Free Republic

Judge Pauline Newman, the oldest federal judge in America at age 97, is continuing to fight against a suspension from the bench by her colleagues who found her mentally not fit enough to serve. Newman is appealing her suspension and has also filed a motion to unseal documents related to an investigation which ultimately led to her being temporarily removed from the bench. Newman, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was barred from serving in September 2023 for a year by the Federal Circuit's Judicial Council after...

(WBRE/WYOU) — Former Luzerne County judge Michael Conahan, who was sentenced for his role in the infamous Kids-for-Cash scandal in September of 2011, had his sentence commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden. According to the White House, President Biden granted clemency consisting of 39 pardons and the commutations of 1,499 others.

District Judge Kevin Mullins, who was gunned down in his own chambers by former Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, is now at the center of shocking allegations that his courthouse was operated like a “brothel.” The revelation comes from police recordings obtained by NewsNation’s Banfield, exposing a web of abuse of power, sexual exploitation, and a justice system gone rogue. Audio recordings from the investigation into former Deputy Ben Fields, who was convicted of rape, sodomy, and perjury, have revealed chilling details of a sex-for-favors scheme that allegedly involved Judge Mullins. The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Sheriff Stines was deposed...

A Massachusetts judge has been slapped with fresh charges after she was accused helping a twice-deported illegal immigrant evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2018. Judge Shelley Joseph, now assigned to Boston Municipal Court, is under fire again six years after she allegedly allowed Jose Medina-Perez to walk out a back door of the Newton District Courthouse to avoid getting arrested by the ICE agents on duty. In a scathing 112-page report, the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct accused Joseph of 'willful judicial misconduct' and bringing 'disrepute' to the court system. While these aren't criminal charges, the commission did ask...

Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has asked a federal judge to throw out his corruption conviction and grant a new trial after it was revealed that jurors were accidentally shown improper evidence while deliberating. Menendez’s attorney Adam Fee wrote in court filings that the “serious breach” makes a new trial “unavoidable.” “Without doubting that the error was unintentional, the responsibility for it lies exclusively with the government, and the government must accept its consequences,” Fee wrote.

A judge in Delaware has dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News that was brought by an Arizona man at the center of a conspiracy theory about what sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Ray Epps, a former U.S. Marine, sued Fox last year alleging the network knowingly promoted what his attorneys said were “destructive conspiracy theories” about his involvement in the riot. Epps was sentenced earlier to a year of probation for his role in insurrection, after admitting to engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds after storming the Capitol.

A former Kentucky sheriff was indicted Thursday in the slaying of a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers two months ago, shocking a tiny Appalachian community. Shawn “Mickey” Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official by a Letcher County grand jury, prosecutors said. Stines was sheriff of the southeastern Kentucky county when authorities say he walked into District Judge Kevin Mullins’ chambers in Whitesburg, spoke with the judge and then opened fire on Sept. 19. Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines surrendered without...

BREAKING: Chuck Schumer just confirmed another lifelong federal judge with a vote of 50-48. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Braun didn't show up to block the confirmation by making it 50-50. Kamala is currently in Hawaii, so she couldn't have cast the tie-breaking vote. Senator JD Vance is our VP-elect and still took time out of his busy schedule to show up & vote. Where were Ted Cruz and Mike Braun? We could've stopped this nomination or, at the very least, slowed down Schumer. If Republicans were the ones speedrunning confirmations like Schumer, every Democrat Senator would be in...

This morning, I woke up, for the first time in days not stuffed up or coughing, only to view as my first sight with clarity the pale light of Trump's victory's and it's hollow aftermath. The Republican Party which is now poised to assume control of key branches of government after the election has once again demonstrated a distressing proclivity for squandering authority even before the new government arrives. This time, not in the name of Trumpian populism, but in deference to indifference itself. What should have been a decisive rebuke of a judicial nominee, ensuring the opportunity for conservatives...

An Illinois circuit court judge was gunned down outside his home earlier this week as his wife was arrested and charged with his murder. The body of Illinois Second Judicial Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Valentine was discovered fatally shot outside of his Albion, Illinois during a wellness check on Nov. 5. The Edwards County Sheriff’s Office were called to the Valentines’ home on the 1100 block of County Road 600 in Albion, Ill. at around 12:14 p.m. when they made the disturbing find, the Illinois State Police said. Valentine, 43, had been the resident circuit judge for Edwards County...

A federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois issued a permanent injunction Friday enjoining the state from enforcing the “assault weapons” ban contained in the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA). The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was among the plaintiffs in the case. SAF founder Alan Gottlieb responded to the decision, calling Friday “a great day for gun rights.” The judge’s order allows 30 days before the injunction goes into force, giving the state that period of time in which to file an appeal.

The Manhattan judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial is expected to announce next week if the now-president-elect’s historic felony conviction will still stand. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had already delayed sentencing by more than four months to come after the election — and gave himself until next Tuesday to decide if the conviction should be tossed. Trump’s overwhelming election win will now further embolden his legal team “to make sure that sentencing never happens,” CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid noted late Wednesday. “Here, they’re going to argue to the judge that the sentencing should...

A former judge on the famed drag queen game show, RuPaul’s Drag Race is taking heat by the drag community for endorsing Donald Trump for president. Santino Rice, who appeared as a contestant on Bravo’s Project Runway in 2005 and then later on drag queen star RuPul’s show from season 1 through 6, fell out of the public eye by 2015. rice has been peppering his X account with support for Republicans and Donald Trump and has been excoriating Kamala Harris, but it is one from this month that has put him in the cross hairs of former fans and...

A Michigan State Supreme Court justice accepted an $82,500 donation earlier this year from a PAC tied to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, at a time when the seven-member Supreme Court was deciding an appeal filed by Benson.The campaign committee for State Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden reported receiving the donation on May 17, 2024. The source of the donation, Legacy PAC, was founded and operated by Benson. Campaign finance reports show that an $82,500 donation was given on April 26, 2024, to the Keep Kyra Harris Bolden for Justice committee.At the time, Bolden sat on the seven-member...

A Democrat judge in Texas was busted for allegedly using a fake Facebook page to direct racist comments toward himself in an attempt to garner sympathy and secure re-election. Fort Bend County Judge KP George, a top elected official in the suburban Houston county, won a 2022 re-election bid against his Republican opponent, Trever Nehls. A warrant obtained by KHOU 11 shows that George's cellular devices suggested he had been communicating with a fellow employee who used a fake Facebook account under the name 'Antonio Scalywag' to interact with the judge's posts and leave racist comments. ... Fort Bend County...

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a final warning letter Friday to the lawyer of Michael Nellis, the CEO of a political consulting firm that employs the daughter of New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial. The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which comes after Jordan sent a subpoena to Nellis in late August, after he failed to comply with the committee and their inquiries regarding any potential cooperation between Nellis’s firm and those trying to prosecute Trump. The judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is...

A panel of New York appeals court judges appeared skeptical about the gargantuan $454 million civil fraud judgment Donald Trump was dealt after he was found liable for business fraud — with one jurist calling it “troubling.” The former president is attempting to reverse or reduce the judgment of $354 million — plus an additional $100 million in interest — after a judge sided with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who argued in a lawsuit Trump inflated his net worth by billions to get better loan and insurance terms. Trump’s lawyers, who have called Judge Arthur Engoron’s February ruling...

A retired upstate New York county judge and former prosecutor allegedly shot himself to death Tuesday morning as FBI agents moved in to arrest him on corruption charges, according to reports. Stewart Rosenwasser, who has been embroiled in a sordid federal bribery scandal, allegedly opened fire on the agents as they approached his Orange County home before his death by apparent suicide shortly after 9:30 am, the Albany Times-Union reported Tuesday. Sources told The Post that an indictment naming Rosenwasser was handed down this week. The FBI said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the incident at the...

A Kentucky sheriff has turned himself in for allegedly shooting a judge dead inside his chambers on Thursday after asking staff if he could speak with him. Lechter County Sheriff Mickey Stines, 43, surrendered himself to police following the shooting death of District Court Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, at the County Courthouse at around 3pm, The Mountain Eagle reports. The sheriff allegedly walked into the judge's outer office, told court employees and others gathered there he needed to speak to Mullins alone. He and Mullins then entered the judge's inner office, closed the door and those outside heard gunshots, according...

A Kentucky sheriff has been arrested after fatally shooting a judge in his chambers, police say. District Judge Kevin Mullins died at the scene after being shot multiple times in the Letcher County Courthouse, Kentucky State Police said. Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder. The shooting happened on Thursday after an argument inside the court, police said, but they have not yet revealed a motive. Officials said Mullins, 54, was shot multiple times at around 14:00 local time on Thursday at the court in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a small rural town about...