Free Republic

A federal judge has ordered the White House to preserve records of President Trump's "meetings, phone calls, and other communications with foreign leaders." U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson,, an appointee of former President Obama, issued the directive on Thursday. The order called on the Trump administration to preserve “all records of efforts by White House or other executive branch officials to return, ‘claw back,’ ’lock down’ or recall White House records."

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Harvard University does not discriminate against Asian Americans in undergraduate admissions, handing the school a victory in a lawsuit that marks one of the latest chapters in the affirmative action debate. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs rejected claims of a plaintiff that Harvard violates the law as it considers race in selecting an incoming freshman class. While Harvard’s “admissions process may be imperfect,” Burroughs wrote, the judge concluded that statistical disparities among racial groups of applicants “are not the result of any racial animus or conscious prejudice.” The judge also found that Harvard...

A federal judge has ruled that Harvard does not discriminate against Asian Americans in its admissions process. The plaintiffs in the case presented evidence that Harvard’s “personal” scoring of individual applicants tended to be decidedly lower for otherwise high-achieving Asian students than for other racial groups. From a NY Times opinion piece I wrote about last June: Harvard evaluated applicants on the extent to which they possessed the following traits: likability, helpfulness, courage, kindness, positive personality, people like to be around them, the person is widely respected. Asian-Americans, who had the highest scores in both the academic and extracurricular...

A federal judge blocked Georgia's heartbeat bill from going into effect, striking a blow against the pro-life movement that has seen significant legislative achievements repeatedly blunted by the courts. District judge Steve C. Jones granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the state from enforcing a new law limiting abortions after a baby's heartbeat is detected, which typically occurs at six weeks. Jones said the bill potentially violates the privacy rights of women in the state. The ruling will preserve the state's existing abortion regulations until the court weighs the merits of the law. Governor Brian Kemp (R.) signed the bill,...