February 13, 2026 Update

It’s Friday the 13th! And, indeed, it may be another unlucky day for many Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees if tonight’s deadline to fund the department arrives without an agreement in the Senate. (Spoiler alert: the Senate has already left town for a one-week Presidents Day recess.) Meanwhile, the White House announced new judicial nominees including: Evan Rikhye to the District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands (which is not a lifetime position); Katie Lane to the District Court for the District of Montana; Sheria Clarke to the District Court for the District of South Carolina; and Kara Westercamp to the Court of International Trade. It is noteworthy that Sheria Clarke is the first Black woman to be nominated to the federal court in the second Trump term. These new nominees are likely to get a judiciary committee hearing on March 18. As to the Trump-nominated judges already on the bench, some new analysis indicates that about 80% of those confirmed during this past year have sided with the president in cases before them while only 27% of his first term judges have ruled in his favor.

Here’s a look at some of the latest rulings in the lower federal courts on Trump administration actions:

Judge James Boasberg, an Obama nominated judge to the District Court for the District of Columbia, has ordered the administration to facilitate the return of 137 Venezuelan immigrants who were sent to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, ruling that the men were denied due process. Although some of the men were returned to Venezuela from CECOT, they too should be allowed due process to fight their deportations. Judge Boasberg is being threatened with impeachment or removal for his rulings.
In a 2-1 vote, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would, if allowed to stand, subject millions of noncitizens to mandatory detention without possibility of a bond hearing regardless of how long they have resided in the US. Judges Edith Jones (Reagan nominated) and Kyle Duncan (Trump nominated) voted in favor while Judge Dana Douglas (Biden nominated) dissented. In the past, most noncitizens with no criminal record who were arrested away from the border could request a bond hearing while their cases were underway in immigration court.
Judge Vernon Broderick, an Obama-nominated judge to the District Court for the Southern District of New York, became the latest federal judge to weigh in against federal cuts to social programs such as family assistance and child care. He extended a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s action to cut funding to five-Democratic led states: New York, Minnesota, California, Illinois, and Colorado.

► Senate Judiciary Committee

The next hearing is expected to be on March 18 for the new nominees mentioned above. Before that on March 5, the committee is expected to take a vote on approving and sending to the full Senate the following nominees: Anna St. John to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (opposed by NCJW), John Thomas Shepherd to the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, and Andrew Davis and Chris Wolfe to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

► ICYMI

(The Conversation) Trump administration losing credibility with judges and grand juries

(Reuters) Trump DOJ seeks examples of ‘egregious’ judges for Congress to review

(USAToday) Judges keep berating ICE. Here are their harshest comments.

(Politico) How ICE defies judges orders to release detainees, step by step

(ABCNews) Trump’s immigration crack down is straining federal courts…