Free Republic

A federal court dismissed a case Tuesday against Republican Iowa Gov. Kimberly Reynolds’ prohibition of mask mandate in school districts across the state, official documents showed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found “persuasive” the argument that “the general risks associated with COVID-19, even though COVID-19 remains an ever-present concern in society, are not enough to show ‘imminent and substantial’ harm,” court papers showed in part. The court also decided that “because Plaintiffs have only alleged the potential risk of severe illness should they contract COVID-19 at school, the risk of harm is too speculative to satisfy...

The 8th Circuit US Appeals Court blocked Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program on Friday afternoon. The court granted an emergency stay barring the discharge of any student debt until the court decides on a request for a longer-term injunction. Reuters reported: A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel billions of dollars in college student debt, one day after a judge dismissed a Republican-led lawsuit by six states challenging the loan-forgiveness program. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay barring the discharge of any student debt under the program...

Two different federal courts, in two different Circuit Courts of appeal, have refused to grant preliminary injunctions against the implementation of the ATF “Final Rule.” The Final Rule completely changes the definition of a firearm in Federal law. On August 23, in the United States Court for the Eastern District of North Dakota, in the Eighth Circuit, Judge Peter D. Welte refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the massive changes to federal law proposed in the “Final Rule” put forward by the Biden Administration, through the ATF.On August 24, 2022, the District Court for the Galveston Division of the...

On Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled that Arkansas cannot enforce a ban on “transgender” children receiving “gender-affirming” care. “Gender-affirming” care encompasses hormone therapy, puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgery. The 8th U.S. The Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the law, which prohibits doctors in the state from providing this type of care to anyone under 18 years old or referring them to other providers to receive treatment. The ACLU challenged the 2021 law on behalf of four families of transgender children and two doctors who provide “gender affirming” treatments.

President Biden and his Department of Justice were unsuccessful in arguing to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to lift an injunction against his vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt posted the one-page order to Twitter on Monday afternoon. "The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice's motion for stay pending appeal in our lawsuit against the vaccine mandate on healthcare workers, meaning our injunction will stay in place." The legal battles within the United States over mandating a Coronavirus vaccine have been ongoing through the final weeks of 2021.

We have been following a slew of defamation lawsuits by political figures over the last few years. (See, e.g., here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). For torts scholars, it has been a bonanza of interesting issues touching on every element of defamation law. There is now an important ruling out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that could have enormous implications not just for the media but anyone who retweets stories or claims. The appellate panel ruled unanimously for Rep. Devin Nunes against journalist Ryan Lizza...

Dylann Roof, the white gunman who killed nine black people in the 2015 Charleston church massacre, is one step closer to execution after a federal appeals court in Virginia ruled he’s eligible to receive the death penalty. “His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose,” a three-judge panel for the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, according to The State newspaper. Roof was convicted in 2017 of slaughtering nine parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston after planning the attack for months in an effort to start a race war in the...

Fireworks won’t fly at Mount Rushmore July 4 weekend despite a lawsuit against the Biden administration from Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota.Judge Roberto A. Lange called the idea of an Independence Day celebration at the iconic national monument “appealing.”“However this Court is not called upon to determine whether such a fireworks display is a good idea,” he said in his 36-page ruling, posted on yourbasin.com.Lange said the country could “use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of the law” after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol...

The college will keep fighting a Biden administration rule that 'requires private religious colleges to place biological males into female dormitories and assign them as females’ roommates.'May 24, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – A federal district court has rejected the Missouri-based College of the Ozarks’ request to temporarily block the Biden administration from imposing a slate of new requirements on the Christian school to recognize and accommodate the “gender identity” of gender-dysphoric students. One of President Joe Biden’s earliest acts was signing an executive order declaring the “policy of my Administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity...

One of Joe Biden’s first orders of business was to make sure demented, perverted men could be allowed to share shower spaces with women. Biden signed an executive order in January titled, “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” Biden’s order said. One Christian college in Missouri filed a lawsuit against Joe Biden claiming the overreach was victimizing women, girls and people of faith. The College of...

Judge: Biden's co-ed dorm mandate trumps religious freedom A district judge rejected a challenge to the Biden administration's order to force co-ed bathrooms and dorms on a Christian college over the school's religious objections. In February, the Department of Housing and Urban Development directed colleges to eliminate single-sex facilities. The directive came after President Joe Biden issued an executive order in January directing federal agencies "to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity," which would mean targeting religious institutions that maintain single-sex accommodations. The College of the Ozarks, a small Missouri Christian college, challenged the Biden administration for...

https://twitter.com/amyklobuchar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1321946313563508737%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F100214389037

WASHINGTON – The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a precedential opinion on Friday, April 24, 2020, affirming a district court decision that a transaction designed to generate massive foreign tax credits (referred to as the STARS tax shelter) lacked economic substance and business purpose and was subject to the accuracy-related penalty for negligence, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Wu of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.In Wells Fargo v. United States, No. 17-3578, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of...

A federal appeals court has overturned a judge’s ruling and allowed the state of Arkansas to ban abortions under an order to stop medically unnecessary procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Arkansas is one of several states that included elective abortions in its restrictions on non-essential medical procedures during the pandemic. Earlier this spring, the state Department of Health ordered a halt to procedures “that can be safely postponed” except for instances to prevent the death, permanent physical damage or disease advancement of a patient. State leaders included the killing of unborn babies in abortions in their order. However, the Little...

<p>LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Arkansas’ order preventing the state’s only surgical abortion clinic from performing the procedure during the coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>The decision came as health officials announced that at least 1,498 people in the state have been infected with the coronavirus, an increase over the 1,410 reported a day earlier. Two more people died because of the virus, bringing the state’s death toll to 32.</p>

arlier today, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutional order, limited the reach of expansive nondiscrimination laws, and protected a Christian couple from having to choose between their business and their conscience. The facts of the case are simple. The plaintiffs, Carl and Angel Larsen, are videographers who create “commercials, short films, and live-event productions.” While they work with anyone of any race, sex, sexual orientation, or religion, they will not produce videos that advance viewpoints that violate their Christian beliefs. That includes videos that “contradict biblical truth; promote sexual immorality; support the destruction of unborn children; promote...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CN) — The federal judge who temporarily blocked enforcement of Arkansas abortion restrictions extended her order Tuesday while a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the laws proceeds through court. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock issued a preliminary injunction hours before her two-week temporary restraining order was set to expire. The July 23 restraining order was issued the day before the new laws were to take effect. Tuesday’s 186-page order found the three laws that include a ban on abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy would cause “ongoing and imminent irreparable harm.” The judge also...

The Satanic Temple is appealing a lawsuit against the State of Missouri on behalf of a woman who says her rights were violated when she was forced to wait 72 hours for an abortion and was required to read religious material that asserts life begins at conception. It claims the material provided is designed to produce shame over her decision and is contrary to science. According to the organization, the appeal is based on a 1989 decision handed down by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals "which explicitly states that the life of each human being begins at conception...

The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday overruled the jury that awarded $1.8 million to former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in a 2014 defamation case.Ventura won the award against the estate of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose memoir “American Sniper” described an altercation between him and Ventura that the former governor said did not happen. Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, appealed the jury’s verdict, which came after a three-week federal trial in St. Paul in July 2014.In a 2 to 1 decision, the appeals court threw out the $1.35 million awarded to Ventura for “unjust enrichment.” It ordered the...

A federal appeals court ruled that a Missouri school district had the right to suspend a student who wore a cap depicting a Confederate flag. The ruling Friday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis said schools may restrict First Amendment rights "in certain limited circumstances." It affirms a lower court ruling from 2007. Bryce Archambo was 14 when he was suspended from Farmington High School in September 2006, after wearing a baseball cap depicting the Confederate flag with the words, "C.S.A. Rebel Pride, 1861." The district said the flag was associated with racism and feared...