Free Republic

A federal judge has decided not to rule on a South Dakota lawsuit challenging a pro-abortion ballot measure initiative — for now. The ballot measure would enshrine the “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution, and Judge Karen Schreier said she wants to hear from a state court before she rules. In June, the pro-life organization Life Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit against the ballot measure, alleging that the group behind the measure, Dakotans for Health, broke election laws in its process of gathering petition signatures, and misled people as to what they were signing. In her Friday ruling,...

A federal judge in South Dakota is on the warpath against the US Marshals service that provides courtroom security, accusing them of ‘kidnapping’ and criminal contempt after they refused to disclose Covid-19 vaccination status. On Monday, US District Judge Charles Kornmann fulminated for nearly an hour at the courthouse in Aberdeen, as Justice Department lawyers and two of the Marshals he wants criminally prosecuted took notes. “This was such an outrageous thing to do,” the judge reportedly said, according to the Washington Post, referring to the incident last month when a female deputy refused to tell him if she was...

Fireworks won’t fly at Mount Rushmore July 4 weekend despite a lawsuit against the Biden administration from Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota.Judge Roberto A. Lange called the idea of an Independence Day celebration at the iconic national monument “appealing.”“However this Court is not called upon to determine whether such a fireworks display is a good idea,” he said in his 36-page ruling, posted on yourbasin.com.Lange said the country could “use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of the law” after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol...

EXCLUSIVE: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sued the Biden administration on Friday after it canceled the Independence Day fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, demanding the court "expeditiously" issue a permit for the event to take place.Noem, a Republican, filed a lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota Central Division."Mount Rushmore is the very best place to celebrate America’s birthday and all that makes our country special," Noem wrote. "After telling us they’d ‘circle back,’ the Biden Administration has not responded to our request to uphold the Memorandum Agreement between the State of South Dakota and...