Judicial Watch’s Historic Day at the Supreme Court

Judicial Watch’s Historic Day at the Supreme Court
Zero Illegal Aliens Released into U.S. for Tenth Consecutive Month
Hakeem Jeffries’ Brother Rewrites History at Montpelier to Focus on Slavery
U.S. Invests $1.5 Million in Mexican Partnership after Similar Project Failed

Judicial Watch’s Historic Day at the Supreme Court

Our chief investigative reporter, Micah Morrison, recounts in Investigative Bulletin our significant week in court. We look forward to a decision regarding Election Day that will affect every voter.

Judicial Watch was at the Supreme Court on Monday fighting for a critical legal determination: Election Day is a day—not five days, not a week, not a month.

“This is the most important Supreme Court election integrity case in a generation,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The pandemic spread of states counting late ballots received after Election Day is a flagrant violation of long-standing federal law that not only encourages voter fraud but also severely undermines public confidence in our elections. The Supreme Court now has a critical opportunity to restore a fundamental guardrail to the election process.”

More than fifteen states allow late-arriving ballots to be counted. Judicial Watch asked the Supreme Court to uphold a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which struck down as unconstitutional a Mississippi law allowing election officials up to five days to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day. Mississippi appealed, arguing that late-arriving, postmarked ballots were permissible.

The original JW lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Mississippi, was later consolidated with a similar challenge by the Republican National Committee and others. At the court on Monday, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement made the historic opening statement on behalf of Judicial Watch’s Libertarian Party client. “All agree that elections for federal office have to end on the day of the election specified by Congress,” Clement said. “…Nonetheless, Mississippi insists ballots can trickle in days or even weeks after Election Day.”

JW’s brief to the Supreme Court makes the case for a single Election Day. There is no historic foundation for counting ballots arriving after Election Day, JW notes. The opportunities for fraud are endless, and public confidence in elections is eroded.

“The whole point of the federal Election-Day statutes is to set a single uniform day for the election,” the brief notes. “Allowing ballots to trickle in days or weeks after Election Day is antithetical to that basic goal.”

Congress set an Election Day, not an Election Week or an Election Month. “Through the federal Election-Day statutes, Congress exercised its constitutional authority to set a uniform time for federal elections to occur. Text, historical practice, precedent, and common sense all demonstrate that those statutes set the deadline by which ballots must be submitted and received. Simply put, the ballot box closes on Election Day, and ballots that are not received until days or weeks after the date specified by Congress arrive after Election Day and should not be counted.”

It’s been a busy year for Judicial Watch at the Supreme Court. In January, the court granted standing in a historic case JW filed on behalf of Congressman Mike Bost and two presidential electors. The case challenges an Illinois law allowing the counting of ballots received up to fourteen days after the election.

The Judicial Watch election integrity team is led by Senior Attorney Robert Popper, who previously served in the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. JW attorneys T. Russell Nobile and Eric Lee provide critical support for JW’s many landmark legal efforts.

On Monday, Tom Fitton reported from outside the Supreme Court after the hearing. The Judicial Watch team had made “historic legal arguments to preserve the idea of Election Day,” he said. Court observers were largely in agreement that a majority of the justices appeared poised to curb late-arriving ballots—though predicting what the Supreme Court will do is a fool’s errand. Some election officials are not waiting. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that election administrators in some states had already begun “planning for a world where all ballots must arrive by Election Day.”

A decision is expected in June.

Zero Illegal Aliens Released into U.S. for Tenth Consecutive Month

Here’s some really good news. We are all much safer under President Trump’s border policies. Our Corruption Chroniclesblog has the details.

Proving that the famous saying coined by the Mexican farm worker labor movement of the 1960s—and later adopted by Barack Obama—can apply to the once seemingly impossible task of securing the border, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals that for 10 consecutive months no illegal immigrants have been released into the United States. It is cause to celebrate considering during the Biden administration a record-breaking 7.6 million illegal aliens entered the country, including hundreds of thousands with serious criminal records and more than 1.7 million from countries that DHS determined pose a national security threat to the U.S. In about a year the Trump administration has turned it around, establishing that, “Si se puede” (yes we can), as the renowned labor leader Cesar Chavez, recently exposed for raping and sexually abusing girls and young women in his movement, shouted during marches. Decades later Obama adopted the three-word phrase, until then best known as the rallying cry for Chavez’s United Farm Workers, as his presidential campaign slogan.

The adage comes to mind because the Biden administration falsely claimed the unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants could not be contained as millions fled hardships at home and therefore the border could not be properly secured. The latest figures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the frontline DHS agency, contradict that narrative and demonstrate that federal authorities can indeed secure the once-porous 1,954-mile border we share with Mexico. The records show not only a trend of historically low border crossings but also record high drug seizures. In fact, in February CBP recorded the most drug seizures in more than four years (79,609 pounds), which marks an 84% increase from the previous month. Released just days ago, the statistics go through February. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott says they are a “clear reflection of the enforcement-first posture restoring integrity to our nation’s borders.” He added that while threats to economic and national security evolve so does the Trump administration’s resolve to meet them.

The sustained decline in illegal border crossings and apprehensions is the lowest in over three decades, CBP confirms, demonstrating the impact of robust enforcement policies. Daily apprehensions are down an extraordinary 95% from the Biden administration with 13 consecutive months of fewer than 9,000 southwest border apprehensions, which means the region is more secure than at any point in history. Last month CBP encountered 26,963 illegal immigrants, marking an 88% decline in the monthly average under Biden. Additionally, CBP’s total encounters of 153,155 this fiscal year are 40% lower than just the month of February 2024 under Biden. “The U.S. Border Patrol’s apprehensions along the southwest border in February (6,603) were 92% lower than the monthly average over the last 33 years and 97% below the peak of the Biden administration (December 2023),” the latest DHS figures show. The number of daily Border Patrol apprehensions in February were less than a single hour during the height of the Biden administration when 336 illegal immigrants were arrested per hour in December 2023. This clearly shows “we have the most secure border in American history,” according to CBP.

Drug interdictions are also a major part of border security since CBP is responsible for preventing dangerous narcotics from reaching American communities. Under Biden tens of thousands of pounds of illicit drugs flowed over the border. Under Trump the record February drug seizures include a 129% increase in marijuana, 67% increase in fentanyl, 46% increase in methamphetamine and 39% increase in cocaine seizures over the previous month. Agents also seized 10% more heroin over January. CBP also helped safeguard the American economy by targeting forced labor and counterfeit goods, stopping 266 shipments valued at more than $11 million for potential forced labor violations. Over 440 shipments containing counterfeit goods valued at more than $580 million were also seized and hundreds of civil penalties were issued for undeclared prohibited agriculture items. This is all part of President Trump’s Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative launched last March to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, eliminate drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect American communities from perpetrators of violent crime.

Hakeem Jeffries’ Brother Rewrites History at Montpelier to Focus on Slavery

James Madison, our fourth President, wrote the Bill of Rights and advocated for three branches of government, among many other contributions. But his home at Montpelier has been taken over by radical leftists. Our Corruption Chroniclesblog reports.

Though President Trump is restoring federal sites dedicated to history back to promoting American pride and unity over woke ideological indoctrination, equally important historical landmarks operated privately by radical leftists continue to alter U.S history with critical race narratives that downplay the significant contributions of the nation’s founders. As the country’s 250th anniversary approaches this deserves to be reported, especially because one of the sites managed—and heavily impacted—by the left is James Madison’s Montpelier, the 2,650-acre property in northwestern Virginia that was home to the “Father of the Constitution” and fourth president of the United States. Rather than focus on Madison’s many accomplishments and multitude of political contributions—such as shaping the Constitution and the country—most of the Montpelier exhibits are centered on slavery and its “central role in framing of the nation” as well as its “lasting legacies,” an extensive report published by the Heritage Foundation a few years ago reveals. This is disgraceful and despite its historical significance Montpelier is not impacted by Trump’s 2025 executive order to reverse a yearslong “effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth” at national parks, museums, monuments and memorials.

Montpelier is a casualty of what the president’s order identifies as a “revisionist movement to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.” Under the historical revision America’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed. At Montpelier Madison’s legacy “has been effectively erased, as there are no exhibits dedicated to his significant contributions,” the comprehensive probe conducted by the conservative Washington D.C. think tank found. “Montpelier can now be counted among the ranks of projects and actors that promote a distorted view of American history, suffused with critical race theory (CRT).” Madison’s signal contributions to the founding of America are seriously downplayed and there is no genuine focus on Madison the political philosopher and statesman or written displays dedicated to his many acts of public service. His drafting of the Bill of Rights is barely mentioned and with few small exceptions all the galleries and exhibits at Montpelier focus on slavery and Jim Crow. “The visitor is left with the impression that slavery was the central animating force behind the laws and economy of the United States,” the Heritage report concludes, adding that there is a palpable lack of education about Madison’s ideas and contributions to the American Republic.

The woke transformation occurred because the radical left, including the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) which features conservative organizations on a catalogue of “hate groups,” is running the historical site. The chairman of the Montpelier Foundation that operates the landmark is Hasan Kwane Jeffries, brother of New York Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader. Hasan teaches courses on Black Power Movement and civil rights at Ohio State University and consults regularly with school districts on developing anti-racism programming, according to his biography. His areas of expertise include African American history, race, ethnicity, power and culture and he helped the SPLC develop a history framework for elementary and high schools that claims, “slavery is our country’s origin.” Hasan also hosts a podcast produced by the SPLC, a leftwing nonprofit that labels legitimate groups that disagree with it on social issues hateful. In 2013 a domestic terrorist who carried out a politically motivated shooting at the Family Research Council, a pro-life nonprofit, got his target list from the SPLC catalogue of “hate groups.”

The Montpelier Foundation’s vice chair, Leslie Alexander, is a specialist in early African American and African Diaspora history who is responsible for a project called “How We Got Here: Slavery and the Making of the Modern Police State,” which examines how surveillance of free and enslaved black communities in the colonial and antebellum eras laid the foundation for policing today. “Despite growing public awareness that mass incarceration has its roots in slavery, and that racial bias infects all aspects of our criminal justice system, our nation has yet to reckon with the reality that contemporary systems of policing and mass criminalization have powerful, significant histories that originated in white fear—not merely of Black people, but also of Black resistance and the very notion of Black freedom,” Alexander claims. Her research appears in the 1619 Project, a highly controversial initiative launched by a mainstream newspaper that aims to reframe the country’s history by placing slavery and anti-black racism at the center of the national narrative, asserting that they are foundational to the institutions of the United States. A key figure in the 1619 Project, civil rights journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, has also falsely depicted the American Revolution as a pro-slavery cause.

U.S. Invests $1.5 Million in Mexican Partnership after Similar Project Failed

If at first you don’t succeed, throw more money at it. That seems to be our State Department’s strategy, as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.

Despite the failure of a multi-billion-dollar endeavor to combat transnational crime, drug trafficking and money laundering by partnering with notoriously corrupt law enforcement agencies in Mexico the United States is investing more money in a similar program in the hopes of creating a more solid partnership with the poorly qualified Mexican institutions. Much like the last delusional project—known as the Merida Initiative—the goal is to fight organized crime and violence by improving the effectiveness of frontline police and prosecutors in Mexico through the elimination of “critical gaps” in key areas that impact the success of detentions, seizures and prosecutions. This includes enhancing basic law enforcement procedures such as the handling of evidence, report writing and legal interoperability, according to a grant announcement issued this month by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Up to $1.5 million will be spent on the new Mexican partnership, which also aims to teach special unit officers in the Latin American nation run by drug cartels to consistently document evidence in accordance with legal standards and to regularly conduct joint investigations that disrupt transnational criminal networks with their U.S. counterparts. The American taxpayer funds will also help train Mexican prosecutors to consistently prepare charges that align with criminal law standards, organize evidence for effective court proceedings and collaborate with U.S. law enforcement counterparts to support cross-border investigations and prosecutions. The State Department claims the project will advance U.S. national interests and directly support the security of the United States since it will “enhance Mexico’s ability to combat cartel-related crime, reduce impunity, and disrupt transnational criminal networks that threaten U.S. and regional security.” The effort reflects the America First commitment to “strategic partnerships that deliver concrete results for the American people while advancing mutual security interests with Mexico,” according to the grant document.

Since the mid-2000s Uncle Sam has given Mexico billions of dollars in security and counternarcotics assistance as record amounts of drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and other illicit narcotics enter the country through the southern border and cartel violence spills into American communities in the region. Most of the money flowed through the futile Merida Initiative, a costly partnership between the U.S. and Mexico to fight organized crime and associated violence by, among other things, training police, investigators, prosecutors and implementing justice sector reforms in Mexico’s unreliable system. Congress appropriated $2.5 billion for the Merida Initiative, which also paid for basic law enforcement courses for Mexican police such as crime investigation, criminal intelligence, tactics and firearms, forensics, and training to combat gangs, human trafficking, money laundering and kidnapping. Anti-corruption courses were also handsomely funded under the Merida Initiative, which ran from 2008 to 2021 and barely put a dent on the cartel drug-trafficking crisis. In a report published in the fall of 2021, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) wrote that “escalating violence in Mexico and drug overdose deaths in the United States have led many to question the Mérida Initiative’s overall efficacy.” The CRS, which conducts official research for Congress, also found that “impunity for public corruption continues in Mexico.”

Which brings us to this month’s $1.5 million allocation to improve the effectiveness of Mexican law enforcement, an effort that is unlikely to thrive considering the U.S. has already poured a lot of money into the cause with little success. In fact, a federal audit released to the public in 2021 determined that Merida Initiative funds were provided to individuals and organizations involved in contract fraud, human rights abuses, drug trafficking and other crimes. The State Department never bothered to assess the potential risks of fraud in its Merida programs, according to the probe conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. This month’s grant document states the obvious; that Mexican law enforcement and prosecutorial units face complex challenges in combating organized crime, particularly cartel activity. Resource constraints and the need for professional development present the U.S. with “ongoing opportunities” to strengthen our southern neighbor’s legal and investigative processes, the State Department writes, omitting that we have tried in vain before and it cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.

Until next week,