Free Republic

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled Saturday in Right to Life of Central California v. Bonta that a state law wrongfully restricted Right to Life of Central California’s free speech rights. The court determined that SB 742, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October, likely unlawfully discriminates against Right to Life’s peaceful outreach to women, and thus granted the pro-life group’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt enforcement of discriminatory parts of the law against any speaker while the lawsuit moves forward. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Right to Life of...

SACRAMENTO -– A pro-life group won a preliminary victory against the state of California regarding SB 742, the law which restricts free speech outside of vaccination clinics. A federal court on Saturday granted the Alliance Defending Freedom's client, Right to Life of Central California, its request to halt enforcement of the unconstitutional law. “We’re encouraged by this preliminary victory. The courts correctly recognized SB 742 as a Trojan Horse attempting to block freedom of speech and assembly for pro-life Californians,” said California Family Council President Jonathan Keller. “CFC repeatedly warned both the legislature and the governor about these unconstitutional provisions....

FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced Darnell Pearson, 42, of Fresno, today to 30 years in prison for two counts of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.“This defendant sold what his customers thought was cocaine that was, in fact, fentanyl and caused the deaths of two people and serious injury to two others,” U.S. Attorney Scott stated. “These two deaths were the first reported fentanyl overdose deaths in Fresno and Madera Counties. As they demonstrate, fentanyl is extremely dangerous and is a serious public health threat...

FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced a Turlock man today to two years and three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for purposefully striking a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter with the beam of a powerful laser, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.In March 2018, Roger Shane John, 34, pleaded guilty. According to court documents, on the evening of Oct. 22, 2017, John struck a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter, Air 101, five to six times with a powerful green laser, causing visual interference of both the pilot and tactical flight...

Federal Judge Dale A. Drozd temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to send more water to Central Valley growers on Monday. Drozd issued a preliminary injunction in two lawsuits brought against the administration by California’s Natural Resources Agency and Environmental Protection Agency and a half-dozen environmental groups. Federal Pumping Can’t Increase During May The order bars the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation until May 31 from increasing water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta through the federal Central Valley Project. The suits argued that the exports would cause irreparable harm to species protected by state and federal law. “Today’s victory...