Washington
Judge authorizes involuntary feeding of jailed suspect in deadly National Guard shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man refusing to eat food while jailed on charges he shot two National Guard troops near the White House, killing one of them, can be fed against his will under a judge’s emergency order.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed Saturday to order “nonconsensual” nutrition and medical treatment for Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was rushed to a hospital in July after he stopped eating. Mehta said federal Bureau of Prisons medical staff can feed Lakanwal intravenously or through a medical tube to save his life.
Redacted court filings haven’t specified a reason for Lakanwal’s refusal to eat, but prosecutors noted that courts have held that prison officials can involuntary feed “hunger-striking prisoners.”
Justice Department attorneys asked Mehta to order the emergency lifesaving measures for Lakanwal.
“The defendant has medical capacity to make determinations regarding his health, and he is refusing nutrition that is necessary to sustain his life,” they wrote.
Lakanwal’s attorneys said he would oppose the government’s request. They noted that he has consumed some food, such as applesauce, while hospitalized but also has been “adamant at times” that he didn’t want to eat.
“At this juncture, the government does not indicate that Mr. Lakanwal’s condition is so dire as to require this Court’s intervention and the provided medical records do not support that position,” they wrote in a redacted court filing.
Defense attorney Shelli Peterson declined to elaborate Monday on Lakanwal’s medical condition and care. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also declined to comment.
The Justice Department hasn’t announced whether it will seek the death penalty in the case. “That is a very weighty decision,” Pirro said last year.
The order authorizing Lakanwal’s involuntary feeding expires Oct. 28 but can be renewed.
Lakanwal, an Afghan national who resided in Bellingham, Washington, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the November 2025 shooting that killed West Virginia National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were deployed to Washington as part of President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, which began last summer. Lakanwal ambushed the Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House, according to prosecutors.
Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report. Lakanwal was shot during the confrontation and made his initial court appearance from a hospital bed last year.
New York
Plan to charge fossil-fuel producers $75B for climate change damages is struck down
New York’s attempt to make fossil fuel-producing industries pay into a $75 billion fund to repair the damage wrought by climate change was struck down by a federal judge, who said the sweeping law reaches beyond a state’s responsibility and into an area of federal interest.
The law, signed in 2024 by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was challenged in court by a range of fossil fuel interests, business associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 22 Republican state attorneys general and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes ruled Monday that the state’s climate law operated on territory governed by federal law for over a century and sought damages for the cumulative impact of conduct that has occurred nearly everywhere on Earth.
That, she wrote, conflicts with the need for a uniform national energy and environmental policy, and is otherwise not authorized by the federal Clean Air Act, which designates the EPA as the primary regulator of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Separately, trying to collect damages from foreign fossil fuel producers is preempted by foreign affairs doctrine, making it unconstitutional, Sannes wrote.
Climate change activists urged Hochul’s administration to appeal. A spokesperson for Hochul’s administration said “taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for damages caused by polluters” and that the administration was reviewing the decision to determine its next steps.
President Donald Trump’s administration previously challenged Michigan, Hawaii and Vermont over similar laws after he declared a “national energy emergency “and ordered his attorney general to take action against states that may be illegally overreaching their authority in how they regulate energy.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said it is “delivering on President Trump’s order to protect American energy from state overreach.”
New York’s law had required companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to collectively pay $3 billion a year over 25 years into a fund for infrastructure projects meant to repair or avoid future damage from climate change.
Lawmakers approved the bill to force big oil and gas companies to contribute to the cost of repairs inflicted by extreme weather events and to underwrite resiliency projects such as coastal wetland restoration and upgrades to roads, bridges and water drainage systems.
The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases between 2000 and 2018 were to be subjected to the fines.
Judge authorizes involuntary feeding of jailed suspect in deadly National Guard shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man refusing to eat food while jailed on charges he shot two National Guard troops near the White House, killing one of them, can be fed against his will under a judge’s emergency order.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed Saturday to order “nonconsensual” nutrition and medical treatment for Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was rushed to a hospital in July after he stopped eating. Mehta said federal Bureau of Prisons medical staff can feed Lakanwal intravenously or through a medical tube to save his life.
Redacted court filings haven’t specified a reason for Lakanwal’s refusal to eat, but prosecutors noted that courts have held that prison officials can involuntary feed “hunger-striking prisoners.”
Justice Department attorneys asked Mehta to order the emergency lifesaving measures for Lakanwal.
“The defendant has medical capacity to make determinations regarding his health, and he is refusing nutrition that is necessary to sustain his life,” they wrote.
Lakanwal’s attorneys said he would oppose the government’s request. They noted that he has consumed some food, such as applesauce, while hospitalized but also has been “adamant at times” that he didn’t want to eat.
“At this juncture, the government does not indicate that Mr. Lakanwal’s condition is so dire as to require this Court’s intervention and the provided medical records do not support that position,” they wrote in a redacted court filing.
Defense attorney Shelli Peterson declined to elaborate Monday on Lakanwal’s medical condition and care. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also declined to comment.
The Justice Department hasn’t announced whether it will seek the death penalty in the case. “That is a very weighty decision,” Pirro said last year.
The order authorizing Lakanwal’s involuntary feeding expires Oct. 28 but can be renewed.
Lakanwal, an Afghan national who resided in Bellingham, Washington, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the November 2025 shooting that killed West Virginia National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were deployed to Washington as part of President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, which began last summer. Lakanwal ambushed the Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House, according to prosecutors.
Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report. Lakanwal was shot during the confrontation and made his initial court appearance from a hospital bed last year.
New York
Plan to charge fossil-fuel producers $75B for climate change damages is struck down
New York’s attempt to make fossil fuel-producing industries pay into a $75 billion fund to repair the damage wrought by climate change was struck down by a federal judge, who said the sweeping law reaches beyond a state’s responsibility and into an area of federal interest.
The law, signed in 2024 by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was challenged in court by a range of fossil fuel interests, business associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 22 Republican state attorneys general and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes ruled Monday that the state’s climate law operated on territory governed by federal law for over a century and sought damages for the cumulative impact of conduct that has occurred nearly everywhere on Earth.
That, she wrote, conflicts with the need for a uniform national energy and environmental policy, and is otherwise not authorized by the federal Clean Air Act, which designates the EPA as the primary regulator of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Separately, trying to collect damages from foreign fossil fuel producers is preempted by foreign affairs doctrine, making it unconstitutional, Sannes wrote.
Climate change activists urged Hochul’s administration to appeal. A spokesperson for Hochul’s administration said “taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for damages caused by polluters” and that the administration was reviewing the decision to determine its next steps.
President Donald Trump’s administration previously challenged Michigan, Hawaii and Vermont over similar laws after he declared a “national energy emergency “and ordered his attorney general to take action against states that may be illegally overreaching their authority in how they regulate energy.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said it is “delivering on President Trump’s order to protect American energy from state overreach.”
New York’s law had required companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to collectively pay $3 billion a year over 25 years into a fund for infrastructure projects meant to repair or avoid future damage from climate change.
Lawmakers approved the bill to force big oil and gas companies to contribute to the cost of repairs inflicted by extreme weather events and to underwrite resiliency projects such as coastal wetland restoration and upgrades to roads, bridges and water drainage systems.
The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases between 2000 and 2018 were to be subjected to the fines.
