Free Republic

In the Progressive utopia championed by Woodrow Wilson and his successors, government will iron out the imperfections in human affairs through the use of regulatory agencies run by non-political experts. Such people, being experts and completely non-political, would pose no reason for concern about abuse of power, because of course they would never seek go outside their proper regulatory portfolio to use their authority to stamp out the freedoms and speech of their political opponents on important topics of the day. In the real world government regulators since the creation of their agencies have inevitably used their powers to disadvantage...

On Thursday U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby issued a temporary restraining order against portions of New York’s newest gun controls, including the requirement that concealed carry permit applicants have their social media scoured. The decision centered on the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), which New York Democrats passed and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed in response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ NYSRPA v. Bruen ruling (2022). ... Judge Suddaby issued a temporary restraining order against the character test, ruling against: . . . the provisions contained in Section 1 of the CCIA requiring “good moral character”...

A federal judge in Syracuse, New York has granted a temporary restraining order blocking the state and its political subdivisions from enforcing several provisions of the newly-enacted Concealed Carry Improvement Act, though he did stay his decision for three days to allow Attorney General Letitia James to file an emergency appeal with the Second Circuit.

A federal judge on Friday tossed Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block New York Attorney General Letitia James’ witch hunt investigation into the former president’s business practices. U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes for upstate New York, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling just one day after a state appeals court ruled Trump must testify under oath. “While the New York proceeding has been ongoing since August 2020, Plaintiffs have submitted no evidence that the subpoena enforcement proceeding has been conducted in such a way as to constitute harassment,” Sannes wrote in a 43-page decision. Trump’s lawyers said they will immediately appeal...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the A.R. Bernard-led Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn on September 26, 2021 An attorney for a conservative group argued in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan Wednesday that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has unfairly used God to encourage people to take COVID-19 vaccines as she argues there are no legitimate religious reasons to avoid taking them.On Thursday, a three-judge panel partly granted a motion by We The Patriots USA attorney Cameron Lee Atkinson on behalf of three clients who stated religious objections to taking the COVID-19 vaccine to...

A federal judge has blocked the state of New York from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of healthcare workers sued the state, including the governor, the health department, and others, claiming their constitutional rights were violated. Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order on Tuesday. Several litigants, including doctors and nurses, claimed their First Amendment rights were violated by a vaccine mandate, which does not allow for religious exemptions. For the last seven weeks, New York radio talk show host Shannon Joy has been rallying the medical community in Rochester and huge groups of health...

A federal judge on Tuesday granted an emergency injunction blocking the state of New York from enforcing a new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

Just announced on WCBS radio NY as I was driving. No other details.

Judge David N. Hurd just decided this in A. v. Hochul; it's a temporary restraining order, to maintain the pre-mandate status quo until Sept. 28, when the preliminary injunction hearing will take place. (The mandate requires a vaccination by Sept. 27 for some covered employees and Oct. 7 for others, so its practical effect may be quite short, if the judge hands out a decision on the preliminary injunction at the hearing or shortly after it.) The order doesn't give detailed reasons, but that's not uncommon in such temporary orders.Because the rationale for the order has to do with the...

A federal judge in Syracuse has overturned Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's limit of 50 guests at wedding receptions in restaurants, a measure the governor put in place earlier this year to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Chief U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby issued the ruling Friday in a case that involved a couple who wanted to host 110 people at a wedding at a golf club restaurant in Akron, Erie County. The 50-person limit on wedding parties was one of a raft of executive orders and special closures the governor imposed earlier in the year amid sharply rising...

Benjamin Jakes-Johnson Committed Crimes While on Supervised Release for Prior Offenses SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Benjamin Jakes-Johnson, age 40, of New York City and Syracuse, New York, was sentenced today to serve 212 months in prison for distributing, attempting to receive, and possessing child pornography while on supervised release for an earlier conviction for possessing child pornography. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Thomas Relford Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett.In today’s sentencing Jakes-Johnson was ordered...

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Robert Bresee, age 57, of Norwich, New York, was sentenced today to 180 months (15 years) in prison for transporting and possessing child pornography, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).Bresee, who was previously convicted in Chenango County Court of Rape in the First Degree, and sentenced to 15 years’ in prison, admitted that while on post-release supervision from that offense he uploaded 70 images of child pornography to a Google account, and possessed an...

A federal judge on Friday struck down orders issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that limit the size of church services. The ruling, a preliminary injunction delivered by District Judge Gary Sharpe, notes that by endorsing protests for racial justice while simultaneously discouraging large gatherings in churches, both Cuomo and de Blasio undermined their claim that their lockdown orders were "generally applicable."