Free Republic

His commission’s work vindicated hours earlier by judges of the state’s highest court on both sides of the aisle, University of Pittsburgh chancellor emeritus Mark Nordenberg said Wednesday evening that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to uphold the newly drawn state legislative maps — the work of his reapportionment commission — made for a “very satisfying moment.” In an exclusive interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Nordenberg, chair of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, said after an “intense and grueling process” that included 10 months of work and a touch of partisan fury over the results, he hopes his commission’s...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court made Joe Biden’s win in the state official on Tuesday, approving the state's final canvass of the Nov. 3 election. The unanimous action by the seven nonpartisan justices sends to Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak results that will deliver six electoral votes from the western U.S. battleground state to Biden. The court action drew extra scrutiny amid legal efforts by the state GOP and Trump campaign to prevent sending vote-by-mail ballots to all 1.82 million active registered voters and then to stop the counting of the 1.4 million votes that were cast.

So, where does this leave us? The Democrats on the state supreme court have effectively stripped Pennsylvania election officials of any practical way to challenge mail-in ballots of whatever provenance before they are counted. Consequently, the outcome of the presidential election will come down to a post-Election Day “knife fight” (to borrow Steve Bannon’s apt metaphor) in which Republicans will be forced to produce evidence to rebut the judicially imposed presumption that any and all mail-in ballots are legitimate. But, when dealing with untold thousands of non-postmarked ballots, what kind of evidence can practically and timely be adduced to prove...

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said the state was the "Wild West" on Wednesday night after the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked an extension of his stay-at-home order. The Democratic state leader told MSNBC that judges had created "chaos" in Wisconsin by voting 4-3 against the extension of state lockdown measures until May 26. Wisconsin Supreme Court judges ruled on Wednesday that his stay-at-home extension was "unlawful, invalid and unenforceable." The governor warned that there was "nothing compelling anyone to do anything" in Wisconsin as the novel coronavirus continued to spread across the U.S.

Several bars across Wisconsin were flooded with patrons just hours after the state Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down an extension of Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order that had been in effect since mid-March to limit the effect of the coronavirus. The 4-to-3 ruling essentially reopened the state, lifting caps on the size of gatherings, allowing people to travel as they please and allowing shuttered businesses to reopen, including bars and restaurants. Nick’s Bar in Platteville, Wis., shared a photo on Twitter with the caption: “45 minutes after the bars open in Wisconsin” showing the establishment packed with mostly...

Police can be sued for damages when their car chases lead to the death or injury of third parties, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday, overturning its own landmark 1952 decision that had granted blanket immunity to police after a crash. In the case at hand, the high court allowed the children of Luis Gonzalez to return to Fayette Circuit Court and sue Scott County Sheriff Tony Hampton and Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Johnson for damages related to his death. Gonzalez, 62, died in 2014 when a suspected drug dealer being chased by Johnson crashed head-on into his vehicle on Georgetown...

Washington’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s death penalty Thursday, ruling that it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner. Washington has had a moratorium on executions since 2014, but the ruling makes it the 20th state to do away with capital punishment by legislative act or court decree. The court converted the sentences of the eight people on Washington’s death row to life in prison. “The death penalty is unequally applied — sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time,...

The state’s highest court on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling and sided with environmental groups that sued Massachusetts for failing to adopt strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Lawyers for the Conservation Law Foundation, the Massachusetts Energy Consumer Alliance and four Boston and Wellesley teenagers had asked the courts to rule that the state hasn’t lived up to its 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act. When it passed, the law was the most aggressive of its kind in the country, advocates said. The groups said the law requires the Department of Environmental Protection to set strict greenhouse gas emissions limits...

"....“This court has been asked whether the immediate implementation of an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution concerning the structure of its court system offends the United States Constitution.Federal review of the action of a state—acting in its capacity as a sovereign government—is sharply limited, and the court does not require perfection of expression or purity of motive,” Peterson writes in his conclusion. “The amendment passes constitutional muster, even if implemented immediately to remove Abrahamson from the position of chief justice.”"

Madison -- The Court of Appeals declined to take up a Dane County case Wednesday that blocked the state's new law requiring people to show photo ID at the polls. The latest order is a further setback for those who support the voter ID law, and is another sign the law almost surely will remain halted for the May 8 primaries and June 5 recall elections. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan temporarily enjoined the voter ID law last month, saying the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and immigrant rights group Voces de...

A three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal has determined parents in that state have no legal right to home school. A Christian attorney in Sacramento says unless the ruling is reversed, literally thousands of students in the Golden State will be subject to criminal sanctions. (click here for special webcast starting at 2 p.m. CST) California Justice H. Walter Croskey has stated in an opinion that "parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order...

A former Morris County man who learned 30 years after his son was born that the child was not his cannot recoup $110,000 spent in child support from the biological father, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The 7-0 decision overturned an appellate court ruling in 2005 and found there is no exception in the New Jersey Parentage Act to extend the deadline in a paternity case beyond the child's 23rd birthday. "The Legislature evidently knew what has been known since time immemorial -- that children would be born of adulterous relationships and that the true identity of the...

I was hoping the "Stephen Johnson for Supreme Court" signs weren't referring to the same Stephen Johnson I'd met. Unfortunately, they were. Stephen Johnson was the state senator for my legislative district when I lived in and taught in Auburn. After teaching 90 fifth- graders a unit on U.S. government, I did a request through the state Legislature Web site to have a representative come speak. They sent Johnson. Johnson entered my classroom and stated the following: When asked by a student, what would you change about Washington? His reply: "I'd get rid of all the Democrats." What's the hardest...

BOSTON --The state's highest court ruled Wednesday that local boards of health can ban smoking in private clubs"

Party judge picks unconstitutional In a stunning blow to political party bosses, a federal judge last night ruled that the process for selecting state Supreme Court justices is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to back-room wheeling and dealing. Brooklyn Federal Judge John Gleeson junked the century-old practice of holding nominating conventions controlled by Democratic and Republican leaders, and directed the state Legislature to enact a new system for selecting judicial candidates. Gleeson's decision came in a lawsuit brought by nine people, a mix of Democrats and Republicans including Brooklyn Surrogate Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, who contended the current system...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - This buff justice gives new meaning to the words "bench press." State Supreme Court Justice Faith Ireland won her second national powerlifting championship last weekend, grabbing a spot for herself on the USA Masters Team for world competition. On Saturday, the 61-year-old justice broke the American squat record for her age and weight with a 198-pound lift. In the deadlift, Ireland set a personal record of 253 pounds. She's proudest of her 133-pound bench press — not just because it set another national record, but because she achieved her long-standing personal goal of benching more than her...

<p>The Cayetano Administration plans to ask the Hawai‘i Supreme Court to grant an exemption to state law so the special election for the unfinished term of the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink can be held at the same time as the general election.</p>

The state Supreme Court decided Tuesday to hear arguments over whether Democrats can replace Sen. Robert Torricelli on the November ballot, a day after the senator abruptly dropped out of the race. The court issued an order saying it would hear the case directly instead of waiting for a lower court to act. The high court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning. As a result, a hearing set for Tuesday afternoon in Middlesex County Superior Court was canceled. The Democrats, who hold a one-seat majority in the Senate, had asked the high court to hear the case directly because of...