Free Republic

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is going from prosecutor to civil defendant in connection with the case of the death of Freddie Gray. On Wednesday, Mosby announced that charges against three officers still facing trial were being dropped. Mosby gave only a statement, but had to leave without taking questions because five of the officers in the case have filed lawsuits against her. Officers Garrett Miller, Edward Nero and William Porter as well as Sgt. Alicia White and Lt. Brian Rice are suing Mosby and Maj. Samuel Cogen of the Baltimore Sheriff's Office. Cogen was the law enforcement officer who...

PA President Mahmoud Abbas' speech, delivered at the Arab League Summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on June 25, called for the Arab League's help in preparing a lawsuit against the British government for issuing and implementing the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The speech was read at the summit by PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki, following the death of Abbas' brother. The speech aired on Al-Jazeera network.

Just as Elon Musk’s revolutionary Hyperloop technology was starting to look like a serious business model, there are signs that one of the most promising companies commercializing the technology may be facing some serious internal problems. Hyperloop One is one of the two most prominent companies trying to develop commercial versions of the Hyperloop. The company is now facing an explosive lawsuit from one of its co-founders, which may end up permanently derailing the firm’s ambitions. Hyperloop One is based in downtown LA and claims to be building a fifth mode of transportation based on Elon Musk’s original concept. The...

The Department of Justice has been swamped by the workload it has faced over the past several months. They have not had the time to deal with the illegal aliens that have not been processed. They could not look into the IRS and its treatment of conservative organizations. Neither did the DOJ have time to look into Lois Lerner. Amazingly, we find that it does have time to sue a small Pennsylvania township over a zoning issue. That’s right - the DOJ has filed suit against Bensalem Township over its zoning decisions. The Washington Post reports: The Justice Department is...

On June 28, the Miami-based law firm Beck & Lee filed a class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “There are essentially six legal claims we are asserting in this lawsuit on behalf of the composed class members,” said attorney Jared Beck in a YouTube video announcing the lawsuit. “The first is a claim for fraud—against the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—based on the revelations from the recent Guccifer 2.0 documents purportedly taken from the DNC’s own computer network.” The Guccifer 2.0 documents include internal memos in which the DNC broke legally binding...

On Tuesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally announced the removal of the lesser prairie chicken from the endangered species protection list. They did not take this step voluntarily; FWS lost a court case last year which ordered the agency to remove the bird from the list. However, even as they complied with the court’s order, the FWS issued a threat that the agency’s land grab under the guise of conservation was not over. In the words of Director Dan Ashe, “Responding to this court ruling by removing the bird from the Federal List does not mean we are...

On June 28, the Miami-based law firm Beck & Lee filed a class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “There are essentially six legal claims we are asserting in this lawsuit on behalf of the composed class members,” said attorney Jared Beck in a YouTube video announcing the lawsuit. “The first is a claim for fraud—against the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—based on the revelations from the recent Guccifer 2.0 documents purportedly taken from the DNC’s own computer network.” The Guccifer 2.0 documents include internal memos in which the DNC broke legally binding...

The Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday struck down Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order restoring voting rights to 206,000 felons, dealing a severe blow to what the governor has touted as one of his proudest achievements in office. In a 4-3 ruling, the court declared McAuliffe’s order unconstitutional, saying it amounts to a unilateral rewrite and suspension of the state’s policy of lifetime disenfranchisement for felons. The court ordered the Virginia Department of Elections to “cancel the registration of all felons who have been invalidly registered” under McAuliffe’s April 22 executive order and subsequent orders. As of this week, 11,662...

The Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled against Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s order restoring voting rights to more than 200,000 felons who completed their sentences, a decision that dealt a major blow to the Democratic governor and has implications for the November presidential race in the crucial swing state. In a 4-3 ruling issued Friday, the court ruled that McAuliffe overstepped his clemency powers under the state constitution by issuing a sweeping order in April restoring rights to all ex-offenders who are no longer incacerated or on probation or parole. The court agreed with state Republicans who challenge McAuliffe’s order, arguing...

WASHINGTON — The Virginia Supreme Court has struck down executive orders issued by Gov. Terry McAuliffe that would have allowed more than 200,000 felons to register to vote and participate in the November presidential election. The decision, issued late Friday, requires registrars to strike the names of any felons who registered to vote under the umbrella of three executive orders McAuliffe signed this year. The order gives county and state officials a month to strike those names. Chief Justice Donald Lemons wrote the decision. Three justices issued dissenting opinions. In April, McAuliffe restored the civil rights of felons who had...

The U.S. Justice Department is suing a suburban Philadelphia town, alleging its denial of a permit for a mosque in 2014 constituted religious discrimination. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the suit was filed Thursday and seeks to have Bensalem give the Bensalem Masjid approval to build the mosque, provide training for township employees on religious land-use laws and pay unspecified damages. …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- A Strozier Library employee is suing Florida State University in the wake of the 2014 shooting that left three people injured and the gunman dead. The woman was working at the library's front desk that night. She claims FSU was negligent in its security and racially discriminated against her by failing to help her after the shooting ended....

In March of 2016, members of Michigan Open Carry (MOC) and Michigan Gun Owners (MGO) were manning a booth that they had rented in the DeVos Place Convention Center. They were openly carrying holstered pistols, which has never been against the law in Michigan, except for a small number of restricted areas.  While people with concealed carry permits may not carry a concealed firearm into a school, they may openly carry a holstered pistol there.  They can openly carry holstered pistols into the State Capitol.  Late in the day on 11 March, the members of MGO and MOC were...

Roger Goodell won, so I am moving to New Zealand, just like U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Ginsburg. I can't imagine what this country will be -- what the NFL will be -- with Roger Goodell as our commissioner. For Quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots it will be four long games. For the country and the NFL it will be many long years. I don't even want to contemplate that. It is no way to make the Patriots great again. Goodell is a faker.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit struck down voter ID requirements currently being challenged in Texas in a ruling Wednesday. In a 9-6 decision, the court ruled that the law had a discriminatory effect on minorities, a decision that will likely put this issue before the Supreme Court in the 2017 term. This makes the third straight court to rule against the Texas law; a Supreme Court decision in this case could have a national impact when it comes to requiring voters to show ID. According to the law’s detractors, the Texas requirements would have stopped...

Macy’s has fired an employee because he is a practicing Catholic. The case is now before the New York State Division of Human Rights. In May, Javier Chavez, Senior Store Detective at the Macy’s store in Flushing, New York, received a phone call stating that a male had entered the ladies room with a female companion. A female customer, and her daughter, were afraid to enter because of the male’s presence. A security employee who reports to Chavez advised the man to leave and use the men’s room. He left claiming to be a female. He then complained to store...

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CN) — In a lawsuit against the United States, a retired sheriff's captain claims a U.S. Forest Service officer shot at him 16 times as he tried to drive away from a needless confrontation at a fire camp.     In his federal lawsuit, John Gocke says Forest Service Officer Ty Davis first tried to climb into his car through the driver's window, and when Gocke pushed him out and began to drive off, Davis fired 16 shots at him "almost killing plaintiff and causing extensive damage to plaintiff's vehicle."     "At no time did plaintiff pose any threat to the general public...

The parents of the Nebraska boy who was killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World will not sue the company for his death, they announced Wednesday. Matt and Melissa Graves, whose 2-year-old Lane was dragged to his death at the Orlando resort, said they will “solely be focused on the future health of our family and will not be pursuing a lawsuit against Disney.”

A federal lawsuit filed by the parent of a Lincoln Park Middle School student alleges his son's 2015 suicide was the result of "severe and pervasive harassment" — and the Duluth school district's failure to stop it. Todd Seehus is suing the Duluth school district, its school board and former and current administrators at the school because of their alleged disregard of complaints about students bullying Tristan Seehus, 13, who killed himself in February 2015. Tristan was harassed verbally and physically because of his perceived sexual orientation or gender expression, according to the complaint, filed Friday in U.S. District Court....

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin residents who can't obtain photo identification will still be able to vote in November's general election, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, carving out an exception to state law that requires all voters to show photo IDs at the polls. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in Milwaukee issued a preliminary injunction that allows people who haven't been able to obtain IDs to vote in the Nov. 8 election if they sign an affidavit explaining why they couldn't get identification. But the judge declined to make that option available for the Aug. 9 primary, saying state election officials...