A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden issued an injunction Sunday evening ordering the Department of Homeland Security to halt a taxpayer-funded television advertising campaign featuring President Donald Trump — even though the administration had already told the court the ads were scheduled to end that same day.
U.S.
The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Common Cause, Robert Hunter, a Democratic candidate for a seat in the Alabama state House, and a labor union in New York and its political action committee, NBC News reported. It was one of several similar complaints — including one from the Democratic National Committee — filed to get the ads off the air, according to the same outlet.
The administration had said in a court filing Saturday that DHS, through a vendor, had placed ad buys through Sunday and had told the vendor not to purchase ads beyond that day, per NBC News. Rochon nonetheless rejected the argument that the case was moot.
The ads have been criticized as government propaganda aimed at influencing the outcome of the midterm election, according to the Guardian. The total advertising purchase was reported at $20 million.
"Plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on the merits, will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction, the balance of the equities tips in their favor, and an injunction serves the public interest," Rochon wrote, according to NBC News.
The injunction arrives as the nation barrels toward Election Day, with early voting already underway in dozens of states. It is not yet known whether the administration will appeal the ruling or how quickly the vendor will comply with the cancellation order.
Critics of the ruling point out that federal courts are now being used to police political speech funded through the executive branch — a novel use of judicial power at a moment when the administration says its border messaging serves a legitimate public safety function. Supporters of the injunction argue that using federal tax dollars to promote a sitting president's image crosses a line that even the administration seemed to recognize when it let the ad buys lapse.
The case is one of several fronts where Democratic-aligned groups are testing the limits of executive communications. The DNC's separate complaint remains pending, according to NBC News, and could produce additional rulings in the days ahead. It remains unclear how much money has already been spent on the ad campaign or whether any additional media buys were placed in other markets outside the New York court's reach.
Our Take
Patriots, let's call this what it is.
A judge hand-picked by the Biden administration just told the Department of Homeland Security — the agency tasked with keeping America's borders secure — that it cannot run ads telling the American people what it is doing. Not because the ads were false. Not because they endangered anyone. But because they featured President Trump.
Think about the timing. The administration told the court the ads were already wrapping up Sunday. That wasn't good enough. The judge still issued an emergency order to kill ads that were about to stop running on their own. This wasn't about stopping alleged election interference. This was about making a statement — and making it before Election Day.
Where were these same watchdog groups when the Biden regime used federal agencies to coordinate censorship with Big Tech? Where was Common Cause when the FBI was labeling parents as domestic terrorists for speaking at school board meetings? The silence was deafening.
This is the two-tier justice system in broad daylight. Conservative speech gets enjoined. Left-wing activism gets funded. And unelected judges in Manhattan get to decide what the American people are allowed to see in the final days of an election.
The question now is simple: Will the administration fight this, or will it let a single district judge in New York dictate what the federal government can say to the public? Americans deserve to know where their government stands — and whether the people they elected still have the power to speak.
Stay tuned. This one is not over.
