Free Republic

VIDEOS AT LINK........... The deranged woman who disgracefully vandalized the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. has just been set free. Despite the DOJ’s request to keep her held as a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh released 41-year-old Melissa Farris. She is now out of custody, pending her next court hearing on September 3rd. Fox News covered the latest update in this clip: Even more infuriatingly, Melissa Farris was cut loose without having to post bond. The judge did, however, impose certain conditions for her release. WJLA reported: The court ordered Farris to submit to supervision...

Sigal Chattah (NV) – Republican Attorneys General Association A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Sigal Chattah is not lawfully serving as Nevada’s Acting U.S. Attorney, holding that the Trump administration cannot bypass federal vacancy limits by naming her first assistant after the vacancy arose or by simply delegating her all the powers of the office. The controversy began when Nevada U.S. Attorney Jason Frierson resigned on January 17, 2025. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, then-First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami automatically became acting U.S. attorney. Two months later, Bondi used 28 U.S.C....

A federal judge blocked FBI Director Kash Patel’s attempt to move his bureau’s headquarters down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, saying he broke laws governing site selection. Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, sided with Maryland and Prince George’s County, which had been the leading location for the future HQ site until Mr. Patel decided to keep it inside the District. Judge Chuang said the order restores the plans to build in Greenbelt, just over the Maryland-D.C. line — though he pointed out that Congress has yet to give final approval to that location. He said Congress controls...

The Supreme Court once again declined to take up President Trump's attempt to toss a jury's $5 million finding that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll.The big picture: Carroll's payday had been long delayed as the president fought the verdict. The Supreme Court already declined to throw it out earlier this year.Trump's lawyers are also still fighting a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment he was ordered to pay her, arguing he's entitled to presidential immunity.Driving the news: The justices did not explain their reasoning for declining to take up the challenge, as is typical.Editor's note: This is a breaking news...

Restaurants and other businesses have lost their challenge to Denver ordinances that forbid them from using natural-gas appliances, as a judge has found they are not preempted by federal law. The Restaurant Law Center and the National Association of Home Builders were among the trade associations that sued Denver in July 2024, arguing rules passed in Denver this decade were preempted by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Judge Philip Brimmer disagreed in an Aug. 7 ruling granting the city’s motion to dismiss. Preemption only applies to energy use requirements on manufacturers before the appliances reach consumers, Brimmer wrote....

Massachusetts District Court Judge Richard Stearns dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit asserting that Harvard University was not doing enough to quell antisemitism on its campus. Stearns acknowledged that "while there have been incidents of Jews being threatened, intimidated, and discriminated against, who's to say that the University must take action? It seems to me that any actions that could be taken would run afoul of the First Amendment's prohibition of interference in the 'free exercise' of Muslim religious beliefs. The Quran contains many passages explicitly calling for the persecution, subjugation, and killing of Jews. The Trump Administration's demand that University...

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security from obtaining 17 million Commercial Driver’s License records. US District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee, entered an administrative stay and prevented the Trump Administration from obtaining the records it subpoenaed. Judge Trenga also ordered the DHS to immediately return any subpoenaed documents and not inspect the records. The judge said he needs more time to consider the motion to quash the subpoenas. On Friday, 21 Democrat state attorneys general and DC filed lawsuits challenging the records request. The blue state attorneys general sued the Department...

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit that accused Harvard University of letting antisemitism run unchecked, a major defeat in the federal government’s monthslong battle with the Ivy League institution. District Court Judge Richard Stearns, a Clinton appointee, said the Trump administration failed to prove “an ongoing violation of Title VI” by Harvard University. This comes after the Trump administration sued Harvard University back in March, accusing the school of failing to address antisemitism and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students. The administration’s complaint focused mainly on incidents that took place during the 2023-24 school year, Stearns...

A federal judge on Tuesday expanded an earlier block on part of President Trump's executive order seeking to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November's elections. Why it matters: The ruling freezes a key piece of Trump's attempted overhaul of mail-in voting for all U.S. states. A previous ruling in a separate case had limited a block for the 23 Democratic states that sued over the president's order. * Trump's executive order had enabled the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots to states that did not cooperate with the Postal Service on preventing what the administration has claimed is...

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that some federal gun restrictions can no longer stand after Republicans last year zeroed out the taxes that justified their constitutionality. Congress relied on its taxing authority to pass the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA), which established a $200 fee to transfer or make certain firearms. But last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the tax for short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and silencers. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix said that has “constitutional consequences.” The law’s registration and recordkeeping requirements for those guns can’t continue, he ruled. “Because today’s NFA does not generate any...

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the US Postal Service from restricting mail-in voting. US District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, expanded her previous block on President Trump's executive order on mail-in voting. The Boston-based Judge previously blocked President Trump’s March 2025 executive order, specifically his attempt to create a federal voter list. In March 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14248: Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections. “Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic. The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted...

A federal appeals court on Friday blocked construction of President Trump’s White House Ballroom. In a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Trump lacks the authority to move forward with the construction without approval from Congress. Judges Patricia Millett (Obama) and Bradley Garcia (Biden) wrote the majority opinion. “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” majority wrote. “Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House...

A federal judge on Friday once again blocked the Trump Administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis. The termination was supposed to take effect on March 17, however, a federal judge previously halted the termination. On Friday, US District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, issued a new administrative stay after the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and an emergency motion. There are more than 100,000 Somalis living in the US. An estimated 5,000 Somalis are eligible for Temporary Protected Status. The Justice Department responded to the judge’s order. “Judge Allison Burroughs just entered yet another order preventing...

A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of the approximately 350,000 Haitians living in the United States, CBS News reports. As News Center 7 previously reported, TPS was set to end on Friday. The new ruling extends it to Monday, July 27. TPS allows people from countries affected by war, natural disasters, or other major crises to legally live and work in the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump Administration could end TPS for Haitians.

LANSING, Mich. (News 10) — The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that police can no longer use the smell of marijuana as the sole justification for a warrantless vehicle search. In a 5-2 decision in No. 165764, People of Michigan v Devante Kyran Jennings,, the court found that odor alone does not establish probable cause that a criminal amount of cannabis is present in a vehicle. Read more about the case and find the court’s opinion here. What changed after legalization Since Michigan voters approved a change to state law in 2018, possessing less than five ounces of marijuana is...

Forty-three percent of the people Portland police arrested at protests against immigration enforcement have had their cases dismissed or dropped with no complaint or they’ve been acquitted, a WW analysis has found.Of the eight defendants who went to trial, five were acquitted, and those convicted received only short probations. That suggests juries have largely found that the charges don’t pass muster.“When arrests are made, they’re based on probable cause that a crime was committed by the person. When a public order situation is becoming dangerous, there are times where arrests are made based on probable cause to prevent a situation...

Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was ordered Wednesday to pay a $5,000 fine for obstructing the arrest of an illegal immigrant at a courthouse but will not serve any prison time. "I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment," said U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman. Dugan, 66, was convicted of felony obstruction last year after federal agents attempted to serve a warrant to Eduardo Flores-Ruiz on April 18, 2025. She was acquitted of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor. She faced...

A Virginia judge informed state officials in a Tuesday letter that a newly passed ban on modern semiautomatic firearms was blocked across the state, citing the potential for a “treacherous patchwork” within Virginia. Shortly after Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” SB 749, into law on May 14, pro-Second Amendment organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) filed lawsuits seeking to have the ban invalidated on Second Amendment grounds. The letter from Washington County...

A Florida federal judge in a scathing order Monday said President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service “for an improper purpose” — to gain the appearance of “judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.” That controversial out-of-court settlement with the IRS and Department of Justice in May briefly led the DOJ to create a since-abandoned $1.8 billion “lawfare” fund to compensate purported victims of prosecutorial overreach by the department. It also led to Trump, his family members and related business entities being granted effective immunity from audits,...

A federal judge ​on Tuesday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing a policy that targets foreign nationals who ‌study disinformation and hate speech on social media for visa denials and deportation. Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington sided with, opens new tab the Coalition for Independent Technology Research in finding that the administration's policy likely unlawfully burdens the speech of non-citizen researchers in the United States in ​violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The group's lawsuit alleged that the U.S. State Department, while claiming it is ​fighting online censorship that Trump's allies have argued has...