December 15

Adelson pledges $250 million for a third Trump term at a White House event

Miriam Adelson pledged $250 million toward supporting a potential third Donald Trump presidential term at a White House Hanukkah party in December 2025, according to the Jerusalem Post. The pledge, if fulfilled, would exceed even her historic $106 million contribution to the 2024 campaign and would dwarf previous individual campaign finance records. Legal scholars noted that a third Trump term would require a constitutional amendment repealing the 22nd Amendment's two-term limit.

Judge Saris vacates Trump offshore wind executive order as arbitrary and capricious under the APA

Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated President Trump's January 2025 executive order suspending all offshore wind leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf, finding it arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling, joined by a coalition led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, was the administration's most significant offshore wind court loss and directly preceded the March 2026 TotalEnergies settlement mechanism.

Israel claims control of northern Gaza

Israel claims control of northern Gaza..

DOJ suspends Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio's 287(g) agreement after racial profiling findings

The Department of Justice terminated the 287(g) agreement with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio after a federal civil rights investigation concluded that his office engaged in systematic racial profiling of Latino residents. The DOJ investigation, led by the Civil Rights Division, found that Arpaio's deputies used ethnicity as a basis for traffic stops and immigration enforcement in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. The termination marked the first time DOJ had revoked a 287(g) agreement for civil rights violations.

Justice Department finds Maricopa sheriff targets Latinos in policing

The Justice Department announces findings on December 15, 2011, that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. The department says deputies unlawfully stopped, detained, and arrested Latinos and retaliated against critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Federal investigators find that Latino drivers were many times more likely to be stopped than similarly situated non-Latino drivers and that jail staff punished Spanish-speaking people with limited English access. Local immigration enforcement and policing can become a system of racial and ethnic profiling.

APA removes homosexuality from DSM, ending pathologization

The American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees votes 13-0 with two abstentions to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The decision ends nearly 25 years of medical pathologization. APA states: We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well. The vote is followed by an APA membership referendum, which upholds the decision 58 percent to 37 percent. The removal marks a major milestone for LGBTQ equality but does not stop conversion therapy attempts, largely encouraged by conservative faith groups.

States ratify Seventh Amendment guaranteeing jury trials in civil cases

The Seventh Amendment, ratified as part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees the right to a jury trial in federal civil cases where the value in controversy exceeds twenty dollars. The Founders included this provision to prevent the government from imposing fines and civil penalties on individuals through judge-only proceedings, reflecting a deep suspicion of bench trials rooted in colonial grievances against Crown-appointed judges. The amendment has become the constitutional battleground for modern disputes over whether federal agencies can impose civil penalties through internal administrative proceedings rather than in Article III courts with citizen juries.

Virginia ratifies the Bill of Rights, enshrining the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment