Free Republic

The U.S. government cannot ban people convicted of non-violent crimes from possessing guns, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The 11-4 ruling from the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest defeat for gun control laws in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year expanding gun rights nationwide. The decision stems from a 2020 lawsuit by a Pennsylvania man, Bryan Range, who was barred under federal law from possessing a gun after pleading guilty to welfare fraud. He claimed the prohibition violated his right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the...

A white man was sentenced to probation in South Florida Tuesday for pulling a gun and yelling racial slurs in a traffic confrontation with a [black] teenagers protesting housing inequality on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2019. ...Milian ruled that Bartlett did not act reasonably in getting out of his SUV and pulling a pistol on the teenage protesters who had stopped traffic near the Brickell Bridge in downtown Miami. Bartlett had testified that he was...

Massive and ever-growing backlogs in NYC immigration courts mean migrants who want to become US citizens have to wait about three years to have their cases heard — and up to a decade to complete the entire process. At least 127,000 pending cases were mired in court at the start of the month and that number is expected to exponentially grow as the one-year deadline to file for asylum approaches for the more than 70,000 migrants who have arrived in New York City in recent months. The backlog is fueled by New York’s sanctuary city status — and asylum applicants...

Senator Ron Wyden is introducing new legislation that would ban what he calls "judge shopping." The Fair Courts Act comes after last month's decision by a Texas federal judge to reverse approval of the popular abortion drug mifepristone. Wyden says no federal judge should have this much power."When you had these anti abortion activists allowed to judge shop and put forth an illegitimate case in front of one judge 17-hundred miles from here, access to a safe and effective medication would effect nation wide! Nation wide... The choices women have!" Said the Senator. "No single judge oughta have that kind...

The ranch owner suing hunters for trespassing through his airspace to access public land says he would drop his damage claim of some $7.75 million if a judge rules in his favor in a landmark corner-crossing case. “[P]ursuit of money damages against the individual Defendants in this case detracts from important legal issues,” Eshelman’s new filing states. “[I]f the Court rules in favor of [Eshelman], declares the Defendants’ actions as being actionable trespass, and restrains further trespass, then [Eshelman] will withdraw money damage claims … in the interest of justice and judicial economy.” The hunters say they never touched Elk...

Senate Democrats advanced seven of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees through committee on Thursday with Republican votes, shelving others that lack bipartisan backing with Sen. Dianne Feinstein absent. The move by Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., marks a change in course after he had repeatedly delayed meetings since early March to advance a package of judges, lacking the decisive vote of Feinstein, D-Calif., who is out indefinitely on medical leave. “We wish our colleague, Sen. Feinstein, a speedy recovery and return,” Durbin said. “We hope she’ll be back in the Senate very soon. Today’s agenda includes a number of...

Cheyenne police entered a man’s home unlawfully to arrest him, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled in overturning his conviction. The high court in its Monday order reversed Myron Martize Woods’ 2021 Cheyenne Circuit Court conviction of interference with a peace officer for fighting officers who entered his home unlawfully to arrest him. The conviction stemmed from Feb. 13, 2020, when police investigated a dispute between Woods and his ex-girlfriend over the care of their son. Woods’ ex-girlfriend said he had grabbed her neck, but a jury later acquitted Woods on that domestic battery charge. Cheyenne Police Department officers went...

While a bitter taste still lingers from progressive wins at the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Chicago city hall, Republicans are savoring two electoral gains this week with long-term consequences: a new supermajority in the Wisconsin legislature and conservative school board wins in Chicago's suburbs. In fact, state Rep. Dan Knodl's capture of a vacant Wisconsin state Senate seat on Tuesday already has Republicans contemplating using their new two-thirds majority in the chamber to possibly remove liberal officials like elected judges and district attorneys through impeachment. Knodl said before he was elected, he would consider impeaching Milwaukee County court officials, including...

Judge Kato Crews, nominee for US District Court for the District of Colorado, appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday as part of his confirmation hearings and became the latest nominee who was unable to answer a basic legal question by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). Crews, who currently serves as a federal magistrate in Colorado, was unable to describe what the landmark US Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland was about. Brady, decided in 1963, “held that withholding exculpatory evidence violates due process ‘where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment.'” Seems like a pretty important case (and principle)...

A Glendale state senator who calls reports of a riot on Jan. 6 "a sham'' is now going after judges who sanction attorneys for filing what he believes are "good faith'' claims on behalf of clients. But Republican Anthony Kern insists it has nothing to do with his own lawyers being ordered to pay $75,000 in legal fees after he and two other lawmakers filed what a judge concluded was a frivolous lawsuit against another legislator over his role in that 2021 event at the U.S. Capitol.

Companies that rely on the gig economy model for workers scored a big win in courts Monday after an appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that previously found Proposition 22 illegal. Proposition 22 passed by a wide margin in November 2020, exempting app-based gig economy drivers from California’s terrible AB5 law and allowing them to continue to work as independent contractors. However, almost a year later, it was ruled unconstitutional by a California court. But a legal challenge to that ruling carried on, and a year and a half later, those app-based companies scored a victory, according to the...

Minnesota - Abdullah Arif, 48, of Stillwater was shot and killed last Thursday outside his tobacco shop in St. Paul. Arif’s murder is in part the result of a broken court system that has repeatedly failed to hold violent offenders accountable. Sadly, Arif’s assailant had walked out of a Ramsey County courtroom just 40 mins earlier, after appearing on a gun-related charge. If any other entity failed at public safety the way our Minnesota courts have been failing, there would be consequences. Instead, our court system continues its record-setting pace of departing from sentencing guidelines while obsessing over perceived “racial...

Freepers, this is a big deal. Those of you with a legal background. Appreciate your thoughts. Foundedonpurpose Supreme Court Refused to Hear the Brunson Case As Expected Blog/Rule of Law Posted Feb 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong COMMENT: Marty, you understand markets and the legal system. You were right again. The Supreme Court rejected the Brunson case. KQ REPLY: As I wrote before, this was an interesting argument, but it will be even more “earth-shattering if the Supreme Court actually takes the case and rules on the validity of taking an oath of office.” How can you support, and defend,...

The Supreme Court returns next week to hear oral arguments on issues ranging from the regulation of Big Tech to President Biden's student loan handout to the Jack Daniel's trademark. The case involving the famous whiskey brand, which will be heard on March 22, involves a battle that pits First Amendment rights against trademark protections. The case arises from a lawsuit brought by Jack Daniel's against VIP Products LLC for marketing and selling spoof dog toys that look like the famous whiskey bottle

The reckoning has arrived in North Carolina. As RedState reported, the prior leftwing Supreme Court majority went nuts prior to the 2022 election, knowing its tenure was not long for this world. Now-ousted Democrat members handed down multiple rulings that ignored the law. One decision struck down voter ID and another invented a constitutional provision against gerrymandering.

A former Sebastopol mayor, Robert Jacob, was convicted of six felony crimes involving the sexual abuse of a child this month. Jacob, 45, pleaded no contest to the half-dozen counts in Sonoma Superior Court on Jan. 20, capping a decade-long descent for the onetime cannabis entrepreneur and local politician, who was selected mayor by his colleagues in 2013.... ...The Press Democrat reported that the victim, age 16 by the time of the preliminary hearing last March,testified that he met Jacob on the Grindr dating app...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal jury has found that a white Ohio police officer did not violate a Black teenager’s civil rights when he shot and killed the boy while responding to a reported armed robbery. Jurors reached their verdict Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by Tyre King’s grandmother. It challenged the police account of the shooting, alleging that the 13-year-old’s death resulted from excessive force, racial discrimination and a failure by the police department to properly investigate... ...Columbus officer Bryan Mason shot King in the head and torso on Sept. 14, 2016, as the teen ran from police...

Former State Attorney Andrew Warren will not get his old job in Hillsborough County, as the federal 11th Circuit Court has ruled that it does not oversee or have jurisdiction, over Warren's claim. "Today the court upheld the governor’s decision to suspend Andrew Warren from office for neglect of duty and incompetence," stated Gov. Ron DeSantis Communications Director Taryn Fenske

A federal jury convicted a Lawrence man Thursday for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner. Chase Neill faces up to 10 years in federal prison for one felony count of threatening a public official. The charge stems from voicemails he left in June for LaTurner, a second term Republican congressman who represents much of eastern Kansas, including part of Wyandotte County.... ...In the June voicemails, Neill threatened to kill LaTurner and all other members of congress but said it would happen by an “act of God.” In the voicemail, left on June 6, Neill declared himself “son of God,”...

A judge ruled on Friday that several former Twitter employees who had filed a class action lawsuit against the social media giant must pursue individual arbitration instead. The case involved five former Twitter employees involved in a class action against Twitter for not being given adequate notice before being laid off. U.S. District judge James Donato ruled that the five former employees must pursue individual arbitration because of the arbitration agreement they had signed with Twitter.