Free Republic

BILLINGS, Mont. — A judge blocked oil and gas drilling across almost 500 square miles in Wyoming and said the U.S. government must consider climate change impacts more broadly as it leases huge swaths of public land for energy exploration. The order marks the latest in a string of court rulings over the past decade - including one last month in Montana - that have faulted the U.S. for inadequate consideration of greenhouse gas emissions when approving oil, gas and coal projects on federal land. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington appeared to go a step further than other...

In the latest abortion-related legal battle to hit the state, a federal judge has temporarily blocked Kentucky officials from implementing their newly-enacted law banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Signed Friday by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, the law requires abortionists to check for a fetal heartbeat before aborting. If a heartbeat is found, committing the abortion would be a Class D felony (punishable by up to five years in prison) except in cases of medical emergencies, which would also have to be documented. The same day Bevin signed the law, Judge David J. Hale of the Western...

The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Neomi Rao, President Trump’s regulatory czar, to succeed Justice Brett Kavanaugh on a powerful federal appeals court viewed as a springboard to the Supreme Court... Four of the nine current justices Supreme Court justices served in the D.C. Court of Appeals. Rao is reportedly considered to be a possible contender for the Supreme Court should another vacancy open up... Rao, 45, served as the chief of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and has played a crucial role in implementing Trump’s regulatory agenda. Prior to joining the Trump administration, she worked...

March 7 (UPI) -- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday delayed the executions of three men on death row and asked corrections officials to review alternative methods of lethal injection after a federal judge compared the state's current process to waterboarding. The order came after Magistrate Judge Michael Merz issued a reprieve of execution for Warren Henness in January. The judge said Ohio's three-drug protocol for lethal injection would likely cause Henness "severe pain and needless suffering." Ohio was one of several states to alter the traditional drug protocol it used for decades in lethal injections after European drug companies...

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Trump's nominee to be a judge on the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a party-line vote -- and, in a historic snub, the White House ignored the input of the judge's two Democratic home-state senators in the process. The aggressive and unprecedented move to bypass the traditional "blue slip" consultation process and plow ahead with the confirmation comes as the Trump administration seeks to systematically erode left-wing dominance on the key appellate court, which Trump has called "disgraceful" and politically biased. With a sprawling purview representing nine Western states, the appellate court...

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the federal court for the District of Columbia on Friday placed a gag order in the case of Roger Stone.According to Fox News, Judge Berman signed an order telling Stone he must "refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case." The judge also told witnesses and council to keep from making statements to the media or general public near the courthouse. The reason? The statements could “influence any juror, potential juror, judge, witness or court officer or interfere with the administration of...

Republicans must stand up to Democrats’ attempt to damage a rising legal star. The battle to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court should have taught Republicans that any lingering illusions about civility or fair play go out the window when it comes to the efforts of Democrats to derail conservative nominees. But this week, the ongoing struggle for control of the courts may take another step yet further into the partisan abyss as hearings begin for his replacement on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. President Trump’s nominee, Neomi Rao, may have a sterling reputation as a legal scholar,...

A federal judge on Thursday “tentatively” blamed poor maintenance of power lines and not human-caused “climate change” on California’s recent deadly wildfires. U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued his ruling regarding the actions of the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) utility company in a case related to PG&E’s response to the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that killed a number of people. But scores of liberals in California and beyond have blamed human-caused climate change for the wildfires.

He's made Newsweek and USA today. One of the headlines read, "Tennessee judge goes on tirade about crime among black men being 'more effective' than KKK." Montgomery County Judge Wayne Shelton was on the bench talking to murder suspect Vincent Merriweather when he said, "I grew up in a time where people wore white robes and they shot at black people, and now we see young, black men wearing black hoodies shooting at black men and doing a much more effective job than the Klan ever thought about doing." "My initial reaction was, he was on point," said Jimmie Garland,...

One could well understand if President Trump’s fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was a tad confused. [snip] Sullivan’s harsh attack on Flynn was a surprise. It left Flynn in the position of someone being hit by a train – when the train was miles off its track. [snip] Sullivan also asked prosecutor Brad Van Grack: "Hypothetically could he have been charged with treason?" [snip] Significantly, none of what Flynn and Kislyak discussed had anything to do with alleged Russian collusion. [snip] Yet the judge cited Flynn’s lobbying on behalf of Turkey as an aggravating factor he was considering in...

Confirmation proceedings for President Trump’s judicial nominees have partially stalled on Capitol Hill, as outgoing Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake is standing firm in his vow to oppose all Trump nominations until the Senate votes on legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Flake, a frequent Trump critic who opted against running for re-election this year, followed through on his threat Wednesday afternoon and joined Democrats in opposing a bid to advance Thomas Farr’s nomination to serve on the federal bench for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Vice President Pence was then forced to break a tie on...

Is it any wonder that Lance Mason believed that he could get away with killing his wife? On the way back from a funeral, Judge Lance Mason beat his wife so badly that he broke her orbital socket.  A woman who called 911 had described a horrifying scene of “fists flying” inside the car. Their two children, ages 4 and 6, were in the SUV when their father assaulted their mother, choked her and bit her on the ear and the cheek. According to Aisha, Judge Mason "struck me in the face, yanked my hair, slammed my head into the...

Meanwhile, it’s a dog-eat-dog world of which braying donkeys approve Proving the old adage that “The Law’s an ass”, a federal judge on Friday granted CNN’s request for a court order that would temporarily reinstate ‘correspondent’ Jim Acosta’s White House press pass. In this case, the law’s not only an # but donkeys are riding all over it because it, in effect, gives a bullhorn back to a badgering blowhard.

A federal judge on Friday granted CNN's request for a court order that would temporarily reinstate network correspondent Jim Acosta's White House press pass, which had been suspended indefinitely in the wake of a fiery exchange between the reporter and President Donald Trump a week earlier. The ruling from Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by Trump, was a first victory for CNN in the ongoing case. CNN's lawsuit, announced Tuesday, argues that Acosta's constitutional rights had been violated by Trump and five other members of his administration, as well as by the U.S. Secret Service. The other defendants include...

The Kavanaugh confirmation circus is over and the fighters have gone back to their corners, but not before drawing massive amounts of blood. The Kavanaughs were injured, but they now have Secret Service protection and secure employment for life. There's someone else, though, who was beaten and bloodied and left for dead on the side of the road. Mark Judge, the other man accused by Christine Blasey Ford, has lost his job and his home. He is raising money on a GoFundMe alternative site called Funding Morality and has received $48,549 to date. Judge is a cancer survivor and Catholic...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is about to become about ten percent less crazy.  President Trump has nominated three new judges for the 29-seat circuit court, over the objections of the two senators representing their home state of California.  Until Trump discarded the practice, home state senators were allowed to veto judicial nominations for courts in their states, a custom known as the "blue slip."  That seems quaint these days, a relic of a bygone era in which actual qualifications, not ideology, were the issue in Senate confirmation votes that, anyway, required a filibuster-proof 60 votes.As a result, President Trump and...

In the off-chance Christine Blasey Ford actually shows up and testifies – I give it under 50% – the wussy GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee are going to treat her with kid gloves, which is awful. No one making an accusation with such potentially catastrophic consequences for the accused (here, the accused may properly be called “the victim”) should escape harsh, penetrating cross-examination. This is particularly true when the Jenga tower that is her lunchmeat story is teetering on the edge of collapse. But they will instruct their questioners to use kid gloves nonetheless, because they are terrified of...

You don’t know me, though I’ve met both Collins and Murkowski when I worked for the late Montana Senator Conrad Burns. But my life, and the lives of everyone in this country, are hanging on what you do next in the confirmation battle over Brett Kavanaugh. I call it a battle rather than a process because it is a battle, a fight, even a war. I know each of you think you’re doing your best to stave off that war, but you’re only making it more likely. Senator Flake, you were confronted on national television by two activists, both claiming...

There is this thing called due process, where someone accused of something has a right to defend himself, except liberals don’t like it very much. They sometimes play lip service to it, but only when it has to do with covering for the criminals they consider victims of society. You Normals are “society,” by the way. But regardless, when it is politically useful to let super-convenient accusers trash people from a distance by feeding talking points to eager media allies, forget due process. Allowing someone to effectively challenge fake charges gets in the way of the liberal elite’s ability to...

September 28, 2018 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico In 279 BC, the vast army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus was met by Roman forces at the Battle of Asculum in southern Italy, in what would be one of the costliest military engagements of ancient history. Pyrrhus fancied himself the second coming of Alexander the Great and believed that he was a descendant of Achilles. Many of his peers and contemporaries believed Pyrrhus to be the greatest military commander of all time. His exploits were legendary. And when he set sail for Italy in 280 BC, the Romans did not underestimate him....