Free Republic

The federal judge who oversaw Detroit's historic bankruptcy case ruled on Thursday that the nearly $178 million charged to the city by law firms and consultants for fees and expenses was reasonable. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes said he based his decision mainly on the complexity of the bankruptcy case filed in July 2013 as well as substantial reductions that the firms agreed to make in their bills. "The city is now on a path to success precisely because of the expertise, skill, commitment, endurance, personal sacrifice, civility and proficiency of all of the professionals in the case, including...

A public defender in Broward County, Florida attempted to excuse and justify a 26-year-old burglary suspect, Stephen Hall Clarke, for running from the scene of a police-related shooting on Monday. As his defense, he said that the suspect was running from racist cops. “Your Honor, in light of what’s happening in this country, with unarmed black men being killed…” public defender Dale Miller began to argue before the judge quickly cut him off. Judge John “Jay” Hurley wouldn’t have any of it, “Don’t hand me that! Don’t hand me that!”

It stands to reason that if abortion is viewed as morally and legally correct, other immoral acts will become socially acceptable as well. Now, according to a judge in Australia, incest is one of those acts. During the trial of a brother charged with raping his younger sister, Judge Garry Neilson said that incest may no longer be morally unacceptable because the only reason it is criminal is due to the potential for abnormalities in any conceived children. Neilson said that thanks to contraception and abortion, there is no longer that risk. The man on trial had raped his sister...

Elionardo Juarez-Escobar, a 42-year-old Honduran landscaper, was driving through a Pittsburgh suburb one evening last April when he saw a police sobriety check ahead. Drunk and without a license, he tried to avoid it. New Sewickley Township police managed to pull him over anyway. When they did, they found empty beer cans in the back seat, a minor named Henry Gomez on the passenger side and an inebriated driver. Escobar failed a field sobriety test, blowing 0.18, more than twice Pennsylvania's legal limit. He was arrested and charged with two counts of driving under the influence, corruption of minors, furnishing...

the top 14 “movers and shakers” in health care in 2014 because his legal analysis led to the upcoming Supreme Court case on Obamacare’s state subsidies that may blow the ACA sky high. Anyway, Jon flags a U.S. District Court opinion out this morning that finds Obama’s immigration executive action exceeds the proper understanding of “prosecutorial discretion”: According to the opinion by Judge Arthur Schwab, the president’s policy goes “beyond prosecutorial discretion” in that it provides a relatively rigid framework for considering applications for deferred action, thus obviating any meaningful case-by-case determination as prosecutorial discretion requires, and provides substantive rights...

Court of Appeals Judge Nora Longoria was allegedly begged for leniency during her DUI arrest in July. Last month, the District Attorney’s office said it lacked enough evidence to prosecute and another judge threw out the case. The DA said it never got the dashcam video, which showed Longoria stumble through her failed sobriety test. Could this be the evidence they never got? A month after a Texas court threw out a DUI case against a judge because it lacked strong evidence, police released dashcam video of her arrest that showed her stumble through a sobriety test.The new video, recorded...

Friend of Hillary??? McAllen police have released dashcam video from 13th Court Justice of Appeals Nora Longoria’s traffic stop that led to her DWI arrest. The dash cam video shows Longoria performing a field sobriety test. The footage shows she struggled to walk a straight line, and even stumbled several times during the test. According to a police report, she allegedly told him "Please let me go home. I live a couple of miles away” and "You are going to ruin my life. The case went to court November 20th, but the charges were dropped. DA Rene Guerra told Action...

An openly lesbian federal judge whose appointment was opposed by dozens of U.S. senators has ruled against a Christian former Navy chaplain who alleged his superiors engineered his dismissal from the service because he was not “ecumenical.” The decision by Elaine Kaplan of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rejected the allegations of former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who recently was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. He had routinely prayed “in Jesus name” as part of his work as a chaplain. The judge, who formerly worked for the National Treasury Employees Union, was opposed by 35 GOP senators when...

Judge Jeanine expertly displayed all the arrogance, hypocrisy and opportunism of Obama’s lawless executive action on immigration this week. It’s definitely worth a listen:

The Coalition for Children & Family and Hakshava are applying for a monthly permit to protest against Philip Marcus in Har Nof, Jerusalem. Organizers say Marcus is scheduled to speak at a parental rights conference being held tomorrow evening at the Israeli Bar on Daniel Frish #10 in Tel Aviv. “He has become a public figure against father's rights,” says “E”. “It is important that the public also hear the other side of the argument.” “E” refers to an article Marcus wrote in the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Fathers-protest-is-misguided-344043). Philip Marcus first made headlines when a divorced father threw a shoe at...

A federal judge Friday refused a government request to close her courtroom for a hearing next week for a Bolingbrook teen charged with attempting to go abroad to join the extremist group Islamic State.. Prosecutors had asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Cox to restrict access of the public and the news media during the Monday detention hearing for Mohammed Hamzah Khan because of "privacy concerns" involving two minors connected to Khan's case but not charged with any wrongdoing. In her four-page ruling, Cox said prosecutors had not met their burden to show that closing the proceedings would outweigh the "value...

ABCNews: Judge Rejects Attempt to Isolate Nurse October 31, 2014 5:52PM ET "A Maine judge gave nurse Kaci Hickox the OK to go wherever she pleases, handing state officials a defeat Friday in the nation's biggest court case yet over how to balance personal liberty, public safety and fear of Ebola."

A federal judge on Thursday blocked Texas from enforcing voter ID requirements just weeks ahead of the November elections, knocking down a law that the U.S. Justice Department condemned in court as the state’s latest means of suppressing minority turnout. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi is a defeat for Republican-backed photo ID measures that have swept across the U.S. in recent years and mostly been upheld in court. However, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night blocked Wisconsin from implementing a law requiring voters to present photo IDs.

When government employees buy the California legislature with huge campaign contributions, one of the benefits they expect in return is absolute protection of the lush pensions they are promised, even when their employer goes into bankruptcy. Thus, California law insists that Calpers, the state-backed agency used to provide many government employees with their pensions, is granted very special powers, including the right to seize assets and liquidate them to provide for full payment of pensions, even when other creditors are paid a penny on the dollar.But yesterday, a federal bankruptcy judge in California issued a preliminary ruling indicating that once...

Correction: This post initially stated that Judge Tonya Parker was “no longer” marrying straight couples. Judge Parker has never performed such marriage ceremonies. This version has been corrected. Catholic priests have refused to marry same-sex couples for years. Judge Tonya Parker (Dallas County) Now, a Texas judge has an answer to that, saying she will not marry straight couples until gay marriage is legal in the state. Judge Tonya Parker of Dallas County told the Dallas Voice that she respectfully tells couples why she can’t conduct their marriage ceremony: “I'm sorry. I don't perform marriage ceremonies because we are in...

A federal judge in Oklahoma on Tuesday struck down a key provision supporting the Affordable Care Act, in yet another judicial move that threatens to derail President Obama’s vision of national health care reform. US District Judge Ronald White said in a 20-page opinion that the Internal Revenue Service lacked the authority to enact a regulation that allows the federal government to provide tax credits to qualified health care policyholders through health care exchanges in every instance. At issue in the lawsuit was whether the IRS regulation conflicted with the clear language of ACA, also known as Obamacare, which appears...

Allen tried to avoid a trial and jail time by applying to a pre-trial intervention program in New Jersey for first-time offenders. Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back who knocked his then-fiancee unconscious during an altercation in Atlantic City in February, was accepted into the program in May.

Insufficient IRS explanations cause Judge to order sworn answers from IRS about Lois Lerner’s hard drive and emails. Judicial Watch has sued over missing IRS emails in the federal district court in D.C., pursuant to its FOIA request for such documents.The IRS was ordered to provide explanations as to missing emails, particularly Lois Lerner.The IRS provided explanations, but those were not good enough for the Judge, who launched his own inquiry into the matter, as Judicial Watch explained in a statement posted on its website: Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement in response to today’s order...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office isn’t the only federal authority that has taken a stance against the name of the Washington Redskins. A federal judge in Maryland issued a ruling last week that purposely did not contain the team’s name, which has been described as an offensive slur against Native Americans. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, who is presiding over a lawsuit that former New York Giants linebacker Barrett Green brought against the Redskins, issued a 21-page ruling with this footnote on the first page: “Pro Football’s team is popularly known as the Washington ‘Redskins,’ but the Court...

A federal judge ordered the IRS Thursday to explain under oath how it lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency a month to submit the explanation in writing. Sullivan said he is also appointing a federal magistrate to see if lost emails can be obtained from other sources. Sullivan issued the order as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. He said the IRS declaration must be signed, under oath, by the...