Reminder: Federal prosecutors are expected to file a 120-page(!) brief in support of the death penalty for Luigi Mangione tonight.

Soft launch

Indicted ex-Cuomo staffer had leading role in securing Covid-19 supplies: Witness @uebey.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/indicted-ex-...

Inbox: The White House blasts out a press release complaining about ABC News. It's just a list of grievances; literally zero context.

LUIGI: Mangione requests the following clothes for his upcoming state court hearings on Dec. 1, which could take several days.

Designer watches, a 2024 Ferrari, $130,000 in cash (all in 100s). FBI agents recall seizing property from the family of Linda Sun, the former aide to Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul accused of covertly working for China.

A judge invoked MLB pitcher Emmanuel Clase’s high salary and 2020 steroid suspension at his bail hearing today. More @courthousenews.bsky.social 🫵

BROOKLYN — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase is silent leaving federal court. He pleaded not guilty to pitch-rigging and released on $600,000 bond. A judge ordered GPS monitoring, finding Clase’s wealth and ties to the Dominican Republic pose risks of flight.

A federal judge just slammed the government for "sending threatening letters on a Saturday night" demanding states "undo" SNAP payments. "It's hard to see how this is not being used as a leverage point," the judge said. "People are hungry right now." cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

“Why, then, would Congress have thought it necessary to specifically add a provision making those noncitizens subject to mandatory detention if they are charged with certain crimes?” wrote Liman, a Trump appointee in the Southern District of New York. “The government has no answer.”

NEW: Judges around the country are citing an unexpected source to free ICE detainees: The Laken Riley Act They're finding ICE's mass detention agenda is SO broad it could actually "nullify" the controversial law. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

“Lawless behavior” — A federal judge had strong words for the Trump administration, which tried to demand states’ ICE compliance to receive transit funding. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/judge-slams-...

Last month, ICE injured a photographer when they shoved a reporter out of an elevator at 26 Federal Plaza. I wrote about the woman in the elevator, a 20 y/o asylum seeker from Peru, who's been jailed in Louisiana 1000 miles away from her family ever since. @courthousenews.bsky.social 🔗⬇️

New: NY Republicans challenge the state's new even-year election law, this time in federal court 😲 Representing the GOP plaintiffs is the New York-based Brewer firm, which famously defended the NRA in its yearslong corruption case. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

New: The two Russian mobsters convicted for trying to kill Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad each get 25-year prison sentences. “Justice is beautiful,” says Alinejad.

Uncommon visitor to Brooklyn: a Varied Thrush in Prospect Park #birds #birding 🪶

As expected, Drake is appealing the dismissal of his lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us." cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

Feds announcing two indictments against Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and ~30 others. Apparently, Billups played in rigged mafia-backed poker games that used "sophisticated cheating tech" like X-ray tables and shuffling machines with hidden cameras inside. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

New: The Third Circuit just hounded the Trump administration for its bid to re-jail Mahmoud Khalil. A Trump-appointed judge was particularly critical, asking whether the government tried to create a “black hole of no jurisdiction.” More @courthousenews.bsky.social

New: A DOJ lawyer claimed Alina Habba's appointment was "consistent with longstanding practice." But a Third Circuit judge asked him to name another time a U.S. attorney was seated this way. "Well, I guess I cannot," the lawyer said.

Update: Luigi Mangione’s defense team claims the White House and DOJ are politicizing the case by painting LM as a “left-wing violent extremist.” They cite reports suggesting lobbying efforts from UnitedHealthcare directly. (This is in response to the pretrial statement stuff.)

Breaking: A federal court just lifted travel restrictions on Mahmoud Khalil. He can now move freely throughout the United States as he awaits removal proceedings, but does need to notify ICE 48 hours prior to his travel. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

LUIGI: Mangione’s criminal case in Pennsylvania is now effectively on pause. With the Feds not allowing him to be brought in-person, and Mangione declining to appear virtually, the judge says it is “impossible” to conduct substantive hearings right now. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

LUIGI: Mangione’s federal motion to dismiss is in. The defense argues that the stalking charges aren’t “crimes of violence” that back up for the murder and gun charges. They also move to suppress the backpack evidence — similar to their arguments in the state case.

New: The DOJ is kneecapping its case against Luigi Mangione with its social media habits, former prosecutors tell me. "From my perspective as a defense lawyer, I find this level of obdurate incompetence to be delightful," says famed NYC lawyer Rob Kuby.

NEW: Drake loses his defamation case against Kendrick Lamar over the “Not Like Us” lyrics. More coming @courthousenews.bsky.social

LUIGI: Prosecutors respond to Mangione’s federal judge, who scrutinized public statements from DOJ officials as being potentially prejudicial.

Sean "Diddy" Combs' lawyer Brian Steel just said Combs was nearly shanked in prison. "The guards stopped a person who was armed with a shank who was on top of Sean and about to cut him."

LUIGI: The DOJ wants more time to respond to their potential violations to pretrial publicity rules in Mangione's federal case. The judge wanted a reply by today. Prosecutors ask for Wednesday.

Sean "Diddy" Combs will likely get between 5 and 7 years in prison: The judge just revealed that his offense level and criminal history "yields an advisory guidelines range of 70-87 months in incarceration."

Diddy can wear non-prison clothes to his sentencing Friday:

NEW: In a scathing 161-page order, a judge finds Kristi Noem + Marco Rubio knowingly conspired to chill free speech by trying to deport pro-Palestine students. He likens ICE's masking to the KKK: "ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence."

“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe.” Cassie Ventura writes to a federal judge in support of the feds’ 11-year sentence recommendation for Diddy. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

Update: Since the feds won’t transfer Luigi Mangione to Pennsylvania, and Mangione is declining to appear remotely, this Nov. 7 hearing is now cancelled.

Update: The feds won’t transfer Luigi Mangione to PA for his hearing on Nov. 7. The best they can do is video conferencing from jail, which Mangione’s legal team has objected to.

Texas man indicted over terroristic threats to NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani @uebey.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/texas-man-in...

A Texas man has been charged with making terroristic threats to Zohran Mamdani, per Queens DA Melinda Katz. Some vile stuff in here:

Mahmoud Khalil lost his bid for a waiver of removability, making him one step closer to deportation. He claims his immigration judge took Marco Rubio's "misrepresentations" about him as gospel, and is asking a NJ judge to step in. Here's some of the immigration judge's ruling:

New: A judge finds that ICE likely “cherry picked” statistics that are “flawed and likely misleading” to make the conditions at Manhattan’s 26 Federal Plaza seem more humane. He granted class certification so detainees can sue the government. cc @courthousenews.bsky.social

Just 24 members of the public were allowed inside the Luigi Mangione courtroom today. Court officers repeatedly instructed them, “no outbursts, no cell phones.” Footage via @abc7.bsky.social

LUIGI: Mangione will be appearing for a hearing in the next ~30 minutes at the Manhattan criminal courthouse. I'm in court w/ more than 70 reporters and about two dozen members of the public — many of whom waited overnight for their seat. Following live for @courthousenews.bsky.social 🧵

New: George Santos loses his appeal in the Jimmy Kimmel “Will Santos Say It?” copyright claim. Santos sued in 2024 after Kimmel got him to say outlandish things on Cameo, then aired the clips on his late-night show. More @courthousenews.bsky.social

New: A federal judge is allowing ICE courthouse arrests in NYC to continue, denying a challenge brought by immigrant rights groups and @ACLU . But he DID block immigration judges from tossing cases to reduce caseload — a limited win for the groups. More coming @courthousenews.bsky.social

Feds across the board are now less equipped to solve certain crimes. Over the summer, a Homeland Security official testified that he had to pull agents from counterintelligence + terrorism units to focus on the White House’s initiative to deport pro-Palestine student protesters.

New: A federal judge was not a fan of Trump’s new tule to require citizenship checks for access to services like food pantries and homeless shelters. “The government’s new policy, across the board, seems to be this: ‘Show me your papers,’” she wrote.

Eataly's Flatiron location has been hit with a negligence suit from a woman who claims she bit into a ravioli filled with shards of a broken plate:

LUIGI: Mangione is now due in court for his PA case on Nov. 7, 2025. This is a hearing on LM's claims that he was unlawfully arrested at the Altoona McDonald's. The Feds have said they'll only let LM appear for these PA hearings remotely; LM wants to be there in-person.

New: NY’s high court seemed dubious today over a Republican-led effort to kill the state’s new even-year election law. Advocates say the law will boost voter turnout. Critics say that’ll lead to longer lines. More @courthousenews.bsky.social

Luigi Mangione on Friday lambasted federal prosecutors for likening him to New York City mass shooter Shane Tamura, claiming that the move was “an attempt to prejudice potential jurors.” @uebey.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/luigi-mangio...

Eric Adams is NOT dropping out, he says. "Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar. I am in this race and I’m the only one that can beat Mamdani. Andrew has had a career of pushing Black candidates out of races."