Free Republic

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments Wednesday on Oregon’s request for a restraining order against federal agents sent to the state’s biggest city to quell protests that have spiraled into nightly clashes between authorities and demonstrators. The lawsuit, filed by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, alleges that federal agents sent by President Donald Trump have arrested people with no probable cause, whisked protesters away in unmarked cars and used excessive force to quell the unrest. It’s part of growing pushback against the Trump administration’s use of federal agents in Portland and its plans to do the...

A federal judge has ordered the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline while a lengthy environmental review is conducted of the project opposed by environmentalists and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The move was requested earlier this year by Standing Rock and three other Sioux tribes in the Dakotas who fear environmental harm from the oil pipeline and sued over the project four years ago. North Dakota officials have said such a move would have “significant disruptive consequences” for the state, whose oil patch has been hit hard in recent months by falling demand for crude amid the coronavirus pandemic....

A federal court ruled Monday that the Dakota Access Pipeline must shut down within 30 days, by Aug. 5, according to a copy of the brief obtained by USA Today. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia scrapped a key permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, and ordered the pipeline to end its three-year run of delivering oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken shale basin to its endpoint in Illinois. The decision marked the end of a yearslong legal battle over the Energy Transfer Partners-owned pipeline’s environmental damage to the Missouri River. President Donald Trump granted the...

The owners of gym that made national headlines after it opened in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy COVID-19 lockdown were dealt a blow in their legal fight to convince the courts that shuttering their place of business was unconstitutional. In a decision reached during hearing held over Zoom Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler denied the request of the owners of Atilis Gym of Bellmawr to open via a temporary restraining order as they continued litigation with the state. In a federal lawsuit filed last month, attorneys for the gym claimed Gov. Phil Murphy “arbitrarily” deemed some businesses essential...

A Chicago man with a long criminal history was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he was convicted of firing a gun into the open grave of a man murdered just two days prior, authorities said. U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. handed down the sentence Wednesday after Elston Stevenson, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a news release Monday from the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.

GOP Rep. Devin Nunes of Calif., chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, may invite Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before the panel on alleged FISA abuses. Nunes told radio host and Republican wise man Hugh Hewitt Thursday that committee Republicans have entertained the idea, as Roberts appoints all FISA judges, but cautioned no decision has yet been made. Hewitt and Nunes discussed the idea in connection with the committee’s memo on the secret intelligence courts, which alleged the FBI sought authorization to surveil President Donald Trump’s campaign aides on the basis of political opposition research. “Now...

Chairman Goodlatte has written a letter to Presiding FISA Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, requesting the FBI application documents that underwrite the October 21st, 2016, “Title 1” surveillance request against Carter Page. Goodlatte is cutting to the chase and requesting the underlying FISC material directly from the court as provided by the DOJ and FBI. The Goodlatte request presents a very interesting dynamic because Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer was the FISC Justice who wrote the extensive 99-page opinion (based on the reporting by NSA Director Mike Rogers and the admissions from the Department of Justice) that outlined the intentional abuse and...