Free Republic

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit Monday against officials of Pennsylvania's Kutztown University and its police chief. The officials punished a police officer who refused to arrest a group of Christians sharing their faith on campus. Steven Armbruster was ordered by K.U. Police Chief William Mioskie to remove the group of Christians from campus for "disorderly conduct." Armbruster, who said he saw no evidence of disorderly conduct by the Christians, explained to Mioskie that he believed this would violate the group's constitutional rights. Armbruster was placed on administrative leave, suspended without pay for five working days...

Is is being reported that President Obama wanted to fire a Republican US Attorney in Missouri and to replace her with a Democrat. Now, can we revisit the agonized wailing that emanated in 2006 from the unhinged left when President Bush fired some US Attorneys? Remember how they screamed that it was all "just political" and that it might even be an illegal action? Remember how they gyrated over Bush's supposed "destruction" of the US Attorney offices in the land, how he was trying to ruin our system? Their wailing went on for several years quite despite the fact that...

A California couple pleaded guilty today to violating federal obscenity laws for making and distributing sexually explicit films that depicted rape and murder, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Robert Zicari, Janet Romano and their company, Extreme Associates, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster to one count each of conspiracy to distribute obscene materials.

A North Carolina judge has ordered three children to attend public schools this fall because the homeschooling their mother has provided over the last four years needs to be "challenged." The children, however, have tested above their grade levels – by as much as two years. The decision is raising eyebrows among homeschooling families, and one friend of the mother has launched a website to publicize the issue. The ruling was made by Judge Ned Mangum of Wake County, who was handling a divorce proceeding for Thomas and Venessa Mills. A statement released by a publicist working for the mother,...

The war is over. Our peerless armed forces took Tora Bora and, when we finally let them, Fallujah. But al-Qaeda won in Washington, and that has made all the difference. The War on Terror has radically altered the compact between the American people and their government by dramatically changing the nature of the U.S. courts. Until this new, unaccountable monster is caged, it will continue to devour our political community’s capacity to wage war and to defend itself. And that caging had better happen soon, because the word “war” in this context refers only to our nation’s forcible military response...

This is not a story of bias in the media. It is a story, rather, that affects both the Old Media of newspapers, TV and radio, as well as the New Media of the Internet. Our disagreements with the Old Media aside, we both stand to see trouble if a recent court case in Massachusetts gains momentum or is applied liberally henceforth. The Associated Press reports on a libel case in Boston that pits a fired employee of the Staples office supply chain against his former employer. Staples, as it happens, sent out an emailed newsletter informing its employees that...

Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dealt a crushing blow to national defense. The three-judge panel’s ruling in al Odah v. United States has gotten scarce media attention. Perhaps that’s understandable: It’s a mind-numbing technical dispute over “discovery” in litigation, vying for attention against the socializing of our economy and the consequent collapse of the stock market. But the discovery in question is the most vital kind, namely, that of classified national-defense information. What is in dispute is how much sensitive intelligence we must share with enemies bent on annihilating Americans ... It is one...

    | Legislative Attack on Catholic Church in Connecticut   3/7/2009   On Thursday, March 5, a bill was introduced in the Connecticut state legislature, and immediately referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.  It targets one – and only one – church in the state, the Catholic Church, and would strip the bishops and priests of the state of any power to exercise administrative authority over their parishes. Raised Bill No. 1098  is a committee bill and does not bear the names of any individual sponsors. Both co-chairmen of the committee, State Sen. Andrew McDonald and State...

‘Strong majority’ of California justices against overturning Prop. 8 Kenneth Starr San Francisco, Calif., Mar 5, 2009 / 09:20 pm (CNA).- The California Supreme Court on Thursday began hearing oral arguments on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, the successful ballot measure which restored the state’s definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. According to one supporter, a “strong majority” of justices are not inclined to overturn the proposition.According to the San Jose Mercury News, the legal questions center upon whether Proposition 8 violates constitutional separation-of-powers by sidestepping the court’s duty to interpret the constitution and...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — The judges in the Hayy judicial system currently have no courtroom, no judge’s chambers and get only two to four hours of electricity a day. That is about to change. Thanks to an Iraqi Commander’s Emergency Response Program project, the existing building which also houses the Hayy real estate offices will be refurbished, and a new building that will include a new courtroom, judge’s chambers and administrative offices, will be constructed. Hayy Chief Judge Falah Kareem cut the ribbon and laid the first tile at the brick and mortar ceremony, signifying the start of the...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a ruling Wednesday that held a Montana church in violation of the law for speaking about the state's marriage amendment. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit in 2004 after the Montana commissioner of political practices investigated Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church, following a complaint by a homosexual activist group. The group claimed the church was required to register as a political committee in order to speak about the marriage amendment.

A federal judge has ordered a former Pfizer executive to pay $200,000 to a teen girl whose image he had downloaded from a child porn site on the Internet. Alan Hesketh was fired from his position as vice president and global patent director at Pfizer after he was arrested on pornography charges in 2008. Hesketh claimed he should not be held liable for damages to the victim because he only downloaded the images from another site.

“Collecting blood money from kids” LOS ANGELES -- In response to a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down a California law designed to prevent the sale of adult video games to minors, the Parents Television Council has called on its members to voice their support for California state Sen. Leland Yee’s call for the decision to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I have long argued that legal immigrants everywhere would do themselves a favor by speaking out against the abuses of illegal immigration. A case in point is the Hispanic community’s pattern of defending and rationalizing the depraved indifference and arrogance of those illegal immigrants who trample others’ property rights while demanding pampered treatment for themselves. The Facts Roger Barnett is an Arizona rancher whose property has been violated too many times to list by illegal immigrants over the years. They have left him presents in the form of human waste, garbage, and dead cattle which died from ingesting their trash....

Arizona rancher Roger Barnett initially faced the possibility of paying $32 million to compensate several illegal immigrants he stopped at gunpoint on his land. He walked away instead with a verdict that rejected any notion he violated the trespassers' civil rights and affirmed that U.S. citizens can still detain aliens crossing the border. What remains to be seen, though, is what impact the $77,800 in damages that a jury Tuesday ordered Mr. Barnett to pay will have on America's larger immigration debate and the efforts of some illegals to get compensation from a country they aren't even allowed to enter....

Two weeks ago, I was among a small group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims’ families who met with President Obama at the White House. Despite President Obama’s assurances that the safety and security of the American people is his number one priority, I left the meeting with little confidence that the President appreciates the grave consequences of shutting down Guantanamo or the complex problems associated with adjudicating detainee cases in the federal court system. Indeed, he told us that he is “not at all concerned” about the security issues of bringing the detainees to the U.S. His rationale for...

SAN DIEGO – A jury found four San Diego firefighters who sued the city were sexually harassed after being ordered to participate in a gay pride parade. ---snip--- The firemen said they were subjected to sexually charged conduct and lewd comments while riding a fire engine in the July 2007 parade. ---snip--- The firemen said they were subjected to cat-calls and saw barely clothed men simulate sex acts along the route on University Avenue in Hillcrest.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 16) - Former President Bill Clinton said Monday he thinks the country will surmount the current economic crisis, but sees the threat of terrorism and global instability as a longer-term problem.

NEW YORK: A trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's investment firm has told a federal judge that nearly $950 million in cash and securities has been Madoff's duped firms Trustee Irving Picard told Judge Burton Lifland about the recovery during a hearing Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Authorities say Madoff has said he ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Picard says $111.4 million in cash had been recovered from financial institutions. He says about $300 million in securities were identified but it was unclear what they were worth. Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 25) - A Kentucky high school football coach charged in the death of a player who collapsed at practice says he is heartbroken and that part of his life has been taken away. "The one thing people can't forget in this whole situation is that I lost one of my boys that day. A boy that I loved and a boy that I cared for and a boy that meant the world to me," coach David Jason Stinson told dozens of supporters at his home Saturday night. "That's the thing that people forget and don't ever forget...

Yesterday, January 22, saw a veritable army of pro-lifers participate in the 35th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. This demonstration of public sentiment was first held in 1974 to mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. In that decision, of course, the Supreme Court ruled that all state laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional. Since then, an estimated 50,000,000 babies have been killed in the womb in the United States. As we observed yesterday, ever since the Roe v. Wade (and the less publicized Doe v. Bolton) decision, the primary strategy among pro-life people...

An uncouth thug accused of robbing a driving instructor was set free after a judge ruled that the witness against him, Denise Dawson, was “too believable” to give evidence. Judge Jamie Tabor explained the ruling thusly: “The witness is honest, utterly decent and brave. The accused stands no chance against such an upstanding member of the community. It wouldn’t be a level playing field.” It seems that a “level playing field” requires that only a thug’s “peers” be permitted to testify. “Normally, these trials present scum vs. scum,” Tabor elaborated. “Jurors can weigh the credibility more evenly, giving the accused...

The Rev. Walter Hoye, a pro-life Baptist pastor from Berkeley, faces up to two years in jail and $4000 in fines following his conviction on two counts of “unlawful approach” in violation of Oakland’s restrictive new ‘bubble law.’ His attorneys say they plan to appeal. Hoye had initially been charged with four counts of violating the ordinance – two counts of “unlawful approach” and two counts of using “force, threat of force or physical obstruction” against ‘escorts’ at Family Planning Specialists Clinic in Oakland. The charges stemmed from two separate incidents – one on April 29, 2008 and one on...

On Tuesday afternoon El Paso Mayor John Cook vetoed a resolution unanimously passed by city council that would have asked the U.S. government to begin a serious debate on legalizing narcotics. Earlier in the day city council passed a resolution, rationing that the best way to stop the drug wars in Juarez may be to legalize the drugs here in the United States. It was part of a larger resolution outlining several steps for the United States and Mexico to take in order to cut down on the number of murders between rival drug cartels. Last year more than 1,600...

The state Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s decision that a Clifton motorist's constitutional rights were violated when police pulled him over for suspected drunken driving based on a phone tip from his daughter. In so doing, it found that the teenage girl’s assessment of “a commonly understood condition” was enough for police to act on it. Two Clifton police officers were dispatched to the home of Clifton resident Paul Amelio on Dec. 11, 2005 about 12:30 a.m. to investigate a domestic disturbance between him and his 17-year-old daughter, according to the Supreme Court decision. The daughter had initially...

(paraphrasing) Girl takes father to court over grounding for breaking family rules, including insisting on visiting forbidden web sites, and posting inappropriate images of herself. Separated mother helps girl take father to court. Female judge overules father's parental authority.

Video of Pastor Manning urging people to write to Chief Justice Roberts concerning Obama eligibility.

Notwithstanding separation of church and state, in controversies between religious societies, the civil courts have a role to play. When the American Episcopal Church ordained an outspoken, practicing homosexual bishop several years ago, it opened a rift between the “progressive” and “traditional” members and congregations within that religious society. In Virginia, seven (and later a total of eleven) Episcopal congregations voted to leave the American Episcopalian structure and form their own Anglican group in December of 2006. Disputes concerning church properties arose. The Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court handed down its fourth and perhaps last ruling on Friday, December 19,...

The California Supreme Court ruled that Lisa Torti of Northridge may be held liable for injuries to a woman she pulled out of a vehicle following a Halloween night crash in 2004. Combined with previous rulings holding that individuals may be held liable for not helping in such situations, persons finding themselves at accident sites are faced with a legal dilemma. If no assistance is rendered, the passerby may be sued for damages occurring from his neglect to intervene. If assistance is rendered, the intervener may be sued for any damages caused by the intervention. The Court ruled that the...

Euthanasia Comes to Montana Courtesy of judicial activism. by Wesley J. Smith 12/29/2008, Volume 014, Issue 15 On December 5, Montana District judge Dorothy McCarter ruled in Baxter v. Montana that the state law banning assisted suicide violates not only the right to privacy guaranteed in the Montana constitution but also the constitutional clause that reads, "The dignity of the human being is inviolable." McCarter found here a "fundamental right" for the terminally ill to "die with dignity"--meaning in the case at hand, to commit suicide by drug overdose. McCarter also ruled that doctors have a concomitant right to be...

Forty nine years before Christ was born, Emperor Julius Caesar violated the law by leading his troops across the Rubicon river to invade ancient Rome, and a civil war ensued. Leading the troops across the Rubicon was considered an act of war. From that point forward, nothing was the same, there was no going back and conflict was unavoidable. Caesar himself recognized this fact and was said to have stated "alea iacta est," or "the die is cast." The United States Supreme Court, by making NO statement on the issues of Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility for the Presidency, has conspired...

We tend to focus on creeping sharia in the U.S. but Canada is not exempt from the grand jihad as this article from earlier this year indicates. With porous borders and chatter of a North American Union we should hope Canada is taking the threat seriously. David Harris. The enemy within If terrorism suspect Momin Khawaja, now on trial in Ottawa, is as guilty as Crown prosecutors say, it’ll be time to settle an important question: Was Mr. Khawaja a “Naji man”? Amid trial allegations, court details and defence objections, significant questions arise about Mr. Khawaja’s status as a consultant...

The comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s exploration of greenhouse gas regulation ended last Friday, with farmers lobbying furiously against the notion of a “cow tax” on methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by livestock.

November 25, 2008 Seven reasons why Barack Obama should make the birth certificate controversy go away By Michael Bresciani The question of whether Barack Obama was actually born in Kenya thus disqualifying him to run as a presidential candidate will not go away. It is like the little mushrooms that appear every morning under the tree, they keep coming back. What should the President Elect do? It is not fair to label those who want answers as racists, disillusioned right wingers, conspiracy nuts or any other convenient appellation thereby asking them to simply shut up. Lawsuits filed to require that...

Haleigh was being given food and water through a feeding and hydration tube. A year later, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services filed a legal motion to remove it. They cited the medical finding of “PVS”. Her stepfather then sued to prevent the removal of the assistance. There was speculation in some sources that he did this to avoid criminal charges for murder. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the assistance could be removed in a controversial ruling. One day after the ruling, Haleigh surprised all of her caregivers by breathing without the need for assistance and showing signs...

A jury on Monday determined that the Holy Land Foundation and five men who worked with the Muslim charity were guilty of three dozen counts related to the illegal funneling of at least $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. The unanimous verdicts are a complete victory for the government, which streamlined its case and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex, massive evidence presented in the trial. Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges. The prosecution victory is also a major one for the lame duck administration of President George Bush, whose efforts at fighting...

A Fresno County Superior Court judge dismissed all 50 members of a jury pool this week because of remarks by one of them -- the top executive of the Valley's highest-rated TV station -- about racial minorities.

Friends Of The Border Patrol Report offers Change #1 to newly elected administration and Congress Chino, CA – Friends of the Border Patrol has released a report uncovering corruption and security compromises within the government titled “Unjustifiable and Impeachable: The FOBP Report on DHS, DOJ, and the Courts. Andy Ramirez has authored this report with a section featuring 50 Exhibits documenting compromises, corruption and unconscionable incidents that go back 15 years in some cases. The report contains two volumes, with Volume I authored by Andy Ramirez, and Volume II written by Attorney John Cavicchi, which primarily addresses the court system....

The local Iraqi construction crew is making progress on the new Shatt Al Arab Courthouse in Al Tonoma, BasrahProvince. USACE photo by A. Al Bahrani. BASRAH — The people of Al Tanoma, a city east of the Shatt Al Arab River, will soon open a new courthouse in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division. When the new, modern facility is completed next spring, it will have a direct impact on the rule of law here, said Laith Abdul Sammad, the chief judge on the Basrah Supreme Judiciary Council. This is one of more than 65...

President-elect Barack Obama will have a chance to appoint dozens of sympathetic judges to U.S. federal courts over the next four years, reversing the judiciary's shift to the right under President George W. Bush. Aided by a Democrat-controlled Senate, the former constitutional law professor will appoint judges who could rule on issues raised by Bush's prosecution of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as divisive social issues like gay marriage, the death penalty and abortion. Obama's appointments to the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts also will be in a position to hear challenges to policies he intends...

A Clinton-appointed federal judge ruled in favor of Michael Savage today in an attempt by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to extract attorney fees and costs in a case the nationally syndicated talk radio host brought against the Muslim lobby group. "This is a huge victory for me, personally, but also for the rest of America who is afraid of this lawsuit-happy group of intimidators," Savage said. Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California previously dismissed Savage's copyright infringement and RICO lawsuit against CAIR. Savage alleged CAIR illegally published singled-out quotes and audio...

It’s a given that Barack Obama will change the balance on the courts to a liberal judicial outlook. What is surprising is how quickly he could do that. Because Democrats dragged their heels on President Bush’s judicial nominations, 14 seats are open on appeals courts or will be by the end of January. Democratic nominees now are a majority on only one of the 13 federal appeals courts, the ultra-liberal U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Within four years, Obama could name enough judges to give Democrats a majority on nine of the 13 appeals...

By Burt Prelutsky With the possible exception of who should be the next American Idol, there is probably no question that divides Americans more than abortion. It not only divides liberals and conservatives, parents and offspring, and men and women, but also divides those within each group. Even my wife and I have been known to argue about it; she feels that men shouldn’t even have a say in the matter, while I contend that cutting us out of the discussion is like saying that people who aren’t serving in the military shouldn’t have an opinion about Iraq, or...

October 30, 2008, 6:00 a.m. Obama JudgesCourting Left. By Peter Ferrara The issue of judicial philosophy has been mostly overlooked in this campaign, but the differences between the two candidates are stark: Obama has the most left-wing position of any presidential candidate in U.S. history. Obama has said he would appoint Supreme Court justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, two of the most liberal judges ever to serve on the Court. (Before her appointment, Ginsburg had served as general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, and as a member of the ACLU Board of Directors.) He...

WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether people picked up on immigration violations also can face charges of identity theft if they use Social Security and other identification numbers that belong to others. Federal appeals courts have split over whether the defendant must know that the phony ID numbers belong to a real person and the court said it will resolve the question. Federal prosecutors have increasingly been bringing the more serious identity theft charges against undocumented immigrants, including many who were arrested in raids on meatpacking plants. Defense lawyers have argued that their clients should not be...

Move over, Bill Ayers. This week, Republican activists have a new Public Enemy #1. It’s ACORN, the once-obscure community-organizing group that boasts of having registered 1.3 million new voters. Republican officials and advisers to Sen. John McCain have accused ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) of rampant voter-registration fraud. Indeed, officials in states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Indiana and Connecticut now are looking into accusations that ACORN workers turned in thousands of fraudulent or duplicate voter-registration applications. (The Dallas Cowboys magically filled out voter registration forms in Nevada, for example.) So what exactly is...

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 ~