Free Republic

A group of women whose lives were ruined after being coerced into participating in pornography has just gotten some small measure of vindication in a civil suit against the pornographers. According to The Washington Post, a California judge has tentatively ordered a pornography company to pay $13 million to 22 young women after ruling that they were tricked and inappropriately pressured to make the videos which did not, as promised, stay offline. The ruling, given last Thursday, was the latest development in the women’s years-long legal battle against the owners of GirlsDoPorn, a San Diego-based business that made millions producing...

An appellate court ruling that struck down a key pillar of Obamacare on Wednesday amped up anxiety about the future of the law that brought health insurance to millions of Americans. Court appeals are likely and experts say the matter probably won’t be resolved for years — creating uncertainty about the protections were built into the Affordable Care Act. Squirrel Hill resident Amy Raslevich is among the people worrying about the future of the law. “I’m fighting cancer,” the 48-year-old University of Pittsburgh doctoral student said. “I shouldn’t have to fight Congress and the president to stay alive.” In a...

by Joe Callen In a stunning, unexpected ruling, a judge on Wednesday tossed out New York State charges of mortgage fraud against Paul Manafort because of ‘double jeopardy’ laws. This is a huge victory for Paul Manafort, who remains in custody on federal charges, because this opens a way for Trump to issue him a presidential pardon. And not just for Manafort: this ruling throws a legal hand grenade into the entire Democrat strategy of punishing former Trump aides and supporters with state charges to bypass his pardon powers. Manafort, 70, is currently serving a seven and half year prison sentence...

Donald Trump's dream of building a "big, beautiful wall" along the southern border took a hit yesterday when a federal judge ruled that Pentagon funds totaling $3.6 billion diverted for 11 construction projects along the southern border could not be used for wall construction. Significantly, the judge, David Briones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, ruled that other funds, already approved by the Supreme Court, could be spent. Those funds, which come from a Pentagon counter-narcotics fund, could still be used for wall construction. The argument being used by the city of El Paso was...

Last time we checked in with Brian Kolfage and We Build the Wall, they were moving ahead with construction while facing multiple lawsuits from environmentalists and open borders advocates. Several months have gone by, but not much has changed except for the location and the specific groups trying to stop them. This time they’re moving ahead with a new section of wall in Texas. The work crews are ready to go, but a judge has ordered a halt to the construction on behalf of a butterfly sanctuary.

Earlier this year, California passed yet another law aimed at trying to keep Donald Trump off the primary ballot in their state next year. The law required all prospective candidates to submit their federal tax returns for the most recent five years to the California Secretary of State, after which they would be made available online (and to the media) with certain personal information redacted. That law was immediately challenged and a federal judge blocked it on October 2nd. The state appealed that decision and it was tossed to the state supreme court. In relatively short order the court...

A federal judge ordered a temporary injunction Thursday against California’s first-in-the-nation law requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns for a spot on the presidential primary ballot, an early victory for President Trump but a decision that will undoubtedly be appealed by state officials. U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he would issue a final ruling in the coming days but took the unusual step of issuing the tentative order from the bench. He said there would be “irreparable harm without temporary relief” for Trump and other candidates from the law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July. Morrison...

Christian artists Breanna Koski (L) and Joanna Duka say they cannot create art for events that celebrate same-sex marriage. | (Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom) A pair of Christian artists cannot be forced by a city ordinance to make wedding invitations for same-sex marriages, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.In Brush & Nib v. City of Phoenix, Arizona’s highest court ruled that Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, cannot be compelled by a local antidiscrimination ordinance to provide their services to same-sex weddings.Writing for the majority, Justice Andrew Gould concluded that the city of Phoenix “cannot...

A Virginia state judge ruled Wednesday that statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson that were at the center of 2017 protests must remain standing in Charlottesville, Va. Circuit Judge Richard Moore ruled that Virginia state law prohibits moving war memorials and that moving the statues would break that law. Moore issued a permanent injunction preventing the statues from being moved at the beginning of a trial over a lawsuit brought against the city by groups that wanted to preserve the statues. People pressing for the statues to be moved argued it was wrong to celebrate generals who had...

The Trump administration can deny asylum to Central Americans who cross through to the U.S., the Supreme Court said Wednesday, giving new life to White House efforts to deter a flood of immigrants seeking refuge at the southern border. The policy, one of several measures the Trump administration has taken to deter immigration from Latin America, demands that refugees seek asylum in a safe country they enter before reaching the U.S. The rules effectively cut off most asylum claims by people coming from El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, filed a dissent.

The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Wednesday evening that effectively closes the United States’ southern border to nearly all Central American asylum seekers. The decision stays a lower court decision blocking a Trump administration policy that seeks to halt nearly all asylum applications from these migrants and allow the US government to require them to seek asylum in countries they travel through. The government will now be allowed to enforce the policy while legal challenges move ahead. The administration’s rule, issued on July 16, says that almost any foreign national who arrives at the southern border may not...

Just a banner so far.

n a major win for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court issued an order late Wednesday ending all injunctions that had blocked the White House's ban on asylum for anyone trying to enter the U.S. by traveling through a third country, such as Mexico, without seeking protection there. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – long a liberal bastion that has been aggressively reshaped into a more moderate court by the Trump administration – handed the White House a partial victory in the case on Monday by ending the nationwide injunction. But the 9th Circuit kept the injunction alive within...

A federal judge in Kansas who formerly worked for an open-borders group and whose sister currently heads one of the nation’s leading open-borders groups has struck down a federal law that prevents people from “encouraging” or “inducing” illegal immigration, finding that the measure unconstitutionally infringes First Amendment free speech protections.

DENVER — A U.S. appeals court in Denver said Electoral College members can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and aren’t bound by the popular vote in their states. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Colorado secretary of state violated the Constitution in 2016 when he removed an elector and nullified his vote when the elector refused to cast his ballot for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote. It was not immediately clear what effect the ruling might have on the Electoral College system, which is established in the Constitution. Voters...

An Obama-appointed federal judge is forcing Wisconsin taxpayers to provide costly sex reassignment surgery and hormonal procedures for low-income transgender residents who get free medical care from the government. In a recently issued ruling U.S. District Judge William M. Conley writes that Medicaid, the publicly funded insurance that covers 65.7 million poor people, cannot deny the medical treatment needs of those suffering from “gender dysphoria.” Officials estimate it will cost up to $1.2 million annually to provide transgender Medicaid recipients in the Badger State with treatments such as “gender confirmation” surgery, including elective mastectomies, hysterectomies, genital reconstruction and breast augmentation....

. The Enumeration Clause permits Congress, and by extension the Secretary, to inquire about citizenship on the census questionnaire. That conclusion follows from Congress’s broad authority over the census, as informed by long and consistent historical practice that “has been open, widespread, and unchallenged since the early days of the Republic.” NLRB v. Noel Canning, 573 U. S. 513, 572 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment). Pp. 11–13. BUT: . In order to permit meaningful judicial review, an agency must “‘disclose the basis’” of its action. Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States, 371 U. S. 156, 167–169. A court is...

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked, for now, the Trump administration's plan to include a question on the 2020 census that inquires about a person’s citizenship status.

Marin transportation officials were cautiously optimistic Monday after a recent court ruling upheld a major funding source for several local highway projects, but the funding could be in limbo because of appeals. “We have tremendous congestion and these projects are congestion relievers,” said Dianne Steinhauser, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin. “We hear from the public constantly about how bad the congestion is right now. We’re hoping that this money starts flowing. It’d be great to see it by the end of 2019.” Regional Measure 3, the June 2018 ballot measure that increases tolls for seven Bay Area...

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 5-4 to overturn a decades-old precedent on property rights, a decision that marks a victory for conservatives. The previous 1985 ruling found that an individual whose property is taken by a local government cannot file a federal suit under the Fifth Amendment until that challenge fails in state court. But on Friday the justices ruled along ideological lines to reverse that precedent, finding that the requirement “imposes an unjustifiable burden,” conflicts with other similar rulings and “must be overruled.” “A property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment takings claim when the government takes his...