Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge is considering whether to order the sponsors of California's voter-approved gay marriage ban to produce their internal campaign records to lawyers now suing to overturn the law.

A coalition of groups supporting same-sex marriage submitted ballot measure language for a proposed initiative to repeal Proposition 8 to the Attorney General's office today. The move marks the first official step toward asking California voters to repeal the law prohibiting same-sex marriage, which was approved with 52 percent of the vote during the 2008 election. If the proposed initiative is approved for circulation by the Secretary of State's office, proponents will have to collect nearly 700,000 valid signatures by April 2010 to qualify the measure for the ballot. "We need to get our rights back. It's really just that...

Saw Hannah Giles on Sean Hannity's show...her new defense fund website is Defend Hannah.com

ACORN has announced its lawsuit against filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, and columnist Andrew Breitbart for what it alleges was "illegal videotaping" of ACORN employees in Baltimore. So the head of the group has gone from blasting the filmmakers, then praising them for helping ACORN uncover corruption, to now, suing them. The suit was filed in the Circuit Court in Baltimore where sympathetic juries are available. In addition, ACORN wants preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop any other pesky videotapes from coming out. It also is seeking damages that could be as high as $7 million. The video shows...

A bank that inadvertently sent confidential account information on 1325 of its customers to the wrong Gmail address is suing Google for the identity of the Gmail account holder. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, involves Rocky Mountain Bank of Wyoming. According to court documents, the bank in August received a request from one of its customers asking for certain loan statements to be sent to a third-party. An employee of the bank, responding to the request, sent the documents to the wrong Gmail address. In addition to the requested loan information,...

ACORN CIVIL SUIT MAY PULL BACK THE CURTAIN ON ACORN ITSELFRemember less than two weeks ago, James O'Keefe dared ACORN to sue? On September 13, during an appearance on FOX News, O'Keefe, the young independent filmmaker who went undercover with partner, Hannah Giles, demanded an ACORN apology and practically called the tangled web of community organizers "wimps"--or worse. The independent filmmaker whose hidden-camera videos prompted the firing of four ACORN workers is demanding an apology from ACORN for calling his work a fabricated "scam" and daring the activist group to take legal action against him. "Bring it on," filmmaker James...

ACORN filed suit today in Maryland against conservative filmmakers James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles and conservative Web site Breitbart.com for secretly taping the organization’s employees at its Baltimore office. In the complaint, ACORN alleges that the filmmakers entered into the organization’s offices in July with a “hidden camera and microphone” and taped employees Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams. Both employees are listed as plaintiffs on the complaint, filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. ACORN is seeking $500,000 for each employee and $1 million for the organization in damages.

ARLINGTON, Va. - There's a new turn in the debate over high occupancy toll lanes or HOT lanes. A lawsuit filed by Arlington County last month claims the lanes benefit wealthy white people and discriminates against minorities. While the only rule to get in the HOV lanes on Interstate 395 is you must have three people in the car, Arlington claims adding HOT lanes would cut out poor and minorities by defacto.

A New York judge on Monday rejected CBS Corp's bid to dismiss former TV news anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit claiming he was fired over a controversial election-year report on former President George W. Bush's Vietnam War-era military service. New York State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman set a December 22 hearing in the case and directed that testimony be taken from witnesses, including Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom Inc, which controlled CBS at the time. "Let's get this case moving," Gammerman said. "I would really like to get this case ready for trial." Rather, 77, sued CBS,...

When Lauro L. Baja Jr. returned to his native Philippines in 2007, he had just finished a four-year stint as ambassador to the United Nations that included two terms as president of the Security Council... Then a three-month episode from his U.N. days returned to haunt him. He was sued by Marichu Suarez Baoanan, who had worked as a maid in New York City for Baja and his wife, Norma Castro Baja. Baoanan, 40, said the Bajas brought her to the United States in 2006 promising to find her work as a nurse. Instead, Baoanan said, she was forced to...

CHICAGO (STNG) - A man filed a lawsuit against a handgun holster company Wednesday, claiming a defective holster caused him to shoot himself at the Markham Courthouse in 2007.

Pro-life laws recently passed in Arizona are being challenged in state and federal courts. Pro-abortion groups, including Planned Parenthood, are responsible for the lawsuits, but Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy is not surprised. "As we've seen repeatedly through the years, the abortion industry will challenge virtually every pro-life law that's passed that puts forth a reasonable measure to regulate abortion," she contends. According to Herrod, one of the laws being challenged would bar nurse practitioners from performing surgical abortions. "As the abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, has difficulty getting doctors to perform abortions, they are increasingly allowing non-doctors to perform...

As union workers at Mercury Marine fought over contract concessions meant to save hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin, the company's midlevel managers filed a lawsuit over unpaid bonuses. The class-action lawsuit, filed last month in federal court, argues that the Fond du Lac-based outboard-engine maker failed to pay $7 million in bonuses to roughly 100 managers. According to the suit, senior Mercury executives instructed lower level managers in April 2008 to implement a cost-savings program and assured managers that they would receive 10% of whatever savings they managed to achieve as an incentive. The suit names Brunswick Corp., Mercury's parent...

Why This Case Is Important Imagine America without our memorials. How would we remember? How would our children remember? The ACLU is threatening to tear down all monuments on public land that contain religious imagery. This fall, The Supreme Court will rule on whether these memorials will continue to stand for our freedoms, or if they will be removed permanently.   It is our patriotic duty to stand up and tell these left-wing organizations that we won't have our freedoms boarded up or our values torn down. By signing our petition, you will be showing your support for our veterans. Your...

Soldiers fight for desert cross By Bill Hess Published/Last Modified on Sunday SIERRA VISTA — “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,” goes the opening of an old hymn. But for Sgt. Zachary Thomson, a cross on a hill in California’s Mojave Desert has a different meaning. It’s not a religious symbol to the 26-year-old Sierra Vista resident, who is serving with a Military Police unit at Fort Polk, La. It’s a war memorial, put up in 1934 by veterans of World War I, to honor Americans who died in that conflict. But now the memorial is...

As the housing market began booming in mid-2000, Wells Fargo & Co. teamed up with prominent African American commentator and PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and financial author Kelvin Boston, the host of “Moneywise,”...to host something called “Wealth Building” seminars in black neighborhoods. Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw...Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere. After Hurricane...

Adrienne Ferguson had retribution on her mind as she made her way along West Jefferson Boulevard clutching a stack of papers. She wasn't reacting to a perceived injustice done to her. She was taking action for a stranger who claims to have a beef with the C&H Auto Center, a small automobile body shop down the street. Ferguson and a partner operate Alibis & Paybacks, a Los Angeles firm that describes itself as "the ultimate revenge" service, offering paybacks both large and small. For a fee, for instance, the pair will publicly denounce and embarrass someone or some business, peppering...

Politico notes that a threatened suit by ACORN against O'Keefe and Giles would be a major mistake for the organization. Threatened criminal charges against them are being threatened by the ACORN workers involved:

The Council on American Islamic Relations is at it again. Once again they are trying to get companies across the country to fall in line and cater to Islam. If things do not change, Islam will eventually win by taking over from within.

WASHINGTON – Independent advocacy groups will be able to spend more money to try to influence federal elections under a decision Friday from a federal appeals court that overturned rules limiting nonprofits' campaign spending. Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with Emily's List, a nonprofit that backs women Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, that the regulations limited free speech rights. The Federal Election Commission enacted the rules in 2005, after concerns were raised about the amount of unlimited "soft money" contributions used to fund attacks in the 2004 election. The FEC said nonprofits would...

ACORN took action Wednesday to repair its image after two undercover bloggers posing as a pimp and prostitute videotaped some of the organization's representatives apparently assisting the pair in sex trafficking schemes in San Bernardino and three East Coast cities. "As a result of the indefensible action of a handful of our employees, I am, in consultation with ACORN's Executive Committee, immediately ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN's service programs until completion of an independent review," said ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, in a statement. As it looks internally, ACORN is also planning to sue the bloggers for...

After being stung by several hidden camera videos president Obama's favorite community organizing group ACORN is now threatening to sue Fox News after the network aired the vdeio footage. From the Politico Facing intensifying scrutiny after the release of several disturbing hidden camera videos, the community organizing group, ACORN, is threatening to sue Fox News, the website Breitbart.com and the two conservative activists who produced the exposes.

WASHINGTON — A California Republican congressman wants to do a little writing on the walls of Washington's newest federal building. If Rep. Dan Lungren gets his way, Congress will spend nearly $100,000 to engrave the words "In God We Trust " and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent spots at the Capitol Visitor Center . Lungren's proposal drew only a whimper of opposition last week when the House of Representatives voted 410-8 to approve it. Now, however, Lungren finds himself tussling with a national atheists and agnostics group. The Wisconsin -based Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sued this week to...

Facing intensifying scrutiny after the release of several disturbing hidden camera videos, the community organizing group, ACORN, is threatening to sue Fox News, the website Breitbart.com and the two conservative activists who produced the exposes. ACORN is alleging that the filmmakers committed a felony by shooting the footage of ACORN employees in the act of providing advice on how to falsify tax forms and set-up a child prostitution business—to a man and a woman posing as a pimp and a prostitute. A lawyer for ACORN said Monday that statutes in Maryland and the District of Columbia made the undercover filming...

Here is video of the filmmakers that exposed ACORN responding to their threats of a lawsuit. The Chief Organizer of ACORN Bertha Lewis said "It is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by Conservative Activist O'Keefe and his partner in crime" and that "We will be taking legal action against FOX and their Co-Conspirators." James O'Keefe said that the videos are "absolutely not" doctored at all. (Video)

Arguments are scheduled Monday in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on a school district's decision to censor Christmas carols – even holiday melodies without words. Attorneys with the Thomas More Law Center say they will argue to reverse a lower court ruling affirming a policy in the South Orange-Maplewood School District that banned the music after someone complained. The law firm says the school's ban was specifically aimed at preventing Christmas music, including simple instrumentals without words, during holiday concernts. The district had allowed the performance of traditional Christmas music for more than 60 years but...

A Bronx woman is suing the White Castle hamburger chain after an angry employee allegedly doused her with boiling water at the Harlem outlet. Carolyn Brennan, now 35, suffered first- and second-degree burns in the attack at 2092 Seventh Ave., her lawyer said. The incident began when Brennan ordered an egg and cheese sandwich - with no bread - on Dec. 1, 2001, according to the suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court. Counter worker Tasha Adams took offense and the two women got into an argument, the papers say. Adams' co-workers stopped her first attempt to throw a cup of...

On July 22, 2009, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Pittsburgh against the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett (R), and the District Attorney for Allegheny County, Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. (D) to enjoin these officials from applying a law that makes it a crime for an organization or individual to “give, solicit, or accept payment or financial incentive to obtain a voter registration if the payment or incentive is based upon the number of registrations or applications obtained.” ACORN argues that the law and its enforcement precludes ACORN “from...

A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges Tyndale House Publishers manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale's New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9. "One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.

A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges William Tyndale Publishing manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9. "One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.

September 8, 2009 . Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse . Santa Ana, California * Orly Taitz speaks calmly and logically * Discusses the defense’s motion to dismiss * Lucas Smith – why no deposition * Gary Kreep being co-counsel for two of the defendants * Difficult because they have two different theories * Why is barry being represented by DOJ attorneys? State Rep Cynthia Davis (R-MO) (they swore her in before she spoke!) talks about the Constitution and then the issue of how states can legally change info on birth certificates. This is a new tack and a...

A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges William Tyndale Publishing manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9. "One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.

The SCOTUS today appeared poised to strike down at least a portion of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of '02, after a majority of justices fiercely questioned Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan and an atty for the legislation's sponsors, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI). The case -- Citizens United v. FEC -- was first heard by the court on 3/24, but, in an unusual move, the court held over the case and ordered a re-hearing before the start of its Oct. term. Citizens United, a nonprofit advocacy org, produced a 90-min. film titled "Hillary: The Movie" meant...

$10 million sought for 'negative connotation' toward homosexuals A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges William Tyndale Publishing manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9. "One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a...

The selective muzzles applied by the McCain-Feingold law. BY DAVID N. BOSSIE The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." The Framers' clear intent was first and foremost to protect political speech. Today, in a rare summer session, the Supreme Court will hear arguments as to whether it should overrule two previous, and in my opinion incorrectly decided, rulings on political free speech. Namely, the justices will decide whether or not to allow Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce and a significant section of McConnell v. Federal...

Orly on now!

A Nonpartisan Transparency Issue: Obama above the Law?

SAN FRANCISCO -- A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a school district's refusal to let a band play a religious piece at a high school graduation, saying the superintendent had reasonably decided to avoid a constitutional controversy by ordering a secular program. The district's veto of an instrumental version of "Ave Maria" by German composer Franz Biebl at the 2006 graduation ceremony in Everett, Wash., did not violate students' freedom of speech or religion, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Imagine power companies spending millions of dollars on ads in the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections accusing congressmen who supported climate change legislation of trying to increase electric rates and urging votes against them, or unions buying airtime to support primary challenges to conservative Democratic senators who opposed the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act. Or even healthcare companies saturating the airwaves with messages urging voters to deny President Obama a second term. All those ads would be illegal under current election law. But the Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges decades of restrictions on...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments from campaign finance reform advocates and opponents in a case many insiders say will be the most significant decision in more than 35 years. The case the court will hear, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, has the potential to overturn key elements of campaign finance law that prevent corporate spending on elections, a move that would open the door to millions of dollars that could not be spent previously. “This is the biggest case in campaign finance law, really, since Buckley v. Valeo in 1976,” said Rob Kelner, a partner at...

A military appeals court has ruled against CBS in a battle over unaired portions of a "60 Minutes" interview with a key figure in the 2005 slaying of 24 Iraqis in the city of Haditha. The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals rejected the network's claim of reporter privilege in its battle with Marine Corps prosecutors who want access to the outtakes of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich's interview. Wuterich is charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and related offenses in the incident that was triggered by a roadside bombing that killed one Marine and injured two others. His case...

Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, 41, is taking legal action claiming Hergé's controversial Tintin In The Congo is propaganda for colonialism and amounts to "racism and xenophobia". "Tintin's little (black) helper is seen as stupid and without qualities. It makes people think that blacks have not evolved," he said. Mr Mbutu Mondondo launched a case in Belgium two years ago for symbolic damages of one euro from Tintin's Belgian publishers Moulinsart, and demanded the book be withdrawn from the market.

Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, grandson of the former doctor of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, has filed a lawsuit demanding damages of $300,000 for what he termed “the slander of my late grandfather by Novaya Gazeta.” The newspaper, as have most historians, attributed millions of murders to the regime headed by Stalin from the mid 1920s to his death in 1953. It is Dzhugashvili’s contention that every single one of these homicides “was in self-defense, not only of my grandfather’s own person, but of the entire nation.” The absence of evidence for the claim of self defense “is due to my grandfather’s...

The Justice Department is urging a federal court to toss out a lawsuit in which prominent birthers' attorney Orly Taitz is challenging President Barack Obama's Constitutional qualifications to be president. In a motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., government lawyers did not directly rebut the conspiracy theory Taitz propounds that Obama was not born in Hawaii as he claims and as asserted by Hawaiian officials as well as contemporary newspaper birth notices. Instead, the federal attorneys argued that the suit is inherently flawed because such disputes can't be resolved in court and because the dozens...

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV/AP) - A black woman has filed a lawsuit against the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), saying she was abruptly fired from the organization after complaining it was not reaching out to African-Americans. Kimberly McCallum of Charlotte says in the lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County that she was the only black employee working in the association's executive offices when she started there in February 2007.

BOISE, Idaho - A federal appeals court delivered a stinging rebuke Friday to the Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11 detention policies, ruling that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after 9/11. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government’s improper use of material witnesses after Sept. 11 was “repugnant to the Constitution and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history.” The court found that a man who was detained as a witness in a federal terrorism...

Ashcroft liable for detentions, court finds By Tony Romm - 09/04/09 04:18 PM ET Former Attorney General John Ashcroft may be sued and held liable for wrongly detaining witnesses after the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. In its decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Abdullah Al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen detained as a material witness for two weeks, may sue the former attorney general for breaching his constitutional rights. Al-Kidd claimed during the case that his brief imprisonment caused him to lose a scholarship and crippled his chances of finding employment, according...

The Obama administration says it will release names of most visitors to the White House, starting at the end of this year. Information on visitors in the first eight months of his administration will remain secret — unless you know which names to ask for. The White House called the release of information "voluntary," continuing to argue the Bush administration's position that full disclosure is not required by the Freedom of Information Act. After being sued twice by a nonprofit organization seeking the records, the Obama administration said Friday it will post the visitor logs online. The release will be...

black woman is suing the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, saying she was abruptly fired after complaining that the organization was not reaching out to black churches. A spokesman for the organization didn't comment on the firing, but said the association does extensive outreach and works extensively with black congregations and other diverse churches. Kimberly McCallum said in the lawsuit that was moved into a federal court on Wednesday that she was the only black employee working in the executive offices in Charlotte when she started in February 2007. She complained to her superiors later that year when she was asked...

Former Miss USA runnerup Carrie Prejean is firing back at California pageant officials with a lawsuit that claims the state organization discriminated against her religious beliefs, caused her emotional distress and engaged in slander, her lawyer confirmed to FOXNews.com Monday. The 22-year-old beauty queen filed a complaint Monday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court against K2 Productions (the franchise that operates the Miss California Organization) as well as co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler and publicist Roger Neal. Prejean lost her crown three months ago for what state pageant officials claimed was a “breach of contract” and failure to...