Free Republic

A federal judge has encouraged all of his colleagues to "carefully consider" whether the Yale Law School students who attempted to shout down a bipartisan panel on free speech "should be disqualified from potential clerkships." D.C. Circuit judge Laurence Silberman sent an email on Thursday to all federal judges in the United States, urging them to take the fracas at the nation's top law school seriously. "The latest events at Yale Law School," Silberman wrote, "prompt me to suggest that students who are identified as those willing to disrupt any such panel discussion should be noted. All federal judges—and all...

New York Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak recently sounded the alarm with a headline that read, "The Supreme Court's Increasingly Dim View of the News Media." Naturally, he was upset that some conservative judges aren't fond of the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, which makes it nearly impossible for public figures to sue media outlets for libel, since the mind-reading standard of "actual malice" must be established. Liptak began by complaining about Judge Laurence H. Silberman, who's not on the Supreme Court but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In a recent...

Our rights to open, even crude, dissent are relatively recent—and vulnerable to legislative and judicial crackdownsWe shouldn't have to repeat this: Americans have the right to insult those in charge, from President Biden to a local councilman, and, yes, even an armed policeman. Yet this bedrock right to vent our spleens against officials is now being challenged. A federal appeals court judge on Friday echoed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in calling for the reversal of New York Times v. Sullivan—the landmark decision permitting "vehement, caustic and … unpleasantly sharp attacks" on government officials. And a year after the protests...

A conservative judge on the influential federal appeals court in Washington used his dissent in a defamation case to lambaste most U.S. media outlets for trumpeting "shocking" anti-Republican views, and call for libel laws to be revised to make it easier to sue the press.The New York Times and The Washington Post are "virtually Democratic Party broadsheets," while the news section of the Wall Street Journal "leans in the same direction," said U.S. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman, who added the major television outlets and Silicon Valley giants were similarly biased.

In a blistering dissent, Judge Laurence Silberman said The New York Times and Washington Post are 'Democratic Party broadsheets.The control of major media by one political party is a dangerous threat to the country, a federal judge warned in a blistering dissent that called for courts to revisit libel laws that generally protect the press from being held liable for their reporting. “It should be borne in mind that the first step taken by any potential authoritarian or dictatorial regime is to gain control of communications, particularly the delivery of news,” wrote Judge Laurence Silberman of the D.C. Circuit for...

In the case of Tah v. Global Witness Publishing, Inc., which emerged from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, nobody but the parties involved cared about the issues in the case. It became noteworthy, though, because Judge Laurence Silberman used the dissent, not just to disagree with the majority’s ruling, but also to warn against the danger of a national media that is completely allied with the party controlling all of Washington D.C. However, I find the case even more exciting because it attacks the notion of Supreme Court infallibility. The majority in the...

Left-leaning news outlets the New York Times and Washington Post, have been accused of being “Democratic Party broadsheets” by Judge Laurence Silberman. Washington, DC, federal appellate judge Laurence Silberman said both newspapers were mouthpieces for “rather shocking” bias against the Republican Party, in an opinion on Friday.

“The increased power of the press is so dangerous today because we are very close to one-party control of these institutions,” Silberman warned. “Our court was once concerned about the institutional consolidation of the press leading to a ‘bland and homogenous’ marketplace of ideas. It turns out that ideological consolidation of the press (helped along by economic consolidation) is the far greater threat. “Although the bias against the Republican Party—not just controversial individuals—is rather shocking today, this is not new; it is a long-term, secular trend going back at least to the ’70s. (I do not mean to defend or...

A federal judge this week said that the Democrat Party is close to controlling the press as he detailed what he described as shocking bias against Republicans.D.C. Circuit Court Judge Laurence Silberman outlined his opposition to the Supreme Court’s key decision in 1964 in New York Times v. Sullivan, which has since protected many media outlets from lawsuits.Silberman, a Reagan appointee, wrote that the ruling is “a threat to American Democracy” and must be overturned.“The increased power of the press is so dangerous today because we are very close to one-party control of these institutions. Our court was once concerned...

D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman penned a scathing dissent Friday on a defamation case The Reagan-appointed judge slammed the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan landmark decision requiring plaintiffs to prove 'actual malice' by defendantsSilberman claimed the ruling has only increased the power of the press, which is almost completely controlled by the Democratic Party 'Two of the three most influential papers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets,' he wroteHe named Fox News, The New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal as the 'few notable exceptions to Democratic Party ideological control'

A federal judge called for a landmark Supreme Court decision on freedom of the press and libel laws to be overturned in a fiery dissent decrying "bias against the Republican Party," blasting the near "one-party control" of legacy news media, slamming Silicon Valley's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and warning that the current state of American media is "a threat to a viable democracy."

A three-judge federal appeals court said Tuesday the DOJ’s settlement with Fokker Services B.V. for alleged sanctions violations could go ahead after a district court judge rejected the arrangement as “anemic.” The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC said prosecutors and not judges make decisions to enter into deferred prosecution agreement with corporate defendants. In February 2015, federal district court judge Richard Leon refused to approve the settlement. He said the proposed $21 million penalty was “grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Fokker Sercvices’ conduct in a post-911 world.” Holland-based Fokker Services admitted in a 2014 plea deal that...

This week on Uncommon Knowledge, the man who saved the Second Amendment. In 2007, Judge Laurence Silberman, senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, wrote a decision overturning the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. The following year, the Supreme Court agreed with him.

...Allow us to recall the case of Anthony Kennedy.... Mr. Helms said to Judge Kennedy, "I think you know where I stand on abortion." Mr. Kennedy "smiled and answered, 'Indeed I do and I admire it. I am a practicing Catholic.'"... "...Mr. Helms interpreted the response to mean that Judge Kennedy is opposed to abortion and would look favorably on any case in which the Court's earlier decision striking down the abortion laws of all 50 states might be overturned." Reagan nominated Mr. Kennedy, who dodged the abortion issue at his confirmation hearings. Mr. Helms voted for him. And we...

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Members of the presidential commission that examined U.S. intelligence failures told White House officials that they would resign en masse if President Bush did not ensure the nation's spy agencies cooperated with their inquiry -- and had to repeat the threat more than once. Laurence H. Silberman, the federal judge who was co-chairman of the inquiry, said he told officials, "If we did not get support from the White House at any time we ran into any difficulties, I and others would resign." Click to learn more... "I did occasionally have to remind the White House of...

WASHINGTON - A presidential commission investigating weapons of mass destruction is highly critical of U.S. intelligence agencies' performance on Iran, North Korea and Libya and attempts to lay out what went wrong on Iraq, according to individuals familiar with the findings. None of the 15 agencies is expected to be singled out as doing an exemplary job of collecting or assessing intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. The report from the nine-member panel led by Republican Laurence Silberman and Democrat Charles Robb is expected next week. "I don't get the impression that one (agency) is better than the other," said...

...Duncan Hunter, ...the House Armed Services Chairman, is refusing to join the Beltway stampede to pass, in a few short weeks, the most extensive changes in U.S. intelligence in 50 years. ...The Senate and House each passed bills in the heat (and panic) of the election campaign.... Mr. Hunter specifically objects to a provision that would take budget authority away from the Secretary of Defense over the intelligence agencies under his control. This is a narrow but important issue. It would potentially undercut the military's ability to obtain and act on intelligence in real time.... There are other problems with...

Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, who each day roams the Senate floor protecting the minority party and pummeling George W. Bush, showed up Wednesday carrying a paperback book. It was David Brock's Blinded by the Right, and Reid used it as a blunt weapon against President Bush's choice of Judge Laurence Silberman as Republican co-chairman of the bipartisan commission to investigate Iraq intelligence failures. Reid cited at length Brock's screed against the author's erstwhile conservative colleagues, including his former mentor, Judge Silberman. Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, another Senate Democratic leader, on cue showed up to join the...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Friday announced seven members of a bipartisan commission to conduct a year-long review of U.S. intelligence gathering, particularly about Iraq.</p> <p>The panel will be co-chaired by former Sen. Charles Robb and retired federal judge Laurence Silberman. Bush named five other members, including Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.</p>

Charles Robb has an ACU Conservative rating of 8 out of 100. Larry Silberman is a Reagan Appt. to the D.C. Circuit court.McCain we know, ACU rating 77Lloyd Cutler is a founder of Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP. Assisted both Clinton and Carter and the SALT II Treaty.Adm. Bill Studeman- Deputy Director of CIA under Bush IPat Wald- Carter appointee, first woman Judge to be appointed to D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.Mentioned in David Brock's Blinded by the Right: "We did not know that D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Larry Silberman was the source of the false information about his colleague,...