Free Republic

CV NEWS FEED // A district judge in Oregon ruled September 30 that Oregon Right to Life is required to cover abortions in its employees’ healthcare insurance plan, dismissing the pro-life organization’s argument that it is a religious organization exempted from the pro-abortion law. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken stated in her ruling that ORTL does not fit inside the category of “religious employer” under the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), as it does not mainly or exclusively serve individuals of the same religion. “Plaintiff does not qualify as a ‘religious employer’ under the RHEA because ‘its purpose is...

A judge in Washington state released a teen one day after his arrest for allegedly stabbing a 65-year-old veteran to death at a home. On Friday, the Renton Police Department said 19-year-old K’Shawn Konscience Jimerson called 911 just after 2 p.m. and told the operator he had stabbed someone and would be standing “outside with the knife.” Jimerson also claimed self-defense during the call, police said. “The 911 caller said that they had stabbed the handyman inside the house,” *** Witnesses told police they heard arguing and then saw Jimerson with a large butcher knife and covered in blood, FOX...

Tina Peters, a former county election official in Colorado, was sentenced Thursday to 8½ years in prison and six months in jail after being found guilty of charges connected to efforts to copy election data from her office as Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and searched for evidence to prove it. Judge Matthew Barrett, who presided over the sentencing, also ordered Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, to pay thousands of dollars in fines. Peters, who had asked for probation, emphasized earlier in Thursday’s sentencing that maintaining her innocence was not...

A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech. The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, immediately halted the state’s ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens by Attorney General Ken Paxton. Before today’s ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers...

Tom Fitton @TomFitton BREAKING: Obama appointee Judge Chutkan doubles down in changing the rules to allow Biden-Harris-Garland appointee Jack Smith to smear @RealDonaldTrump a month before the election. Incredibly, Republican-controlled House will again fully fund Jack Smith this week. #bananarepublicBreaking

... The court’s decision comes after officials uncovered a database error that for two decades mistakenly designated the voters as having access to the full ballot. ... The swing state is unique in that it distinguishes between voters who can participate only in federal elections and those who can vote in federal, state and local elections. Eligibility for the latter classification requires submission of proof of citizenship. The court ruled that county officials lack the authority to change their statuses because those voters registered long ago and had attested under the penalty of law that they are citizens. “We are...

A state judge in North Dakota has issued a ruling overturning the state’s abortion ban that protects the lives of unborn children. Although no abortion centers operate in the state, the ruling makes abortion legal for the time being while the case continues. “Pregnant women have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability exists,” North Dakota District Judge Bruce Romanick wrote, even though the Supreme Court ruled no such right exists. The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Red River Women’s Clinic, arguing that North Dakota’s SB 2150 was so vague that it put...

An Oregon judge has sentenced a violent Portland Antifa ringleader to jail time and probation following a trial last month. A jury of mostly women convicted Alissa Eleanor Azar, 33 (b. Feb. 12, 1991), of felony riot and disorderly conduct on Aug. 14 following a five-day criminal trial at the Clackamas County Courthouse in Oregon City. Azar, who became a self-styled chief propagandist for Antifa in the Portland area, was sentenced on Monday afternoon by Judge Todd L. Van Rysselberghe for the 5th Judicial District Circuit Court of Oregon. He sentenced her to 14 days in a local jail, followed...

Joe Oltmann and other conservatives were sued by former Dominion VP Eric Coomer in a defamation case. The corrupt judge in the case is allowing this bogus case to move forward. One unprecedented action taken by the corrupt judge in the case is to force Joe Oltmann to turn over $1,000 a day to Coomer until Oltmann unveils who his source was who told Oltmann about a conference call that Coomer was on. Oltmann reported that during the call Coomer assured those listening in to not worry about the 2020 election, he had it covered.BREAKING: A Colorado judge has ordered...

Just hours before a law banning foreign nationals from contributing to ballot issue campaigns was set to take effect, a federal judge blocked part of it because it violates their First Amendment rights. Judge Michael Watson has ruled that the state can’t enforce the law against foreign nationals – including lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders – who donate to ballot issue campaigns. Read the ruling here. Watson wrote that the political spending of lawful permanent residents "does not carry a risk of undue foreign influence", and noted that LPRs can serve in the military. "It would...

A Kentucky man who was the first known person to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. Michael Sparks, 47, was convicted in March by a federal jury in the District of Columbia on all six charges that he faced, including two felony offenses of obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder. On Aug. 27, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Sparks to 53 months in prison and fined him $2,000.

A plasterer who admitted to stirring up racial hatred on Facebook has been sentenced to 21 months in prison. Daniel Kingsley, 33, from Shotton in Flintshire, posted racist messages on social media on 8 and 10 August, as part of the disorder in England and Northern Ireland. Kingsley is a "bigot" who holds "deeply offensive and racist views", judge Rhys Rowlands said during sentencing at Mold Crown Court. He added that he hoped this case would "stand as an example to any others thinking of inciting hatred". Prosecutor David Mainstone shared two posts with the court that Kingsley made on...

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte blasted a unanimous decision rendered Wednesday by the Montana Supreme Court that struck down the Parental Consent for Abortion Act of 2013, eroding parental rights for the medical care of their minor children. “As a strong defender of parental rights, I’m deeply concerned and disappointed by today’s ruling from the Montana Supreme Court, which states parents do not have a fundamental right to oversee the medical care of their young daughters,” Gianforte said. “In its ruling, the Court has wielded its gavel like a hammer against one of the fundamental rights in our history: the right...

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 As expected, Judge Chutkan wastes no time in restarting the proceedings in Jack Smith’s J6 case against Donald Trump. She filed this order this morning. Status hearing set for August 16 with status report due this week. Here we go again…

A California judge has ruled that teachers were right to punish a seven-year-old girl over a Black Lives Matter drawing because 'she's too young to have First Amendment rights.' The first grader was banned from recess and drawing pictures at Viejo Elementary in Orange County after she added the words 'any life' below Black Lives Matter on a picture she drew and and gave to a black friend. The picture showed the words 'Black Lives Matter' with four round shapes in various different tones of brown, beige and yellow, which was intended to 'represent her friends' who were 'racially-mixed'.

As The Gateway Pundit reported in November 2020, the total number of “indefinitely confined” voters, or Express Votes ballots for individuals with disabilities, skyrocketed from around 60,000 in 2016 to over 240,000 in 2020. The number of indefinitely confined voters in Wisconsin soared from 6% of total voters in 2016 to 11% of total voters in 2020. No photo ID is required in Wisconsin for indefinitely confined voters. A local Madison news outlet reported on the ‘indefinitely confined’ ballots from the 2020 election: These voters are not required to show proof of a photo ID to vote absentee if they...

S.A. McCarthy @pipesmoknpapist S.A. McCarthy is a news writer at The Washington Stand. A Montana judge is striking down a state law defining “sex” as either male or female, claiming that the law violates the Montana State Constitution. In an order issued on Tuesday, Montana District Court Judge Shane Vannatta, the first Montana judge to openly identify as homosexual, declared Senate Bill 458 to be facially unconstitutional according to Montana state law. The legislation, passed by the Legislature in 2023 and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, revised state law to declare: In human beings, there are...

Ajudge in New Jersey ruled that about 1,900 mail-in ballots that were prematurely opened have to be counted and accepted in Atlantic County. Superior Court Judge Michael J. Blee ruled Friday that the prematurely opened ballots will be counted in the county's primary race. This decision could determine the outcome of the state’s 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary. [snip] One official testified that there was chaos with too many workers sorting ballots, leading to disorganization.

Former and potentially future President Donald Trump was found "guilty" last Thursday on 34 felony counts in a hush money "trial." It's not just Trump they're going after, though with a weaponized and politicized justice system. As we've been covering, President Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) has been quite eager to prosecute prayerful pro-life activists using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, including an elderly grandfather. Since then, more grandparents have been sentenced, including grandmothers in poor health. Late last month, 59-year-old Heather Idoni was sentenced to 24 years in prison. She's already been incarcerated for...

Despite national attention and thousands of protesting parents, a federal court is refusing to allow parents to opt their children out of LGBT courses in school. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided on Wednesday that Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland does not have to allow parents to opt their children out of LGBT-themed lessons. Judge G. Steven Agee, a George W. Bush appointee, claimed that the parents seeking to opt their children out of the lessons in question did not provide sufficient evidence to justify a preliminary injunction.In March of last year, MCPS added nearly two...