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JUST IN - 5th Circuit panel believes the OSHA vaccine mandate has "grave statutory and constitutional issues". Biden admin ordered to respond by 11-8-21. Federal Court of Appeals just issued a temporary halt to Biden’s vaccine mandate, Texas Governor Abbott announces.

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/21/21-60845.0.pdf

The nation’s most restrictive abortion law remains in place for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday sided with the state of Texas. In a brief 2-1 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit refused the Justice Department’s request to reinstate an earlier court ruling that had blocked enforcement of the Texas law, which bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. The brief order, which is expected to be appealed the Supreme Court, was backed by Judges James C. Ho, a nominee of Donald Trump,...

Sixteen unvaccinated athletes won another round in their legal battle to play sports, despite Western Michigan University’s mandate that all of its inter-collegiate athletes get the COVID-19 vaccination shot. In a unanimous published decision issued Oct. 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, held that the university violated the athletes’ First Amendment rights. All 16 athletes had filed for religious exemptions, which, according to the court, the university “ignored or denied.” The court stated: “The university put plaintiffs to the choice: Get vaccinated, or stop fully participating in intercollegiate sports. By conditioning the privilege...

A federal court has sided with college athletes seeking a religious exemption from a university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, preventing the school from enforcing the mandate against the plaintiffs. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided with a group of 16 student-athletes at Western Michigan University, upholding a lower court decision finding that the school violated their First Amendment rights by denying their requests for religious exemptions from the requirement that all student-athletes take the coronavirus vaccine. The decision noted that “in some cases, the university denied the student-athlete’s application” for a religious exemption...

A federal appeals court reinstated Texas’ controversial "fetal heart beat" abortion ban on Friday night, days after a lower court suspended the Republican-backed law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay, effectively pausing U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s decision to grant a temporary restraining order against the abortion ban earlier this week. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, had appealed the lower court’s decision. "Great news tonight, The Fifth Circuit has granted an administrative stay on #SB8. I will fight federal overreach at every turn," Paxton wrote on Twitter after the decision. The appeals court...

Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec ·33m BREAKING: Federal circuit court reinstates Texas heartbeat abortion ban 8:55PM • Oct 8, 2021

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected efforts by four Democratic-leaning U.S. states to overturn former Republican President Donald Trump's decision to limit federal deductions on state and local taxes. In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the federal government had authority to impose a $10,000 cap on the state and local taxes that households' itemizing deductions could write off their federal returns. The decision is a defeat for New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey, which challenged the so-called SALT cap implemented as part of a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul in 2017....

What does it take to hold federal police accountable for using excessive force? That question is once again being raised with cases being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And it’s coming to the Justices in the form of a petition from Kevin Byrd, a Texas mechanic who was almost shot to death by a federal officer in a dispute over a purely personal matter. Kevin is not fighting alone. The Institute for Justice (IJ) represents him in his U.S. Supreme Court appeal.

A federal appeals court ruled against Tennessee’s abortion restrictions on Friday, nine days after another pro-life “heartbeat” law went into effect in Texas. In July 2020, Tennessee enacted a law restricting abortions at several stages in pregnancy, including abortions conducted after detection of a fetal heartbeat which can occur as early as six weeks post gestation. The law also prohibited abortions conducted because of the race or sex of the baby, or because of a Down syndrome diagnosis. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled against both provisions, upholding a lower court’s ruling that halted them from...

A three-judge panel on Wednesday halted a Texas judge’s order that blocked President Joe Biden’s so-called “sanctuary country” orders that have forced the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release criminal illegal aliens back into the United States. On Wednesday, two judges appointed by former President Barack Obama and a judge appointed by former President George W. Bush put the brakes on Judge Drew Tipton’s order last month that struck down Biden’s orders that prevent ICE from arresting and detaining most criminal illegal aliens. Judge Gregg Costa writes that the panel’s “main concern” with Tipton’s injunction “is that we believe...

A three-judge panel on Wednesday halted a Texas judge’s order that blocked President Joe Biden’s so-called “sanctuary country” orders that have forced the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release criminal illegal aliens back into the United States. ..... Snip..... With the court’s decision, DHS no longer has to abide by Tipton’s reporting requirements. The decision also means DHS can continue imposing its “sanctuary country” orders as the case makes its way through the courts. In February, the orders instructed ICE agents not to arrest and deport illegal aliens who had not been identified as terrorists, gang members, or were...

DETROIT (AP) — A Catholic school in Lansing has lost an appeal over a Michigan policy that required masks on young kids earlier in the pandemic. Although the statewide mandate ended, some counties are stepping in and requiring masks in schools when the 2021-22 year starts. Resurrection School and some parents sued in 2020, saying a state mask order violated the free exercise of religion, among other objections. A judge, however, refused to intervene and issue an injunction. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision Monday.

Dylann Roof, the white gunman who killed nine black people in the 2015 Charleston church massacre, is one step closer to execution after a federal appeals court in Virginia ruled he’s eligible to receive the death penalty. “His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose,” a three-judge panel for the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, according to The State newspaper. Roof was convicted in 2017 of slaughtering nine parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston after planning the attack for months in an effort to start a race war in the...

The U.S. government can’t be held liable for the death of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier based on a federal ranger’s negligent storage of a gun that was stolen and used to shoot her, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.Steinle was killed by a bullet that ricocheted off a concrete walkway and struck her in the back on Pier 14 in San Francisco on July 1, 2015. . . . In arguments before a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel last month, a lawyer for Steinle’s parents argued U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger John Woychowski had a duty...

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court refused late Thursday to delay implementation of a judge’s order reinstating a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. President Joe Biden had suspended former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy on his first day in office and the Department of Homeland Security said it was permanently terminating the program in June, according to the court record. U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk last week ordered that the program be reinstated Saturday. The Biden administration appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeal in New...

In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, (9th Cir., July 19, 2021), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a sua sponte request for a rehearing en banc in the case of a high school football coach who insisted on prominently praying at the 50-yard line immediately after football games. A 3-judge panel upheld upheld a Washington state school board's dismissal of the coach. (See prior posting.) The denial of the rehearing however generated six concurring and dissenting opinions and statements spanning 92 pages, reflecting sharp differences. Judge Smith's opinion concurring in the denial of review says in part: Unlike...

The 9th Circuit, acting on a June 10 appeal filed by Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, put Benitez’s ruling on hold pending a full-blown decision. “This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue,” Bonta said said in a tweet. “We won’t stop defending these life-saving laws.” The 9th Circuit judges on the panel issuing the stay were Barry G. Silverman, a Clinton appointee, Jacqueline Nguyen, an Obama appointee and Ryan D. Nelson, a Trump appointee. Benitez, appointed by former President George W. Bush, said the weapons ban unconstitutionally infringed on the rights of California gun owners and...

Catholic League President Bill Donohue praised Thursday’s Supreme Court’s ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia, calling it a “huge victory for religious liberty.” In its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that Catholic foster care agencies can reject gay couples when placing children for adoption. “This is a huge victory for religious liberty and a resounding defeat for LGBTQ activists,” Donohue said in his essay. The original case against Catholic foster care, in fact, did not stem from any complaints of discrimination but was the result of gay activists who “launched a contrived assault on the rights of Catholic social service...

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned a lower court ruling that allowed the City of Philadelphia to ban Catholic Social Services from participating in the city's foster care program, saying the city violated the organization's First Amendment rights.