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A federal judge has voided the court-martial conviction of former Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who left his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was then captured and held by the Taliban for five years. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Tuesday issued a 63-page ruling granting summary judgment in favor of Bergdahl, who was convicted after pleading guilty in 2017 to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Walton argued that Bergdahl was denied a fair trial because the military judge who presided over the court martial, Jeffrey Nance, failed to disclose that he had applied to the executive...

A federal judge has voided former Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's court-martial sentence and subsequent rulings on the case by military judges, setting up the possibility that he could request a reinstatement of rank or change of status for his dishonorable discharge. Senior Judge Reggie Walton, of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., issued an order Tuesday that partially granted the federal government's motion to dismiss the Bergdahl case. But Walton ruled in favor of Bergdahl's argument that the Army judge in his case failed to disclose a possible conflict of interest -- that he had applied for a civilian...

WICHITA, Kan. — A federal judge has ruled Kansas cannot require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, a setback for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in a case with national implications for voting rights. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson sided with voters...

Saying there is no fundamental right to a secret ballot, a federal judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by elections integrity activists that challenged whether counties can print ballots with identifying numbers that critics say can be traced back to individual voters easily. ... [Judge] Arguello said activists had not shown the plaintiffs had suffered or would suffer any specific injury that could be remedied by a federal court. She said that even if a ballot could be traced back to a specific voter, it doesn't show that a person's voting rights were violated, saying there was no "fundamental right"...

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked enforcement of a Mississippi law that could shut down the only abortion clinic in the state. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan in Jackson issued a temporary restraining order the day the new law took effect. He set a July 11 hearing to determine whether to block the law for a longer time. "Though the debate over abortion continues, there exists legal precedent the court must follow," Jordan wrote. The law requires anyone performing abortions at the state's only clinic to be an OB-GYN with privileges to admit patients...

Florida will not be allowed to require applicants for cash assistance to needy families to pass a drug test before receiving payments, a federal judge ruled on Monday. In a 37-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Mary Scriven in Orlando granted an injunction barring the state from enforcing the new law until the case is resolved. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida on behalf of a University of Central Florida student who refused to take the test when he applied for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, a federal program that provides cash assistance to...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The requirement in the national health-care overhaul law that individuals buy health insurance is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday in a question that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to settle. The suit decided by Judge Christopher C. Conner in Harrisburg is one of more than 30 lawsuits nationwide that have been filed over the 2010 law that is President Barack Obama's signature initiative. Conner, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush, said the individual mandate is an unconstitutional extension of authority granted to the federal...

Health Care: A federal judge ruled Monday that the mandate forcing Americans to buy health care insurance is unconstitutional. Is this the first step in the collapse of ObamaCare? U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, a 2002 George W. Bush appointee, said lawmakers went too far in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act when they included a requirement forcing those who are not otherwise covered to buy a health plan or pay a penalty. He wrote that this individual mandate "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power." Never have the courts, Hudson's 42-page opinion said, "extended Commerce Clause...

A federal judge declared the Obama administration's health care law unconstitutional Monday, siding with Virginia's attorney general in a dispute that both sides agree will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson is the first federal judge to strike down the law, which has been upheld by two others in Virginia and Michigan. Several other lawsuits have been dismissed and others are pending, including one filed by 20 other states in Florida.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that President Bush's nominee to a disputed seat on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is the legitimate holder of that seat. At issue is whether Victoria Wilson, who was appointed by then-President Bill Clinton to complete the term of Judge A. Leon Higginbotham on Jan. 13, 2000, or Peter Kirsanow, who was appointed by President Bush to a new six-year term, was the legitimate holder of the position. As CNSNews.com previously reported, a Justice Department attorney told the three-judge panel that Congress did not intend to eliminate staggered terms...