Free Republic

A federal judge in Wisconsin has declared multiple Republican-authored election laws unconstitutional in a sweeping ruling. Two liberal groups filed a lawsuit in May challenging the laws, including a requirement that voters show photo identification. U.S. District Judge James Peterson issued a ruling Friday that upheld the voter ID law, but struck down a number of GOP-written statutes and policies that restricted voting. …

A federal judge ruled Thursday that a Michigan law banning straight-ticket voting would place a disproportionate burden on African Americans' right to vote, and granted a request for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the law. Mark Brewer, a lawyer in the case and former head of the Michigan Democratic Party, argued that the elimination of straight-party voting would likely have a larger impact on African-American voters, noting "extremely high" correlations between the size of the African-American voting population within a district, and the use of straight-party voting in that district. New straight-ticket voting law in Michigan prompts lawsuit...

A federal judge on Monday ruled that clerks in Mississippi may not recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples based on religious beliefs, despite a bill passed by the state legislature intended to carve out that exception for them.

What is to be done? Comrade Tushnet explains it all (Everett Historical/Shutterstock) “To be successful, insurrection must rely not upon conspiracy and not upon a party, but upon the advanced class.” — Lenin.You really have to read this post by Harvard Law professor Mark Tushnet, in which he advises his fellow legal liberals to take the gloves off and hit conservatives with bare-knuckle force. Excerpts: Several generations of law students and their teachers grew up with federal courts dominated by conservatives. Not surprisingly, they found themselves wandering in the wilderness, looking for any sign of hope. The result: Defensive-crouch...

Wisconsin’s right-to-work law, championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker as he was mounting his run for president, was struck down Friday as violating the state constitution. Attorney General Brad Schimel, also a Republican, promised to appeal the decision and said he was confident it would not stand, noting that no similar law has been struck down in any other state. […] Three unions filed the lawsuit last year shortly after Walker signed the bill into law. […] The unions argued that Wisconsin’s law was an unconstitutional seizure of union property since unions now must extend benefits to workers who don’t...

President Barack Obama respond this afternoon to promises by Senate Republicans to not allow a vote o his nominee to replace recently-deceased pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama doesn't care about the fact that he filibustered Justice Samuel Alito's nomination in an attempt to prevent the Senate from voting to confirm him, he demanded that Republicans allow a vote on his nominee. After Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not take up a vote on a replacement for deceased pro-life Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election. Such a promise prevents pro-abortion President...

A California woman charged last week for her role in the production of undercover videos at a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic will be offered probation, a Harris County prosecutor said in court. Sandra Susan Merritt, of San Jose, Calif., appeared in court Wednesday morning on charges of tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony which carried a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. A grand jury convened to investigate whether a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic had sold the organs of aborted fetuses last week cleared the clinic and instead indicted the undercover videographers behind the allegations....

AUSTIN, Texas –  A Houston grand jury investigating undercover footage of Planned Parenthood found no wrongdoing Monday by the abortion provider but instead indicted anti-abortion activists involved in making the videos that provoked outrage among Republican leaders nationwide. David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. Another activist, Sandra Merritt, was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record.

Update: Hall ignored the deadline and proceeded to issue unconstitutional marriage licenses. As reported by The Denver Post: "This was not a hard decision. I'm proud to do this for my community," Hall said Tuesday afternoon, adding, "it's not about politics. This is about people who love each other." Hall's office has issued 88 marriage licenses to same-sex couples since Wednesday, when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck Utah's ban on gay marriage.

A new round of contempt-of-court hearings began Thursday in Phoenix against the sheriff in the nation’s sixth-largest city over his defiance of a judge’s order to stop carrying out his signature immigration patrols. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose immigration crackdowns turned him into a national political figure, listened intently as his second-in-command testified about emails involving the agency’s violation of a key court order in the racial profiling case. The order demanding the office stop the patrols was ignored for 18 months. Arpaio could face fines as a result of the hearings and could later be called into criminal...

Politicians who may have thought they wouldn’t have to say much at all about gay marriage once the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized it now must answer a different question: Do you support Kim Davis? The Rowan County clerk, who has become a darling of many conservatives despite being a Democrat, cited “God’s authority” and religious liberty in choosing jail time over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some social conservatives have cast Davis as a hero, shifting the gay marriage debate from one about civil liberties—a matter that appeared to have been settled—to one about religious liberty. …

Based on numerous polls and countless surveys, we already knew Americans didn’t trust Congress or the Executive Branch—but now, it looks like they don’t trust the courts, either. A new Gallup poll released Friday shows only 53 percent of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the United States’ judicial system, a record low since Gallup first began measuring government trust in 1997. Conversely, about half (47%) of all Americans think the courts can’t be trusted. …

Oh, no! You Christians are Just Being Paranoid!

Why do so many who castigate Kim Davis for flouting the law routinely cheer on President Obama for actions far more lawless and consequential? Why are those demonizing the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk so indifferent to the Supreme Court's rank abuse of power that created the atmosphere of conflict from which her actions arose? Who died and made the Supreme Court god? Well, the Supreme Court made itself god in 1803, with the case of Marbury v. Madison, in which it asserted its power of judicial review — the right to declare acts of the legislative and executive branches unconstitutional....

ASHLAND, Ky. — Following yesterday’s jailing of a county clerk for stating that it is not possible for her to obey an order to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals against God’s law, it is now being noted that the same federal judge also once ordered Kentucky students to be re-educated about homosexuality despite their objections. In 2003, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—the same group that filed suit against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis—sued the Boyd County Board of Education to force it to agree to allow a “gay-straight” alliance club to meet at Boyd County High School. A number...

Grayson, KY – Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, will join supporters at a rally outside the Carter County Detention Center on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. ET.  The “I’m with Kim” Rally is organized by Gov. Mike Huckabee. Liberty Counsel is willing to join any group that stands in support of Kim Davis. “Not long ago 75 percent of Kentuckians passed the state’s marriage amendment. Today a Christian is imprisoned for believing what the voters affirmed, that marriage is between a man and a woman,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Five people on the...

Kim Davis released the following statement a few days ago: I have worked in the Rowan County Clerk’s office for 27 years as a Deputy Clerk and was honored to be elected as the Clerk in November 2014, and took office in January 2015. I love my job and the people of Rowan County. I have never lived any place other than Rowan County. Some people have said I should resign, but I have done my job well. This year we are on track to generate a surplus for the county of 1.5 million dollars. In addition to my desire...

The Associated Press @AP BREAKING: Supreme Court rejects Kentucky gay marriage case, clerk must issue licenses despite religion

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky County Clerks Association will propose removing clerks’ names from the document in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. Overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage has prompted Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and two others to deny licenses to all couples, drawing a federal lawsuit against Davis as well as calls to change the licensing process. Leslie County Clerk James Lewis, chairman of the association’s elections committee, told reporters Tuesday that his group is drafting “a simple solution” to the matter. “You would have the county and the county seat listed...

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Lawyers asked a judge to intervene on the behalf of immigrant families who were denied birth certificates for their U.S.-born children because Texas health officials refused to recognize as valid certain forms of foreign identifications, according to court papers. The lawyers filed for an emergency injunction in an Austin federal court Friday, saying that harm has been done to children and their families who need the birth certificates to enroll in school and ensure parental rights. The lawyers have asked that the Texas Department of State Health Services name two reasonable forms of identification available to...