Administrative State

Sometimes I wish the president would just say, “I got 77 million votes, you didn’t — that’s my justification. Buzz off.” Of course, he can’t do that:

A federal judge on Monday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration had failed to justify its decision to suspend issuing leases and permits for new wind projects in keeping with the Republican president’s wishes.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston sided with a group of 17 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia in finding that agencies had failed to sufficiently explain why they had indefinitely paused all federal approvals of wind-energy projects.

A federal judge ‍ruled ⁠that the Trump administration had failed ⁠to justify its decision to suspend permitting of new wind projects in ‌keeping with the ‍Republican president’s wishes.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston ‍sided with a ‍group of 17 Democratic-led ‍states… pic.twitter.com/bljdVN6c0m

“You know I can’t appoint anybody,” Trump said. “Everybody I’ve appointed, their time has expired. Then they’re in default, then we’re losing.”

Trump’s disdain for the “blue slip” practice for judicial nominees is well known, and he’s repeatedly called for Congress to abolish it. Republicans have so far given rare resistance to Trump’s wishes, with Senate Republicans siding with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who has been a strong defender of the century-old unofficial rule.

The Senate Judiciary Committee typically doesn’t advance judicial nominees unless both senators from the state of the appointment return a blue slip in favor of the nominee. With Democrats steadfastly against Trump’s nominees, he has been forced to appoint his picks to short terms that quickly expire. Attempts to stay past their deadline have been dealt a critical blow in the courts, most recently resulting in the resignation of a major Trump ally, Habba.

In a Truth Social message posted Thursday morning, the president called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to terminate blue slips so that several of the White House’s picks for U.S. Attorney vacancies can make their way through the confirmation process. Trump also had pointed words for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying it’s “shocking” Grassley allows the tradition to continue.

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— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 11, 2025

Explosive new court documents unsealed Tuesday detail the alleged judicial misconduct of the Wisconsin judge presiding over a politically-driven criminal case targeting the attorneys who represented the 2020 Trump campaign in the battleground Badger State. Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Hyland had outside help from a former judge with a “grudge,” according to the court filings.

Hyland, in so many words, told defendants to go pound sand. He will not remove himself from the case and the march to a perfectly-timed election-year trial will go on. To the people who feel more than ever that it will be impossible to get a fair trial in far-left Dane County, the judge effectively said, Trust me.

Earlier this week, attorneys for Jim Troupis, President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin recount counselor following the rigged 2020 presidential election, filed several motions not only asking Hyland and his staff to step aside, but to vacate the judge’s August order rejecting the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. The omnibus motion and an appendix spelling out the allegations were sealed  — that is until Hyland opened them Tuesday afternoon.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson previously granted the emergency pause on an order from U.S. District Judge John McConnell from Rhode Island for the government to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Many on the left excoriated her for what they perceived as a pro-Trump order.

‘The only way to end this crisis — which the executive is adamant to end — is for Congress to reopen the government.’

A federal appeals court on Sunday evening denied the Trump Administration’s request to halt a judge’s order forcing the full payment of SNAP benefits for November.

The order is on hold for 48 hours, per Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Department of Agriculture late Saturday evening instructed states to “immediately undo steps” taken to fund SNAP benefits for November. “The US Supreme Court granted the US Department of Agriculture an administrative stay of the orders issued by the District Court of Rhode Island,” the memo read.

“Pending any explicit direction to the contrary from Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), States must not transmit full benefit issuance files to EBT processors. Instead, States must continue to process and load the partial issuance files that reflect the 35 percent reduction of maximum allotments detailed in the November 5 guidance,” the memo stated.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to fund November’s SNAP benefits.

On Thursday, Rhode Island District Judge John McConnell ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP benefits amid the Schumer shutdown.

The lawless judge directed the Trump administration to divert funds from child nutrition programs to SNAP. On Friday evening, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge John McConnell’s order, requiring the administration to deliver full SNAP benefits to states by midnight.

Most people also know that Democrats and left-wing climate activists oppose American energy dominance through the development of fossil fuels, but they likely don’t know that the biggest obstacle today is a court whose territory doesn’t have a single well, liquefied natural gas terminal, or pipeline — the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.