Free Republic

A federal judge late Thursday ruled that the federalization of parts of California’s National Guard by President Donald Trump was “illegal,” and ordered Trump to return control of the Guard to state Gov. Gavin Newsom “forthwith.” But Judge Charles Breyer stayed his temporary restraining order from taking effect until 3 p.m. ET on Friday to allow the Trump administration to appeal his decision. The administration promptly did just that, asking the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to block Breyer’s ruling from taking effect. Trump, over the past week, had federalized 4,000 members of the California National Guard, and mobilized...

Before BENNETT, MILLER and SUNG, Circuit Judges The Court has received the government's emergency motion for stay pending appeal. DKt No. 5. The request for an administrative stay is GRANTED. The district court's June 12, 2025 temporary restraining order is temporarily stayed pending further order. See Doe#1 v Trump, 944F.3rd 1222, 1223 (9th Circuit 2019). The response to the emergency motion is due June 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM PDT. The optional reply in support of the emergency motion is due June 16, 2025 9:00AM PDT. The panel will hold a remote hearing by Zoom on June 17, 2025 at...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected the DOJ’s bid to lift a Clinton judge’s order blocking Trump’s reorganization plans for 20 federal agencies. Last Friday US District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, turned a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) into a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to overhaul and reorganize 20 agencies in the Executive Branch. In February, President Trump implemented an executive order to completely overhaul the Executive Branch through the work of DOGE. The California-based judge said in order for President Trump to make such large-scale overhauls, he needs approval from Congress. .......

Here's your daily update from the Pacific Northwest 👇 Caleb "Haven" Wilvich is a man who likes to wear dresses. Imagine this guy strutting naked around women with the blessing of America's courts: Two years later, a U.S. federal court of appeals has upheld the lower court's ruling that the spa must allow this man to be naked around naked women on their premises. In his dissent, Trump-appointed Judge Kenneth Lee said this: Now, under edict from the state, women — and even girls as young as 13 years old — must be nude alongside patrons with exposed male genitalia...

A marathon deportation case against two Palestinian immigrants, pursued by the administrations of four U.S. Presidents over 20 years, has been dismissed. The ruling closes a Byzantine legal saga that wound its way through federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court and federal immigration boards, breaking new legal ground along the way. It ended at the Department of Homeland Security, where the dismissal order was entered Tuesday. One of the defendants, Khader Musa Hamide, said in an interview that he will never get over the experience of being under suspicion for 20 years but now "I can breathe better." A...

March 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday refused to pause a judge's ruling requiring the administration of President Donald Trump to reinstate more than 17,000 workers at six agencies who lost their jobs as part of Trump's purge of the federal workforce. A 2-1 panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Trump administration had failed to establish a federal judge erred by finding that agencies likely could not fire workers at the direction of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for the federal government. The Trump administration...

The most liberal circuit court in the country delivered a surprise victory to the Trump Administration today. As Politico reported, a three judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked an order by a district court judge in Seattle that would have forced the Trump Administration to restart refugee admissions. Trump can now continue with his pause on all new refugee admissions. Politico notes that the administration must still process refugees approved before January 20. The ruling notes that Trump’s executive order had nothing to do with those refugees. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden appointed two of the...

Judge Lawrence VanDyke released the video after a California appeals court upheld a ban on high-capacity gun magazines. Re: Duncan v. Bonta

Judge Lawrence VanDyke handles firearms in video dissent/ screen image The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld California’s ban on large-capacity magazines. The en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court (a decision from the court’s entire slate of judges) sided with California’s radical Marxist Attorney General Rob Bonta. In 2023, a federal judge struck down California’s ban on high-capacity gun magazines. US District Judge Roger Benitez, a George W. Bush appointee, in his ruling said, “there is no American tradition of limiting ammunition capacity.” The judge said detachable magazines “solved a problem with historic firearms: running out...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected an appeal from the Trump administration and upheld a lower court order demanding that the administration rehire thousands of probationary employees across a range of federal agencies.Judge William Alsup last week determined that the administration unlawfully fired thousands of employees from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs and ordered their reinstatement.The panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of upholding Alsup's order, Forbes reported. The case may soon reach the Supreme Court, where the Trump administration has already asked the justices to rule on...

A federal appeals court struck down provisions in two Arizona voting laws that sought to increase proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, saying this week that parts of the law amounted to “voter suppression.” The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, upholds the findings of a lower court that blocked the 2022 Arizona laws signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican. It also sent one of the laws back to the district court to reconsider whether it was enacted with the intention to discriminate. "We’re glad that the 9th Circuit sees these laws for...

On August 1, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a prior decision that required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. This ruling, which was decided in a narrow 2-1 vote, now allows individuals to register to vote using a state form, without having to provide citizenship documentation for federal positions such as President and Congress. The law, enacted by Arizona's Republican-led Legislature in 2022, was designed to prevent non-citizens from voting by mandating proof of citizenship if registering to vote with the state. The initial emergency stay, issued on July 18 by a different Ninth Circuit...

On March 11, 2024, Judge William Q. Hayes of the United States District Court, Southern District of California, granted a summary judgement in the case of Nguyen V. Bonta. The case is a challenge to California’s one gun a month law. Judge Hayes ruled the law violated the text of the Second Amendment and there were no reasonable analogies in the relevant legal history of the United States. Judge Hayes granted one month for an appeal to be filed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case was sent to a three judge panel of the Ninth...

The 9th Circuit determined that forcibly mashing a suspect's thumb into his phone to unlock it was akin to fingerprinting him at the police station. JOE LANCASTER | 4.19.2024 12:50 PM As we keep more and more personal data on our phones, iPhone and Android devices now have some of the most advanced encryption technology in existence to keep that information safe from prying eyes. The easiest way around that, of course, is for someone to gain access to your phone. This week, a federal court decided that police officers can make you unlock your phone, even by physically forcing...

Volokh: The order came down today; it noted that no judge called for a vote on the en banc rehearing petition. Here's my post on the panel decision, from September. From Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. v. Bonta, decided today [Sept, 13, 2023] by Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee, joined by Judges Randy Smith and Lawrence VanDyke: "This case is not about whether children can buy firearms. (They cannot under California law.) Nor is this case about whether minors can legally use firearms. (California allows minors under adult supervision to possess and use firearms for hunting, target practice, and other activities.)...

California gun owners didn’t get to enjoy a full week of freedom as they did when Judge Roger Benitez enjoined the state’s ban on “large capacity” magazines a few years ago, but as attorney Kostas Moros wrote on X, the Ninth Circuit’s delayed stay in Rhode v. Bonta allowed them to experience what purchasing ammunition is like in the rest of the country for a short period of time. [embedded court ruling] Unfortunately, that brief taste of freedom came to an end, at least temporarily, on Monday evening as a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit granted Attorney General Rob...

The FBI cannot seem to stop trampling American citizens' constitutional rights. But some victims of government abuse have fought back. And their tenacity has left the bureau scrambling to save face. According to Rob Johnson, senior attorney at the nonprofit Institute for Justice, a landmark Fourth Amendment case pending in California might soon result in severe chastisement for the tyrannical FBI. In 2021, the bureau raided U.S. Private Vaults, a safety storage company based in Beverly Hills, California, on suspicion of money laundering -- a charge to which the company later pleaded guilty. While conducting their raid, however, FBI agents...

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled against Nirvana and revived a child pornography lawsuit filed by the man who appeared as a nude baby on the cover of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind.Spencer Elden, now in his 30s, claimed the photo – one of the most iconic album covers in rock history – violated federal child pornography laws by displaying a sexualized image of a minor. But a lower ruled last year that he had waited far too long to bring his lawsuit. In a decision overturning that ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled...

On September 28, an en banc panel from the Ninth Circuit grabbed control of the Duncan v. Bonta. The magazine ban case in a stunning departure from the usual order of the court. It may or may not have violated the rules of the court. Several of the judges on the panel were not happy. Four judges of the eleven-judge panel dissented. Of particular interest was the dissent of Judge VanDyke.The honorable Judge VanDyke revealed a history of internal shenanigans when the en banc panel first took the case. Judge VanDyke aired some of the Ninth Circuit’s dirty laundry. The...

The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal for lack of standing of an action, brought before the 2022 general election by former Republican nominees for Governor and Secretary of State of Arizona, alleging that Arizona’s use of electronic tabulation systems violated the federal Constitution. The gravamen of Plaintiffs’ operative complaint is that notwithstanding safeguards, electronic tabulation systems are particularly susceptible to hacking by non-governmental actors who intend to influence election results. On appeal, Plaintiffs conceded that their arguments were limited to potential future hacking, and not based on any past harm. The panel held that because Plaintiffs are no longer...