Free Republic

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. government on Friday plans to execute a man convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter nearly two decades ago. Alfred Bourgeois, 55, is set to receive lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. He's awaiting a Supreme Court decision on his request for a stay. His attorneys said Bourgeois' execution would be unconstitutional because he is intellectually disabled and can't understand his punishment. They submitted evidence of IQ test scores of 70 and 75, as well as assessments by experts. The Eighth Amendment bans executing people with such impairments as cruel and...

An attorney with ties to Robstown and Corpus Christi has been confirmed as the newest federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to a news release.David Morales was confirmed Wednesday to fill the vacancy, which has been open since 2011 when U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack took senior status. Morales was nominated by President Donald Trump in April 2018 for the seat, but his nomination was left pending at the end of the year.David S. Morales has been confirmed as the newest federal judge seat in the U.S. District Court for the...

Back in June, federal Judge Janis Graham Jack disparaged nearly all of 10,000 claims for the rare lung disease as having been "manufactured for money." She also told the lawyers involved that federal prosecutors wanted access to the documents and X-rays surrounding this "fraud." So imagine Judge Jack's surprise to discover at a hearing last Monday that Houston attorney Scott Hooper -- one of several tort lawyers who brought the claims -- had removed more than 1,300 X-rays from a court depository. The judge had specifically denied Mr. Hooper's request to take the X-rays. Ms. Jack told Mr. Hooper that...

Congratulations to... Republicans Joe Barton and Ed Whitfield, who... opened a probe into the nation's asbestos and silicosis claims. Their decision to investigate the people responsible for recruiting and falsely diagnosing tens of thousands of plaintiffs is a major step toward exposing this fraud. Credit for alerting the Congressmen to this issue goes to Texas federal Judge Janis Graham Jack, who earlier this summer surprised the tort bar by publicly excoriating 10,000 silicosis claims in front of her court. Messrs. Barton and Whitfield have now followed up with letters to the doctors and screening companies that helped gin up these...