Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out claims that the Biden administration unlawfully coerced social media companies into removing contentious content. In reaching its conclusion, the court overturned an injunction that would have limited contacts between government officials and social media companies on a wide range of issues if allowed to go into effect. The Supreme Court had previously put the injunction on hold. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later narrowed the scope of Doughty’s injunction. But the appeals court still required the White House, the FBI and top health officials not to “coerce...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms, taking a step back from its recent endorsement of a broad right to possess a gun. The court ruled in favor of the Biden administration, which was defending the law — one of several federal gun restrictions currently facing legal challenges. The ruling indicates that some longstanding gun laws are likely to survive despite the court's 2022 decision that expanded gun rights by finding for the first time that there is a right to bear arms outside...

Donald Sutherland, the tall, lean and long-faced Canadian actor who became a countercultural icon with such films as “The Dirty Dozen,” “MASH,” “Klute” and “Don’t Look Now,” and who subsequently enjoyed a prolific and wide-ranging career in films including “Ordinary People,” “Without Limits” and the “Hunger Games” films, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, CAA confirmed. He was 88. For over a half century, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor memorably played villains, antiheroes, romantic leads and mentor figures. His profile increased in the past decade with his supporting role as the evil President Snow in “The Hunger...

LOCAL NEWS North Texas man arrested, charged with threatening FBI agent after Hunter Biden verdict texas By S.E. Jenkins Updated on: June 14, 2024 / 8:25 AM CDT / CBS Texas FORT WORTH – A North Texas man was arrested Thursday and charged with threatening an FBI agent known to be involved in an investigation into Hunter Biden. On Tuesday, Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three federal felony gun charges he faced, resolving that he violated laws meant to prevent drug addicts from owning firearms. Not long after the ruling, just after 5 p.m., 43-year-old Timothy Muller placed...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone, meaning the commonly used drug can remain widely available. The court found unanimously that the group of anti-abortion doctors who questioned the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions making it easier to access the pill did not have legal standing to sue. As a result, the lawsuit will be dismissed. By throwing out the case on such grounds, the court avoided reaching a decision on the legal merits of whether the FDA acted lawfully in lifting various restrictions, including one making the drug obtainable via mail,...

ATLANTA — The publishing group behind the movie “2,000 Mules” is apologizing to a Georgia man after the film falsely accused him of ballot fraud during the 2020 election. On its website, Salem Media Group said it is “America’s leading radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values.” The group said in the statement that it has “removed the film from Salem’s platforms, and there will be no future distribution of the film or the book by Salem.” The widely debunked film includes surveillance video showing Mark...

A former mayor of a South Dakota town has been charged with murder after a triple-slaying Monday night in the community he once oversaw, according to the state’s attorney general. Jay Ostrem, 64, was being held in the Minnehaha County Jail on $1 million cash bond on three counts of first-degree murder, Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a statement Tuesday. “There is no further threat to the public," Jackley said after he announced the arrest in the fatal shootings. The names of the victims have not been released because their relatives have not been notified, authorities said. Ostrem is...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court seemed poised Monday to overturn a ruling it made less than two years ago that banned the use of most absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. Doing so would effectively reinstate the use of most of those boxes across Wisconsin — a ruling that could have large ramifications on the 2024 presidential election in the crucial battleground. In 2022, when conservatives had a 4-3 majority, the court ruled to significantly reduce the number of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. But ideological control of the technically nonpartisan court flipped to liberals last year, setting...

The Arizona Senate passed a repeal of the state’s near-total ban on abortion on Wednesday, capping a weekslong legislative scramble to respond to the state Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling that upheld the law from 1864. The bill, which the state House approved last week, will soon head to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Hobbs said she expects to sign the bill as early as Wednesday night. Two state Senate Republicans — Shawnna Bolick and T.J. Shope — joined all 14 Democrats in the narrowly divided chamber in approving a repeal of the Civil War-era law that held the power to send...

The judge presiding over the NY v. Trump trial in Manhattan granted former President Trump permission on Tuesday to attend his son’s high school graduation in Florida next month. "I don’t think the May 17 date is a problem," Judge Juan Merchan told the court Tuesday morning of Barron Trump's graduation date. Trump had pushed for weeks to attend his son's high school graduation on May 17, but a decision on the matter was left in limbo until Tuesday, with Trump speculating earlier this month he would be denied leaving Manhattan for the event. "(Barron’s) a great student and he’s...

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leadership said in a joint statement Tuesday that they would vote to help save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., moves to oust him. "From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. "At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that." Democratic leaders said they would...

A state grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted so-called "fake electors" who backed then-President Donald Trump in 2020, following a sprawling investigation into the alleged efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in the state. One month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and his electors were certified by state officials. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media...

Washington — The House approved a $95 billion foreign aid package Saturday, in a pivotal moment for House Speaker Mike Johnson as he tries to stave off a right-wing rebellion. The package consists of four bills that were voted on separately and will be combined into one before being sent to the Senate. The first three bills include $60.8 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia; $26.4 billion to support Israel, which is fighting Hamas and Iran; and $8.1 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. Humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Democrats said was necessary for their support,...

NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - Lawyers in Donald Trump's historic criminal trial on Thursday selected 12 jurors who will assess his guilt or innocence over the coming weeks in a case stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution still must select alternate jurors for the trial, the first ever in which a former U.S. president is the defendant. Opening statements could take place on Monday, said Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the trial. Earlier in the day, Merchan dismissed a juror who said she felt intimidated that some personal...

MINNEAPOLIS — The nation's highest court has rejected an appeal from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined Lindell's appeal over the FBI's seizure of his phone. It was taken in 2022 while Lindell was at a Hardee's drive-thru window in Mankato. The U.S. government was investigating accusations of Lindell sharing sensitive voting system information. The case is just one of several recent legal battles for Lindell. In March, a judge evicted MyPillow from a facility in Shakopee after the landlord filed a lawsuit claiming the company was at least $200,000 behind on rent payments. A month...

Senate candidate Kari Lake has made calls to state lawmakers to push for the repeal of Arizona's Civil War-era abortion ban, according to a Republican legislator who spoke about receiving a call from her. The GOP-controlled Legislature is considering its next steps after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state's 1864 near-total ban on abortion is enforceable. The Arizona House convenes again Wednesday. Lake's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening on her lobbying of state lawmakers. Lake, who has said she opposes the court's ruling, is among the many Arizona Republicans who...

The six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who tortured and abused two Black men in a racist attack were sentenced on Wednesday to 15 to 45 years in prison on state charges. The men — former Rankin County Sheriff’s deputies Brett Morris McAlpin, 53; Christian Dedmon, 29; Jeffrey Middleton, 46; Hunter Elward, 31; and Daniel Opdyke, 28' and a former police officer from the city of Richland, Joshua Hartfield, 32 — had pleaded guilty to state charges in August. McAlpin, Middleton, and Opdyke were sentenced to serve 20 years; Dedmon to 25 years; Elward to 45 years; and Hartfield to...

No Labels, the bipartisan group that had been working toward putting a third-party presidential ticket on the ballot in all 50 states in 2024, announced Thursday that it was ending its efforts. "No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House," No Labels CEO and co-founder Nancy Jacobson said in a statement. "No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down." Jacobson said the group will "remain engaged over the next year during...

PHOENIX — Groups working to put reproductive rights in Arizona’s state constitution say they have exceeded the signature threshold to put a constitutional amendment on abortion on the state’s ballot in November. Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations including the ACLU of Arizona and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, says it had gathered 506,892 petition signatures as of this past weekend, with more than three months to go until the July 3 deadline to submit the signatures to Arizona’s secretary of state. The threshold to put a measure on the ballot is 383,923 signatures, and while...

<p>ENID, Oklahoma (AP) — Voters in the northwest Oklahoma city of Enid ousted a city council member with ties to white nationalism, according to unofficial results posted Tuesday on the Oklahoma Election Board website.</p><p>With all four precincts reporting in Enid’s Ward 1, results show voters chose to recall 42-year-old Judd Blevins. They instead selected Cheryl Patterson, a grandmother and longtime youth leader at an area church, to fill the seat.</p>