Free Republic

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday implored the judge in charge of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case not to force the government into complying with defense discovery motions. In January, attorneys for the 45th president accused Smith and his office of myriad discovery violations in a rambling defense filing that also asserted that the genesis of the federal Florida case could be traced to “politically motivated operatives” within President Joe Biden’s administration who launched a “crusade” against their client to hamstring his chances in the 2024 presidential election. In the government’s response in opposition, Smith aims to methodically...

There's been a case in New York that I should have been following more closely. Dexter Taylor was a hobby gunsmith. He liked the nature of putting together guns from lawfully purchased parts. However, the state of New York disapproved of this pastime. They arrested Taylor and, on Monday, he was convicted. My friend Jeff Charles over at our sister site RedState has been covering this case pretty much from the jump, and in his story from Monday about the sentencing, there was something we had to talk about. You see, the judge in the case has decided that a...

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is a Biden donor, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily. Discussing the case involving Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records in relation to a “hush money” payment made to Stormy Daniels, Binnall reminded listeners that the entire case “is based on the word of Michael Cohen,” an “admitted perjurer.” “That’s the kind of the best they have. That’s what they’re building their case around...

Whoever, being a person employed in any administrative position by the United States, or by any department or agency thereof, or by the District of Columbia or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or by any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States, or any political subdivision, municipality, or agency thereof, or agency of such political subdivision or municipality (including any corporation owned or controlled by any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States or by any such political subdivision, municipality, or agency), in connection with any activity which is financed in whole or in part by loans or...

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has yet to say that former President Donald Trump can attend his son Barron Trump’s high school graduation, refusing to rule on the former president’s request to not attend the trial that specific day for that event. Monday was the start of the criminal trial at the hands of Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records in relation to payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. As Breitbart News pointed out, Trump is not being accused of “covering up a sex scandal.”...

A federal judge scolded the Justice Department on Friday for refusing to allow attorneys involved in the Hunter Biden investigation to comply with subpoenas issued by House Republicans. The House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit last month in the federal District Court in Washington seeking to force DOJ lawyers Mark Daly and Jack Morgan to provide testimony as part of the panel’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The GOP-led panel co-leading the impeachment probe related to the 81-year-old president’s alleged involvement in his family’s business dealings claims the DOJ has “thwarted” efforts by the committee to get depositions from the...

During her confirmation hearing, 7th Circuit Court nominee Nancy Maldonado was questioned by Sen. John Kennedy about supporting Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban. Maldonado had signed a brief arguing such weapons could be banned as too dangerous for self-defense.

A federal judge admonished a Jan. 6 rioter during his sentencing Wednesday after the man downplayed the severity of the riots and his violent conduct. “This cannot become normal. … We cannot condone the normalization of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot,” Judge Royce Lamberth said during the sentencing of Taylor James Johnatakis, CNN reported. Johnatakis, a self-described “sovereign citizen,” was found guilty of assaulting a police officer and other felony and misdemeanor charges related to the riot, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison. After his conviction last year, he repeatedly downplayed the riots in interviews, calling...

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis spoke about race in a speech on Friday, seemingly in response to part of Judge Scott McAfee's recent order that said she could remain on Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case. **SNIP** Willis previously rejected the accusations and said during a speech in January at an Atlanta church that her critics were "playing the race card" given that they had singled out Wade, who is Black. As part of his March 15 ruling, McAfee focused on Willis' January speech and noted that "the District Attorney described the effort [to disqualify her] as motivated by...

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' case against former President Donald Trump in Georgia may have been dealt a blow after the judge presiding over the matter agreed to hear pretrial motions and an appeal against Willis' ability to bring charges against one of the defendants. In August, Trump and 18 other defendants were indicted as part of Willis' probe into alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. On March 28, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is expected to hear arguments from Trump's lawyers that the Georgia election interference case is intended to criminalize political speech....

A Manhattan judge ripped Sam Bankman-Fried as a “remorseless” scammer obsessed with political power as he sentenced the fallen crypto mogul to 25 years in prison Thursday — five months after he was found guilty of stealing more than $8 billion of funds from customers of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Judge Lewis Kaplan said the 32-year-old convicted fraudster “presented himself as the good guy” all in favor of “appropriate regulation of the crypto industry” — but it was just an “act.” “He did it because he wanted to be a hugely, hugely political influential person in this country,” Kaplan...

A gag order issued Tuesday in the New York hush money case bars Donald Trump from popping off against witnesses, jurors, and "court staff" — but it makes no mention of the judge and members of his family, who remain fair game. Trump wasted little time exploiting that loophole Wednesday, when he used his Truth Social account to take aim at both state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and the judge's progressive daughter, Loren Merchan. The daughter is a Democratic political consultant whose social media has been critical of Trump, including during his administration, when she condemned his family-separation border...

During her confirmation hearing, 7th Circuit Court nominee Nancy Maldonado was questioned by Sen. John Kennedy about supporting Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban. Maldonado had signed a brief arguing such weapons could be banned as too dangerous for self-defense. However, when Kennedy pressed her to define “assault weapon,” Maldonado said she was “not a gun expert” and could not remember the exact definition. Kennedy said, “You said, ‘Assault weapons may be banned because they’re extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes.’ Tell me what you meant by ‘assault weapons’?” Kennedy noted she had submitted a brief calling to...

Just wanted ones to see wovoted on another liberal Biden nominate to serve as a United States circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit judge moving toward being appointed. Berner is a resident of Montgomery County, residing in Takoma Park, Maryland, where she and her former wife raised their three sons. She is married to civil rights attorney Debra Katz. If confirmed, Berner would be the first openly LGBTQ judge to serve on that court.

“Novel legal theory,” a term applied in whole or part to every case, criminal and civil, lodged against Donald Trump. That term is best understood as using the law in ways it was never intended to be used, and/or never has been used, most specifically for political purposes. A "novel legal theory" might consist of applying a vicious dog ordinance to someone who owned only a parrot that could bark like a dog. During my police career, professional officers were careful never to use the law in that way. If there was a law on the books that had never...

On March 8, 2024, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman decided against a federal ban on gun ownership for illegal immigrant Heriberto Carbajal-Flores. The case at hand centered on Carbajal-Flores, who was “charged with possession of a firearm while illegally or unlawfully in the United States.” He had a handgun in his possession “in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois,” on June 1, 2020. He was charged for being a non-citizen in possession for a firearm.

Reactions from Georgia lawmakers poured in on Friday after a judge ruled that embattled Fulton County DA Fani Willis could remain on the case investigating alleged election interference by former President Donald Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling Friday that Willis, who was accused of an improper romantic relationship that she attempted to cover up with special counsel Nathan Wade, could remain on the case if she fired Wade which prompted pushback from Georgia Republicans. "The ruling by Judge McAfee seems to clearly identify impropriety between the DA and Mr. Wade," Georgia Republican State Rep....

Judge Scott McAfee has let this ridiculous Fulton County prosecution of Donald Trump go on this long, it doesn’t look like he’ll stop it now.Before the end of the week, we’re supposed to know whether Georgia Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis’s ridiculous street-gang prosecution of Donald Trump and associates will be killed off before it goes to trial. But for that to happen, it’s going to take an extraordinary act of bravery from Judge Scott McAfee and, well, the record so far is that he’s not exactly Rambo in a robe.McAfee self-imposed the Friday deadline for his decision on the...

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee has dropped six counts in the Georgia criminal election interference case against former President Donald Trump and five other defendants, writing: "The lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned opinion, fatal." (1 minute and 26 seconds video in the link below) https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1767927694996766872

Afederal judge on Friday dismissed a challenge from 21 states against a Biden administration program that allows 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. from four countries each month. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton ruled that Texas and 20 other Republican-led states didn’t have legal standing in the lawsuit because they didn’t demonstrate suffered financial harm from the federal program, the Associated Press reported. The program lets a total of up to 30,000 asylum-seekers enter the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. “In reaching this conclusion, the Court does not address the lawfulness of the Program,” Tipton wrote...