Free Republic

<p>A federal judgeon Wednesday backed the city's Department of Education, ruling that the display of the nativity scene, unlike Christmas trees and menorahs, was not secular and has no place in classrooms.</p> <p>Judge Charles Sifton in Brooklyn dismissed the lawsuit brought forth by Andrea Skoros, 34, of College Point, saying the city's holiday displays policy banning non-secular symbols from schools did not violate her right to free exercise of religion.</p>

The Bush administration is challenging a court order requiring it to make housing payments to thousands of families whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said last week that confusing, often contradictory letters to hurricane victims from the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn't explain why housing funding was cut. He said that violated the Constitution, and he ordered the agency to restart the program immediately. FEMA said Tuesday it would appeal that ruling.

San Francisco -- A federal judge ruled that a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests applies to hundreds of oil and gas leases sold by the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte's ruling Wednesday means that holders of more than 300 leases that permit oil and gas exploration in national forests cannot build roads to access those areas. Laporte's order follows her September ruling that reinstated the 2001 "Roadless Rule" that prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico. In that earlier ruling, Laporte said the...

A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Wednesday to immediately resume making housing benefits available to thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to adequately explain why it ended the 18-month housing assistance program for people who lost their homes in the 2005 storm. Leon's ruling was issued as a temporary injunction requested by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now,

An unexpected ruling by a federal judge in Louisiana could result in more homeowners collecting money for flood damage caused by Hurricane Katrina — at a likely cost of more than $1 billion to the industry. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. on Monday sided with New Orleans homeowners who argued that the language excluding water damage from some insurance policies was ambiguous. Although he said the lawsuit against The Allstate Corp., The St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc. and other insurers could go forward, he also said the issue of "flood exclusion" was so central to the case that it...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the consolidation of advertising and distribution operations of Bay Area newspapers owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc. The Northern California newspapers in the McClatchy Co. and MediaNews deal include the Monterey County Herald, San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times. MediaNews, which owns the Denver Post and dozens of other newspapers, also got the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota under a complex deal that involves financing from Hearst Corp., owner of the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco real estate magnate Clint Reilly filed an antitrust lawsuit to block...

File this one under Only in America: He was kicked out of the United States twice and faces a third deportation. While in the U.S. illegally, he broke more laws, crashing into another motorist while drunk and peddling cocaine. Yet, Adalberto Lara Portela, a native of Mexico, was afforded the same right enjoyed by poor U.S. criminals - a taxpayer-funded appeal. And he won. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has overturned a decision by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer in Greeneville to lock away Portela for 94 months for his most recent crimes - buying a kilogram of...

SAN DIEGO - The Justice Department said Monday that it will appeal a federal judge's ruling that overturned a jury conviction of a former City Council member accused of taking money from a strip club owner in exchange for political favors. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam poured significant resources into winning a conviction against Michael Zucchet in July 2005, forcing the councilman to resign and relinquish his position as interim mayor. Four months later, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller acquitted Zucchet, saying the evidence against him on charges of fraud and extortion was insufficient. "Because it is rare for a...

A federal judge ordered Fresno city officials Wednesday to stop seizing homeless people's property without warning as a civil rights lawsuit proceeds against the city. The suit — filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights on behalf of six people — claims police and sanitation workers violated the rights of the city's homeless in the last three years by defining their property as trash and bulldozing their encampments. Homeless advocates said the preliminary injunction by U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger would help cement homeless people's property rights. "This is very significant...

Saint Petersburg -- A judge threatened to jail the head of the state Department of Children & Families if the agency can't explain why it consistently has failed to get mentally ill jail inmates into psychiatric treatment. Under Florida law, jail inmates found incompetent to stand trial must be turned over to the agency and placed into treatment within 15 days. An assistant public defender in Miami, Carlos Martinez, said the average wait time had spiked to more than two months, and his office and public defenders in Broward and Hillsborough counties have filed court motions to force DCF to...

Oakland -- An Alameda County judge ordered the administrator of the Medical College Admissions Test to overhaul its policies for accommodating people with learning disabilities. Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw issued the order to the Association of American Medical Colleges Tuesday after finding that its policies for disabled test takers violate state civil rights laws. Sabraw gave the AAMC 60 days to revamp its policies for reviewing requests from people with disabilities and to provide accommodations for the MCAT that could include providing extra time, different test settings or special devices or equipment. The initial lawsuit, later expanded to cover...

A federal appeals court blocked a landmark judgment against the tobacco industry Tuesday, allowing the companies to continue selling "light" and "low tar" cigarettes until their appeals can be reviewed. The decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also allows the companies to continue for now the advertising campaigns that a federal judge in August ruled were misleading. Without comment, the appeals court granted the tobacco companies' request to put Judge Gladys Kessler's order on hold. The companies have argued that her far-reaching ruling could cost them millions of dollars and lead to...

Attleboro, Mass -- A lesbian couple from Rhode Island who won the right to marry in Massachusetts held their ceremony Sunday. After being denied a marriage license in Massachusetts, Wendy Becker and Mary Norton challenged a 1913 state law that prohibits out-of-state residents from marrying if the union would not be permitted in their home state. They argued that same-sex marriage was not specifically banned in Rhode Island. Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly agreed last month, saying he saw no evidence of a "constitutional amendment, statute, or controlling appellate decision" making same-sex marriage illegal in Rhode Island. Rhode Island Gov....

NEW ORLEANS -- A judge upset by the backlog of cases decided to release four New Orleans inmates from jail Friday and postpone their trials until they can get adequate representation from the spread-thin public defender's office. District Judge Arthur Hunter warned that more releases could be coming as he criticized what he called the city's decades-long failure to protect the rights of poor defendants. "It's only gotten worse since Hurricane Katrina," Hunter said. Hunter has been threatening to release defendants because he said their constitutional right to adequate legal counsel was being violated. The inmates' release involved three cases...

Stryker base here is found illegal Plaintiffs claim the Army must halt related work while preparing a supplemental study » A look at the Stryker situation By Gregg K. Kakesako gkakesako@starbulletin.com A federal appellate court found yesterday that the Army had violated environmental laws by not considering all alternatives in establishing a Stryker Combat Brigade in Hawaii. The 2-1 vote by a three-judge panel assigned to the San Francisco 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was seen as a victory for the nonprofit environmental group Earthjustice. Earthjustice attorney David Henkin said the federal appeals court ruling meant "the Army must...

A federal judge has denied a request by tobacco companies to let them keep marketing "light" and "low tar" cigarettes until an appeal is settled in their case. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled in August that the cigarette makers violated racketeering laws and misled the public about the health consequences of smoking. Kessler ordered them to stop marketing light and low-tar cigarettes and said the companies must make public statements about nicotine addiction and the health effects of smoking. The companies immediately asked Kessler to hold off on enforcing that order until the appeal was complete,

A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a woman serving 75 years in prison after she was convicted as a getaway driver in an armored-truck robbery in which a guard and two policemen were killed. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said Judith Clark deserves a new trial because no one represented her interests in the courtroom after she insisted on remaining in a cell outside court as the evidence was unveiled in court. The judge said ... that Clark, 56, knowingly and intelligently waived her right to a lawyer. But she said the trial judge failed to ensure...

Over the past decade and a half, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson has become the one of the most important figures in the state in setting prison policy, or at least trying to change it. Henderson's rulings have placed the judge firmly in control over issues ranging from use of force at Pelican Bay State Prison to internal discipline to improving medical care. They've also put him in position to direct billions in state spending into the correctional system -- with no legislative oversight. The 72-year-old judge's career has just been chronicled in Abby Ginzberg's documentary, "Soul of Justice:...

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Defense to release documents detailing mistreatment or disciplinary action taken against detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other information sought by The Associated Press. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said the government must provide the news organization with the information despite government claims that doing so would violate detainees' privacy. "The public interest in disclosing government malfeasance is well-established," the judge wrote in saying that the AP had demonstrated the need. A spokeswoman for federal prosecutors, Lauren McDonough, said the government had no immediate comment....