US federal courts

A US judge has overturned a White House media ban imposed under Donald Trump, ruling against the administration's attempt to exclude certain news organisations from access. The decision is being widely reported by major outlets including BBC News and is drawing significant attention, with many seeing it as a key test of press freedom and the limits of presidential control over media access.

The Trump administration cancelled a $7 billion federal solar energy grant program, but a federal judge in Rhode Island has now ordered the program reinstated. The ruling restores funding that had supported solar projects nationwide, and the decision is drawing attention as part of the wider legal battle over the administration's cuts to renewable energy spending.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that states may use the federal SAVE database to verify the citizenship status of voters or voter registration applicants. The decision allows states to cross-check voter rolls against federal immigration records, a move supporters frame as election integrity enforcement and critics warn could lead to eligible citizens being wrongly purged from voter lists.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration can temporarily use its revamped federal voter eligibility database while legal challenges continue. The decision clears the way for federal officials to cross-check voter rolls against the new system in the interim. News outlets including AP News and NewsNation report the ruling as an interim measure, not a final resolution of the dispute over the database.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a patent dispute against Google, ruling that the internet advertising patents in question are ineligible under Section 101 of the Patent Act for claiming abstract ideas. The decision closes off the case and reinforces the judiciary's restrictive approach to software and business-method patents.

The US Supreme Court has ruled on a case concerning a Department of Homeland Security voter database, and officials say the decision will have no bearing on California's 2026 general election. The ruling resolves a dispute over federal access to state voter records, but California's election procedures and voter rolls will continue unchanged for the upcoming contest.