Free Republic

The Supreme Court is weighing whether to fast-track arguments about presidential immunity relating to the indictment of former president Donald Trump over his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Special counsel Jack Smith has argued that Trump’s presidential immunity does not extend to the criminal justice system; Trump’s legal team, in a lower-court filing, has argued that it does. And both sides are citing Richard M. Nixon. Smith and Trump’s lawyers have both referred to Supreme Court rulings concerning the 37th president to bolster their arguments. But they’re citing two very different cases with very different outcomes. The special...

BERLIN - Politicians and Muslim leaders condemned a German judge Thursday for citing the Quran in her rejection of a Muslim woman's request for a quick divorce on grounds she was abused by her husband. Judge Christa Datz-Winter said in a recommendation earlier this year that both partners came from a "Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife," according to the court. The woman is a German of Moroccan descent married to a Moroccan citizen. The judge argued that her case was not one of...

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2006 – Recent news reports citing an imminent U.S. military attack against Iran are flat wrong, a senior Defense Department official said here today. Such reports constitute "wild speculation," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters, reiterating previous policy remarks President Bush has made on the Iran issue. The president has chosen diplomacy in concert with the international community as the preferred approach in persuading the Iranian government to jettison its nuclear programs, Whitman said. Yet, it would be unrealistic, Whitman suggested, for people to believe that DoD doesn't have plans for all types of potential military...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, under scrutiny in recent weeks for receiving illegal campaign contributions and directing public contracts and funds to political allies, has been accused by current and former employees of being verbally abusive, according to interviews and recently released records. The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that at least three women who worked closely with Shelley have filed complaints about his behavior. The women claimed he attacked them verbally with little or no provocation, and that his behavior has seriously damaged the morale and productivity of his office. "The environment of Kevin Shelley's office is...

TEXAS — Under a state Homeland Security law enacted in June, public officials cannot disclose the locations of certain security cameras on private and public property. If the provision is applied retroactively, it could strike down an open-records request filed last fall by the University of Texas at Austin student newspaper, which was asking for information about cameras on campus and in the city. Gov. Rick Perry signed House Bill 9 on June 22, effectively sealing information about state-funded security systems in order to protect public or private property from an act of terrorism or related criminal activity. Records that...