Free Republic

LANSING, Mich. - Public universities and state and local governments would violate the state constitution by providing health insurance to the partners of gay employees, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday. A three-judge panel said a 2004 voter-approved ban on gay marriage also applies to same-sex domestic partner benefits. The decision reverses a 2005 ruling from an Ingham County judge who said universities and governments could provide the benefits. "The marriage amendment's plain language prohibits public employers from recognizing same-sex unions for any purpose," the court wrote. A constitutional amendment passed by Michigan voters in November 2004 made the...

Meet the Candidates In the Ohio Republican Primary for 11th District Court of Appeals The Court of Appeals might appear boring to some, a ho-hummer to others. No juries present, the Court of Appeals hears cases concerning errors in the lower courts. Is Matlock even around? Dorothy Lee, Jeff Black, Paul Brickner - how do they feel about the subjects such as judicial activism? What about the doctrine of stare decisis? Would they side with the Taney Supreme Court? Or would Dred Scott have been a free man? As a magistrate does Dorothy Lee have the background to sit...

NEW YORK A preacher found relief from a higher authority today when an appeals court ruled that Ithaca selectively used its noise ordinance to silence him in violation of his rights to free speech, equal protection and freedom of religion. The 2nd U-S Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered a federal judge in Albany to declare victory for Kevin Deegan -- saying it found the noise ordinance "cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny." Deegan had sued Ithaca, its attorney and its chief of police in a bid to strike down the ordinance in the college town 45 miles south of Syracuse....

This is what they are protecting! Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

Briefing Book Casts Alito As Mainstream By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 1 hour, 46 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's opinions on abortion, discrimination and other contentious issues are the work of a mainstream jurist, not the ideologue depicted by critics, the White House argues in a voluminous briefing book meant for Republican senators. ADVERTISEMENT Alito's dissent in a 1991 abortion ruling showed "concern for the safety of women," the material says. By approving a requirement for spousal notification, he "reflected the position advanced by the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania." A 1996 dissent in a sex...

...[A] panel for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last Friday that the President "unquestionably" has the power to detain an American citizen who has taken up arms against his country. But wait. Didn't the Supreme Court say precisely that in its Hamdi decision last year? So it did, as Judge Michael Luttig notes repeatedly in his 25-page opinion penned for the court. That wasn't enough for José Padilla's attorneys, who argued that Hamdi, which concerned an American picked up on a battlefield in Afghanistan, didn't apply to their client, who was arrested domestically, at O'Hare Airport. Padilla,...

IOWA CITY, IA - The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied a request to suspend a law, pending a possible U.S. Supreme Court review, restricting where Iowa sex offenders can live. This decision is the latest setback for an Iowa Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2002 law that prohibits certain sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and day cares. The ICLU, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of more than a dozen sex offenders, has not ''demonstrated a particularly strong probability'' that the U.S. Supreme Court will review the law, the...

Issues & Insights Wednesday, May 4, 2005 Profile Of An Extremist INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Washington: Ever wonder just what it is about Janice Rogers Brown that prompted the Democrats to so fiercely oppose her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals? It's her radical position on the Constitution. Or rather, it's her dedication to constitutional limits that has enraged the left. They don't want anyone on the bench who might get in the way of federal policies and programs that can't withstand constitutional scrutiny. Brown, the African-American daughter of an Alabama sharecropper, happens to believe the Supreme Court's protection of...

Immigrants fighting to stay in the United States are flooding the federal appellate courts with cases, creating huge backlogs and fundamentally changing the character of the second-highest courts in the nation. The deluge reflects growing dissatisfaction with the nation's immigration courts, and attorneys representing asylum-seekers and others say they have little choice but to appeal to the federal judiciary. The trend is nationwide, federal records show, but bearing the brunt of this sudden surge is the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the year ending June 30, 2001, the immigration caseload was 965. It skyrocketed to 4,835...

News Break 04/10/2005 05:19:43 EST Court Overturns 1995 Murder Conviction SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court has tossed out a 1995 murder conviction and ordered a new trial for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife's fiance. The court said buttons the victim's family wore at the trial may have influenced jurors. Mathew Musladin, who is serving a life sentence, maintained that he acted in self-defense when he shot Tom Studer in 1994. In ordering a new trial for Musladin, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday said the buttons, which showed...

Child Care Provider Takes on Politics "Work on the book, work on the book." That thought pestered me for my whole Christmas vacation. "Across the Centuries," a nationwide 7th grade social studies book which maligns Christianity and embraces Islam had recently gotten my attention. Not that I had time for it. I was to have a whole week off from child-care over Christmas vacation, a much needed time of silence and freedom. HA! "Work on the book, work on the book." "But GOD! (whiney voice) What about that Christmas party?" The reply was consistent, "Work on the book." I'm a...

U.S. Court of Appeals Rules IRS Cannot Apply Force Against A Tax Payer Without A Court Order Tax Payers Free To Ignore An IRS Summons Queensbury, NY – On January 25, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that taxpayers cannot be compelled by the IRS to turn over personal and private property to the IRS, absent a federal court order. Quoting from the decision (Schulz v. IRS, Case No. 04-0196-cv), “...absent an effort to seek enforcement through a federal court, IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers, and no consequence whatever can befall a taxpayer...

Martini gets OK as federal judge MITCHEL MADDUX Former Rep. Bill Martini has been confirmed as a New Jersey federal judge by the U.S. Senate. Martini, 55, a Republican who lives in Clifton and practices law in Newark, is a former federal prosecutor who also has served as a Passaic County freeholder. A member of a prominent Passaic County family long involved in politics, he serves as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Martini will have to resign from the agency, and Governor McGreevey will name his replacement on the 12-person board. Martini said...

To resolve any concern that I would block pro-life judicial nominees, take a look at my record. I have consistently opposed any litmus test. I have backed that up by voting to confirm pro-life nominees including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Anthony Kennedy. I led the fight to confirm Justice Clarence Thomas, which almost cost me my Senate seat in 1992. I have voted for all of President Bush's judicial nominees in committee and on the floor. The current controversy was artificially created by incorrect reporting. I never "warned" the president on...

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led House voted Tuesday to break up the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an action opponents said was motivated by conservatives' ire over some of the court's rulings. Nine states are currently covered by the 9th Circuit, but the legislation would leave just California and Hawaii in a revamped lineup. The proposal splits the seven other states into two new courts: one to handle appeals from Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Nevada; and the other to oversee Alaska, Oregon and Washington.

Six weeks after the New York Court of Appeals effectively threw out the state's death-penalty law, a new bill to protect capital punishment against new legal challenges has been introduced in the state Legislature. Unfortunately, the measure probably won't even come up for a vote. That's because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has no interest in passing a capital-punishment bill without enough legal loopholes to ensure that no death sentence ever is carried out in New York. ... New York's capital-punishment law, he said, would be "the most effective of its kind in the nation." Yet, numerous lawmakers at the time...

Until Wednesday afternoon, the significance of Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was largely symbolic. His appointment by President Bush outraged senators who objected to Pryor's record on issues such as gay rights, abortion and federalism. As Alabama attorney general, Pryor defended statutes criminalizing homosexual sodomy, spoke out against decisions legalizing abortion and won cases trimming congressional power over the states. Democrats blocked a vote on his nomination, but the president's recess appointment will allow him to be on the court through 2005. Since Pryor joined the bench in February, his...

Ben Levy, founder of ACLU here made his mark `All I wanted to do was to protect the right to speak freely without penalty, without being afraid.' The bullets always were fired at night, but the threats, curses and social snubs came at any hour of the day. Houston's early American Civil Liberties Union members often found themselves in conflict with groups willing to use unsavory means to maintain the status quo. Founded in 1957 by Houston lawyer Ben G. Levy and a handful of supporters, the organization eventually made its mark in prison, civil rights and First Amendment litigation....

In support of Janice Rogers Brown Posted: October 27, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com I don't usually get too excited about judicial nominations by the Bush administration. But, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Occasionally, even the Bush administration gets one right. And that's what has happened with the nomination for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The nominee's name is Janice Rogers Brown. Repeat that name over and over to yourself. Make sure you know it and you make it known to others. You will want...

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday pondered whether an employee fired for drug use can later, after rehabilitation, demand special rehiring preferences as a recovered addict under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The justices took up the issue in the case of Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 02- 749, which challenges employer drug-use guidelines in place at companies across the country. "This is a decision that has extraordinary implications for thousands of companies that have similar policies," said attorney Carter Phillips, who represented Raytheon at oral arguments. Raytheon, based in Lexington, Mass., appealed to the Supreme Court over a 9th U.S. Circuit...