Free Republic

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...

They said it. I didn't. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that Democratic California Gavin Newsom's ban on in-person church services during the coronavirus pandemic can stand.The lawsuit, filed by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in San Diego, prevents that church from reopening, according to the Los Angeles TimesThe "constitutional standards that would normally govern our review of a Free Exercise claim should not be applied," wrote the two judges in the majority opinion."We're dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure. In the words of...

A federal appeals court has backed California Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order banning in-church services to blunt the spread of coronavirus, rejecting an argument from clerics that the governor is treading on their First Amendment right to free exercise of their religious beliefs.

Another of President Trump's nominees to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday, as the White House continues its push to transform the key left-leaning appellate court that the president repeatedly has derided as hopelessly biased and "disgraceful." By a 77-20 vote, the Senate invoked cloture to end debate on Trump's nomination of Arizona-based Magistrate Judge Bridget Bade, a former clerk to conservative 5th Circuit Judge Edith Jones. Bade is slated to replace Bill Clinton-nominated Judge Barry Silverman, who has been on senior status since late 2016 -- effectively...