Free Republic

A Washington state school district has agreed to publicly apologize, undergo religious liberty training and pay $275,000 in attorney’s fees after a lawsuit challenged policies that required elementary school students to keep Bibles concealed in sealed envelopes, according to a Christian education organization whose CEO says children felt pressured to hide their faith. Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday that parents described the emotional toll of the Everett School District’s restrictions, which also included requiring families to submit permission slips every week for their children to attend voluntary, off-campus Bible...

A Missouri judge who ordered two children locked inside juvenile detention cells because they refused to leave a courthouse with their mother has been dealt a humiliating defeat in federal court. On Tuesday, October 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled against Missouri Circuit Judge Eric Eighmy, concluding that his outrageous handling of a family custody dispute violated the children’s clearly established constitutional rights. The decision, written by Circuit Judge David Stras, upheld a jury’s $10,000 damages award to the children, along with a staggering $326,637.22 in attorney fees and costs. And the reason for the...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday added three new cases to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term, agreeing to decide, among other things, what kinds of orders trial courts can issue in disputes over access to government information and whether working as a cook in a camp run by violent separatists qualifies as providing “material support” for terrorism under federal immigration law. President Donald Trump created the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, in January 2025 to advance his agenda by “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Although it is not...

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives today released an Open Letter and Frequently Asked Questions explaining how it will treat ownership, transfer, and transportation of the National Firearms Act firearms for which Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The guidance follows an announcement by Attorney General Todd Blanche that the Department of Justice will not appeal an August decision made by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which held that certain provisions of the NFA were unenforceable. In that decision, the court enjoined enforcement of...

As faithful P&E readers will recall, over the years your humble servant has made several “modest proposals” seeking to address unresolved issues then percolating in the Republic. Most, if not all of those proposals, have dealt with the “birthright citizenship” and “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) matters under the 14th Amendment and “Eligibility Clause” provisions of the Constitution. Well, a recent decision of Florida federal District Court Judge David Leibowitz declaring a federal statute – 18 U.S.C. § 611 unconstitutional – presents an opportunity for one more proposal. This one, however, would be specifically directed to the clarification, if not outright...

Wisconsin voters will decide in November whether to approve three proposed amendments to the state Constitution. The Republican-led Legislature has placed three separate questions on the ballot. The proposed amendments would: *Prohibit the governor from using the partial veto power to create a new tax or fee. *Prohibit the government from ordering the closure of places of worship during an emergency. *Bar the government entities from discriminating against or providing preferential treatment to individuals based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. Under Wisconsin law, a proposed constitutional amendment must pass the state Legislature in the exact same form...

Boulder’s climate lawsuit would return the U.S. to the era of the Articles of Confederation. The Supreme Court kicks off a new term Monday with a case ostensibly about climate change but with much bigger stakes. The real issue in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County is whether states and localities can turn federalism on its head to dictate policy for the rest of the country.Boulder and more than 30 other state and local governments have sued oil and gas producers for alleged damage caused by their global CO2 emissions. Boulder wants compensation for wildfires, the costs for mitigating pest infestations,...

My outlook on the upcoming mid-terms is bleak. With so many Socialists running throughout the United States, one would think that this is a great time die for the Republican candidates to talk about the U.S. Constitution. Instead, it seems that once again, the Republicans are steadfast in their ways to give this election to the Democrats. What say you fellow Freepers?

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., questioned Wednesday whether the Trump administration provided due process when it barred three major media outlets from access to the White House. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the administration's process did not appear to comply with two earlier D.C. Circuit rulings, Sherrill v. Knight and Karem v. Trump, requiring due process before reporters' hard passes can be revoked, the Washington Examiner reported. "The government said those cases were wrongly decided," Kelly, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said at the hearing. "Maybe they were wrongly decided, maybe they weren't. But as a district...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a landmark decision just weeks before people head to the polls to vote in the midterms, the United States Supreme Court ruled that securing elections was unconstitutional. Despite efforts from the Trump administration to secure U.S. elections by restricting mail-in ballots and ensuring only citizens would be allowed to vote, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that declared any attempt to prevent widespread fraud from rigging elections to be a clear violation of the Constitution. "Making sure elections are legal is illegal," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority opinion. "There is no provision in the...

A troubling court ruling out of Maine should have Christians paying attention. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has upheld an order giving a father final authority to prevent his daughter from attending an evangelical church after arguments that the religious environment was psychologically harmful to the girl. At the center of the controversy is Calvary Chapel Greater Portland in Westbrook, Maine, where the girl's mother, Emily Bickford, had been taking her to services. Her father, Matthew Bradeen, objected. In 2024, a Portland District Court gave him authority to determine whether his daughter could continue attending the church, and Maine's highest...

WASHINGTON — House Democrats voted down a proposed constitutional amendment to lock in the number of justices on the Supreme Court at nine. The amendment failed in a 212-206 vote, far short of the two-thirds majority needed to get it through the lower chamber. Only one Democrat, Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina, voted with Republicans in support of the proposed amendment. Republicans brought up the constitutional amendment as part of an effort to accuse Democrats of seeking to pack the high court due to its conservative majority and tie them to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “We will...

On Dec. 13 last year, a stranger in a Brown University bathroom noticed a man dressed head to toe in black, wrong for the weather, mere hours before that same man opened fire on Brown University’s campus, killing two and wounding eight before vanishing. Investigators had almost nothing: no name, no plate, just a tip describing a gray Nissan with Florida plates. But that was enough: Providence police ran it through a network of more than 70 Flock Safety cameras, which reached back through 30 days of history, and found the car had passed 14 times since Dec. 1. “We...

(Aug. 22, 2026) — INTRODUCTION The recent SCOTUS decision in Trump v. Barbara – holding, among other things, that if born here on U.S. soil, the child of an illegal alien or a foreigner unlawfully present here is nonetheless a U.S. citizen – continues to produce fallout. While technically not radioactive, the fallout is nonetheless unhealthy to the continued wellbeing of the Republic. If you doubt that, just read the dissenting opinions of Justices Thomas and Alito and the partial dissent of Justice Kavanaugh. Your humble servant has addressed the decision and the shortcomings of the majority opinion here. The...

The Constitution’s stated goals are in the Preamble: a more perfect Union, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty for living and for posterity. If those are the ends you actually love, the consistent opposites are what undermine them: Disunion and factionalism that treat the country as a temporary alliance of tribes rather than a single people under one law. Injustice—unequal application of law, corruption of courts, or rule by status instead of by rules. Disorder that the government fails to suppress: endemic crime, riots, or private violence that makes ordinary life insecure. Weakness or...

Abdul El-Sayed has attracted national attention after invoking Jesus Christ while defending political ideas critics describe as radical. “Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, was considered radical in his time too,” the Democratic nominee for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat recently said. But whether a Muslim politician accurately understands Jesus is not the most consequential question surrounding El-Sayed's faith. There is another question that reaches directly into the responsibilities of public office: What role does Sharia play when a politician who considers it an obligation before God is making laws for Americans who do not believe in it? That question...

Last week was interesting for anyone concerned about Islam’s growing influence in America. Recently revealed were the 2009 remarks made by Michigan US Senate nominee, Democrat and avowed Muslim, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. He reportedly shared that, while in medical school, he chose to obtain a loan that was compliant with Islamic law—Sharia. In fact, he proclaimed that, as a Muslim, he would always follow Sharia in “everything” he ever sought to do. Some may dismiss these remarks, made 17 years ago, as those of a man simply dedicated deeply to his religion—one he embraces totally separate from his political views...

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that some federal gun restrictions can no longer stand after Republicans last year zeroed out the taxes that justified their constitutionality. Congress relied on its taxing authority to pass the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA), which established a $200 fee to transfer or make certain firearms. But last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the tax for short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and silencers. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix said that has “constitutional consequences.” The law’s registration and recordkeeping requirements for those guns can’t continue, he ruled. “Because today’s NFA does not generate any...

A federal judge in Mississippi ruled Wednesday that “tower dump” warrants are unconstitutional, declining to reverse a lower court decision refusing the government’s request to obtain the search warrants in a series of violent crime investigations. A “tower dump” involves cellphone companies providing law enforcement with access to the time and location data of all mobile devices connected to specific cell towers during a designated time window. Law enforcement had sought approval for several of these search warrants as part of criminal investigations into gang-related activity in the Jackson, Miss., area last year, arguing the data could help identify all...

Texas Congressman Brandon Gill is a rising superstar in the Republican Party.You might have caught him dressing down the Smithsonian director with instant-classics like asking if politeness is a form of “white supremacy.”Things that are “white supremacist,” according to the left:Being polite.Being on time.Being objective.We let this insanity go unanswered for years. That ends now. pic.twitter.com/LpXtZAE2NP— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) July 23, 2026Unlike a lot of other GOP politicians, however, Gill isn’t just going to toss a few scraps of red meat our way while ignoring it’s actually his job to solve problems.Congress is not political theater and you guys...