Free Republic

Judge Juan Merchan fined former President Donald Trump $9,000 Tuesday and held him in contempt for violating his gag order, warning he may impose jail time for future violations. Merchan ordered Trump to remove the offending posts by 2:15 pm Tuesday and to pay the fine by May 3. He rejected Trump’s defense that he was simply engaging in political speech by responding to attacks by witnesses like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, writing that the Court is “keenly aware of, and protective of, Defendant’s First Amendment rights, particularly given his candidacy for the office of President of the United...

An appeals court judge Wednesday denied a request by former President Donald Trump to pause enforcement of the $454 million judgment he was ordered to pay in his New York civil fraud case. But Judge Anil Singh’s ruling in Manhattan Supreme Court allows Trump and his two adult sons to stay in control of their companies while the former president seeks to appeal the massive fine. The Trumps can also continue to apply for loans from financial institutions chartered or registered in New York during this time, the judge ruled.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows unilaterally ruled that former President Donald Trump is unqualified to appear on the 2024 primary ballot despite lacking a law degree and substituting YouTube videos for due process. Bellows, who previously worked as Executive Director of the Maine Chapter of the ACLU but is not an attorney and did not attend law school, made the legal conclusion in her ruling that “the declaration on [Trump’s] candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The secretary of state, a...

A self-proclaimed “Christmas Lawyer” faces losing his legal license after he criticized a judge who banned his festive home display, which featured a live camel and 700,000 bulbs, allegedly calling the justice “corrupt” and a “hateful anti-Christian bigot.” Jeremy Morris was informed the Idaho State Bar has “probable cause to proceed with formal charges” against him for accusing federal Judge B. Lynn Winmill of corruption following an ongoing legal battle with the West Hayden Estates Homeowners Association. “The Idaho State Bar has made it clear they’re going to protect their friends, in this case, a federal judge,” Morris told Fox...

Democrat-appointed judge ordered Republican legislature to create one new black-majority congressional district and seven such districts for state elections. Judge Jones said if the legislature fails to act, he would carry out the map-drawing process himself.

DC_Draino @DC_Draino Democrat donates to organization that attacks politicians who support President Trump after J6 Democrat gets appointed Federal judge in CO by Biden Leftists file to remove Trump from CO ballot for J6 Judge *refuses* to recuse herself

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Georgia’s redrawn congressional maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act. The Georgia General Assembly approved the maps back in 2021 and were signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The maps shifted the Republican edge from 8-6 to 9-5. A series of lawsuits were filed against the state of Georgia arguing that the redrawn maps illegally discriminate against minorities and take away their voting power. Governor Brian Kemp issued a proclamation on Thursday afternoon calling for a special session of the Georgia General Assembly on Nov. 29 to revisit laws relating...

Chalk up another one to the very disintegrating system of justice that we seem to have now in this country and add another to the pile of the "two-tiered" application of the law. Douglass Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison on Wednesday. He intends to appeal, and let's hope that's successful. His big crime? He got convicted for spreading a meme. This meme got Douglass Mackey 7 months in jail. https://t.co/kdswMU7S1B pic.twitter.com/r4LnjHXeLG— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) October 18, 2023His conviction was ridiculous.Mackey was convicted on a single count of conspiring with others to interfere in the 2016 presidential...

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied requests made by Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest in Fulton County while their requests to move the case to federal court are pending. Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark, both former federal officials, have been named as defendants in an indictment against former President Donald Trump and 16 others. Their actions in the former president's challenge of the Georgia election results have led to them being charged with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that their actions constituted a "criminal...

Once again, the political world has been engulfed by another indictment of Donald Trump, this time surrounding his alleged actions involving January 6th.The details include four different counts, including two counts of conspiracy and two counts of obstruction. Those four counts break down specifically to Trump allegedly attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, which has to do with January 6th, while the conspiracy charges appear to center on the supposed alternate electors scheme.Obviously, arguments about selective prosecution and weaponization of the DOJ will be at the forefront for political circles, but even on legal grounds, this indictment appears to be...

U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan says that former President Donald J. Trump may be said to have “raped” E. Jean Carroll, even though a jury specifically declined to find that he had done so in his recent civil trial in New York. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post reported the judge’s finding — approvingly, calling it a “clarification”: [Kaplan] says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood. The filing from Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came as Trump’s attorneys have sought a new trial and have argued that the jury’s $5 million verdict against...

Former Virginia Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman, who advised the Jan. 6 committee, has joined Hunter Biden’s legal team to combat GOP investigations into the president’s son, conduct data investigations and analysis, and attempt to pour cold water on the first son’s now-infamous laptop. Riggleman, who served only one term in Congress before losing a primary in 2020, confirmed in a tweet on Wednesday that he is working with the younger Biden’s legal team to conduct data investigations and analysis to ensure the information being released about the president's son is factual and wholly accurate. “Truth matters. When I took this...

A federal judge who will oversee Donald Trump’s sexual assault civil trial in Manhattan says the former president is free to skip attending the trial — but that he cannot claim he did so to avoid “burdens” on the city that his presence in court might cause. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan set the ground rules in an order Thursday in response to a request by Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina that jurors be instructed that Trump didn’t attend in order to avoid “logistical burdens.” In proposed jury instructions submitted Wednesday, Tacopina requested that the judge tell panelists: “While...

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday denied former President Donald Trump’s bid to delay his civil trial on allegations he sexually assaulted and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll — with jury selection set to begin next week. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan shot down Trump’s argument that a month-long “cooling off” period was necessary because of intense media scrutiny following his criminal indictment in New York state court. “There is no justification for an adjournment. This case is entirely unrelated to the state prosecution,” Kaplan wrote in an order denying the request. “The suggestion that the recent media coverage...

A judge ordered Hunter Biden’s financial records to be shielded from the public in an ongoing paternity case in Arkansas. Circuit Judge Holly Meyer ruled Monday that all of the information the first son submits to the court related to his request to lower child-support payments, including financial records, will remain under seal. Only attorneys on the case or expert witnesses retained to testify will be allowed access to the financial records, Meyer ruled. In her order, Meyer addressed the political interest in Biden’s finances, which could include the names of those who bought his paintings and what they paid...

On March 6, 2023, federal Judge Brian C. Wimes ruled the Missouri Second Amendment Protection Act was unconstitutional, claiming the Act violates the Supremacy clause of the US Constitution, invalidates federal law, and violates the doctrine of “intergovernmental immunity”. On June 12, 2021, Governor Parson signed the Missouri Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA). The act prohibits state and local officers from cooperating with Federal agents to enforce certain federal laws, mostly to do with firearms.The Federal court system has long held states cannot be compelled to use their resources to enforce federal laws. States are not required to explain why...

A trio of federal appellate judges upheld a prior legal ruling on Thursday that bars the state of Florida from enforcing the ‘Stop WOKE Act’ while it faces ongoing legal battles related to its constitutionality. The measure, supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis, imposes restrictions on the instruction of race-related concepts in Florida’s public universities. The decision affirmed a ruling ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker last year, where he granted a preliminary injunction against the legislation, finding that it violated First Amendment rights. “Neither the state of Florida’s authority to regulate public school curriculum nor its interest in...

An excerpt from a notorious “Access Hollywood” tape in which former President Donald Trump seems to brag about sexually assaulting women will be allowed into evidence at his upcoming trial in the alleged rape of writer E. Jean Carroll. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Trump’s statements on the 2005 recording — in which he described moving on a woman “like a b–ch” — could lead a jury to infer that Trump has assaulted or attempted to assault women in the past. “In this case, a jury reasonably could find, even from the Access Hollywood tape alone, that...

Washington D.C., Feb 9, 2023 / 13:35 pm Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, a federal judge is claiming that the 13th Amendment, which was ratified to abolish slavery, might establish a constitutional right to have an abortion. Under Roe v. Wade, the court previously held that the 14th Amendment protects a right to privacy and a right to privacy protects a woman’s right to decide whether to have an abortion. In the Dobbs decision last June, the court revoked that precedent, stating that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” and that...

A federal judge on Friday rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss the civil sexual assault suit filed by E. Jean Carroll. In 2019, E. Jean Carroll alleged Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990’s. E. Jean Carroll is a mentally unwell woman who previously told CNN she fantasizes about rape. Trump has denied the allegations and called E. Jean Carroll a “whack job” who’s “not my type.” Carroll filed the lawsuit in November after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act which allows adults to sue over sexual assaults that occurred decades ago. US District...