Free Republic

Democrat-appointed judge ordered Republican legislature to create one new black-majority congressional district and seven such districts for state elections. Judge Jones said if the legislature fails to act, he would carry out the map-drawing process himself.

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Georgia’s redrawn congressional maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act. The Georgia General Assembly approved the maps back in 2021 and were signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The maps shifted the Republican edge from 8-6 to 9-5. A series of lawsuits were filed against the state of Georgia arguing that the redrawn maps illegally discriminate against minorities and take away their voting power. Governor Brian Kemp issued a proclamation on Thursday afternoon calling for a special session of the Georgia General Assembly on Nov. 29 to revisit laws relating...

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied requests made by Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest in Fulton County while their requests to move the case to federal court are pending. Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark, both former federal officials, have been named as defendants in an indictment against former President Donald Trump and 16 others. Their actions in the former president's challenge of the Georgia election results have led to them being charged with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that their actions constituted a "criminal...

The military contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” the mastermind behind the worst public corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history who was three weeks away from being sentenced in the case, is on the run. Leonard Glenn Francis, who has been under house arrest, cut off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet and absconded from his San Diego home sometime Sunday morning, said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo. Pretrial Services, the federal agency monitoring Francis, was alerted to an anomaly with Francis’ bracelet, and Francis’ defense team went to check on him, knowing he has a history of health issues. An...

A federal judge last week ruled that a cellphone dragnet used to find bank robbery suspects was unconstitutional. Judge M. Hannah Lauck, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled Thursday that authorities violated the Constitution when they used Google location data to find people who were near the scene of a 2019 bank robbery, NBC News reported. Lauck said the policing approach, by gathering information on innocent people without evidence that they might be suspects violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is facing criticism after congratulating a Korean American judicial nominee on Wednesday, commenting on the “hard work ethic” of “you and your people.” “What you said about your Korean background reminds me a lot of what my daughter-in-law of 45 years has said: ‘If I learned anything from Korean people, it’s a hard work ethic. And how you can make a lot out of nothing,’ ” the 88-year-old told judicial nominee Lucy Koh on Wednesday. “So I congratulate you and your people,” he added. Koh thanked the senator following the comments. Grassley, who is running for...