Free Republic

MISSOULA, MONT. --(Ammoland.com)- Plaintiffs in litigation to validate the principles of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA) have appealed an expected but adverse federal district court decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs in MSSA v. Holder include the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and MSSA President Gary Marbut of Missoula. The MFFA is designed to test the power of Congress to regulate everything without limits under the narrow power given to Congress in the Constitution to “regulate commerce … among the states.” The MFFA declares that any firearms, ammunition and firearm...

A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction that keeps a restriction against Islamic Sharia law out of the state Constitution for now. Oklahomans on Nov. 2 approved the amendment with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue indicated on Wednesday that the business group was looking past Congress and focusing more on federal regulators now that the election’s over. Donohue, during an address to members this morning, cited the threat of a “regulatory tsunami” as “the biggest single threat to job creation.” He claimed that the EPA is advancing 29 proposed major rules and the Labor Department was pushing “at least 100 regulations and policy changes.” The new financial regulatory overhaul has 320 required rule makings, and ObamaCare creates 183 “agencies, commissions and panels.”

Full headline:In CA on Election Eve, Women Solidify Opposition to Prop 19; Even the Greater San Francisco Bay Area No Longer Supports Legal Marijuana SurveyUSA Breaking News - 8 hours ago [about 5pm edt] On Election Eve, California remains divided on Proposition 19, with women opposing the measure now more than at any point during the campaign and support in the greater San Francisco Bay Area no greater than opposition, according to SurveyUSA's 8th and final pre-election tracking poll , conducted for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KPIX-TV in San Francisco, KGTV-TV in San Diego, and KFSN-TV in Fresno. "No" has 46%,...

In the latest news from my home state, aka La-La Land of the Loony Left, last week's polls showed that the initially high support for Prop 19, which would legalize recreational marijuana, have dropped below 50% .

The Tea Party’s favorite part of the Constitution — the 10th Amendment, which limits federal power — arrived at the Supreme Court last week. In keeping with the spirit of the times, it came wrapped in the plot of a soap opera. ***** Ms. Bond, a microbiologist, certainly tried. On about two dozen occasions, she spread lethal chemicals on her friend’s car, mailbox and doorknob. Ms. Haynes, who managed to escape serious injury, complained to the local police. They did not respond with particular vigor. After checking to see whether the white powder on her car was cocaine, they advised...

Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if voters next month make the state the first in the nation to legalize the drug. The Justice Department strongly opposes California's Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday. "We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even...

LOS ANGELES — The Department of Justice says it intends to prosecute marijuana laws in California aggressively even if state voters approve an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize the drug.

In a moment, almost completely unbelievable, since this is a woman who swore to uphold the very documents that she obviously despises, Representative Schakowsky reveals on a liberal talk radio show exactly how she feels about the Constitution, those who seek to uphold it, and the Republican Pledge. “It was an effort to get the tea partiers to think that they really have some sort of revolutionary plan because at the beginning they quote a lot from the Constitution…the idea that free people can govern themselves…that the government powers are derived from the consent of the governed. All that stuff...

HELENA, Mont. -- A federal judge in Missoula is dismissing a lawsuit launched by gun rights advocates and states seeking freedom from federal gun laws. The decision from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy was expected since his magistrate a month ago recommended tossing out the lawsuit.

States across the country want Washington to stop meddling in their affairs when it comes to the environment, health care and guns, and it's not just right-wingers leading the charge. Last week, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal fired a shot at the Environmental Protection Agency for its attempt to coerce the state into regulating carbon dioxide as if this naturally occurring gas were a pollutant. In a letter to the EPA, Mr. Freudenthal cited a 1999 act of the legislature that prohibited him from taking any action to implement the Kyoto Protocol regarding reductions in so-called greenhouse gases. Without U.S. Senate...

As welcome signs go, it is one of the more unusual ones. And for visitors to Kiryas Joel, a small Jewish community in Orange County, New York State, it has provoked quite a reaction. For the sign doesn't just greet visitors, but warns them to dress appropriately for their visit, amongst other things. Written in both English and Spanish, the sign, posted by Congregation Yetev Lev at the entrances to the village, warns visitors to cover their legs and arms, maintain gender separation in public places and use appropriate language. The tradition in the villages of Satmar Hasidic Jews is...

Law: A judge will let proceed a Virginia suit to declare ObamaCare unconstitutional while the state's attorney general says police can check immigration status a la the Arizona law. Somewhere Patrick Henry is smiling. ObamaCare is unconstitutional, and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli knows it. He also knows our unsecure borders and a stealth amnesty program pushed by this administration threaten citizens as far north as Richmond. That's why he's taken action in both areas, leading the states that formed a group in revolt against it. Cuccinelli has issued a legal opinion that says Virginia police are allowed under the...

The saga of Senator John Kerry's $ 7 million sailing yacht tied up on the Newport waterfront in the tax haven of Rhode Island proved again how adept Democrats are at spending other people's money. This time the $7 million was presumably spent from his wife's inherited fortune. But the larger story here isn't about tax havens. And it isn't about hypocrisy. And it's far less about trophy wives with trust funds. It's not even about being a lifelong leech working in government jobs sucking the blood out of beleaguered taxpayers. It's about the increasing distance and disconnects between the...

It’s only 28 words long: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” But the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution is having a powerful effect on conservative ideology these days. Libertarian activists are citing the amendment with renewed fervor and many politicians have been heard reciting it recently as well. “The reality is the Tenth Amendment really defines what the Constitution was supposed to mean,” Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center, told The Daily Caller. On Capitol Hill,...

What is the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution? Equally important is the question, “What is it not?”. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not define the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government. I hear this often, and am guilty of repeating it myself on occasion. The Tenth Amendment does confirm, affirm, state -choose your verb – that however one defines the “scope of federal power,” those powers falling outside that definition are reserved to the states, period, end...

The state NAACP is expressing "unconditional support" for the November ballot measure to legalize marijuana, continuing proponents' framing of it as a civil rights issue. "We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities, and approximately 56 percent of the public, in saying that it is time to decriminalize the use of marijuana," state NAACP President Alice Huffman said in a news release Monday. "There is a strong racial component that must be considered when we investigate how the marijuana laws are applied to people of color." The measure, Control and Tax Cannabis...

The central conceit of the Left is their regard for outcome above principle, results above rights. “Progressivism” repackages the age-old idea that society has a collective right superior to the individual’s. We saw this in the argument for universal health care, where the Left regarded the outcome of “universal coverage” above the principle of personal liberty. Unfortunately, this conceit is not limited to the Left. Social conservatives are willing to borrow à la carte from statist arguments when the results suit their taste. No issue evokes this phenomenon more than drug control policy. NewsRealBlog hosted much debate on the legalization...

The newest legal brief in a court challenge to Obamacare, the president's nationalization of health care across the U.S., says the Constitution simply doesn't allow the federal government to demand a payment for not doing something. The case was brought by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of several individuals. It challenges the government's plan to force individuals to buy health-care insurance and pay for abortions, among other issues, or be penalized. It was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and seeks an injunction to halt the plan. Named as defendants in the...

California voters favor the legalization of marijuana for personal use 49 percent to 41 percent, according to a LA Times/USC poll. The measure will appear on the November ballot. However, one-third of backers say they favor it only “somewhat.” A poll last month by the Public Policy Institute of California found the measure in a statistical dead heat, 49 percent to 48 percent.