Free Republic

Two defendants in military sexual assault cases cannot be punitively discharged, if found guilty, because of “unlawful command influence” derived from comments made by President Barack Obama, a judge ruled in a Hawaii military court this week. Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in two sexual assault cases — U.S. vs. Johnson and U.S. vs. Fuentes — that comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any potential sentencing, according to a court documents obtained by Stars and Stripes.

A federal judge in California ordered Google to comply with an FBI national security investigation after the search giant launched a protest against the bureau’s request. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston rejected Google’s petition to modify or throw out 19 national security letters (NSL) related to federal government investigations due to the broad nature of the petition, CNET reported Friday. “Her ruling came after a pair of top FBI officials, including an assistant director, submitted classified affidavits,” CNET reported, stating that Illston reserved judgement on two of the 19 letters and requested more information from the government. NSLs allow federal...

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, a bulldog on the DOJ/Fox News secret subpoena story, reports that the effort by the Justice Department to obtain the controversial court order was arduous, contentious and unsuccessful until finally a third judge acquiesced.

FULL TITLE: Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to almost three decades in jail after conspiring with private prisons to trade kids for cash. n the private prison industry, longer sentences earn more money from the state. Since 2003, Ciavarella received millions of dollars in bribes for condemning minors to maximum prison sentences. In one case, Ciavarella sentenced a 10-year-old to two years in a detention facility for accidentally bottoming out his mother’s car. According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, over 5,000 young men and women were unjustly sentenced to prison and denied their constitutional rights. Many of...

The chief judge of the District’s federal court issued an unusual order Wednesday, apologizing to the public and the media for not making certain court documents widely available online. The gesture of transparency by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth comes at a time when the Obama administration is under scrutiny for an unprecedented number of leak investigations, including one showing that the Justice Department had secretly probed the news-gathering activities of Fox News reporter James Rosen. The investigation of Rosen was first reported Monday, after The Washington

**SNIP** “I will not bore you with his history as a congressman. You, I am sure, have received more information about his tenure than I have.” “Therefore I will reduce my letter to this statement. Please let mercy temper justice.” Butler directed his comments to the wrong judge, however. His letter is addressed to Judge Robert Wilkins, who is no longer assigned to the case. Judge Amy Berman Jackson received the case through a random reassignment April 16. Jackson is to be sentenced July 1.

THE BRONX, NYC, NY -- After a year of public outrage and legal proceedings, a judge has simply thrown out the indictment of Officer Richard Haste, who gunned down an unarmed man inside his own home, without a warrant. Haste was facing manslaughter charges until the judge tossed the indictment. https://www.facebook.com/PoliceStateUSA In February 2012, police broke into the home of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham without a warrant, did not announce themselves as police, shoved guns in the faces of the residents and ultimately gunned down Graham for no reason.

Several of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s (D-Ill.) constituents are asking a federal judge to show him no mercy when he hands down his sentence. The charges of using campaign funds for personal use, which Jackson has pleaded guilty to, are worse than murder, Chicago resident Gregory Ritter said in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Wilkins. “[M]urder would be a lighter crime, as these defendants have used the political hopes and dreams of the constituents as a blank check for deceit,” Ritter wrote. “The crimes of this magnitude are not like a traffic ticket. “While the...

ICE Agent Crane to Obama: "Mr. President, you've overstepped your boundaries. It's your job to enforce the law, it's Congress' job to enact the law."- Last week, ICE union chief Chris Crane won a stunning initial court victory in his lawsuit against the Obama Administration. As we reported, Federal Judge Federal Judge Reed O’Connor told the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they had no power to refuse to deport illegal aliens, and that he was likely to strike down Obama’s virtual “DACA” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. The ruling stunned Washington, and Crane’s lawsuit could derail Obama’s four-year...

Judge Jeanine Pirro answers the public statements of Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, mother of the two Boston terrorists. Answering the questions, "Why didn't you send him to Guantanamo or whatever? Why did they have to kill him?" Pirro says this is an admission of knowledge that her dead son was a terrorist. Pirro also takes the Obama administration to task for sending a federal judge to read her surviving son his rights and ending an FBI interrogation. And she asks about Gov. Deval Patrick's decision to not "reveal what kind of taxpayer assistance Tamerlan got on grounds of privacy." "Privacy? What privacy?...

Regular viewers of Fox News are used to seeing popular host Megyn Kelly on their televisions every afternoon, but on Thursday morning Kelly made a special appearance during the morning to break some surprising information: according to her sources, the FBI was “shocked” to see a magistrate “waltz into” the hospital room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and read him his Miranda rights. So why were they shocked? According to Kelly, the FBI was under the understanding that they would get much more time with Tsarnaev under the “public safety exemption” before he was read his rights. Adding to the shock: the...

Regular viewers of Fox News are used to seeing popular host Megyn Kelly on their televisions every afternoon, but on Thursday morning Kelly made a special appearance during the morning to break some surprising information: according to her sources, the FBI was “shocked” to see a magistrate “waltz into” the hospital room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and read him his Miranda rights. So why were they shocked? According to Kelly, the FBI was under the understanding that they would get much more time with Tsarnaev under the “public safety exemption” before he was read his rights. Adding to the shock: the...

Thanks to the "Public Safety Exception" to Miranda (which was created in 1980), the government is not forced to choose between treating a suspect as an enemy combatant or immediately allowing said suspect to hide behind an attorney and the right to remain silent. In extraordinary circumstances, when a suspect is believed to be part of a broader conspiracy that might result in the loss of innocent life, authorities have 48 hours to question the suspect before mirandizing him. Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the man suspected of being a co-conspirator in the Boston Marathon bombings, was mirandized after only 16 hours of...

A federal judge gave a skeptical reception Wednesday to the Obama administration’s arguments that the courts should stay out of the dispute over the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over some Operation Fast and Furious-related documents to a House committee. Last June, the fight led President Barack Obama to assert executive privilege over the records of the controversial gun trafficking investigation, and to House votes finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson spent most of an hour-and-a-half hearing Wednesday

WASHINGTON — The felony cases of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, have been assigned to a new judge — named Jackson. Court papers filed Tuesday moved the cases to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, but did not explain why the judge who accepted the Jacksons' guilty pleas, Robert Wilkins, would not be the one to sentence them this summer. Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree Jr., who recently joined Jesse Jackson Jr.'s legal team, told the Tribune that Wilkins is a former law student whom he knows well, and that Wilkins may...

(CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Disgraced former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. made his first public appearance in months when he sat alongside his father at Saturday morning's gathering of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. While Jackson Jr. did not speak, his attorney called on those gathered to call the judge in his case and plead for leniency before his June sentencing for misusing campaign funds. **SNIP** "Our judge needs to know, needs to understand, the character and the qualities of this extraordinary congressman," attorney C.K. Hoffler said. "This is the time to let the judge know how important he is to you." **SNIP**...

Happy ending. Judge Judy - Grown up man cries. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI4UEojhT2Y

Judge Andrew Napolitano was on with Neil Cavuto today to discuss Barack Obama’s domestic drone policy. Napolitano says Obama’s policy of using drones to kill Americans without a trial is “Stalinistic.” “The Constitution couldn’t be clearer. If the government wants the life, the liberty or the property of a person, they have to do it through due process, which means a jury trial. They can’t just execute. That’s Stalinistic.“ Napolitano also said if Bush would have had this policy Barack Obama would have been the first one to criticize it… Because he did. Via Your World:

February 5, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- In Chicago, Judge Cynthia Brim wants to return to the bench. The Cook County judge was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with a shoving incident a involving a sheriff's deputy. Five times in the last 19 years, Cynthia Brim was hospitalized for treatment of a bipolar-related mental illness, including one instance in which paramedics had to remove her from her Markham courtroom. It's unclear to what extent her superiors were aware of her mental health needs. The altercation took place at the Daley Center last year, and shortly after that...

Between now and when she's sentenced for bank fraud, former state Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway will have an income thanks to her first pension check from the state of Michigan scheduled to arrive in February. Hathaway, 58, pleaded guilty to bank fraud on Tuesday for concealing assets, including a home in Florida, while claiming financial hardship in a Michigan real estate deal. The financial hardship claim allowed her to use a short sale to unload a Michigan house at a price below what she and her husband owed on it. Reportedly it wiped out a $600,000 debt. May 28...

Miami Judge Smacks Down Teen After She Gave Him The Finger In Court Abby RogersFebruary 6,2013 NewsRoss/YouTube A Miami teen's bad attitude got her 30 days behind bars after the judge decided he wasn't going to put up with it. Penelope Soto, 18, was in Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat's bond court Monday on charges of possessing Xanax, Local 10 reported Monday. Rodriguez-Chomat was prepared to let her off on a $5,000 bond when the giggling girl made the mistake of sarcastically saying "Adios" before flitting away from the bench, NBC Miami reported Tuesday. But the judge wasn't having her sarcastic attitude...

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway faces a federal criminal charge and could end up in prison for up to 33 months. Nevertheless, it appears that Hathaway can still expect to get a hefty state pension. It's been estimated that Hathaway's annual state pension would come to $98,766. In fact, this could be a conservative estimate. It was based on calculation information posted on the Office of Retirement Services website and general information about her 20-year career in the court system. So would Hathaway's pension eligibility change if she pleads or is found guilty? "Only if the court ordered...

A federal court delivered a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel agenda, ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which isn’t commercially available. The court sided with the country’s chief oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, in striking down the 2012 EPA mandate that would have forced refineries to purchase more than $8 million in credits for 8.65 million of gallons of the cellulosic biofuel. However, none of the biofuel is commercially available. “[W]e agree with API that EPA’s 2012 projection of cellulosic biofuel production was in excess of...

You're watching... Judge Jeanine calls out 'The Journal News' Pirro: Time for paper to 'face the music' for publishing gun permit map Duration4:44 DateJan 6, 2013

Freeport, Ill. — Attorneys for those arrested during a Sensata plant protest and the City of Freeport spoke via conference call with Judge Jack Joyce on Wednesday to begin ironing out details for an upcoming trial date. “We’re looking at trial dates,” said City Attorney John Mitchell. “The conference that we held with the opposing counsel was to discuss three or four dates that are open over the next few months.” Lawyers are working towards a trial because the 11 protesters facing criminal trespassing charges lobbied for a trial by jury rather than agreeing to pay any fines during their...

Former federal judge and conservative legal scholar Robert Bork died early Wednesday at his Virginia home, his family confirmed to CNN. He was 85. Perhaps best known for his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork was rejected for the post after a contentious confirmation battle led by left-leaning groups that opposed his conservative judicial philosophies. Bork had recently served as a senior legal adviser to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He was a solicitor general during the Nixon administration and first gained notoriety for carrying out the president's order to fire the special prosecutor...

Judge Robert H. Bork, one of the the greatest jurists this country has ever produced, died early this morning from heart complications in a Virginia hospital near his home. He was 84. Bork was a national celebrity. Several years ago, my wife and I visited the Borks in Maine where they had taken a summer house off Somes Sound. I cannot count the times that total strangers would approach us at a lobster shack or park asking to shake the Judge’s hand and to assure him of their admiration and support. Bork’s celebrity was only partly conferred upon him by...

The Obama administration has been consistently arguing since announcing a year’s grace period for some religious organizations to figure out how to violate their consciences and obey the Department and Health and Human Services abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization mandate, that the controversy over religious freedom and the mandate is over and the Catholics are happy. That, as has been pointed out here before, ignores all the lawsuits pending. And that they are not just from Catholics. Today in New York, a judge dismissed Justice Department claims that the Archdiocese of New York’s lawsuit in response to the coercive mandate is unnecessary....

The top U.S. military appellate court on Monday ruled that the judge presiding over the case of an Army major charged with a 2009 massacre at Fort Hood, Texas is not impartial and ordered him removed. The court also set aside the order by the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, that accused gunman Major Nidal Hasan be forcibly shaved. The action by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces further delays the trial of Hasan, 42 (snip)

<p>U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins rejected a motion from the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee to allow the religious display this season while their lawsuit plays out against the city.</p>

FORT PIERCE — Circuit Court Judge Larry Schack has denied a motion by Democrat Patrick Murphy to halt the recount of early votes in St. Lucie County. About 4:15 p.m., the judge made his ruling, saying if Murphy loses because of the recount, he still can contest the results of the election. Meanwhile, workers in the Supervisor of Elections office on Okeechobee Road continued recounting the early votes for the tight District 18 congressional race. Early Saturday morning, the Murphy campaign team announced they had filed an preliminary injunction to halt the recount, saying it was not legal. Schack began...

A judge has ordered an early-voting site in central Florida to stay open an additional four hours Sunday, following lawsuits filed by the state Democratic party. The judge ordered the polling site in Orange County to extend its hours because it was shut down Saturday while authorities investigated a suspicious package. Bill Cowles, the county’s elections supervisor, said voters who are showing up Sunday are being asked to use a provisional ballot because they can be found should the order be overturned, per Florida law. The Florida Democratic Party filed separate lawsuits to get four counties to offer more time...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – A Detroit judge has agreed to a reprimand for sending a shirtless photo of himself to a courthouse employee and telling a reporter, “No shame in my game.” Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade McCree agreed to the punishment in an order released Wednesday by the Michigan Supreme Court. The court says it’s accepting the recommendation of a watchdog agency and ordering a public censure. The justices agreed with the Judicial Tenure Commission that McCree “brought shame … to the judiciary” with his April comments to WJBK-TV reporter Charlie LeDuff.

Woman claims money her friend gave her was a gift, not a loan. Watch to the end, so funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Cc97wWfuk&feature=endscreen&NR=1

When the great philosopher G.K. Chesterton said, “Let all the babies be born. Then let us drown those we do not like,” he wasn’t advocating infanticide but was just making a point. Unfortunately, though, we’re getting closer to a time when people would take his words literally. An example of this is a judge’s decision in Canada that a woman who strangled her newborn baby shouldn’t be incarcerated because Canadians’ failure to criminalize abortion indicates that they “sympathize” with the mother. ...So Justice Veit’s decision seems to make no sense whatsoever; that is, unless you look beyond the facts of...

When Barack Obama was elected president, critics and supporters alike thought the Democrat would move swiftly to appoint strong liberal judges to balance out Republicans' longstanding push for a conservative judiciary. At the nation's 13 powerful U.S. appeals courts, that has not happened. Obama's 30 appointees have generally been moderates who mainly served on lower courts and were often selected in consultation with Republican senators. The pattern contrasts with Obama's Republican predecessors, dating back to Ronald Reagan, who quickly put forth prominent young conservatives, many of whom came from academia and had past political experience. Notably, President Obama has not...

“Don’t judge me!” shouted to obese mother of what I estimated to be a dozen ill-mannered proto juvenile delinquents. Her charming tats aside, she otherwise was a model of incivility, bordering disheveled as she stashed a poorly covered ’40 into a bag while fishing for her EBT card. Had she been talking to me I would have politely informed her that, yes, I’ll judge her and everyone else. I damn well hope people judge me as well. This modern disinclination to judge is as antithetical to normal social functioning as is socialism, and perhaps as evil. Relying on quaint tools,...

If a Muslim woman wasn't punished for refusing to stand when a federal judge entered the courtroom, others would have been emboldened to show disrespect for the court, the judge has ruled. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis wrote that defendant Amina Farah Ali's silent gesture -- which she said was rooted in religious principle -- could have led to chaos during her trial on terrorism-related charges last year. "If Ali were allowed to sit while court is called, it may have been possible that her many sympathizers would have begun to emulate her in a show of support," Davis...

A district court judge says Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz cannot move forward with new rules that would challenge voters appearing on databases as noncitizens. Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a ruling Friday blocking Schultz from implementing voting rules he established without holding a public hearing. Schultz created the new rules in July, using an administrative emergency rulemaking process. He says he needed to act quickly before the November election because noncitizens might be registered to vote. Both Sides of Lawsuit React Here is the news release issued by Secretary of State Matt Schultz: Secretary of State Matt Schultz...

MF trustee can team up with plaintiffs against Corzine - judgeTrustee can assign claims against Corzine, other insiders By Nick Brown Thu Sep 6, 2012 3:02am IST NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A Manhattan bankruptcy judge said on Wednesday he was prepared to allow the trustee unwinding MF Global's broker-dealer to join forces with some of the company's former customers who have sued ex-Chief Executive Jon Corzine and other insiders. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said he will make his decision official when the trustee, James Giddens, files court papers outlining the details of the cooperative effort. The filing...

A judge ordered Thursday that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in a 2009 deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, must shave or be forcibly shaved before his trial. Judge Col. Gregory Gross had said he would deliver a definitive order this week after a hearing to determine whether Hasan would be allowed to keep his beard, which he started growing while in jail earlier this summer. Gross barred him from appearing in military court, citing the Army’s strict regulations regarding grooming standards. Hasan's attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said his client grew the beard as a “deeply sincere”

Several campaigners for fathers' rights and shared parenting after divorce have been arrested or summoned for questioning in recent days and a Knesset member who sides with the fathers' movement says a "militant feminist crackdown" is under way. One activist father, Guy Shamir, has been held in jail for 21 days. He was arrested when Haifa Family Court Judge Esperanza Alon's clerk claimed that he used a threatening phrase in a telephone conversation with her. Shamir says he told the clerk: "The judge should mind her own children and I will mind mine." The clerk claimed that he told the...

Second-degree murder suspect George Zimmerman gets a new judge. The Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach on Wednesday ruled that Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. in Sanford went too far when, among other things, he described Zimmerman as a manipulator. It was "admittedly a close call," wrote Judge C. Alan Lawson, but Lester's actions, taken in total, would cause a reasonable person to fear that he is biased. The next step is for Circuit Judge Alan Dickey in Sanford to pick a new judge. It's expected to be Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson, 58, another felony trial judge...

JESUS!

The West Virginia Record explains what happened during the May 23 hearing, which was called to settle a discrepancy over Hage and his wife selling their house: Shortly after the hearing started, Watkins, calmly, said, “Mr. Hage, if you say one word out of turn, you’re going to jail. Do you understand me?” To which Hage replied, “Yes.” Then, Watkins berated Hage for speaking to a reporter following the previous day’s hearing. On May 22, Watkins heard a motion made by [his wife] Lillian’s attorney, Christine Wallace with Legal Aid of West Virginia, that Arthur be held in contempt for...

The one with no sin, will judge.

ELECTION: Kreep says right-wing views won't affect rulings as judge Winning candidate has challenged Obama's birthplace, legitimacy Voters in San Diego County appear to have elected a conservative activist lawyer to a judgeship with the San Diego Superior Court. Gary Kreep, 61 ---- known for taking on right-wing causes ---- said Friday that his views will not color his decisions on the bench. According to the unofficial tally, Kreep surpassed his opponent, veteran prosecutor Garland Peed, by 1,702 votes in a judicial contest in which more than 406,000 ballots were cast. Kreep garnered 50.21 percent of the votes to Peed's...

SAN DIEGO — Ramona lawyer and conservative legal advocate Gary Kreep, nationally know for challenging the legitimacy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, has clinched a seat on the San Diego Superior Court. Kreep led Deputy District Attorney Garland Peed by 1,569 votes Tuesday, with 1,000 ballots left to count from the June 5 election. Kreep and his public-interest law firm, U.S. Justice Foundation, have gained national attention for taking on high-profile cases over the past three decades. In addition to what’s become known as the “birther” case involving Obama, he was the lawyer this year for a Camp Pendleton...

Love the LORD with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What you loosen on earth with be loosen in heaven.

Officials with the Taos Police Department say they are still working to get to the bottom of the alleged beating of a Taos landowner over the removal of political signs from in front of his property. In an interview with The Taos News Friday, property owner Roy Cunnyngham and his wife Joni recounted the events when they returned home, across from Casa los Córdovas May 1. According to the police report filed the same day, Eighth Judicial District Court judge candidate Ernestina Cruz was having a “meet and greet” event at Plaza de Colores. At the same time, across the...