Free Republic

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into the politically volatile issue of gun control by leaving intact three court rulings rejecting challenges to federal and state laws. The court's decision not to hear the cases represented a loss for gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, which was behind two of the challenges. The first case involved a challenge by the NRA to a Texas law that prevents 18-20 year olds from carrying handguns in public. It also raised the broader question of whether there is a broad right under the Second Amendment to bear arms in...

Michigan’s nearly decade-old ban on gay marriage is going to trial Tuesday, with two weeks set aside for testimony from experts about whether there’s a legitimate state interest in restricting marriage to a man and a woman. Same-sex couples poised for a favorable ruling last fall had lined up for marriage licenses across Michigan, only to be stunned when U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said he wanted to hold a trial. Since then, judges in Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia have struck down bans on gay marriage. At least 17 states and the District of Columbia now allow it. …

A former member of the Potter’s House church in Dallas has allegedly been stalking its pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, for the last three years. A judge extended a temporary restraining order until next Monday. Jakes sued Karleisha Tarver last month, and a court hearing Monday will determine whether a temporary injunction should be issued, ordering her to stay away from the pastor, reports the Star-Telegram. The restraining order says Tarver cannot come within 500 feet of the pastor, his family and employees. “I would love to comment, but I can’t because this case is pending,” says Jakes’ attorney, Faith Johnson,...

A federal district court judge has ruled that Virginia’s marriage amendment, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, is unconstitutional. Voters approved the measure by a 57%-43% margin in a 2006 referendum. “The court is compelled to conclude that Virginia's Marriage Laws unconstitutionally deny Virginia's gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental freedom to choose to marry,” said Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, whom President Barack Obama appointed to the bench. “Government interests in perpetuating traditions, shielding state matters from federal interference, and favoring one model of parenting over others must yield to this country's cherished...

The Girl Scouts of the USA has sent threatening letters to at least two small pro-life groups that have been critical of Girl Scout collaborations with Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocacy groups. Since the beginning of the Girl Scout cookie boycott, exclusively announced at Breitbart News late last month, LifeNews has extensively reported on the connection between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts. LifeNews editor Steve Ertelt announced Monday that he had received a letter threatening legal action. In it, Girl Scout executive Brian Crawford complained about “articles that outline alleged ties to Planned Parenthood” and that “GSUSA has...

A federal judge struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage today, an historic ruling with especial resonance on Valentine's Day. Except the history of the historic ruling isn't exactly up to par: Judge Arenda Wright Allen claimed the Constitution declares that "all men are created equal," which is, instead, the first line of the Declaration of Independence. "Our Constitution declares that 'all men' are created equal. Surely this means all of us," Judge Allen wrote on the first page of her opinion. That line opens the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and appears nowhere in the Constitution. The...

Rand Paul Suing President Obama February 11, 2014 - 1:24 pm Rand Paul’s political action committee just announced that the Kentucky senator is suing President Obama. Paul will file his lawsuit on Wednesday morning at the U.S. District Court in D.C., joined by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe. The class-action lawsuit will be filed against Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Director of the National Security Agency Keith Alexander and FBI Director James Comey. The complaint? “I am filing a lawsuit against President Barack Obama because he has publicly refused to stop a...

In an inevitable development, a former employee who identifies as neither male nor female is suing a catering company because co-workers continually referred to the individual as a female. According to the lawsuit, a person named Valeria Jones explained that Jones “was not a female or a male and that the term was unwelcome,” The Oregonian reported. Instead, Jones asked to be addressed by an unknown gender-neutral pronoun. In spite of the request, co-workers used terms such as “miss,” “lady” and “little lady” when referring to Jones, insisting Jones looked like a woman. The article did not specify Jones’ designated...

Last week, in a Fairfax, Virginia courtroom, a jury announced it had determined a homeowner's Yelp "review" of a local general contractor was in fact old-fashioned slander. It started in 2011, when Jane Perez posted a review that alleged contractor Dietz Development LLC had not only performed shoddy and destructive work on her home without a license, but also that a member of Christopher Dietz's crew had stolen her jewelry. So Dietz sued for defamation, to the tune of $750,000 in damages, which he may have been awarded had he not responded on the social network with what the jury...

The gay marriage fight arrived in a Southern courtroom Tuesday, as opponents of a Virginia law banning same-sex unions told a federal judge it was just like the Jim Crow-era prohibition against interracial marriage. Supporters maintained there was no fundamental right to gay marriage and the ban exists as part of the state’s interest in responsible procreation. “We have marriage laws in society because we have children, not because we have adults,” said attorney David Nimocks, of the religious group Alliance Defending Freedom. The case is being closely watched because it could give the gay marriage movement its first foothold...

This is well outside California, but it may well have ramifications in the Golden State: A lawsuit threatened by a pair of bird conservation groups has halted a wind power development the federal government had planned along the Lake Erie shore in Ohio. **SNIP** "We are absolutely elated that the Air National Guard has halted this project, at least temporarily and possibly for good," said BSBO Executive Director Kimberly Kaufman, adding that BSBO would continue to gather petition signatures despite the ANG's decision. "We want to document the full extent of the opposition to this -- and similar projects in...

An opera diva claims her career might be over — because she can’t belt out big notes without passing gas. Singer Amy Herbst is suing an Army hospital over allegedly botching a procedure that’s forced her off stage with chronic incontinence and flatulence. The opera performer and her hubby, US Army Staff Sgt. James Herbst, are plaintiffs in the federal complaint against Fort Campbell’s Blachfiled Army Community Hospital in Kentucky.

Businessman Percy Nilsson, 71, was perhaps best known for his ownership of his local Malmö Redhawks ice hockey team, but has lately been making headlines after a power-drill attack on an ice cream truck. On Friday, he was ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 kronor ($15,500) by the Malmö District Court. He was also sentenced to pay for the loss of income that the ice-cream truck owner faced after the vandalism. "It was a really tough sentencing and it's sad that it ended this way," Nilsson told the TT news agency. He lamented that he had already paid for...

Gay activists with the group Equality Florida announced Tuesday they are filing a federal lawsuit to attempt to overturn Florida's Marriage Protection Amendment. In 2008, 62 percent of Floridians voted to pass the historical amendment supported by the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC). "Gay activists cannot win in the marketplace of ideas, so they have resorted to trying to find renegade courts who have little respect for the rule of law to create social change that would never happen through the people or their elected representatives," John Stemberger, FFPC president and general counsel, said in a statement. "Today's lawsuit is...

Parents, don’t let your girls grow up to be cheerleaders. That’s just one lesson to be gleaned from a lawsuit filed by a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders, a National Football League team, which alleges sub-minimum wage pay and other labor abuses. While professional cheerleading may seem glamorous, the cheerleaders allegedly earn barely enough to afford their own pom-poms. And, by the way, if they forget their pom-poms, the cheerleaders are reportedly socked with a fine. [Snip] The Chargers stress that the role is a part-time job and that cheerleaders “should at least hold a part-time job or attend college...

The Supreme Court has ruled a group of Catholic nuns will not have to comply with the contraception mandate in ObamaCare while their lawsuit plays out in court, if they declare their objections in writing. .... [SNIP]

The Supreme Court will decide whether or not it should be a crime for someone to purchase a gun for another person if both are legally allowed to possess a firearm.

With their season long over with, one would think that the Raiders could be spared from bad news this offseason. Alas, it's still the Raiders. Current and former Raiderettes – yes, the team's cheerleaders – filed a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming that the team engaged in “wage theft and other unfair employment practices,” according to The Mercury News. The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges that the Raiders withheld the cheerleaders' pay until after the season, didn't fairly compensate the women for all their hours of work and asked that the cheerleaders pay for many of their...

The owners of a Christian bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after they were found guilty of violating the couple’s civil rights. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said they found “substantial evidence” that Sweet Cakes by Melissa discriminated against the lesbian couple and violated the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, a law that protects the rights of the LGBT community. Last year, the bakery’s owners refused to make a wedding cake for Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman, of Portland, citing their Christian beliefs....

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that potential jurors may not be removed from a trial during jury selection solely because of sexual orientation, extending to gays and lesbians a civil right that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously promised only women and racial minorities. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that striking someone from a jury pool because he or she is gay constitutes unlawful discrimination. Its 39-page decision came in an antitrust and contract dispute between two rival drug companies over the price of a popular AIDS drug.