Free Republic

Freeport, Ill. — Attorneys for those arrested during a Sensata plant protest and the City of Freeport spoke via conference call with Judge Jack Joyce on Wednesday to begin ironing out details for an upcoming trial date. “We’re looking at trial dates,” said City Attorney John Mitchell. “The conference that we held with the opposing counsel was to discuss three or four dates that are open over the next few months.” Lawyers are working towards a trial because the 11 protesters facing criminal trespassing charges lobbied for a trial by jury rather than agreeing to pay any fines during their...

Former federal judge and conservative legal scholar Robert Bork died early Wednesday at his Virginia home, his family confirmed to CNN. He was 85. Perhaps best known for his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork was rejected for the post after a contentious confirmation battle led by left-leaning groups that opposed his conservative judicial philosophies. Bork had recently served as a senior legal adviser to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He was a solicitor general during the Nixon administration and first gained notoriety for carrying out the president's order to fire the special prosecutor...

Judge Robert H. Bork, one of the the greatest jurists this country has ever produced, died early this morning from heart complications in a Virginia hospital near his home. He was 84. Bork was a national celebrity. Several years ago, my wife and I visited the Borks in Maine where they had taken a summer house off Somes Sound. I cannot count the times that total strangers would approach us at a lobster shack or park asking to shake the Judge’s hand and to assure him of their admiration and support. Bork’s celebrity was only partly conferred upon him by...

The Obama administration has been consistently arguing since announcing a year’s grace period for some religious organizations to figure out how to violate their consciences and obey the Department and Health and Human Services abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization mandate, that the controversy over religious freedom and the mandate is over and the Catholics are happy. That, as has been pointed out here before, ignores all the lawsuits pending. And that they are not just from Catholics. Today in New York, a judge dismissed Justice Department claims that the Archdiocese of New York’s lawsuit in response to the coercive mandate is unnecessary....

The top U.S. military appellate court on Monday ruled that the judge presiding over the case of an Army major charged with a 2009 massacre at Fort Hood, Texas is not impartial and ordered him removed. The court also set aside the order by the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, that accused gunman Major Nidal Hasan be forcibly shaved. The action by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces further delays the trial of Hasan, 42 (snip)

<p>U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins rejected a motion from the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee to allow the religious display this season while their lawsuit plays out against the city.</p>

FORT PIERCE — Circuit Court Judge Larry Schack has denied a motion by Democrat Patrick Murphy to halt the recount of early votes in St. Lucie County. About 4:15 p.m., the judge made his ruling, saying if Murphy loses because of the recount, he still can contest the results of the election. Meanwhile, workers in the Supervisor of Elections office on Okeechobee Road continued recounting the early votes for the tight District 18 congressional race. Early Saturday morning, the Murphy campaign team announced they had filed an preliminary injunction to halt the recount, saying it was not legal. Schack began...

A judge has ordered an early-voting site in central Florida to stay open an additional four hours Sunday, following lawsuits filed by the state Democratic party. The judge ordered the polling site in Orange County to extend its hours because it was shut down Saturday while authorities investigated a suspicious package. Bill Cowles, the county’s elections supervisor, said voters who are showing up Sunday are being asked to use a provisional ballot because they can be found should the order be overturned, per Florida law. The Florida Democratic Party filed separate lawsuits to get four counties to offer more time...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – A Detroit judge has agreed to a reprimand for sending a shirtless photo of himself to a courthouse employee and telling a reporter, “No shame in my game.” Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade McCree agreed to the punishment in an order released Wednesday by the Michigan Supreme Court. The court says it’s accepting the recommendation of a watchdog agency and ordering a public censure. The justices agreed with the Judicial Tenure Commission that McCree “brought shame … to the judiciary” with his April comments to WJBK-TV reporter Charlie LeDuff.

Woman claims money her friend gave her was a gift, not a loan. Watch to the end, so funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Cc97wWfuk&feature=endscreen&NR=1

When the great philosopher G.K. Chesterton said, “Let all the babies be born. Then let us drown those we do not like,” he wasn’t advocating infanticide but was just making a point. Unfortunately, though, we’re getting closer to a time when people would take his words literally. An example of this is a judge’s decision in Canada that a woman who strangled her newborn baby shouldn’t be incarcerated because Canadians’ failure to criminalize abortion indicates that they “sympathize” with the mother. ...So Justice Veit’s decision seems to make no sense whatsoever; that is, unless you look beyond the facts of...

When Barack Obama was elected president, critics and supporters alike thought the Democrat would move swiftly to appoint strong liberal judges to balance out Republicans' longstanding push for a conservative judiciary. At the nation's 13 powerful U.S. appeals courts, that has not happened. Obama's 30 appointees have generally been moderates who mainly served on lower courts and were often selected in consultation with Republican senators. The pattern contrasts with Obama's Republican predecessors, dating back to Ronald Reagan, who quickly put forth prominent young conservatives, many of whom came from academia and had past political experience. Notably, President Obama has not...

“Don’t judge me!” shouted to obese mother of what I estimated to be a dozen ill-mannered proto juvenile delinquents. Her charming tats aside, she otherwise was a model of incivility, bordering disheveled as she stashed a poorly covered ’40 into a bag while fishing for her EBT card. Had she been talking to me I would have politely informed her that, yes, I’ll judge her and everyone else. I damn well hope people judge me as well. This modern disinclination to judge is as antithetical to normal social functioning as is socialism, and perhaps as evil. Relying on quaint tools,...

If a Muslim woman wasn't punished for refusing to stand when a federal judge entered the courtroom, others would have been emboldened to show disrespect for the court, the judge has ruled. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis wrote that defendant Amina Farah Ali's silent gesture -- which she said was rooted in religious principle -- could have led to chaos during her trial on terrorism-related charges last year. "If Ali were allowed to sit while court is called, it may have been possible that her many sympathizers would have begun to emulate her in a show of support," Davis...

A district court judge says Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz cannot move forward with new rules that would challenge voters appearing on databases as noncitizens. Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a ruling Friday blocking Schultz from implementing voting rules he established without holding a public hearing. Schultz created the new rules in July, using an administrative emergency rulemaking process. He says he needed to act quickly before the November election because noncitizens might be registered to vote. Both Sides of Lawsuit React Here is the news release issued by Secretary of State Matt Schultz: Secretary of State Matt Schultz...

MF trustee can team up with plaintiffs against Corzine - judgeTrustee can assign claims against Corzine, other insiders By Nick Brown Thu Sep 6, 2012 3:02am IST NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A Manhattan bankruptcy judge said on Wednesday he was prepared to allow the trustee unwinding MF Global's broker-dealer to join forces with some of the company's former customers who have sued ex-Chief Executive Jon Corzine and other insiders. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said he will make his decision official when the trustee, James Giddens, files court papers outlining the details of the cooperative effort. The filing...

A judge ordered Thursday that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in a 2009 deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, must shave or be forcibly shaved before his trial. Judge Col. Gregory Gross had said he would deliver a definitive order this week after a hearing to determine whether Hasan would be allowed to keep his beard, which he started growing while in jail earlier this summer. Gross barred him from appearing in military court, citing the Army’s strict regulations regarding grooming standards. Hasan's attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said his client grew the beard as a “deeply sincere”

Several campaigners for fathers' rights and shared parenting after divorce have been arrested or summoned for questioning in recent days and a Knesset member who sides with the fathers' movement says a "militant feminist crackdown" is under way. One activist father, Guy Shamir, has been held in jail for 21 days. He was arrested when Haifa Family Court Judge Esperanza Alon's clerk claimed that he used a threatening phrase in a telephone conversation with her. Shamir says he told the clerk: "The judge should mind her own children and I will mind mine." The clerk claimed that he told the...

Second-degree murder suspect George Zimmerman gets a new judge. The Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach on Wednesday ruled that Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. in Sanford went too far when, among other things, he described Zimmerman as a manipulator. It was "admittedly a close call," wrote Judge C. Alan Lawson, but Lester's actions, taken in total, would cause a reasonable person to fear that he is biased. The next step is for Circuit Judge Alan Dickey in Sanford to pick a new judge. It's expected to be Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson, 58, another felony trial judge...

JESUS!