Free Republic

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.

The Senate on Tuesday night narrowly confirmed Justice Department official Emil Bove to a seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, hours after his confirmation was stalled over whistleblower reports that he is under investigation. Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey requested information about the alleged investigation after a third whistleblower said Bove misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing. The whistleblowers also allege Bove abused his authority while working for the Justice Department. The Senate confirmed Bove in a 50-49 split. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski...

A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing personal information held by the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote in a 28-page opinion that the plaintiffs, a coalition of unions and nonprofits, have not proven that access to members’ medical or financial records by DOGE employees would cause irreparable harm. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, found that the plaintiffs’ complaint fell short of the high bar set for litigants seeking a preliminary injunction. While DOGE’s...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench of cases from the October 2024 term this morning at 10:00.There are five cases remaining plus the immigration case from the Emergency Docket.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the Opinion release and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the court's decisions.Besides the immigration/national injunctions case of Trump v. CASA, there is the case of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton:Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred as a matter of law in applying rational-basis review, instead of strict scrutiny, to a law burdening adults' access to protected speech.andMahmoud...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench for the October 2024 term at 10:00 this morning. Scotusblog will be liveblogging as the Opinions are released and we will be following along to try to make sense of the Court's decisions. There are ten cases remaining undecided from this term. That does not include the cases on the emergency docket.

An appeals court on Friday revived a legal challenge against a Washington, D.C., law allowing noncitizens, including illegal migrants, the ability to vote in local elections. An Obama-appointed judge in March 2024 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the district law giving certain noncitizens the right to vote in elections within the District of Columbia, ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. However, an appeals court Friday breathed life back into that challenge, finding that the law could dilute the voting power of citizens. “As long as each person can be said to have suffered a distinct and concrete...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench for the October 2024 term at 10:00 this morning.Scotusblog will be liveblogging as the Opinions are released and we will be following along to try to make sense of the Court's decisions.There are 15 cases remaining undecided for this term. All cases from October, November, and December sittings have been announced. There is also several cases remaining on the Emergency Docket (mainly Trump admin related cases). Of interest from the January sitting is:Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, No. 23-1122 [Arg: 01.15.2025 ] Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred as...

The Supreme Court will be announcing opinions from the bench at 10:00 a.m. this morning.Scotusblog will be live-blogging the opinions the opinions at Scotusblog and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the court's decisions.There are 20 cases remaining undecided for this term. A list of the cases can be found at October 2024 cases.All opinions from the October and November sitting have been announced. The only remaining case from the December term is Skrmetti.Issue(s): Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow "a minor to identify with, or live as,...