Free Republic

If Palin is asked again about Supreme Court Decisions, she should state that she agrees with: Marbury v Madision (stating that the Supreme Court's province is judicial review, that is to interpret the law; which would give her a platform to state that this is what the Supreme Court is thus strictly limited thereby and is not empowered to "make law"); Brown v Board of Education (argued by Thurgood Marshall, Esq., the Court held that "separate but equal" did not pass constitutional muster); and that she found abhorent, and without proper basis to what is in the Constitution or in...

Islamofascism and the Quorum Court Phil Wyrick has done it. He's found a way to work 9/11 into the race for Pulaski County judge. WYRICK NEWS RELEASE Little Rock- Last night the Pulaski County Quorum Court passed 14-0 to appropriate $150,000 to repair the roof covering two pods in the jail. The money for the roof repair came from a safety fund that was set up to make the jail usable again. Phil Wyrick, who is a candidate for the Pulaski County Judge in the General Election commenting on the appropriation said, "I would like to thank the Members of...

It’s been described by one commentator as an example of Great Britain ‘surrendering’ itself and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was criticised for saying it will happen, but whatever the reaction, Islamic law now officially operates in the UK. Whereas before rulings by sharia courts in Britain could only be enforced if all parties in a Muslim civil case agreed to abide by them, now what the courts say will be legally binding, backed by county courts or the High Court. The five sharia courts are Birmingham, Bradford, London and Manchester with others planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. They...

Excerpt - JACKSON – Something unusual happened Thursday at the Mississippi Supreme Court. It may be the first time a majority of the justices voted to prohibit a colleague from publishing a dissent in a case. In other words, Presiding Justice Oliver Diaz of Ocean Springs disagreed with a court decision and wanted to write about it. His fellow judges said, no, he couldn’t and they apparently stopped the court clerk from filing Diaz’s statement into the record. Diaz's document also wasn’t made available to the public, as every other order and dissent are. ~ snip ~

California physicians may not refuse treatment to patients based on their sexual orientation even if it violates their religious beliefs, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday. [[Benitez081908.jpg]]In a unanimous decision, the high court said two Vista physicians who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian from Oceanside because their religious convictions prohibited such procedures for unmarried persons could be sued for violating the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, reversing an appellate court that had ruled otherwise. “Do the rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions, exempt a medical clinic’s physicians from...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a 2006 decision by the Jerusalem District Court according to which the Palestinian Authority is immune from lawsuits filed by private individuals because it has the elements of a sovereign or quasi-sovereign entity. In doing so, the court accepted an appeal by the Society of the Eilon Moreh Seminary, whose lawsuit against the PA was rejected two years ago by the Jerusalem court. The 2006 ruling came in the wake of a lawsuit lodged earlier that year by the Society, an organization established to purchase land in the West Bank. The seminary sued the...

Here is what the open-borders culture of entitlement has wrought: After expressing remorse to a jury that later spared his life, a Mexican citizen who hired hit men to kill two local men did an about face during last week’s sentencing hearing by professing his innocence and railing against the American criminal justice system.In May, a Multnomah County jury found Joel Sanchez-Jacobo, 31, guilty of two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder for soliciting two murders in 2006.But on Friday, July 18, when he appeared before Judge Michael J. McShane to hear his sentence, the man claimed...

The number of foreigners landing in Los Angeles Immigration Court has surged in recent years, while the number of judges has remained about the same, causing crushing caseloads and lengthy delays. Expanded immigration enforcement, including the ongoing search for illegal immigrants in county jails, is causing much of the rise, according to judges, attorneys and experts.

PHOENIX - People who hire "coyotes" to get them into this country can be prosecuted under a state law aimed at the smugglers, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. In the first decision of its kind in the state, the judges rebuffed even the comments of Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, one of the architects of the 2005 legislation, that it was never designed to go after the immigrants themselves. Judge Lawrence Winthrop, writing for the court, said it is possible that Paton may have intended that the migrants be considered the victims of the crime of human smuggling. "This...

A Michigan man is suing Zondervan Publishing and Thomas Nelson Publishing, claiming biblical references to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability. Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson, The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reported. He is representing himself in both claims. Fowler claims the Bible has made him an outcast and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment." "As frivolous as this case may sound, it's an indicator of where the homosexual agenda is headed," said...

Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. "He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30. But Spherion Corp., the temporary staffing company where Amschwand worked, told Amschwand-Bellinger she would not receive any of the $426,000 in benefits she believed she was due. When she went to court, Spherion succeeded in getting her lawsuit thrown out. The Supreme Court on June 27 refused to review...

Virginia resident Lisa Miller, mother of 6-year-old Isabella Miller, was involved in homosexuality for a short time. Thankfully, she found freedom from the destructive "gay" lifestyle – as so many others have done –through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and, along with Isabella, is now a Christian. For the past five years or so, Lisa and Isabella have been trying to live their lives in peace at home in Virginia. But unfortunately, they've been unable to do so, as Lisa's dark past has come back to haunt them. They've been the target of a vicious legal attack by militant...

During a May 14, 2008, preliminary hearing for two men accused of a convenience store robbery, the Honorable Nazario Jimenez, Jr., a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County located in the at the 8th Police District, made the following comment: "... let's hope that if anybody is going to rob any place, that it's done this way. Let's give credit where credit is due. No weapons were used..." Is this the state of affairs in Philadelphia now? Has the criminal justice system deteriorated so badly, the expectations of the judges so meager, that they express, in open...

The couple's quarrels reached a crisis in 1994, when the wife pried open a bedroom door with a kitchen knife, slashed the sheets and lunged with the blade toward her husband . . . The marriage did not improve. In the 2003 affidavit, the husband testified he was afraid of his wife and had only stayed in the relationship “for the sake of the kids,” their two teenage sons. . . . But about 4:45 a.m. Monday, police said, Glen Denson ambushed his wife, Sharon Denson, at the North Side home of her boyfriend, shot them both and set them...

Major U.S. newspapers express misgivings about California Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision An analysis of major newspaper editorials published in response to the California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a ban on same-sex marriages shows that a majority of the editorials opposed the ruling. The analysis, provided by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy (iMAPP) of Manassas, Virginia, examined 20 of the highest-circulation newspapers in the United States. Twelve of the 20 published editorial reactions to the California court’s decision. Of the twelve editorials, seven were opposed to the decision while only four were in favor. One major paper...

Obama advisers say bin Laden can appeal to U.S. civilian courts Barack Obama has expressed support for the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of civilian prosecution of terrorism suspects, and his advisers said Tuesday that if Osama bin Laden were captured, he too should face civilian prosecution. – AP Bill Sammon, The Examiner 2008-06-18 07:00:00.0 Current rank: # 13 of 6,452 WASHINGTON - Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisers said Tuesday that Osama bin Laden, if captured, should be allowed to appeal his case to U.S. civilian courts, a privilege opposed by John McCain. Responding to questions from The Examiner, Sen....

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, along with Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, announced May 21 that the Gun Violence Task Force (GVTF) seized and intends to seek the forfeiture of a 2003 Hummer owned by one Gary Jackson. Mr. Jackson and an individual by the name of Ronald McBeth were arrested by the GVTF for allegedly making a straw purchase of a handgun. Mr. Jackson is a paroled felon and is not legally permitted to own a gun, so he used Mr. McBeth, who has no criminal record, to buy two handguns and ammunition. Mr....

Opponents of same sex marriage have asked the California Supreme Court to delay its decision to allow homosexual marriages until after the November election, when California voters will likely decide a proposed constitutional amendment to reinstate and preserve the previous definition of marriage. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that organizations including the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund and the Alliance Defense Fund filed a request seeking the delay on Thursday afternoon. "Permitting this decision to take effect immediately - in the light of the realistic possibility that the people of California might amend their constitution to reaffirm marriage as the...

Some 10 days ago, four black-robed members of the California Supreme Court trashed traditional marriage of one-man-and-one-woman. But that opinion has to be translated into changes in state law, forms, and procedures before any actual same-sex "marriage" can take place, and that hasn't happened yet and might not for some time, according to a pro-family organization. For example, the legally required form in California for marriage reflects several references to "bride" and "groom" and "husband" and "wife" that must properly be filled out by "qualifying" individuals before state law allows it to be recognized, according to Randy Thomasson of the...

A Victory for Equality and Justice," blared the headline above the editorial. "Momentous," "historic," "a major victory for civil rights," "a scrupulously fair ruling based on law, precedents and common sense." This was the ecstatic reaction of The New York Times to the California Supreme Court's declaration that homosexuals have a right to marry and have their unions recognized as marriages. Now there may be hugging around the newsroom at the Times, where one senior writer said, a few years back, three-fourths of the folks who make up the front page are gay. But this is just another streetlight on...

AN ANGELO, Texas — An appellate court decision upended the custody case that sent more than 440 children from a polygamist sect's ranch into foster care, but it's not clear whether the children might soon return home. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds under Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action. Texas District Judge Barbara Walther now has 10 days to release the youngsters from custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and keep the...

It is the essence of democracy that people should be able to decide the moral rules that govern the nature of a community. If people don't have that power, then they are living under an autocracy. True, this majority rule is not unlimited. It is limited by what the government has the power to do. Consequently the majority cannot, in general, vote to seize the homes and accumulated savings of rich people. Leaving aside exceptional cases, government cannot mandate how parents how should raise their children. These kinds of power lie outside the scope of government in a free society....

Barack Obama is sticking by his defense of same-sex unions, despite the likelihood that it will flare up as a general election issue because of today's California Supreme Court decision legalizing it. Here's the Obama camp's response to the court decision: "Barack Obama has always believed that same-sex couples should enjoy equal rights under the law, and he will continue to fight for civil unions as President. He respects the decision of the California Supreme Court, and continues to believe that states should make their own decisions when it comes to the issue of marriage." The Republicans are likely to...

Rick Paul, owner of Rick's White Light Diner, was found in contempt of court Monday and must pay $1,000 to a charity of his choice, for again infringing on the Derby-Pie trademark. Before U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood in a Lexington courtroom, Paul was found in contempt of court for violating a 1997 permanent injunction signed by Hood, ordering Paul not to infringe on Kern's Kitchen Inc.'s trademark Derby-Pie. Paul also must pay Kern's Kitchen's attorney fees and costs. "I am disappointed with the judge's ruling and I accept it," Paul said today. "Our proof was considerably different than Derby...

SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human habitation. Unless you're a sex offender, that is.The underside of the 88th Street bridge, near this river town's greenhouses and horse farms, is where state government last week assigned a released rapist to sleep. David J. Torrence, who assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1995, had completed his latest prison term (for failing to register as a sex offender.) He had no place to go. So officials gave him a sleeping bag...

Please note that this week’s column is for pedophiles only. Do not read if sex with children is not on your to-do list for today. OK, now that those do-gooders have moved on elsewhere, I can impart some important information for all of you deviant wastes of skin. If the idea of spending a decade or more passed around in the prison shower is the only thing that keeps you from raping or sexually assaulting children, then I have some good news for you. Pack up your bags and move to Paris. Illinois, that is. Here’s why. Back about a...

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that border control agents who found child porn on a traveler's laptop didn't violate the man's right to be free from unreasonable searches. "We are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote. O'Scannlain went on to say that the defendant "has failed to distinguish how the search of his laptop and its electronic contents is logically any different from the suspicionless border searches of travelers' luggage that the Supreme Court and...

CHICAGO — Diego Hernandez and Anh Phan have never met, but they may share something of a common path. Both Hernandez, 40, a native of Mexico, and Phan, 27, a Vietnamese national, were held for immigration officials after they were arrested in Madison County, and will attend court hearings in Chicago to resolve their citizenship status. Anderson police arrested Hernandez this month on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving and driving without ever having received a license. Indiana State Police troopers arrested Phan in September at the Pendleton BMV branch when she allegedly tried to get an Indiana ID card using...

Forty years ago can seem like light years in cultural terms. Forty years ago, the story of a Vermont lesbian who wanted to take a child away from her biological mother--because the mother was a Christian--would have been unbelievable. Janet Jenkins, part of a now-sundered lesbian twosome, has alleged that because of Lisa Miller’s (the biological mother) Christian parenting practices, Miller is no longer is a fit mother. Jenkins is seeking full custody of the child. Miller and Jenkins were a couple before Miller left the relationship and became a Christian. Now, the Virginia Supreme Court has to rule if...

PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts." Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim...

The Islamist movement has two wings – one violent and one lawful, which can operate apart but often reinforce each other. While the violent arm attempts to silence speech by burning cars when cartoons of Mohammed are published in Denmark, the lawful arm is skillfully maneuvering within Western legal systems, both here and abroad. Islamists with financial means have launched a “legal Jihad,” filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits with the aim of abolishing public discourse critical of Islam and with the goal of establishing principles of Sharia law (strict Islamic law dating back to the 9th Century) as the governing...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A jail inmate who recently filed more than 60 lawsuits in a day will no longer be able to flood Lancaster County courts with lawsuits. All six Lancaster County District judges signed off on an order limiting Eric Lewis to six filings a year unless he can show he faces immediate harm. Lewis, 36, has filed 149 cases since January 2007. Many of Lewis' filings ask for protection orders against people who work at the jail or oversee his custody. The judges said most cases can be denied without hearings, but the filings can create significant work...

Important Supreme Court Decision Rejects UN High Court over US Treaty Obligations By Piero A. Tozzi (NEW YORK — C-FAM) A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed the right of the United States to govern its affairs in accordance with the US Constitution rather than specific provisions of international treaties. In the process, the Court rejected a directive of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Medellín v. Texas not only reaffirmed principles of sovereignty and self-government, but also undercut arguments of international pro-abortion activists that accession to international treaties requires nations to disregard domestic constitutional protections for the unborn. In...

The Iowa Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a toddler at the Des Moines Public Library. James Effler was found guilty of first-degree kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison for the October 2005 abduction and assault. Testimony showed that Effler lured the girl away from her baby sitter and stripped her naked inside a locked bathroom. Library employees found Effler and the girl and held him until police arrived. The court ruled on Wednesday that police ignored Effler's request for an attorney and that the district court should have...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The term "freedom's watch" is not distinctive enough to warrant a lawsuit over trademark infringement, a federal judge has ruled in a case that pitted a one-time hero of conservatives against former aides and financial backers of President Bush. Larry Klayman, who persistently took President Clinton and his administration to court a decade ago, lost his fight against a well- financed group that is planning to be a major presence in this year's elections and beyond. The group, called Freedom's Watch, is positioning itself as the conservative alternative to liberal organizations such as MoveOn.org and has recently...

Protect Your Parental Rights - Protect Your Child There once was a time when a mother and father had the right, under the Constitution of the United States, to decide how and where they wanted to educate their children. If Judge Walter Croskey's rogue ruling is upheld, that day will be gone in California. If those who care about a parent's right to choose do not respond aggressively to overturn this offensive ruling, criminal charges could be enforced on California parents who homeschool their children and force them to send their children to secular institutions provided by the state of...

Conservative Christian leaders are outraged at the California appeals court decision last week rejecting a parent's right to educate their children at home. “What has occurred is another egregious decision handed down by a California appeals court that strikes at the very heart and soul of families and their children," said Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson, in a broadcast Friday. "How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals – the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets – because they want to raise and educate their children according to...

WASHINGTON — Back in 2005, Senator John McCain of Arizona and fellow members of the so-called Gang of 14 were hailed as heroes in some quarters when they fashioned an unusual pact that averted a Senate vote on banning filibusters against judicial nominees. Now Mr. McCain’s central role in that effort, which cleared the way for confirmation of some conservative jurists, is cited as one reason for lingering distrust of him among many conservatives. The power to appoint federal judges is seen as one of the most crucial presidential roles by many on the right, and some continue to believe...

Video conferencing is speeding up a slow judicial system, connecting judges, lawyers, and the accused while enhancing savings and security. India has undertaken a nationwide project to connect jails and district courts across the country via a tele-justice or video conferencing system. With tele-justice, the accused can now be present in a court through a video link, established on ISDN lines, between the prison and the court. Today, Indian states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Bihar have already introduced tele-justice. In Maharashtra, for instance, over 40 jails in and around Mumbai are connected to district level courts...

I believe that one of the greatest threats to our liberty ...is willful judges who usurp the role of the people and ...legislate from the bench. As president, I will nominate judges who understand that their role is to faithfully apply the law as written, not impose their opinions... We are a free people. This means that the rules we have agreed to live by are those made by the people themselves, not a small elite that claims to be wiser than everybody else... [T]he role of the judge is not to impose their own view as to the best...

If elected president, Hillary Clinton would ask the Justice Department to determine if alleged 9/11 plotters currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba , could be tried in civilian courts or regular military courts rather than face military commissions that have sparked controversy both inside and outside the United States , her campaign says. Clinton's response to questions about charges filed last week against six Guantanamo prisoners was the most far reaching of the three leading presidential candidates. Her opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama , D-Ill., said that the so-called "high-value detainees'' at Guantanamo should be tried in...

>Nebraska State Senator DiAnna Schimek's 20-year legislative career is nearly over. She feels victimized, no doubt, by the voter-enacted term limits that make this her final year in power. Still, Senator Schimek hopes to go out with her boots on, firing one final shotgun blast to maim or kill the initiative process she has long abhorred. You see, it was only through the voter initiative that Nebraskans passed term limits . . . three times. Yup. It took three petition drives and three votes of the people. Of course, term limits passed overwhelmingly each time. But a charmed third initiative...

Once again the lenient legal system in Philadelphia causes the murders of innocent people. This time in another part of the country. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19299390&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=638428&rfi=6

woman who said her breast implants were damaged in an on-the-job car accident should be compensated for the replacement of only one implant, state appellate judges ruled Tuesday. The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued the decision in a workers' compensation claim filed by Penny M. Rumple Richardson, who said the 2001 accident caused rippling and a decrease in size of her implants.

Senator John McCain I believe that one of the greatest threats to our liberty and the Constitutional framework that safeguards our freedoms are willful judges who usurp the role of the people and their representatives and legislate from the bench. As President, I will nominate judges who understand that their role is to faithfully apply the law as written, not impose their opinions through judicial fiat. We are a free people. This means that the rules we have agreed to live by are those made by the people themselves, not a small elite that claims to be wiser than everybody...

A project to translate Nebraska court documents into foreign languages has caught the attention — and criticism — of a Lincoln man. Andy Ringsmuth wants the Nebraska Minority Committee to stop translating civil and self-represented litigant forms into Spanish, Vietnamese and Arabic. “It’s pretty clear in our state constitution that English is the official language of the state,” he said. Ringsmuth cited the following passage in the Nebraska constitution: “The English language is hereby declared to be the official language of this state, and all official proceedings, records and publication shall be in such language...” But Liz Neeley, the project...

The price: 20 cents per word. The project: 30,000 words. The total expenses: $25,669.50 The goal: Translate civil and self-represented litigant forms into Spanish, Vietnamese and Arabic to help eliminate language barriers new Americans face when dealing with Nebraska’s court system. The project, Nebraska Efforts to Ensure Equal Access to Justice, will help the court system serve those who don’t speak English — or those who speak limited English — in civil and self-represented court issues, said Liz Neeley, a project organizer. Before this project, perhaps a dozen court documents were translated into Spanish, said Neeley, project director for the...

JOSE PADILLA, the so-called dirty bomber, is expected to be sentenced by a federal judge in Miami this week, and judging from the reaction to his conviction last summer the case will be hailed by many as a triumph of the use of criminal law as the primary weapon against domestic terrorism. The White House will no doubt reiterate its view that the prosecution of Mr. Padilla, a United States citizen, upholds “a core American principle of impartial justice for all.” But the White House has been far from alone in praising the verdict. Perhaps because the argument over Mr....

"Paulo Melo, 29, has been in a coma at the Royal Darwin Hospital for two weeks, after severing his spinal cord in a car crash." - read more below: doctor requested, family objected, court granted