Free Republic

In a supermarket checkout line, a copy of Time magazine bore the headline "The Supreme Court: Decisions That Changed America." That headline tells us that the U.S. is no longer a representative republic. As Lincoln pointed out, under the Constitution, the American government is "of the people, for the people, and by the people." That's why all laws are supposed to come from the people's elected representatives. If laws don't come from the Congress, the government is no longer of the people, but over the people. If Americans want America changed, they have agreed, through the Constitution, that the process...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge by gun rights activists to a Chicago suburb's ordinance banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, handing a victory to gun control advocates amid a fierce debate over the nation's firearms laws.

The pro-life movement has been extraordinarily successful in reducing abortions to historic lows and closing a record number of abortion clinics, many of which violate the numerous pro-life states laws pro-life groups have passed to protect women and unborn children. But the pro-life movement has had a difficult time in the almost 43 years since Roe v. Wade was handed down in getting the nation’s highest court to overturn the disastrous decision that essentially allowed virtually unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy.The problem for the pro-life movement in getting judges on the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe is that it’s difficult...

Link only for articles from Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-02/ted-cruz-vows-to-put-hard-core-conservatives-on-the-supreme-court

Part 295 of 293 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — Four and a half months after it declared Wisconsin's political John Doe investigation unconstitutional and ordered it shut down, the state Supreme Court is ready to say whether it will reconsider its ruling. The court announced Tuesday it will release a per curiam, or unanimous, opinion and two orders related to the John Doe matter Wednesday. On July 16, the court ordered an end to the politically motivated investigation into conservative groups in Wisconsin that dragged on for years. Writing for the majority on the court, Justice...

The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld one of the most basic principles of United States law this month.  The law has been under continual attack for the last hundred years, during the rise of the “progressive” state.A great many zoning ordinances around the country are based on “model” legislation that is pushed by central planners.  One of the stated premises in the legislation  is that anything that is not permitted is forbidden.  From a discussion of a previous zoning case in North Carolina:Virtually all zoning ordinances are based on the premise that the ordinance shall list certain land uses...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an anti-abortion group's bid to force the federal government to reveal more information about a $1 million grant it made in 2011 to women's health provider Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire. The nine justices rejected an appeal filed by New Hampshire Right to Life, a group that sued the federal government under freedom of information law to find out about the arrangement

Time to clean up Casey v. Planned Parenthood. Keep two names in mind as you consider the case the Supreme Court has now decided to take up. One is Kermit Gosnell. The other is Wendy Davis. It was the discovery of Gosnell’s abortion butcher factories that prompted the Texas Legislature to pass a law requiring abortion clinics to maintain the same level of safety and quality as every other medical clinic in the state. (I know, they can’t ever be safe for the babies.) And that was the law that led to Davis making herself famous with her marathon performance...

The Supreme Court has rejected an anti-abortion group's bid to force disclosure of confidential Planned Parenthood and federal government records about a contract for family planning services in New Hampshire. The justices on Monday let stand a ruling that allowed the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to withhold some documents in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by New Hampshire Right to Life. ...

The Constitution's Origination Clause requires that any tax-raising bill needs to be introduced in the House of Representatives. It is this text that gives the Pacific Legal Foundation a justifiable case against Obamacare's individual mandate tax on Americans that don't purchase health insurance, which was introduced in the Senate. In Sissel v.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, PLF is representing Iowa small business owner and former Iraq combat medic Matt Sissel to challenge the constitutionality of the tax.From an appeal PLF filed in October: "The Origination Clause [in Article I] was designed to ensure as much democratic control as...

The Justice Department plans to ask the Supreme Court to review the lawsuit against President Obama's immigration executive actions, after an appeals court delivered another blow to the administration's plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mTEP3sNXzU

The Supreme Court said Friday it will hear lawsuits from religious nonprofits who say the government didn’t go far enough when it offered to carve them out of President Obama’s birth-control rules on employers. The justices agreed to take on seven cases brought by faith-based colleges and ministries from across the country, marking the fourth time that a skirmish over all or part of Obamacare has made it to the Supreme Court. It’s also the second time the justices have agreed to referee the so-called “contraception mandate,” an outgrowth of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that requires employers to...

Two words that make foes of the First Amendment go crazy: Citizens" and "United." Citizens United was the Supreme Court case that ruled the First Amendment applies to everyone: unions, individuals, and corporations supporting their interests through free speech. But the Federal Election Commission has started the process to undo the Citizens United case - and only one day remains for Americans to provide comments asking the FEC to respect the First Amendment.

Here’s Ted Cruz, speaking Friday: One more liberal justice and our right to keep and bear arms is taken away from us by an activist court. What is he talking about? This — from a piece I wrote earlier this month: [I]f the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges teaches us anything, it’s that the age of judicial supremacy means that five justices can amend the Constitution far more efficiently than Congress and the state legislatures. And right now there are clearly four Supreme Court justices who are committed to the absurd view that the operative clause of the...

“One more liberal justice and they begin sandblasting and bulldozing veterans memorials throughout this country,” he added. “One more liberal justice and we lose our sovereignty to the United Nations and the World Court.” Cruz was critical of the high court after its decisions to uphold Obamacare and legalize gay marriage last term. He said the Supreme Court should face elections in order to hold the nine-justice tribunal accountable. The GOP primary hopeful also said Chief Justice John Roberts put on an “Obama jersey” in his King v. Burwell majority decision that upheld the Obamacare subsidies. Cruz has surged to...

A century ago these times were imagined and they are now here. How do we live as Christians in such times? My mother-in-law is ninety-five years old. She has lived through several wars and numerous other cataclysmic events in her life. Nothing has her more perplexed, shocked, and almost emotionally stunned as the culture wars that have been waged and have changed our world. I see her sitting in church when I am visiting her, obviously wondering why all of her past memories have been lost in the present format of worship. She is not at home either in...

Has a Supreme Court decision every been overturned? Does the Constitution permit a way to fix a bad Supreme Court decision?

A group of 64 legal experts and scholars have signed a statement calling on Americans to oppose the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide.The Washington, DC-based American Principles Project posted the legal experts' statement Thursday on their website in which they denounced the 5-4 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. "The Court's majority opinion eschewed reliance on the text, logic, structure, or original understanding of the Constitution, as well as the Court's own interpretative doctrines and precedents, and supplied no compelling reasoning to show why it is unjustified for the laws of the states to sustain marriage as...

Workers began removing a Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of the Oklahoma Capitol late Monday in accordance with a court order. The Daily Oklahoman reported that the six-foot high monument would be reinstalled outside the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank. A contractor hired by the state began removing the monument shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time The works comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision in June that the display violates a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion."