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BREAKING: Judge in Hawaii blocks Trump's new travel ban from taking effect nationwide tomorrow

By now many of you know that Mike Strickland, a pro-gun, free lance journalist was convicted of 21 counts of self defense on Friday, Feb.10. Strickland had been attacked by a mob in Portland while covering a “Black Lives Matter” protest. The attack was planned and coordinated in advance. You can read more about it here. Victoria Taft has done an outstanding job of documenting the attack and the trial and you can see that here. In truth, Mike was convicted the moment he was arrested by Portland Police for defending himself against the same kind of mobsters who have...

The Ninth Circuit’s decision against President Trump’s immigration order is worse than wrong. It is dangerous. To review, Trump issued an executive order blocking entry by refugees and aliens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The travel restriction is to be short-lived: a period of months while better vetting procedures are developed. The administration, moreover, did not pluck the seven countries from its allegedly anti-Muslim imagination. They were cited in a statute enacted by Congress and signed by President Obama, based on the richly supported conclusion that these countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan — are riven by...

The temporary restraining order against President Trump’s executive order is still in effect, as you probably know. Josh Blackman has a good analysis of the ruling on his website, which I would recommend reading. There are a number of fascinating and disturbing elements of this decision, including the imposition of a “no evidence” standard upon the Trump administration. Although some are attempting to put the best face on what is a sweeping, unprecedented ruling, the truth is that we are entering uncharted waters. We have the largest circuit court in the federal system essentially erasing the plenary power doctrine as...

Vanity Discussion Question: Can the president ignore the court order and continue with his valid executive order? It appears the president is acting in accordance to his constitutional powers and specifically in accordance to laws regarding immigration and has been challenged and overridden by an unconstitutionally political activist (liberal) court. If so, can he can he continue with his valid orders controlling the actions of the executive branch? No doubt this would set up a "constitutional crisis" but this is going to happen soon anyway as it's the only way we will ever restore constitutional government, ie, the liberal activist...

“Disheartening and demoralizing,” wailed Judge Neil Gorsuch of President Trump’s comments about the judges seeking to overturn his 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. from the Greater Middle East war zones. What a wimp. Did our future justice break down crying like Sen. Chuck Schumer? Sorry, this is not Antonin Scalia. And just what horrible thing had our president said? A “so-called judge” blocked the travel ban, said Trump. And the arguments in court, where 9th Circuit appellate judges were hearing the government’s appeal, were “disgraceful.” “A bad student in high school would have understood the arguments better.” Did...

SEATTLE/BOSTON - A federal judge in Seattle on Friday granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking U.S. President Donald Trump's recent action barring nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. The judge's order represents a major challenge to the Trump administration, which is expected to immediately appeal. The judge declined to stay the order, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted immediately. The challenge was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The Seattle judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take...

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the combatants in America's long-running culture wars, the triumph of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans was stunning - sparking elation on one side, deep dismay on the other. Advocates of LGBT rights and abortion rights now fear setbacks instead of further gains. But the outcome emboldened the anti-abortion movement and breathed new life into the religious right's campaign for broad exemptions from same-sex marriage and other laws. Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a legal group that specializes in religious freedom cases, said that, for his cause, the environment will transform from "brutal" under...

The government must consult parliament before invoking Article 50, the High Court has ruled. The court ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the authority to use the Royal Prerogative to invoke the EU divorce process. The Lord Chief Justice has ruled that the government’s arguments are “contrary to fundamental constitutional principles of the sovereignty of parliament”. He added: “The court does not accept the argument put forward by the government. There is nothing in the text of the 1972 Act to support it.” Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, sitting with the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence...

A U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday blocked an effort by Alabama, Georgia and Kansas for voters to furnish proof of citizenship when registering at the polls, which opponents say disenfranchises voters, especially minorities. The decision effectively strikes down a rule that requires voters in the three states to provide proof they are United States citizens. Elsewhere, voters only need swear that they are citizens in order to cast a ballot. "With just weeks to go before a critical presidential election, we are grateful to the court of appeals for stopping this thinly veiled discrimination in its tracks," Chris Carson,...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday blocked North Dakota's voter identification law after a group of American Indians said it unfairly burdens them - the latest court ruling against voting laws that critics say disproportionately affect minorities. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland issued a temporary restraining order and criticized the state for its 2013 repeal of provisions that let people without valid IDs vote if someone vouched for them or if they signed an affidavit swearing they were a qualified voter.

A federal judge blocked a controversial Mississippi law that would’ve gone into effect Friday, which would’ve allowed businesses and government employees to deny services to gay and transgender people based on religious grounds. U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves issued a 60-page opinion in which he described the Mississippi law, known as House Bill 1523, as “state-sanctioned discrimination.” “There are almost endless explanations for how HB 1523 condones discrimination against the LGBT community, but in its simplest terms it denies LGBT citizens equal protection under the law,” he wrote. He cited many

A federal judge in Brooklyn, in an extraordinary opinion that calls for courts to pay closer attention to the impact of felony convictions on people’s lives, sentenced a young woman in a drug case to probation rather than prison, saying on Wednesday that the collateral consequences she would face as a felon were punishment enough. The judge, Frederic Block of Federal District Court, said that the broad range of such collateral consequences served no “useful function other than to further punish criminal defendants after they have completed their court-imposed sentences.” The judge noted that there were nearly 50,000 federal and...

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.

If there is one overarching observation that I could make from the discussions I've seen on the internet about Kim Davis' recent imprisonment, it is that there are a powerful lot of uninformed, inarticulate, cognitively-challenged folks out there on the information superhighway. It seems like any place you go where there is an article about Kim Davis and her refusal to issue illegal marriage licenses to homosexual couples, you will quickly find yourself surrounded by mouth-breathers raucously asserting that she "deserved to go to jail" for "breaking the law" and "violating their constitutional rights." Even "conservative" establishmentarian pundits like George...

When the Supreme Court ruled by the narrowest possible margin that Kentucky's definition of marriage is unconstitutional, the court's decision was qualified by its assurance that religious freedom would not be jeopardized. "The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection," the court solemnly intoned on June 26. In the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky, one brave woman is testing whether Justice Anthony Kennedy really meant it when he wrote those words. But the local federal judge for eastern Kentucky, David Bunning, has wrongly sent Kim Davis to jail for her beliefs, without respecting or accommodating...

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Marion County judge has refused to perform same-sex marriages and has asked his clerks to refer couples seeking same-sex marriages to other county judges. Judge Vance Day, a circuit court judge and former chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, is now facing an ethics investigation over that decision, according to the judge’s spokesman. Spokesman Patrick Korten said Day instructed his staff to tell couples that the judge will not perform same-sex marriages. The staffers were instructed to refer same-sex couples to other Marion County judges willing to issue them a marriage license. Korten said Day took...

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...

There was no halftime show under the Friday night lights at Mississippi’s Brandon High School — the marching band had been benched. The band was ordered off the field because the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art” was a part of their halftime show — in violation of a federal court order.“The Rankin County School Board and District Office are very saddened students will not be able to perform their halftime show they have worked so hard on this summer,” the district wrote in a statement to the Clarion Ledger newspaper. In 2013 a student sued the district over a...