Free Republic

Less than a day after receiving a warning from a federal judge, former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his $250 million lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James. The withdrawal came in a brief document filed Friday morning with U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who late Thursday warned Trump's legal team that the lawsuit appeared to verge on frivolous. "Plaintiff, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, by and through his undersigned counsel and pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i), hereby voluntarily dismisses his claims in this action against Defendant, LETITIA JAMES, without prejudice," the letter said. Trump's lawsuit had sought...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it has been unable to identify the person who leaked an unpublished draft of an opinion indicating the court was poised to roll back abortion rights. In an unsigned statement, the court said that all leads had been followed up and forensic analysis performed, but "the team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence." But the attached report suggested the court was not watertight, with some employees admitting they had talked to spouses about the draft opinion and how the justices had...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque Police says a former New Mexico House candidate who lost his election in November is now accused of conspiring to shoot at the homes of four Albuquerque lawmakers in December and January. The department made the announcement late Monday afternoon, saying Solomon Peña is accused of shooting at the homes of two Democratic Bernalillo County commissioners and two Democratic state lawmakers. A 39-year-old Republican, Peña ran and lost the race for House District 14 in the November 2022 election. APD arrested Peña during a SWAT situation Monday afternoon near downtown Albuquerque. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold...

RENSSELAER, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Jason Schofield, a former Rensselaer County elections commissioner, has pleaded guilty to unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots. Schofield, 43, faces up to five years in prison on each count (a 12-count indictment), a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to three years. Schofield was arrested in September of 2022. The Department of Justice says Schofield pleaded guilty to unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots during elections held...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Supreme Court struck down Thursday a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected — typically around six weeks — ruling the restriction violates the state constitution's right to privacy. The decision comes nearly two years after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed the measure into law. The ban, which included exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest or pregnancies that endangered the patient’s life, drew lawsuits almost immediately. Since then, legal challenges have made their way through both state and federal courts. "The State unquestionably has the authority to limit the right of...

Democrat Kris Mayes is the winner of Arizona's attorney general race, a state judge announced Thursday. Mayes defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh by 280 votes after a mandatory recount was triggered due to how close they were separated after the initial tally in November, when Mayes led by roughly 500 votes out of 2.5 million cast. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason unveiled the results of the recount in a hearing on Thursday. Mayes' lead from November was nearly halved in the recount. The results showed she had 1,254,809 votes to Hamadeh’s 1,254,529 votes. Mayes' victory is another win for...

KINGMAN, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5/AP) — A Mohave County judge has denied Republican Abe Hamadeh’s challenge. Judge Lee F. Jantzen ruled quickly after closing arguments wrapped up, saying in part: “The bottom line is you just haven’t proven your case.” The short-lived trial began Friday morning to challenge of his narrow defeat to Democrat Kris Mayes in the Arizona attorney general’s race. Hamadeh, who lost by 511 votes, alleges in his lawsuit that problems with printers in Maricopa County led to issues involving disenfranchised voters. Earlier this week, the Mohave County Superior Court judge ruled that Hamadeh’s lawsuit could move forward...

Outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has agreed to dismantle a makeshift border wall that triggered a lawsuit by the federal government and rankled environmentalists. In an agreement reached Wednesday with the Biden administration, Ducey said he would stop installing shipping containers on federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. The agreement comes one week after federal officials filed a lawsuit against Ducey’s administration saying the border project was illegally built on federal land. It requires Arizona to remove containers installed in the Coronado National Forest by Jan. 4. State agencies...

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge tossed a lawsuit on Friday filed by former GOP candidates Mark Finchem and Jeff Zink that challenges the results of November’s general election. Judge Melissa Iyer Julian dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, which means it cannot be filed again. The judge also confirmed Adrian Fontes won the election and is the secretary of state-elect for Arizona. Finchem, who ran for secretary of state, and Zink, a former candidate in Congressional District 3, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 9 to overturn the results of the election. The lawsuit claimed that current Secretary of State Katie...

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage. Hundreds of people gathered on the White House South Lawn to commemorate the Respect for Marriage Act becoming law. "Today is a good day," Biden said as he took the podium after Vice President Kamala Harris. "A day America takes a vital step toward equality, for liberty and justice, not just for some, but for everyone. Toward creating a nation where decency, dignity and love are recognized, honored and protected." "We're here today to celebrate their courage and everyone who made the day possible," the president continued. "Courage...

Former president Donald Trump’s legal effort to thwart a Justice Department investigation into classified documents seized from his palatial Palm Beach estate was officially tossed out Monday. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, after being rebuked by a federal appellate court for allowing Trump’s lawsuit to move forward, brought his controversial lawsuit to a halt after the court had ordered her to end it. “This case is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” Cannon wrote in a one-page order released Monday. “The Clerk of Court shall close this case.” At the beginning of the month, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in...

RICHMOND, Va. (WVIR) - Richmond’s last remaining Confederate monument is set to come down this week. The removal of the Gen. A.P. Hill statue should begin on Monday. Hill’s remains have been at the site for more than 130 years. They will be reinterred at a cemetery in Culpeper. Plans call for moving the monument to a Black history museum, though Hill’s indirect descendants want it relocated to a former Civil War battlefield. Richmond, the onetime capital of the Confederacy, began removing its Confederate monuments in 2020 amid nationwide racial justice protests.

The Department of Energy plans to announce Tuesday that scientists have been able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power. The aim of fusion research is to replicate the nuclear reaction through which energy is created on the sun. It is a “holy grail” of carbon-free power that scientists have been chasing since the 1950s. It is still at least a decade — maybe decades — away from commercial use, but the...

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump declined Thursday to appeal a court order ending his lawsuit challenging the FBI’s seizure of documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, paving the way for investigators to finally get hold of the bulk of documents collected in the search. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week dismissed the lawsuit he filed after the Aug. 8 search. The appeals court overturned U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order appointing a special master to review the trove of documents federal agents recovered and preventing the government from using them in its investigation into Trump’s...

Election results have now been certified.

Election officials in a rural Arizona county are gearing up for a slew of legal battles after they failed to certify the results of the 2022 midterm elections, facing criminal penalties and at least two lawsuits. Two Republican supervisors in Cochise County, Arizona, voted to delay the county’s election results until Friday — four days after the state-mandated deadline. The vote quickly spurred court battles from state officials as they scramble to complete the statewide canvass, which requires certified results from all 15 counties before being completed. “It’s astounding that Cochise County officials failed to certify the election results,” Alex...

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday passed landmark legislation that would codify federal protection for marriages of same-sex and interracial couples, with Democrats securing enough votes to overcome opposition from most Republicans. The Respect for Marriage Act was approved 61-36, with unanimous support from Democrats and 12 GOP votes after defeating a filibuster and rejecting three amendments offered by Republicans who oppose the bill. The measure now returns to the House for a final vote before it can go to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it into law. The Senate vote reflects the rapidly growing public support...

WASHINGTON — A federal jury in Washington found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rhodes was on trial alongside Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell; Caldwell was the only one of the five who was not detained while awaiting trial. The jury is reading its verdict in the case. All five defendants face felony counts of seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging their duties....

Mike Lindell announced his bid to run as chairman of the Republican National Committee on Monday, mounting a challenge to Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, whom he says has “failed” the GOP after the party’s lackluster midterm performance. His announcement comes just days after the MyPillow CEO hinted at a long-shot bid to run against McDaniel, noting Republicans need someone who “knows how to run a business” at the helm of the party. “I am 100% running for the RNC chairman against Ronna McDaniel. 100%,” Lindell told Steve Bannon on his show War Room on Monday. “I’m all in, Steve.” Lindell has...

Democrat Mary Peltola has won the race for Alaska’s at-large congressional seat, NBC News projected Wednesday, defeating former governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. While the election was held earlier this month, the race was not called for weeks because of Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system where voters rank the candidates in order of preference. After the first round of voting, Peltola led Palin by more than 20 percentage points, with Republican Nick Begich, a scion of one of Alaska’s most well-known political families, in third. But because Peltola failed to win more than 50 percent, the voting...