Free Republic

The United States Supreme Court on Friday night temporarily blocked a lower court order that found Texas’ 2026 congressional redistricting map was likely unconstitutional because it was likely racially gerrymandered. The order was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees emergency appeals from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and will remain in place for at least a few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map to be used in the midterms. The late night order comes hours after Texas filed its emergency appeal, asking it to take up its redistricting case. A panel of federal...

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge issued an unusual dissenting opinion on Wednesday lambasting an earlier ruling that blocked Texas Republicans from using a new congressional map, saying he had been cut out of the decision-making process by two other judges on a three-judge panel.U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith said in his dissent that he was outraged by Tuesday's decision, which was a major blow for Republicans, in Texas and nationally, who redrew the state's electoral districts at the behest of President Donald Trump.Smith, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, was one of three federal judges who...

Texas cannot use its new congressional map for the 2026 election and will instead need to stick with the lines passed in 2021, a three-judge panel ruled Tuesday. The decision is a major blow for Republicans, in Texas and nationally, who pushed through this unusual mid-decade redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump. They were hoping the new map would yield control of 30 of the state’s 38 congressional districts — up from the 25 they currently hold — and help protect the narrow GOP majority in the U.S. House. “The public perception of this case is that it’s...

NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 was blocked Thursday by a federal appeals court. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated. The ruling from the full appeals court, 16 full-time judges at the time the case was argued, reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that had upheld the vaccination requirement. Judge Andrew Oldham, nominated to the court by then-President...

'This is an important victory protecting the people of Texas from destructive federal overreach,' Texas attorney general says A federal judge blocked the Biden administration from implementing environmental regulations redefining how water sources are protected, but which opponents have argued were an example of overreach. In his decision published late Sunday, Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled that the so-called Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in late December "poses irreparable harm" to residents of Texas and Idaho, the two states that challenged the regulations in the lawsuit filed on Jan. 18. Brown declined...

NEW ORLEANS -- President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 was upheld Thursday by a federal appeals court. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the mandate. The ruling, a rare win for the administration at the New Orleans-based appellate court, said that the federal judge didn’t have jurisdiction in the case and those challenging the requirement could have pursued administrative remedies under Civil Service law. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court...

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Friday barring the federal government from enforcing President Joe Biden's requirement that federal workers without qualifying medical or religious exemptions be vaccinated for COVID-19. Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by then-President Donald Trump, ruled that opponents of Biden's vaccination mandate for federal employees were likely to succeed at trial and blocked the government from enforcing the requirement.

A federal court in Texas has issued an injunction against President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the federal workforce, pausing implementation of a requirement for more than 2 million civilian servants. … Judge Jeffrey Brown, appointed by President Trump to the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Texas, said the case was not about whether individuals should be vaccinated or even about federal power generally. “It is instead about whether the president can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of...

Just the links for now. More to follow but I wanted to get this out there. “The President’s Authority Is Not That Broad”: Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks Dear Leader Biden’s VAXX-Mandate on Federal EmployeesTrump-Appointed Judge Blocks Biden’s Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors Nationwide

The Biden administration has been granted the request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 20 GOP attorneys general challenging the revocation of the Keystone XL Pipeline’s permit. In his ruling, Judge Jeffrey Brown of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that because TC Energy, the pipeline company, abandoned the project, he could not determine whether Biden’s action was constitutional. TC Energy announced on June 9 that it would permanently stop construction on the pipeline and focus on other projects. Upon taking office, Biden canceled the pipeline’s federal permit by executive order on...

A federal district court judge granted the Biden administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 20 Republican attorneys general challenging the Keystone XL Pipeline’s permit revocation. Judge Jeffrey Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, ruled that he couldn’t determine the constitutionality of President Joe Biden’s action because TC Energy, the pipeline’s developer, had abandoned the project. On June 9, TC Energy announced its intention to permanently halt construction of the pipeline, saying it would focus on other projects. Biden canceled the pipeline’s federal permit immediately after taking office on Jan. 20...

PBS correspondent Jeffrey Brown explained “Mapplethorpe was best known for his homoerotic photographs and explicit sadomasochistic imagery, and the political and legal battles around them. Even now, we’ve chosen not to present his most controversial work.” But PBS didn’t just censor the art. They couldn’t even bring themselves to describe it. We’re not told about Mapplethorpe’s naked self-portrait with a bullwhip us his anus. We’re not told about his pornification of a little boy and a little girl. We’re not told about “Jim and Tom, Sausalito” – a photo in which one man urinates into another’s mouth. So when the...