Free Republic

Legal conservatives find themselves in an unusual position: originalism has reached unprecedented acceptance within the judiciary and the bar. A majority of Supreme Court justices—including at least one appointed by a Democratic president—identify as originalists, or at least strive toward originalism. Guided by the original understanding of those who ratified the Constitution and the Reconstruction Amendments, the High Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, ended the use of race in higher education, and recognized the individual right to own firearms. But some find these successes disorienting. Originalism’s victories have triggered an important debate among conservatives. Some wonder if originalism is...

[TX] Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on law enforcement officials across North Texas to launch investigations into what he says may be illegal Sharia tribunals operating as rogue courts in Collin and Dallas counties. In a letter sent to local district attorneys, sheriffs, the Texas attorney general, and the Department of Public Safety, Abbott warned that certain entities may be “masquerading as legal ‘courts’ staffed with ‘judges’ issuing orders” that claim to bind individuals to Islamic law—actions he says could violate multiple state criminal statutes. Abbott noted that the First Amendment provides wide latitude for religious bodies to adjudicate internal...

The Trump administration has canceled several New York judicial citizenship ceremonies over unmet legal requirements and will no longer let county courts or state supreme court justices preside over them.U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is "dedicated to ensuring that all aspects of the naturalization process comply with federal law," agency spokesperson Matthew Tragesser told TV station WSYR on Wednesday.“After reviewing the jurisdiction of certain New York County courts under the Immigration and Nationality Act, we have determined that these courts do not meet the statutory requirements to conduct naturalization ceremonies," he said. \As a result, the agency will USCIS move...

Department of Justice leadership directed federal prosecutors to give them examples by Friday of hurdles they have encountered with judges when working on cases about attacks on law enforcement and Antifa.... The areas were laid out in a bulleted list and included assaults on law enforcement, obstruction of immigration authorities, investigations into certain "domestic terror organizations, such as Antifa" or "interstate threats, doxxing, and/or hoaxes...." "Courts exist to apply the law, not invent policy from the bench," the spokesperson said. "The Department is committed to strengthening our litigation posture at every level so we can better defend public safety initiatives...

ROLLINS, SEC. OF AGRIC., ET AL. V. RI COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, ET AL. The application for stay presented to Justice Jackson is referred to the Court. The administrative stay entered on November 7, 2025, is hereby extended until 11:59 p.m. (EST) on November 13, 2025. Justice Jackson would deny the request for extension of the administrative stay and would deny the application

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will hold a rally in Texas on Saturday opposing the state’s redistricting efforts alongside local Democratic lawmakers, days after Golden State voters backed a measure to redraw their own congressional districts. Texas was the first of several red states that followed President Trump’s directive to change their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. Though some blue states considered redrawing their maps through the legislatures, Newsom elected to have voters choose if California should proceed with his plan. “California stepped up. Now, we are taking this fight across the country — helping Democrats in other...

Pennsylvania voters have rejected a Republican effort to remove three Democrats from the state Supreme Court. The stakes of Tuesday’s election were high: Had Pennsylvanians voted to remove the justices, the court would have gone from a seven-member Democratic majority to a four-member group with a complete ideological split. The three justices’ vacant seats would not have been filled until another election at the end of 2027. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court regularly holds these kinds of votes for its justices. The justices are first selected in partisan elections, but at the end of their 10-year terms, voters then decide whether to...

A federal appeals court ruled on Oct. 20 that President Donald Trump may deploy National Guard troops to deal with violence directed against federal immigration facilities in Portland while the case works its way through the lower courts.

Two men suspected of Islamic terrorist links arrested this week in Spain were arrested near a nuclear-powered electricity-generating plant, authorities said. Officials in the central region of Guadalajara said on 30 September that a police patrol stopped and briefly questioned Moroccan Mohamed El Ouazzani and Moroccan-born Khalid Zeimi Pardo close to the Zorita nuclear power plant. The men were asked for their papers at the time, and after it was confirmed that they were in the country legally and had no criminal records, were let go. Ouazzani and Zeimi Pardo were among five men arrested Tuesday in three Spanish cities...

A North Dakota judge has upheld the state's law banning transgender treatments for minors, ruling that it doesn't violate the state constitution. District Judge Jackson Lofgren said in his decision Wednesday that the law discriminates on the basis of age and medical purpose, not sex, and that there’s little evidence the state legislature passed the law for “an invidious discriminatory purpose,” The Associated Press reported. He also mentioned the various concerns and ongoing debates over transgender medical treatments. “The evidence presented at trial establishes there is a legitimate concern regarding the capacity of minors to understand and appreciate the long-term...

Three women opposed to President Trump's intense immigration raids in Los Angeles were indicted Friday on charges of illegally "doxing" a U.S. Customs and Immigration agent, authorities said. Ashleigh Brown, Cynthia Raygoza and Sandra Carmona Samane face charges of disclosing the personal information of a federal agent and conspiracy... According to the indictment, the three women followed an ICE agent from the federal building on 300 North Los Angeles Street in downtown L.A. to the agent's residence in Baldwin Park. They live-streamed the entire event, according to the indictment. Once they arrived at the agent's home, prosecutors allege the women...

The Labour Party government has argued that allowing Sharia courts to operate in the United Kingdom is a fundamental “British value” and has refused to distance itself from a broad stroke definition of so-called Islamophobia, which critics say would brand discussions around Muslim child rape grooming gangs as potentially illegally racist. -- Pressed on Tuesday in the House of Commons by Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin as to whether the government supported the existence of Sharia courts in the UK, Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services, Sarah Sackman, unequivocally backed their right to operate. The Labour MP for Finchley...

Reclaiming the Balance of Power in America By CIB-173RDABN Reclaiming the Balance of Power in America Over the last several decades, America’s federal government has slowly drifted away from the constitutional balance of power intended by the Founders. The system we live under today isn’t always governed by our elected officials, but increasingly by unelected bureaucrats, activist judges, and defiant state governments. This shift didn’t happen overnight — it was allowed, piece by piece, as Congress became lazy, states ignored federal law, and the courts replaced interpretation with ideology. President Trump — whether by design or by instinct — appears...

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has taken the decision to remove a new Banksy mural due to the building being listed and therefore legally protected. However, some feel that they are “silencing a work of art about silencing protest”... A new Banksy artwork that sprung up this week at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has been scrubbed off. As we reported this week, the mural by the ever-elusive street artist depicted a helpless protester lying on the ground holding a blood-spattered placard, while a judge loomed over him wielding a gavel. British police moved quickly to cover-up...

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts and must share search data. Alphabet shares popped 6% in extended trading. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, including selling off its Chrome browser, which provides data that helps its advertising business deliver targeted ads. “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision states. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking...

A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict a woman accused of threatening President Donald Trump on social media, another sign of pushback from D.C. residents over the use of federal law enforcement and deployment of National Guard troops in the city. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accused Nathalie Rose Jones of Indiana of threatening to take the life of the president and transmitting threats over state lines on Instagram and Facebook. Jones allegedly called Trump a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She attended a march in Washington...

President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that tariffs are driving more than $15 trillion in new U.S. investment and that if courts should strike them down, the U.S. would likely become a "Third World Nation." Trump’s post comes in direct response to a federal appeals court delivering a major legal setback to his trade policy, declaring most of his sweeping tariffs unlawful under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The decision supports earlier rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade. Although they are still in effect, the tariffs face an uncertain future unless the Supreme Court intervenes....

It seems to be a given that the courts have the final say in whether a law, or an executive order, is constitutional, but the reality is not always so clear.According to a Newsmax report, “on Thursday [8/21], the high court ruled that the Trump administration can proceed with making sweeping cuts to National Institutes of Health diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) grants.” In doing so, SCOTUS reversed a lower court.This reversal is a good one, but the problem is that it was necessary because a rogue lower court had defied the Supreme Court, which had already ruled that courts...

President Donald Trump has ordered federal law enforcement to patrol Washington, D.C., for seven days starting at midnight on Friday, the White House announced. The move comes in response to a surge in violent crime in the overwhelmingly Democrat-run nation's capital.The deployment includes agencies like the U.S. Park Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement."Starting...

A federal appeals court lifted a judge's order on Friday that prevented the Trump administration from ending union bargaining for federal workers. Six unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), had obtained an injunction that was issued by U.S. District Judge James Donato, a lower court judge. A three-judge panel on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused the injunction, which prevented 21 federal agencies from implementing Trump's executive order from March ending union bargaining for federal workers.