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A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday stunningly affirmed the rights of voters in four states – Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee – to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, throwing a boulder into the millpond of complacent assumptions by homosexual-rights advocates that same-sex marriage is a given across the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court recently has refused to take on any same-sex marriage cases, allowing the movement to expand into about 30 states. But Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, which has fought on behalf of traditional...

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld gay marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, reversing a recent trend in the federal courts to strike down such bans.

By a two-to-one vote, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the right of states to ban same-sex marriage, overturning lower court decisions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that found such restrictions to be unconstitutional.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday sided with the Obama administration in the nationwide legal battle over the mandate to cover contraception services in the new health care law, marking the second time a federal appeals court rebuffed to a company who said the mandatory coverage of birth control violates its religious beliefs. A third court, seated in Denver, took an opposing view in July when it granted the Hobby Lobby crafts franchise an injunction that shields the Oklahoma City company from the mandate tied to the Affordable Care Act until the merits of their case can be...

The federal government can require tobacco companies to “reserve significant packaging space” for anti-smoking warnings and graphic images on their cigarette labels, a three-judge appellate panel ruled Monday. “We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati wrote in a ruling that was unanimous in some sections and 2-1 in others. Current tobacco-label warnings do not effectively inform consumers on these health risks, even though they include “the undisputed fact...

CINCINNATI: A U.S. appeals court on Friday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, saying the plaintiffs had no standing to sue. The 2-1 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel was not on the legality of the surveillance program, but it vacated a 2006 order by a lower court in Detroit. That court had found the post-911 warrantless surveillance aimed at uncovering terrorist activity to be unconstitutional, violating rights to privacy and free speech and the separation of powers. The American Civil Liberties Union led the lawsuit on behalf...

CINCINNATI - A veteran federal appeals judge has turned up the volume in his opposition to the death penalty, drawing increasing attention with his unusually blunt and outspoken opinions. Former Chief Judge Boyce Martin, a Jimmy Carter appointee on one of the most sharply divided appeals courts, is building a reputation for his stand, such as with a dissent that Capital Defense Weekly described as blistering. Some experts believe the U.S. Supreme Court is watching what's happening in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and other circuits before it takes another look at the death penalty or, at least,...

CINCINNATI - Ohio's rules for primary elections make it too hard for minor parties to get on the ballot, a federal appeals court ruled. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said the primary requirements allow the Republican and Democratic parties to monopolize general elections. Ohio "is among the most restrictive, if not the most restrictive, state in granting minor parties access to the ballot," the ruling said. Parties automatically qualify for the primary ballot if their candidate for governor or president received at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous Ohio election. Any other party must...

CINCINNATI - The Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, rejected by a federal judge, is heading toward an appellate court loaded with the president's own appointees. However, veterans of cases before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals caution that the court's mixed record in a broad range of rulings makes it difficult to predict how it will view the surveillance the administration says is crucial to stopping terrorists. "It is not a foregone conclusion that a conservative-dominated court is going to say, 'President Bush did this and we're going to uphold what he wants,'" said Robert A. Sedler, a law...

Judge - Commision Date Chief Judge Danny J. Boggs - March 25, 1986 - REAGAN Senior Judge Damon J. Keith - October 21, 1977 - CARTER Senior Judge Gilbert S. Merritt - October 31, 1977 - CARTER Senior Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy - September 26, 1979 - CARTER Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. - September 26, 1979 - CARTER Senior Judge Ralph B. Guy, Jr. - October 17, 1985 - REAGAN Senior Judge James L. Ryan - October 17, 1985 - REAGAN Senior Judge Alan E. Norris - July 1, 1986 - REAGAN Senior Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich - July...

NASHVILLE — A Tennessee death row inmate scheduled to be executed Wednesday cannot perform genetic testing on evidence in his case, a federal appeals court ruled. Inmate Sedley Alley is fighting his execution by lethal injection on at least two fronts in the courts. In an expedited ruling released Monday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied Alley's bid to have DNA tests performed at his expense on evidence from the 1985 rape and murder of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne M. Collins at the Millington Naval Air Station outside Memphis. A three-judge panel of the court...

Not since Berlin, 1989, has a big wall taken such a big fall. This time, it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that blew the trumpet, effectively collapsing the false construct of the so-called “wall of separation between church and state” that for more than 50 years has been the cornerstone of the American Civil Liberties Union’s anti-religion agenda. This wasn’t one the ACLU saw coming. Their case—a suit to prevent Mercer County, Kentucky, officials from including a copy of the Ten Commandments in their display of historically significant documents—seemed tight enough, especially since the U.S....

If anyone has his hand on the pulse of America, it's Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Suhrheinrich, a Reagan appointee, said Mercer County, Ky., must be allowed to post at its courthouse copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, the words to The Star-Spangled Banner, and other historical documents. The county had no expressed religious purpose in its display, he wrote, and the Commandments are not more prominently displayed than the other documents. That view certainly is within...

A federal appeals court has upheld a Ten Commandments display identical to one ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, rebuking the American Civil Liberties Union in the process. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, affirmed Dec. 20 a federal judge’s decision that a courthouse display in Mercer County, Ky., of nine documents, including the Ten Commandments, is constitutional. In a unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel, the court agreed with the lower court that the inclusion of the Decalogue does not violate the Constitution’s establishment clause because the display has a secular purpose....

6th Circuit rejects “separation of church and state” December 21, 2005 Values group hails unanimous decision Tuesday 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals: “The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.” CINCINNATI — In an astounding return to judicial interpretation of the actual text of the United States Constitution, a unanimous panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday issued an historic decision declaring that “the First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.” In upholding a Kentucky county’s right to display the Ten Commandments, the panel...

Values group hails unanimous decision Tuesday CINCINNATI -- In an astounding return to judicial interpretation of the actual text of the United States Constitution, a unanimous panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday issued an historic decision declaring that "the First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." In upholding a Kentucky county's right to display the Ten Commandments, the panel called the American Civil Liberties Union's repeated claims to the contrary "extra-constitutional" and "tiresome." See Cincinnat Enquirer at: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/NEWS01/512210356/1056 See U.S. Court of Appeals decision, page 13: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf "Patriotic Americans should...

CINCINNATI (AP) - Senate confirmation of two judges nominated by President Bush to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals probably will give a conservative bent to what had been a balanced court, experts say. The court hears appeals of federal cases in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. It has been understaffed for years with six Republicans and six Democrats because of an impasse in the Senate. Michigan's senators were upset at Republicans for refusing to confirm President Clinton's nominees to the court. A compromise this month allowed the confirmation of David McKeague, 58, a federal judge in Michigan since...

CINCINNATI - The chief judge of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expects the addition of two Michigan judges to long-standing vacancies to help the court - the slowest acting among the nation's 12 regional courts - reduce its caseload. The nominations of Judge David McKeague and Judge Richard Griffin were approved on Thursday by the GOP-controlled Senate after a long partisan tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats. "We strive to decide cases as efficiently as we can and having more judges will be make it easier to have the litigators served and the system of justice administered," Chief Judge...

Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees. "The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night. The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity,...

Good morning, freepers. As you may already know, this is where we place links to other Terri threads at Free Republic and other breaking news about Terri Schindler-Schiavo. In addition, this is a place to meet and plan ways to use grassroots activism to help Terri's Fight. If you are a newbie to Terri's Fight, I urge you to visit http://www.terrisfight.org where you can subscribe to their newsletter, can get up to speed on the court cases and the very long struggle. As far as what can Free Republic do for Terri's Fight, in the November Dailies Thread (here), please...