Free Republic

A federal judge tied to an ethics proposal that would bar judges from joining the Federalist Society and its would-be liberal equivalent, the American Constitution Society (ACS), was an ACS member as recently as 2010, prompting charges of bad faith from legal conservatives. The Committee on Codes of Conduct, an official judicial body that gives ethics advice to federal judges, produced a draft advisory opinion that would bar judges from joining the Federalist Society or ACS. Though the committee's work is confidential and the opinion was unsigned, conservative lawyers and commentators have pushed suspicions that Chief Judge John McConnell 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.

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a $10 million defamation lawsuit by One America News (OAN) against Rachel Maddow, finding that a "reasonable viewer" would know the MSNBC prime-time host was only offering her opinion when she called the right-leaning network "paid Russian propaganda." "Maddow had inserted her own colorful commentary into and throughout the segment, laughing, expressing her dismay (i.e., saying 'I mean, what?') and calling the segment a 'sparkly story' and one we must 'take in stride,'" Judge Cynthia Bashant wrote Friday. ...

A San Diego federal judge Friday dismissed a $10 million defamation lawsuit filed by the owners and operators of San Diego-based One America News Network against MSNBC and political commentator Rachel Maddow. Last summer, the liberal host told her viewers that the Trump-friendly conservative network “really literally is paid Russian propaganda.” U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant dismissed Herring Networks’ suit with prejudice, ruling “there is no set of facts that could support a claim for defamation based on Maddow’s statement,” made during a July 22, 2019, segment of her show. Robert Herring Sr., the 78-year-old owner and founder of the...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a California church could challenge the state mandate to pay for elective abortion through the church’s health insurance plan. Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego area, reports that the case was returned to the district court after the Ninth Circuit found the case had been improperly dismissed. The opinion issued by the Ninth Circuit states: We hold that Skyline has suffered an injury in fact. Before the Letters were sent, Skyline had insurance that excluded abortion coverage in a way that...

Judge Chatigny has a track record of favoring sexual predators over women and children. Now this same judge is prejudicing the case against female athletes by imposing a speech code on their counsel. The year was 2010. President Barack Obama was in office, and Democrats controlled the Senate. Obama could practically get any judge he wanted, but he could not get his nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Robert Chatigny, confirmed based on ChatignyÂ’s track record of favoring sexual predators over women and children. Now this same judge is prejudicing the case against female athletes...

Five Central American asylum seekers ordered to remain in Mexico by federal authorities will be able to reunite with their families in Massachusetts until their immigration cases are decided, a federal judge in Boston ruled Thursday. . . . American authorities have said the “Remain in Mexico” policy has helped significantly reduce illegal border crossings. Civil rights groups complain it violates constitutional rights.

A three-judge federal appeals court said Tuesday the DOJ’s settlement with Fokker Services B.V. for alleged sanctions violations could go ahead after a district court judge rejected the arrangement as “anemic.” The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC said prosecutors and not judges make decisions to enter into deferred prosecution agreement with corporate defendants. In February 2015, federal district court judge Richard Leon refused to approve the settlement. He said the proposed $21 million penalty was “grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Fokker Sercvices’ conduct in a post-911 world.” Holland-based Fokker Services admitted in a 2014 plea deal that...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday revived a lawsuit from the Maryland and Washington, D.C. attorneys general that accuses President Trump of violating the Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses by benefiting from use of the Trump International Hotel by foreign and U.S. officials. The case previously had been ordered dismissed by a Fourth Circuit panel. But the full roster of judges reheard the case and, in a 9-6 decision, determined Trump cannot have the court overrule a lower court’s decision to deny him certification to appeal before trial. “Notably, notwithstanding the President’s vigorous assertion that the court...

Federal Judge Dale A. Drozd temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to send more water to Central Valley growers on Monday. Drozd issued a preliminary injunction in two lawsuits brought against the administration by California’s Natural Resources Agency and Environmental Protection Agency and a half-dozen environmental groups. Federal Pumping Can’t Increase During May The order bars the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation until May 31 from increasing water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta through the federal Central Valley Project. The suits argued that the exports would cause irreparable harm to species protected by state and federal law. “Today’s victory...

A federal judge in Kentuck has overturned Governor Andy Beshear’s ban on mass gatherings as it relates to in-person church services. The ruling clears the way for churchgoers to attend services on Sunday.

A federal judge in Oregon who previously blocked President Trump’s order to bar immigrants who lacked or could not afford health insurance refused to do the same with regard to Trump’s recent pause on green cards.

he U.S. Supreme Court has ordered officials in San Jose, California, to explain why they confiscated the legally owned guns of Lori Rodriguez. They still have them. The case was brought by the Second Amendment Foundation on behalf of the woman. The Supreme Court justices have instructed city officials to respond by May 20. "We’re encouraged by this development in the case," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "If the city thought they could just ignore this case and make it go away, they’re wrong." "Her firearms were seized seven years ago after her husband was...

In the District Court, petitioners challenged a New York City rule regarding the transport of firearms. Petitioners claimed that the rule violated the Second Amendment. Petitioners sought declaratory and injunctive relief against enforcement of the rule insofar as the rule prevented their transport of firearms to a second home or shooting range outside of the city. The District Court and the Court of Appeals rejected petitioners’ claim. See 883 F. 3d 45 (CA2 2018). We granted certiorari. 586 U. S. ___ (2019). After we granted certiorari, the State of New York amended its firearm licensing statute, and the City amended...

An appeals court has reinstated a California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, reversing a federal judge’s decision to stop the checks that he said violate the constitutional right to bear arms. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the state attorney general’s request to stay the judge’s order. “This means that the same restrictions that have been previously in effect regarding ammunition in California are back for the time being,” the National Rifle Association, which hailed the judge’s injunction, said in a news release. The law, which took effect last July, requires Californians to pass...

The Department of Justice will appeal to the Supreme Court after it was ordered to hand over sealed documents from former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation to Congress. The department on Friday asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay its ruling while it petitions the high court. "Whether and under what circumstances Congress may resort to the courts to seek grand jury materials generated in a criminal investigation in aid of an impeachment inquiry is plainly a question of great significance to all three branches of government, as well as to the functioning of the grand jury...

A federal appeals court has overturned a judge’s ruling and allowed the state of Arkansas to ban abortions under an order to stop medically unnecessary procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Arkansas is one of several states that included elective abortions in its restrictions on non-essential medical procedures during the pandemic. Earlier this spring, the state Department of Health ordered a halt to procedures “that can be safely postponed” except for instances to prevent the death, permanent physical damage or disease advancement of a patient. State leaders included the killing of unborn babies in abortions in their order. However, the Little...

A court awarded an atheist group approximately $456,000 after they won a years-long lawsuit against a South Carolina school district for holding graduation ceremonies with prayer and hymns. Last year, the American Humanist Association won a lawsuit against Greenville County School District for their practice of holding graduation ceremonies with sectarian religious elements. The U.S. District Court for South Carolina awarded AHA $446,466 in attorney fees and $9,776 in other expenses on Tuesday, which was below the previous requested amount of $584,026. Greenville County Schools told local media outlet Fox Carolina that they are probably going to appeal both the...

The federal judge overseeing the trial of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone on Thursday denied his motion for a new trial that was based on a claim of juror bias. Federal District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone's lawyers failed to demonstrate that a woman selected as a juror was biased against President Donald Trump, failed to disclose those views during jury selection and should not have been allowed to serve. "The defendant has not shown that the juror lied; nor has he shown that the supposedly disqualifying evidence could not have been found through the exercise of due...

San Francisco, CA – When the Center for Medical Progress released its shocking series of videos in the summer of 2015, showing undercover footage of Planned Parenthood abortionists and executives discussing their lucrative trade in body parts harvested from aborted babies, it caused a tsunami of bad publicity for the nation’s largest supplier of abortions. The sale of tissues and organs of aborted babies for profit is illegal under 42 U.S. Codes 274e and 289g-2. It was not long before a San Francisco, California, Federal Court Judge placed a gag order sealed up much of the evidence gathered during the...