Free Republic

Trump spoke privately with McConnell on Friday night following the news of Ginsburg’s death, laying out his preferences for who should replace the liberal justice, according to several people familiar with the conversation. In the phone call, Trump said he liked Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and Barbara Lagoa of the 11th Circuit, according to two people briefed on the discussion. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose details of a private conversation.

WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: Florida has long followed the common practice of excluding those who commit serious crimes from voting. But in 2018, the people of Florida approved a historic amendment to their state constitution to restore the voting rights of thousands of convicted felons. They imposed only one condition: before regaining the right to vote, felons must complete all the terms of their criminal sentences, including imprisonment, probation, and payment of any fines, fees, costs, andrestitution.

A federal court in Florida has ruled that it is unconstitutional for schools to ban transgender students from using the restroom that matches their gender identity. Judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit announced on Friday that they are affirming a lower court’s ruling on the matter because “a public school may not punish its students for gender conformity.” The case was centered around Drew Adams, a 19-year-old former student of Allen D. Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Adams, who is transgender, used the boys’ restroom at Nease High School, and did so without...

One of the men at the center of the recent Supreme Court decision that held that firing people based on sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination, was not ousted because he was gay, his former employer says. In a 6-3 decision that was released Monday in Bostock v. Clayton County — which was consolidated along with two other cases involving firings of homosexual and trans-identified employees — the high court ruled that Title VII, the civil rights provision within the 1964 Civil Rights Act that pertains specifically to employment, extends nondiscrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status....

TALLAHASSEE — A Florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees as part of their sentences before regaining the vote is unconstitutional for those unable to pay, or unable to find out how much they owe, a federal judge ruled Sunday. The 125-page ruling was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee. It involves a state law to implement a 2016 ballot measure approved by voters to automatically restore the right to vote for many felons who have completed their sentence. The Republican-led Legislature stipulated that fines and legal fees must be paid as part of the...

The Supreme Court is making it harder for noncitizens who are authorized to live permanently in the United States to argue they should be allowed to stay in the country if they've committed crimes. The decision Thursday split the court 5-4 along ideological lines. The decision came in the case of Andre Barton, a Jamaican national and green card holder. In 1996, when he was a teenager, he was present when a friend fired a gun at the home of Barton's ex-girlfriend in Georgia. And in 2007 and 2008, he was convicted of drug possession in the state. His crimes...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision that an immigrant with lawful permanent resident status cannot fight deportation due to a previous offense, even though that crime was not grounds for his removal. In a 5-4 ruling with conservative justices on one side and liberals on the other, the court ruled for the Trump administration in holding that the statute in question, as drafted by Congress, requires deportation in the case of Andre Barton, even though the assault offenses that prevent him from appealing were not enough to deport him in the first place. "Removal of...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that prosecutors did not break the law in negotiating a plea agreement with Jeffrey Epstein while keeping his victims in the dark more than a decade ago. A three-judge panel on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that federal prosecutors, led at the time by former Trump administration Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, did not violate victims' rights laws in negotiating a lenient and secretive plea agreement for the late financier. But the ruling tore into the prosecutors for their handling of Epstein's case, which the judges called a "national disgrace. "Despite...

On Easter Sunday, a federal judge ruled that Alabama cannot stop abortion facilities from killing unborn babies in elective abortions during the coronavirus outbreak. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that abortion facilities should be the ones to decide if an abortion is essential, and the state cannot close them – even during a national health crisis, the AP reports. Thompson issued a preliminary injunction, which expands his earlier ruling blocking the state from enforcing health care restrictions on abortion facilities. His initial ruling expired Monday. Similar to most states, Alabama is restricting all non-essential medical care during the pandemic....

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing two former students at Georgia Gwinnett College asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to hear their case and vindicate their free speech rights. Two federal courts declined to address whether Gwinnett violated the students’ constitutional rights because the college modified its policies after the case was filed. Most federal courts will decide the constitutional question even if the government changes its policy because doing so prevents future misconduct and vindicates the essential freedoms that the Constitution protects. Student Chike Uzuegbunam tried to share his Christian faith with other students on the Lawrenceville, Georgia, campus in...

The meteoric rise continues for Andrew Brasher, who was confirmed as a federal district court judge for the Middle District of Alabama just nine months ago. Brasher is moving up the judicial ladder with confirmation Tuesday by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. He’ll now sit on the bench at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, based in Atlanta. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, praised the young judge from the Senate floor, calling the confirmation “a testament to his vast legal ability and commitment to upholding the rule of law as it is written.” Brasher was nominated for the position...

Minutes after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled out President Trump's impeachment trial, which had consumed the Senate for almost three weeks, Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., got right back to what he's said is his top priority -- confirming judges. Less than half-an-hour after TV networks cut away from the Senate to dive into the ramifications of the body acquitting Trump, McConnell filed cloture on the nomination of Judge Andrew Brasher to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a procedural step that moved the controversial nominee one step closer to confirmation. The body took the next step to confirming...

Local and state governments in the United States and other nations have been banning counseling individuals to get rid of unwanted same-sex attractions. But there's one population that's being injured each time that happens. Rape victims. Male rape victims. In the United States, more than a dozen states or local governments have moved to suppress information that counselors could provide to those victims. Recently, officials in the city of Tampa, Florida, appealed a federal judge's decision to block an ordinance prohibiting the counseling of children who seek help overcoming same-sex attractions.

President Trump’s nominations to the federal courts have flipped three circuits making them majority Republican-appointed, lowered the age of GOP-appointed judges by 14 years, and reshaped the judiciary for decades to come, according to a series of new reports. When Trump took office in January 2017, only four of the 13 U.S. appeals courts had a majority of Republican-appointed judges. Today, seven of the 13 appeals courts do. This year alone, the Second, Third and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have flipped from majority Democratic-nominated to majority Republican-nominated, according to Law.com. All total, 187 Trump-appointed federal judges have been...

It looks like there was another Dem debate last night. The only thing different from their first 50 or so was the jacket Lizzy chose to wear; this one was hip length rather than cropped at the waist. I think it’s a subliminal message of some sort but it went over my head. And check out this  pre-debate photo: the most disturbing aspect about is the fact that Joe Biden looks the most presidential of the lot. As usual I didn’t watch but the highlights reel was pretty entertaining: filled with the usual references to Medicare for all, housing shortages,...

Senate Republicans confirmed one of President Trump’s judicial nominees to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday and will flip the federal appeals court to a majority of Republican-appointed active judges with another confirmation later this week. It will be the third federal appeals court to be turned to a GOP-majority under the president’s promise to remake the federal judiciary with a conservative bent.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (Alabama, Florida and Georgia) currently has 12 active judges after the appointment of 3 already this term by President Trump; the Circuit is now tied 6 - 6 with R and D appointees; with 3 more vacancies to fill; each of which has a current nominee awaiting vetting and a vote. The tie-breaking 13th judge will be under active consideration for a cloture vote this afternoon on the Senate floor with likely confirmation tomorrow; making in 7R to 6D. Once the additional two vacancies are filled; an enduring 9R to 6D majority will be...

Trump has already “flipped” the Third Circuit. He’s made serious inroads on other circuits. Now, he’s posed to fully flip the Eleventh Circuit. At the outset of the Trump administration, it had an 8-3 Democratic majority (with one vacancy). So that’s an impressive swing. One administration, not even in power for three years, has flipped the federal circuit for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama from 8-3 Democrat to 7-5 Republican, with a majority of those Republicans being Trump judges.

President Donald J. Trump announced Thursday afternoon his intention to nominate two of Florida's newest Supreme Court justices, Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, to serve as circuit judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. In so doing, the president likely will reshape the ideological bent of the 11th Circuit. Florida attorneys close to both the high court and appeals court are already buzzing over the appointments. They say Lagoa and Luck will give a reliable 7-5 constitutionalist/textualist majority to the 11th Circuit, which represents Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The two Florida justices will replace Judge...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will have a different makeup by March 2020, when Judge Stanley Marcus will have become a senior judge—along with the circuit’s longest-serving active judge, Gerald Bard Tjoflat. The change means President Donald Trump will select two new judges for lifetime appointments. Tradition dictates that they should come from Florida, where Marcus and Tjoflat are based. With two more appointments, Trump will have named five judges who will serve on the Eleventh Circuit for decades to come. That’s almost half of the court’s active bench, which will be made up of seven...