Free Republic

Judge rules it's ok to lie about military service Aaron Gee Only in the twilight zone or California can a law that was passed to protect people from fraud be declared unconstitutional because "there is no evidence these lies hurt anyone". A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in a 2-1 decision that it's OK to lie about your military service. Their rational was that fibs about one's military service don't actually harm anyone. This ruling contradicts years of precedent where the Supreme Court has explicitly stated that false statements of fact are not entitled to...

Judge sides with CAIR against Michael Savage (Talk Radio) March 11, 2008 © 2008 WorldNetDaily Michael Savage A Clinton-appointed judge in California is siding with the Council on Islamic-American Relations in a lawsuit by radio talk-show host Michael Savage. Judge Susan Illston has issued a terse one-page ruling in the case in which she "granted" a defense motion for judgment on the pleadings with "leave to amend." Although it was released only today, it was dated Friday, apparently finalized shortly after she held a hearing on the issues at hand. It was posted on Michael Savage's website, under the headline...

Technicality May Let Prisoner WalkLOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2005 A federal appeals court has overturned the 1995 murder conviction of Mathew Musladin ruling that courtroom spectators who wore pictures of the slain man may have biased jurors. Musladin was convicted of murdering his estranged wife's fiance in 1994. In ordering a new trial, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the buttons worn by murder victim Tom Studer's family while they sat in the front-row gallery might have influenced the jury. "The buttons essentially argue that Studer was the innocent...

<p>Appellate court says Placer deputies must answer charges they violated civil rights.</p> <p>SAN FRANCISCO -- Four Placer County sheriff's deputies must answer to a lawsuit accusing them of violating the civil rights of a woman and child during a 1999 marijuana raid of their Citrus Heights home, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.</p>

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that a federal law outlawing marijuana does not apply to sick people who are allowed to smoke pot with a doctor's recommendation. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a blow to the federal government in its fight against medical marijuana. The Justice Department has argued that state medical marijuana laws were trumped by federal drug laws. The case also underscores the conflict between federal law and California's 1996 medical marijuana law, which allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation. Eight other states...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A couple who claimed they fled China to escape threats of forced sterilization and abortion have been denied asylum by a federal appeals court.</p> <p>An immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals had earlier said Xu Ming Li and Xin Kui Yu were ineligible for asylum. In an opinion filed Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.</p>