million from the federal child nutrition program, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported. Center of the American Experiment policy fellow Bill Glahn told Fox News Digital that “it’s good that he and his co-conspirators have all been convicted in the case, however, a courtroom trial would have been a useful exercise to show the public the scope and scale of the fraud.” TOM EMMER CALLS FOR TIM WALZ, KEITH ELLISON TO ‘SERVE JAIL TIME’ IF FRAUD COVERUP ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE The Mohamed family was present at the now infamous 2021 meeting between Ellison and members of the Somali community where would-be fraudsters could be heard asking the state’s attorney general to help them secure more funding, before the conversation turned to campaign donations. “The only way that we can protect what we have is by inserting ourselves into the political arena. Putting our votes where it needs to be. But most importantly, putting our dollars in the right place. And supporting candidates that will fight to protect our interests,” one of the Somali community members says in the recording. “That’s right,” Ellison responds. JOSH HAWLEY STANDS BY ACCUSATIONS AFTER FIERY SENATE HEARING CLASH WITH MINNESOTA AG ELLISON Ellison has denied any wrongdoing regarding the recording, saying he was completely unaware of the fraudsters’ crimes at the time of the meeting. The meeting occurred before any convictions in the case and before President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice had indicted anyone. “I took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know and some turned out to have done bad things. I did nothing for them and took nothing from them,” Ellison wrote in an April 2025 op-ed for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Following that meeting, Gandi gave the maximum $2,500 campaign donation to Ellison that the attorney general returned to the Department of Justice in 2025. TRUMP ADMIN SCORES MINNESOTA COURT WIN IN MEDICAID FRAUD CRACKDOWN “Our Attorney General, Keith Ellison, is not only looking the other way but doing so after taking donations from these very fraudsters,” Republican Dalia al-Aqidi who is running for Congress in Minneapolis against Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told Fox News Digital. “This is a betrayal of every Minnesotan who trusted him with that office.” Al-Aqidi explained that the voters in her district are “furious” about the fraud scandal. “Which is why I’ve rolled out a five-point plan to prevent fraud before it starts,” al-Aqidi said. “This isn’t just about taxpayers, it’s about people who really need food and housing. Preventing fraud isn’t complicated, it just takes the political will to stop this type of abuse. It’s clear that this scheme is being used to buy votes, and that has to stop.” Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.

Federal judge blocks Trump admin effort to end temporary protected status for Ethiopia

A federal judge has postponed the Trump administration’s termination of temporary protected status (TPS) for Ethiopia. “Plaintiffs brought suit to challenge the lawfulness of the termination, arguing that Defendants had violated the TPS statute, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Equal Protection Clause. Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ motion to postpone the effective date of the termination pending resolution of the merits. Because Defendants terminated Ethiopia’s TPS designation without regard for the process delineated by Congress, the Court will grant Plaintiffs’ motion,” Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote. The judge was nominated by then-President Joe Biden in 2024, according to the court’s website. BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE TWICE SHUT DOWN BY SCOTUS FACES ‘ACTIVIST’ FIRE AFTER LATEST TRUMP POLICY BLOCK Last year, then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem issued a notice indicating that the TPS designation for Ethiopia would be terminated as of Feb. 13 at 11:59 p.m. But that move did not take effect, as it was stymied amid legal wranglings. “Fundamental to this case — and indeed to our constitutional system — is the principle that the will of the President does not supersede that of Congress. Presidential whims do not and cannot supplant agencies’ statutory obligations,” Murphy wrote in the April 8 memorandum and order. TRUMP ADMIN UNLAWFULLY TERMINATED LEGAL STATUS OF MIGRANTS WHO USED BIDEN-ERA APP, JUDGE RULES “The Constitution requires that the President ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ a directive which includes enforcing the laws in accordance with congressional commands. And administrative agencies granted executive authority by Congress may operate only within the bounds Congress has set. Yet, in this case, Defendants have disregarded both that foundational principle and the statutory scheme enacted by Congress,” he asserted. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Thursday. BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE WHO SLAPPED DOWN TRUMP DEPORTATION POLICY PREVIOUSLY REBUKED BY SCOTUS “This stay by radical, Biden-appointed Judge Brian Murphy is just the latest example of judicial activists trying to prevent President Trump from restoring integrity to America’s legal immigration system,” a DHS spokesperson declared in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Temporary means temporary. Country conditions—including armed conflicts—in Ethiopia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. The Trump administration is putting Americans first.”

DC’s bid to block Trump’s National Guard deployment hits basic legal snag: Can’t sue itself

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative watchdog urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to toss Washington, D.C.’s National Guard lawsuit, arguing the city cannot sue itself because it is part of the federal government. “To start, one cannot sue oneself,” Oversight Project lawyers wrote in a brief in the case. “And that is what this case ultimately is—the United States suing itself. Moreover, it is a foundational principle of the law that a municipal corporation cannot sue its sovereign creator.” The appeal sits at the intersection of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington last year and D.C.’s long-running fight over self-government. What began as a lawsuit over the president’s deployment of forces into the capital has now evolved into a threshold legal battle over whether the district has the right to challenge that move in federal court at all. Oversight Project lawyers told Fox News Digital in an interview that if the appellate court judges in Washington were to agree with them, the decision would reach far beyond the National Guard lawsuit, which arose last year when the Trump administration began deploying military forces to blue cities in several jurisdictions to support immigration officials and, in D.C.’s case, to make the city “safe and beautiful.” NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS WILL LIKELY REMAIN IN DC THROUGH 2026, OFFICIAL SAYS “If the judges find our argument valid, it’s going to kind of restore the normal system, which is D.C. is entirely subordinate to the federal government and these disputes are resolved politically,” Oversight Project lawyer Sam Dewey said. The proper recourse for D.C. against the federal government on any issue would be for the D.C. Council to turn to the president and Congress, not the courts, Dewey said. The case stemmed from D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb suing last September, arguing Trump encroached on the city’s perceived independence by disregarding “Congress’s decision, half a century ago, to afford the residents of the District ‘the powers of local self-government.’” A three-judge panel temporarily paused a lower court’s injunction against the administration while the appeals court continues to examine the merits of the case. Two of the judges on the panel, both Trump appointees, wrote in a concurring opinion that the pause was necessary because D.C. did not, in fact, have standing to sue, echoing what the Oversight Project detailed in its new amicus brief in the case. “We have never recognized that the District possesses an independent sovereignty that can give rise to an Article III injury from actions of the federal government,” the two Trump-appointed judges wrote. PIRRO TOUTS DC CRIME IS BEING PROSECUTED ‘LIKE NEVER BEFORE’ IN ANNOUNCING YEAR-END STATS President Donald Trump began deploying National Guard forces to cities across the country last year as part of an effort to support immigration authorities, who faced waves of protests and riots over their deportation efforts. The Supreme Court stepped in, however, saying the deployment was likely unlawful under the law Trump invoked. The order applied to cities including Portland, Oregon; and Chicago, but not D.C., because of the district’s unique status. In D.C., Trump extended roughly 2,600 National Guard soldiers’ presence through the end of 2026, and the president has signaled he hopes to further extend that timeline, despite continued opposition from D.C.’s Democratic leadership. “This is actually training. I never want to take them out of D.C. I mean, maybe somebody later on will do it,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting last month. ALITO RIPS SUPREME COURT MAJORITY AS ‘UNWISE’ FOR BLOCKING TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD PLAN Briefing in the lawsuit is set to stretch through May and the appeals court could schedule oral arguments after that before making a decision on the legality of the National Guard’s presence and activities. Fox News Digital reached out to Schwalb’s office for comment.

Spanberger ripped after taking credit for billions in investments secured under GOP predecessor: ‘Pathetic’

Virginia’s Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger took credit for billions in economic achievements secured under her GOP predecessor, earning her backlash from Republican leaders and their representatives running the state before she got there. Spanberger touted signing legislation that authorized four separate investments from the aerospace, energy and pharmaceutical industries earlier this week. The investments, according to a press release from Spanberger’s office, would welcome 3,250 new jobs and $7.1 billion in business investment to the state. “From my very first day in office, I have been working to create a stable business environment so companies can hire, expand, and continue to invest in our Commonwealth,” Spanberger said in her press release. “I am signing these bills into law so we can continue to grow Virginia’s economy and create opportunities for Virginians.” However, Spanberger’s signature was effectively just a formality, as the deals she touted were part of previous Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s broader push to spur economic development as governor of Virginia, which included a record of $156 billion in total CEO commitments during his term. As he was exiting office, the former GOP governor garnered more than the previous six gubernatorial administrations combined, according to a press release from Youngkin’s team. BIDEN ALLY TELLS SPANBERGER TO EXIT ‘BUNKER’ AS EX-GOV RENEWS DEBATE PUSH “She’s trying to take credit for somebody else’s work,” former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told Fox News Digital. “In grade school we call that cheating.” “The last three months have been nothing but horrible news for Virginians as Abigail Spanberger broke every single promise she made on the campaign trail and now has the lowest approval rating of any Virginia governor this century,” added Youngkin spokesperson Justin Discigil. “Governor Youngkin is happy that Virginians are being reminded of some good news, even if it means Gov. Spanberger taking credit for the economic deals he secured for the Commonwealth.” Spanberger did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the matter. WHO IS ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, AND WHY DID DEMOCRATS CHOOSE HER FOR TO THEIR STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE? The four bills she signed, which with her signature authorized the awards, were announced during Youngkin’s term as governor. The first, HB 1531, allocates $537 million to aerospace company Avio USA and is expected to create over 1,500 jobs. The award, according to public reports at the time, was announced in December 2025. The next bill, HB 799, will allocate $457 million and is expected to create over 825 jobs. This award was announced by Youngkin in September 2025. HB 800, allocating over $2 billion to pharmacuetical manufacturer Eli Lilly and expected to create more than 450 jobs to manufacture the active ingredient in major cancer, autoimmune and other advanced drugs, was announced in September 2025 as well. Meanwhile, rounding out the handful of investments touted by Spanberger this week was HB 1076, which invested $4 billion into pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and is expected to create around 500 jobs. That commitment was announced in October 2025. “Attracting new businesses and jobs to Virginia is a core focus of my administration — and I’m proud of the hundreds of millions of dollars in investment we have already announced this year,” Spanberger continued in her press release this week announcing the Virginia investments. “I look forward to continuing to work with legislators, local communities, and business leaders as we make clear that Virginia is the top state in the nation to grow or start a business.” In a background section of the press release, the announcement continues touting Spanberger’s commitment to growing Virginia’s economy. FORMER VIRGINIA GOV GLENN YOUNGKIN HINTS AT POLITICAL FUTURE, SAYS HE’S ‘CHOMPING AT THE BIT’ AFTER EXIT “My simple message for Abigail Spanberger is, to quote Elizabeth Warren, ‘You didn’t build that!’” Sean Kennedy, president of Virginians for Safe Communities, said. “Spanberger has to take credit for her Republican predecessor’s accomplishments bringing jobs to Virginia because her policies are actually raising taxes, killing jobs, and hiking energy costs. Spanberger has to play make believe that she is delivering on her affordability agenda to impress the 2028 Democratic Party kingmakers. I expect that Spanberger will nevertheless persist in her false claims.” Critics of Spanberger have questioned the moderate campaign message she campaigned on, as well as her economic strategy, which has included ushering in new taxes in the state despite campaigning on a message of affordability. “Abigail Spanberger’s first 100 days in office have been a disaster when it comes to economic development,” argued Miyares, who lost to current Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones in November. Jones infamously called for the murder of his GOP rival, something that ultimately did not matter enough for voters as he and Spanberger came out victorious in November. “Three pillars of a good business environment is a good tax environment, a good regulatory environment and an environment that – from a litigation perspective – is not anti-business. Spanberger has already indicated and done a rash of bills that will make Virginia less competitive. Virginia does not compete by itself, we compete with 49 other states, and Spanberger seems hellbent to hurt us with her tax, regulatory and litigation.” Miyares added that he was aware of multiple Virginia businesses that former Governor Youngkin had recruited and were thinking about expanding in Virginia, but will no longer do so as a result of Spanberger’s policies. He also pointed out that Spanberger “does not believe in energy abundance” despite touting energy infrastructure investments this week. “I find it in some ways laughable and pathetic what she is attempting to do,” Miyares said. “Abigail Spanberger inherited a $2.7 billion surplus and benefitted from hundreds of thousands of new jobs created under Republican leadership,” the Virginia GOP added in February, in response to headlines about rising Virginia unemployment numbers. “Her and her Democrat allies are squandering it all in a matter of weeks while breaking every promise they made on ‘affordability.’”

Trump trashes MTG after Republican wins contest to fill her old seat ‘despite the stench left by Greene’

President Donald Trump blasted former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday after Republican Clay Fuller won the special election runoff on Tuesday to fill Greene’s old seat in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown’s (GREEN TURNS TO BROWN UNDER STRESS!) seat in Congress has been taken over by a wonderful and talented man, Clay Fuller, who won convincingly, and right from the beginning, despite many people running for that ‘TRUMP’ +37 seat, and despite the stench left by Greene,” Trump declared in a Wednesday Truth Social post. “Congratulations to Clay Fuller, a very large improvement over his deranged predecessor!” the president added. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS TRUMP, GOP ‘GOVERNED AMERICA LAST,’ PREDICTS MIDTERM LOSSES While Greene won re-election to the district by more than 28% in 2024, unofficial results for the April 7 contest indicate that Fuller won by more than 11%. It also appears that far fewer people voted in the recent contest compared to the 2024 race, which occurred during a presidential election cycle. Greene declared in a post on X that the district “was never in danger of flipping blue, but the results speak for themselves. Trump flipping MAGA from America First to America Last, covering up for the Epstein files, and betraying key campaign promises of no more foreign wars has been the best help for the Democrats. Sad!” Greene, who was previously an ardent Trump supporter, had a falling out with the president last year and left office early this year in the middle of her two-year term. EX-TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOINS LEFT-WING CALLS FOR THE 25TH AMENDMENT AS IRAN DEADLINE NEARS On Easter Sunday after Trump’s controversial Truth Social post threatening Iranian power plants and bridges, Greene blasted the president in a post on X, saying he had “gone insane.” “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” Trump said in the post on Sunday. In part of a lengthy post on X, Greene asserted, “Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.” Then on Tuesday, after Trump threatened that an entire “civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Greene called for removing the president from office via the 25th Amendment. REPUBLICANS WIN BUT DEMOCRATS ALSO CLAIM VICTORY WITH BALLOT BOX SURGE IN TRUMP TERRITORY “25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness,” she wrote in a post on X.

Colorado’s latest Supreme Court loss adds to growing string of culture war defeats

Colorado’s loss in the Supreme Court’s Kaley Chiles case last week marked the third time in recent years the justices have rebuked the state in a major culture-war dispute, adding to a growing pattern of high-profile reversals in cases over speech, religion and anti-discrimination law. The high court’s decision was the latest in a trio of lawsuits that backfired for Colorado, after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission lost in court to a cake baker in a key religious liberty case and after a website designer won a similar battle against the state’s civil rights division. Conservative legal experts said the legal setbacks for the state were not a coincidence. “Colorado seems hell-bent on enforcing its own new orthodoxy of thought, and the Supreme Court has had to come back time and time again to correct them and to remind them that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, even when the state may disagree with a person’s opinions,” Carrie Severino, president of the legal watchdog JCN, told Fox News Digital. The Supreme Court last week found that Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, signed into law in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, violated the First Amendment because it only restricted talk therapy when the therapy aimed to prevent minors from embracing being transgender or gay. SUPREME COURT BLOCKS COLORADO’S SO-CALLED ‘CONVERSION THERAPY’ BAN ON FIRST AMENDMENT GROUNDS In response to a question from Fox News Digital about the apparent theme, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jim Campbell said the state “has proven itself to be no respecter of the First Amendment.” “I don’t think at this point that it’s coincidental,” said Campbell, who represented Chiles before the Supreme Court during oral arguments. “The State of Colorado has shown an utter disregard for the First Amendment rights of people like Kaley Chiles.” JONATHAN TURLEY: THIS BLUE STATE’S LATEST ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH IS AWFUL AND SNEAKY, TOO In Chiles v. Salazar, the high court found 8-1 that the state law discriminated based on viewpoint. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority opinion that such laws suppressing speech on that basis amounted to an “‘egregious’ assault” on the Constitution. “The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country,” Gorsuch wrote. The case centered on Chiles, a licensed faith-based counselor in Colorado Springs, who argued that she helped youths reach their own stated goals, which she said could include minors seeking counseling on their sexuality and gender identity. COLORADO HOUSE ADVANCES CONVERSION THERAPY LAWSUIT BILL Colorado argued it was allowed to regulate Chiles’ therapy because it amounted to professional conduct and the state wanted to protect minors from Chiles’ perceived harmful counseling. The decision followed a landmark ruling in 2023, when the Supreme Court found 6-3 in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that the First Amendment barred Colorado from using the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act to force a website designer to create wedding websites for same-sex couples. The high court said in the ruling that the state could not force a person to create content conveying a message that he or she disagreed with. That ruling was viewed at the time as a broad free speech win that followed the Supreme Court’s narrower 2018 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. In that case, the justices sided with baker Jack Phillips, finding that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had shown unconstitutional hostility toward his religious beliefs that the commission did not show toward other bakers. “The Supreme Court found, at least at the time of Masterpiece Cakeshop, that Colorado’s state agency was acting in a way biased against a certain set of beliefs, and from what we can see that hasn’t changed in the intervening years,” Severino said. “Unfortunately, each time the Supreme Court has corrected them, they’ve only doubled down.” KAGAN TURNS ON LIBERAL ALLY JACKSON WITH FOOTNOTE JAB OVER FREE SPEECH Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles, observed the trend in Colorado, saying in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that Democrats there “will stomp on the rights of anyone who stands in the way of the well-heeled gay and transgender lobby whether it is bakers, doctors, or desperate families.” “It should not take the lengthy legal battles or the Supreme Court to rein in the liberal war against reality,” Schilling said. “That is why fed-up Colorado families are appealing straight to voters to protect children from extremist Democrats,” Schilling added, citing his organization’s efforts to pass conservative ballot initiatives in the state. Outside the First Amendment cases, Colorado has also been a testing ground for other highly polarizing legal fights that made it to the Supreme Court. The justices in Trump v. Anderson unanimously reversed the state Supreme Court’s decision to remove President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential primary ballot over allegations that he had incited an insurrection, finding the state lacked the authority to remove him.

Year: 2026