Free Republic

A federal appeals court upheld the constitutionality of Ohio’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood Tuesday. The 2016 law bars state funding to any healthcare organization that performs or promotes abortions. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, had sued over the law claiming that it violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 11-6 Tuesday to overturn a previous decision by a three-judge panel in the same appeals court that said the law was unconstitutional. During his time as the state’s attorney general last year, now-Gov. Mike DeWine (R) requested that the case...

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed a second woman this week to a federal appeals court seat and voted to head off a Democratic filibuster of yet a third female. Senators voted 60-38 to confirm Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen for a seat on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then voted 56-42 to head off a filibuster for Colorado Supreme Court Justice Alison Eid, the president’s pick to fill Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s old seat on the 10th Circuit.

The Senate confirmed John K. Bush for a lifetime seat on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, over protests from Democrats who said he wasn’t fit to be a federal judge. The Senate voted 51-47 to put him on the federal bench despite criticism from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee of Mr. Bush for having made controversial writings, where in one particular blog, he equated the Supreme Court’s legal rulings on slavery and abortion. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat, did not vote. The Judiciary Committee moved Mr. Bush’s confirmation to the...