Free Republic

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday in favor of a Brooklyn man who said he had been falsely accused by police officers of resisting arrest, saying he could sue for malicious prosecution under a federal civil rights law.The vote was 6 to 3, with the majority deciding only the narrow question of what the man, Larry Thompson, had to show to meet a requirement that there was a favorable termination of the prosecution against him. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, said it was enough that prosecutors had dropped the charges, rejecting the view that Mr. Thompson had...

In his address to the joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump asserted, “Education is the civil rights issue of our time.” Trump invited Denisha Merriweather to be a guest in the gallery. “As a young girl, Denisha struggled in school and failed third grade twice,” the president said. “But then she was able to enroll in a private center for learning, with the help of a tax credit scholarship program.” In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in October of 2014, Denisha said Florida’s tax-credit scholarship program “saved” her.

The Justice Department was running into immediate hurdles Monday in its investigation of possible civil rights violations by George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin -- namely, that after examining the case for more than a year, the evidence has not changed. Though the department announced after Zimmerman's acquittal that it would consider a possible federal case, previously filed FBI documents show agents have not turned up any accounts that Zimmerman, before the February 2012 shooting, exhibited racial bias.

During a April 24th speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Attorney General Eric Holder said that creating a "pathway to earned citizenship" was a "civil right.” "Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential. The way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented – by creating a mechanism for them to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows – transcends the issue of immigration status. This is a matter of civil and human rights. It is about who we are as a nation. And...

Can anyone just march into a recruiting office and demand his constitutionally guaranteed civil RIGHT to serve? Or does he first have to qualify? Mentally, educationally, physically, healthwise, morally, etc? Wanted: A few good MEN (girly-men in a pinch)

The financier and major donor to liberal causes said Tuesday that it's become a disadvantage for the group to be primarily funded by Americans because the U.S. has lost the "moral high ground" when it comes to fighting abuses.

A group of Western Republicans are searching high and low for an opportunity to push ahead with legislation to allow citizens to bring concealed weapons into national parks. House and Senate bills would codify a Bush-era rule to allow visitors to carry concealed firearms into national parks and wildlife... "This is not an environmental issue, this is a civil rights issue," said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), one of the co-sponsors of the House bill, H.R. 1684 (pdf). "The Constitution trumps NEPA. Period." In court filings late last week, Interior said it would comply with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's injunction...

Coretta S. King was a dignified, wonderful lady in every since of the word. So as she departed this world, the order of her funeral should have reflected that. Bitter partisan politicking from a few Ex-Presidents and Civil Rights leaders were mixed in with singing and praise of Coretta S. King. As President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush sat behind their attackers, the lashing began. From the Rev. Joseph Lowery came the rebuke:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - John McTernan, an activist lawyer who fought landmark civil rights and labor cases and defended witnesses summoned by the House Un-American Activities Committee, has died. He was 94. McTernan died March 28 in his sleep at his Santa Monica home, his family told the Los Angeles Times. He argued several times before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of government policies during the Cold War such as forcing workers to take loyalty oaths. One of his most important cases came in 1957. The Supreme Court concluded that defendants have the right to know about...