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Federal judge allows Texas AG to challenge Harris County bail reforms: ‘Unleashing criminals’

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Federal judge allows Texas AG to challenge Harris County bail reforms: ‘Unleashing criminals’

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A federal judge has granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a key win, allowing him to intervene in a lawsuit that produced the 2019 Harris County misdemeanor bail reform consent decree.

“The justice system must be dedicated to punishing the evildoer and protecting the innocent,” Paxton said in a press release on Wednesday. “But far too often, leftist judicial activists and other liberal anti-prison organizations have worked to make Texas less safe by throwing open the prison doors and unleashing criminals back onto the streets. I will do everything in my power to reverse this disastrous policy and uphold the law.”

TEXAS INVESTIGATING USTA FOR POSSIBLE VIOLATION OF LAW BANNING BIOLOGICAL MALES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

A federal judge granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a key win by allowing him to intervene in a lawsuit that led to the 2019 Harris County misdemeanor bail reform consent decree. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

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The O’Donnell Consent Decree stemmed from a 2016 class-action lawsuit arguing that Harris County’s prior bail practices were unconstitutional because they detained people charged with misdemeanors simply for being unable to afford cash bail.

A judge approved the decree in 2019, eliminating most cash bail for misdemeanor offenses and requiring release on unsecured bonds, while also creating an independent monitor to oversee compliance.

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES LAW REQUIRING DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS IN TEXAS CLASSROOMS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, said the justice system “must be dedicated to punishing the evildoer and protecting the innocent.” (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The new ruling opens the door for Paxton’s office to seek termination of the decree, arguing that it violates Texas law and endangers public safety.

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Paxton’s office said the decree “enabled radical judges to more easily release criminals into Harris County communities” and that liberal activists have tried to expand its reach despite state laws imposing stricter bail standards.

The latest ruling allowing the attorney general to become involved in the lawsuit opens the door for his office to argue that the decree should be terminated. (Justin Lane/Reuters)

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“General Paxton seeks to vacate the decree and ensure that the rights of Harris County citizens are represented in court,” the release said.

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Video: Dick Cheney Is Honored at Washington National Cathedral

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Video: Dick Cheney Is Honored at Washington National Cathedral

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Dick Cheney Is Honored at Washington National Cathedral

An unusual mix of Democrats and Republicans came together on Thursday to pay tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who led an aggressive response against terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001. Missing from the crowd were President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, whom Mr. Cheney had publicly opposed in his later years.

“This was a vice president totally devoted to protecting the United States and its interests. There was never any agenda or angle beyond that. You did not know Dick Cheney unless you understood his greatest concerns and ambitions were for his country.” “He knew that bonds of party must always yield to the single bond we share as Americans. For him, a choice between defense of the Constitution and defense of your political party was no choice at all.” “In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”

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An unusual mix of Democrats and Republicans came together on Thursday to pay tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who led an aggressive response against terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001. Missing from the crowd were President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, whom Mr. Cheney had publicly opposed in his later years.

By Jamie Leventhal

November 20, 2025

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Missouri attorney general takes new legal aim at mail-order abortion pills over safety concerns

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Missouri attorney general takes new legal aim at mail-order abortion pills over safety concerns

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Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced Thursday she is expanding the state’s fight against mail-order abortion pills, targeting a recently approved generic version of mifepristone that she argues sends women to hospitals with “life-threatening complications” and is being pushed into the marketplace without “basic medical safeguards.”

The filing challenges the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Sept. 30 approval of a generic mifepristone produced by Evita Solutions, arguing that the drug’s risks are “well-documented and worsening with further study.”

The lawsuit alleges manufacturers have relied on “weakened safety standards” that were “originally designed to catch dangerous conditions such as ectopic pregnancies,” which can only be identified through an in-person medical exam.

“Mifepristone is sending women to the hospital with life-threatening complications, and yet drug companies continue pushing new versions of it into the market without basic medical safeguards,” Hanaway said. “Mail-order abortion drugs are dangerous when taken without in-person care, and Missouri will not stand by while manufacturers gamble with women’s lives.”

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HAWLEY BLASTS FDA APPROVAL OF NEW ABORTION DRUG, CITES SAFETY AND TRUST CONCERNS

Catherine Hanaway speaks to reporters after Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe announced her appointment as the state’s next attorney general, Aug. 19, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

The case builds on Missouri’s multi-state challenge to what officials allege is the FDA’s “dismantling of critical safety protections” surrounding mifepristone.

Federal law has long banned the mailing of abortion drugs, yet distributors and telehealth networks have built a nationwide system that delivers the pills to women in every state, often without in-person medical screenings or follow-up care.

Missouri, joined by Kansas and Idaho, is asking the court to block the new approval, restore pre-2016 safety standards that required in-person medical evaluations and stop drugmakers and distributors from mailing abortion pills nationwide in violation of federal law.

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FLORIDA CITES MAFIA LAW, HITS PLANNED PARENTHOOD WITH SUIT OVER CLAIM ABORTION PILL ‘SAFER THAN TYLENOL’

Misoprostol, left, and mifepristone abortion medication. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Hanaway pointed to the drug’s labeling, which notes that roughly 1 in 25 women who take chemical abortion drugs end up in the emergency room and many suffer hemorrhaging, infection or require surgery. She said complications are even more common when the pills come through the mail without medical oversight.

“No caring physician would call mifepristone ‘as safe as Tylenol,’” she said. “That claim was always false. Women are ending up in emergency rooms, and manufacturers know it. If the FDA is reevaluating the brand-name drug’s safety, then it needs to stop rubber-stamping new mail-order generic versions before more women are hurt.”

Hanaway’s filing comes as Republican lawmakers in Washington continue pressing the FDA to tighten oversight of abortion pills and restore safety guardrails rolled back in recent years.

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ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR CALIFORNIA DOCTOR IN LOUISIANA ABORTION PILL CASE

Mifepristone tablets at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Iowa.  (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

During a recent press call, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., urged the FDA to “follow the science to put back safety guardrails” and questioned the agency’s partnerships with abortion-pill manufacturers, including Evita Solutions, the company behind the generic drug targeted in Hanaway’s lawsuit.

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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he and other Republican senators have demanded answers from the FDA about its decision to approve the new drug but have yet to receive a response.

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Evita Solutions did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

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In-state college tuition for California’s undocumented students is illegal, Trump suit alleges

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In-state college tuition for California’s undocumented students is illegal, Trump suit alleges

The Trump administration filed a federal suit Thursday against California and its public university systems, alleging its practice of offering in-state college tuition rates to undocumented immigrants who graduate from California high schools is illegal.

The suit, which named Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the UC Board of Regents, the Cal State University Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges, also seeks to end some provisions in the California Dream Act, which in part allows students who lack documentation to apply for state-funded financial aid.

“California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This marks our third lawsuit against California in one week — we will continue bringing litigation against California until the state ceases its flagrant disregard for federal law.”

Higher education and state officials were not immediately available to comment.

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The tuition suit targets Assembly Bill 540, which passed with bipartisan support in 2001 and offers in-state tuition rates to undocumented students who completed high school in California. The law also offers in-state tuition to U.S. citizens who graduated from California schools but moved out of the state before enrolling in college.

Between 2,000 and 4,000 students attending the University of California — with its total enrollment of nearly 296,000 — are estimated to be undocumented. Across California State University campuses, there are about 9,500 immigrants without documentation enrolled out of 461,000 students. The state’s biggest undocumented group, estimated to be 70,000, are community college students.

The Trump administration’s challenge to California’s tuition statute focuses on a 1996 federal law that says people in the U.S. without legal permission should “not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”

Scholars have debated whether that law affects California’s tuition practices since AB 540 applies to citizens and noncitizens alike.

Thursday’s complaint was filed in Eastern District of California, and it follows similar actions the Trump administration has taken against Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma and Minnesota.

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