Free Republic

A Nashville judge is calling the state's tax on illegal drugs "unconstitutional". The levy took effect in 2005 and applies to substances like cocaine, crack, methamphetamine and marijuana. Chancellor Richard Dinkins says the tax violates the defendants' right against self incrimination and to due process and is levied long before the accused stands trial. The ruling stopped the state from collecting more than one million dollars from Jeremy Robbins, who is one of at least eight people accused of moving two tons of marijuana from Arizona to East Tennessee. The ruling applies only to the Robbins case; legal experts say...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 - The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to approve a bill tightening immigration laws in the name of border security. The main provisions of the bill, which passed 261 to 161, block states from issuing standard drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants and make it easier for judges to expel asylum seekers. Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin and sponsor of the bill, said that the measures were necessary to fulfill recommendations of the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Noting that several of the men involved in those attacks were...