Free Republic

Jussie Smollett's attorneys want the actor released from jail while they appeal his conviction of lying to Chicago police about a racist and homophobic attack and the 150-day jail sentence a judge handed down The way Smollett's attorneys see it, such an order is justified because it's almost certain that Smollett would complete his 150-day jail sentence — which could shrink to 75 days if he behaves himself in jail — before the appeals on the conviction and sentence are decided. They also say it's important that Smollett be released because they are worried about his mental health if he...

The Texas Supreme Court dealt a final blow to abortion providers’ federal challenge to the state’s latest abortion restrictions Friday. The court ruled that state medical licensing officials do not have authority to enforce the law, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. This was the last, narrowly cracked window that abortion providers had left to challenge the law after the U.S. Supreme Court decimated their case in a December ruling. The law has a unique private-enforcement mechanism that empowers private citizens to sue anyone who, in the law’s language, “aids or abets” an abortion after fetal cardiac...

<p>Special Counsel John Durham on March 4 told a federal judge not to dismiss a charge against a lawyer who lied to the FBI about representing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.</p><p>Michael Sussman was representing the Clinton campaign when in 2016 he passed along information to an FBI counsel. His lawyers say the documents “raised national security concerns” while prosecutors describe them as purportedly detailing a covert channel between a Russian bank and the business of Donald Trump, Clinton’s rival at the time.</p>

The period for candidates and their supporters to circulate petitions to qualify for Pennsylvania’s May 17 primary election was put on temporary hold Wednesday by the state Supreme Court. The justices issued an order that applies to all races — congressional and legislative contests, as well as U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor. The three-week petition gathering period was set to kick off Tuesday and last for three weeks. Instead, the high court noted it was hearing oral argument Feb. 18 in a case that will determine the lines of congressional districts. Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts spokesperson Stacey Witalec...

On the first day that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office on Jan. 15, one of the first executive orders he signed was one allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates. Now, this is obviously in the best interests of both the parents and the children in Virginia.But that didn’t stop people who seem to want to be hidebound to masks from objecting. The order has faced multiple challenges including from a group of parents in Chesapeake, Virginia. They claimed that Youngkin was bound by state law to mandate masks.Now the decision from the Virginia Supreme Court...

Parents have been denied the right to know the rate of adverse reactions to the Covid-19 vaccination in children.A High Court judge in the UK has sided with government policy to keep secret the number of children who have suffered adverse reactions—including any who have died—as a result of having the vaccine.A mother, identified only as EF, had asked the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) to release the data so that parents can make an informed decision about having their child vaccinated. After the ONS refused, EF took legal action to force it to reveal the numbers, and she...

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will continue to work remotely instead of appearing in person at the U.S. Supreme Court because fellow Justice Neil Gorsuch refuses to wear a mask in court, according to a report by National Public Radio. NPR reported Tuesday that the justices were like a “dysfunctional family”:

A federal appeals court shot down the bid of Democratic lawyer and discredited dossier funder Marc Elias to wriggle out of sanctions for misleading the court. The former Perkins Coie lawyer, best known for funding British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier while he worked as Hillary Clinton’s top campaign lawyer in 2016, was punished by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in March. The reprimand came for his deceptive behavior in a battle against a Republican-backed Texas law banning straight-ticket voting. An attorney for Elias called the sanctions “unprecedented” in late December and...

The U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow will hold oral arguments on whether to allow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine mandates to go into effect while appeals are heard in the courts of appeals. Sean Marotta, a partner at Hogan Lovells and AHA outside counsel, will be providing real-time analysis of the oral arguments, which will begin at 10 a.m. ET. See a preview blog here breaking down the legal issues confronting the Court and what to look for when the Justices hear the oral arguments. Visit AHA’s webpage tomorrow at 10 a.m....

I hate asking the question, but nothing is guaranteed anymore. The fact that there are more Republican-appointed justices than not bodes well for inherent rights and freedom in 2022’s big cases, in particular the anon vaccine cases, but with Roberts the Squish and three neophyte Trump appointees coming into their own, anything is possible. As an interesting aside, the three surviving retired justices (O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter) all joined the ranks courtesy of Republican presidents and subsequently tilted leftward. Has any justice ever moved right? When it’s all said and done, the idea of an absolutely safe constitutional court is...

“The Seventh Circuit was skeptical Thursday of a parks advocacy organization’s arguments opposing the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park, in a case that has left many supporters of the former president bewildered and angry. “If the Clinton Foundation had approached New York City and asked for 20 acres of Central Park for its Harlem headquarters, it would have been laughed out of court. “But that is essentially what the Obama Foundation asked of Chicago - and got, in a sweetheart deal inked under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as Obama’s chief of staff....

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Court of Appeals won't order a hospital to use a deworming drug to treat a man who has health problems related to COVID-19. The court said it won't disrupt the judgment of doctors at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. “A court directive in this matter could open the door for a flood of similar suits from other patients with COVID-19, not to mention other conditions, suing to obtain care that is contrary to hospital policies,” the court said Friday. The daughter of a 68-year-old man sued after doctors refused to use...

Craig Wright claims to be inventor of BitcoinCraig Wright, a computer scientist who claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin, prevailed in a civil trial verdict Monday against the family of a deceased business partner that claimed it was owed half of a cryptocurrency fortune worth tens of billions. A Florida jury found that Wright did not owe half of 1.1 million Bitcoin to the family of David Kleiman. The jury did award $100 million in intellectual property rights to a joint venture between the two men, a fraction of what Kleiman's lawyers were asking for at trial. “This was...

CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett took the witness stand Monday at his trial on charges of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself and lying to Chicago police about it. On the witness stand Monday, Smollett told the jury how he grew up in a close-knit family of six children and started performing as a child actor before getting more into music. He said he “came to terms with my sexuality” in his early 20s, when he got involved in charity organizations, including a group that fights AIDS in the Black community

On Thanksgiving weekend, Sun Ng, a 71-year-old man who spent 22 days on a ventilator with COVID-19, was discharged following a court-mandated successful treatment cycle of ivermectin.NAPERVILLE, Illinois (LifeSiteNews) — An elderly, critically-ill COVID patient who was repeatedly denied ivermectin has made a full recovery after a court ordered the hospital to treat him with the potentially life-saving drug.On Thanksgiving weekend, Sun Ng, a 71-year-old man who spent 22 days on a ventilator with COVID-19, was discharged from Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, following a successful treatment cycle of ivermectin. Despite the drug’s efficacy, the hospital had only agreed to...

Despite the fact that Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges, leftist student organizations are working to get him banned from campus. Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in the shootings that left two dead and a third injured in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year amid the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots, but those facts are irrelevant to left-wing students who want him banned from Arizona State University campus where he is enrolled. Led by Students for Socialism, four groups plan to rally Wednesday for Rittenhouse’s removal. The 18-year-old enrolled for classes in October and plans to continue his studies...

Brothers & Sisters, we are in court hearing #15 today. Husband was awarded custody of his children just over a year ago. Children's mother is furious and is attacking, persecuting and using to court system to harass and harm us. Please pray for us in the Name of Jesus for protection and wisdom, and to bind satanic attack and wiles through demonic spirits. We give thanks for the coming victory in God's plan at the end of the day.

Federal prosecutors accused Steve Bannon and his lawyers of attempting to try in the media the contempt of Congress charges the former White House strategist faces for defying subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol. In a court filing submitted Sunday night, the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office pushed back on the defense's effort to unseal all evidence in the case, including grand jury testimony. The prosecutors argued that the move would be unusual and extreme in a criminal case. "The defense’s misleading claims, failure to confer, unexplained wholesale opposition, and extrajudicial statements make clear the...

attorney Evita Tolu’s life took a drastic turn after she came forward and filed suit against what she says are corrupt court-appointed officials who drained her finances and alienated her from her children while subjecting them to abuse. Her lawsuit caused the recusals of not only the entire 21st Judicial Circuit but the entire Eastern District federal court in Missouri as well, due to so many conflicts of interest in her case alleging court corruption. Her appeal after her original suit was dismissed on the basis of immunity for the defendants will be heard by the Missouri Supreme Court. Since...

The American Civil Liberties Union should not cavalierly take the side of prosecutors against the concept of self-defense. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who shot and killed two men during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer, was acquitted on Friday. Prosecutors had charged him with first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, but the jury was persuaded by Rittenhouse's argument that he acted in self-defense. For anyone who had followed the trial closely, this outcome is unsurprising. The prosecution simply did not meet its burden of proof, and Rittenhouse's...