Free Republic

Two new justices will join the Utah Supreme Court after the Legislature, bitter from repeated legal defeats, passed a bill to expand the state’s high court from five to seven members. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who will nominate the two new justices, quickly signed the bill into law, his office announced Saturday. After filling the new seats, Cox will have appointed five of the seven justices. “I would err on the side that seven sets of eyes reviewing the most complex and difficult issues our state has ever faced is better than having only five sets of eyes,” said House...

One after the other, they're going down. It seems our U.S attorneys and other prosecutors have been busy! Georgia, Massachusetts, California, Michigan, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have all seen arrests recently of Democrats in various positions from state legislatures to city councils. Way to go! First, to the great state of Georgia, where they’ve been arresting Democrats left and right, evidently. “Georgia Democrat State Rep. Dexter Sharper was charged with defrauding the federal government by falsely claiming unemployment while he earned income.” Next, up to crazy liberal Massachusetts where a one-time “Bostonian of the Year,” Monica Cannon-Grant is up on public...

A Texas judge who gained national attention for displaying a pride flag in her courtroom now faces felony charges after allegedly ordering a defense attorney handcuffed and held in a jury box. Bexar County Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez turned herself in Thursday on charges of unlawful restraint and official oppression, the New York Post reported. The 60-year-old became the first openly LGBTQ judge elected in the county when she took office in 2019. “I’m a proud public servant, I’m LGBTQ, I own a gun, I’m bilingual, I’m an American citizen — and I have every right to defend myself,” Gonzalez...

FOX 2 - A sitting judge and Detroit area attorney were among four suspects charged in an embezzling scheme victimizing incapacitated individuals' estates. Dig deeper: The US Attorney's Office said Nancy Williams, 59, Avery Bradley, 72, Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin, 46, and Dwight Rashad, 69, were charged via indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment also charges Bradley with one count of wire fraud, Bradley, Bradley-Baskin, and Rashad with several counts of money laundering, and Bradley-Baskin with a single count of making a false statement to federal law enforcement agent. Bradley-Baskin is a district judge on Michigan’s 36th District...

In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ended a Biden-appointed district judge’s blockade on the deportation of a pro-Hamas foreign activist on Thursday. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated orders from New Jersey-based District Judge Michael Farbiarz regarding the detainment and attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. As law professor Mark Goldfeder previously wrote in these pages, Khalil — a Syrian-born green card holder — was detained by federal authorities last year “on the charge that he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist...

President Trump has found a powerful but obscure bulwark in the appeals court judges he appointed during his first term. They have voted overwhelmingly in his favor when his administration’s actions have been challenged in court in his current term, a New York Times analysis of their 2025 records shows. Time and again, appellate judges chosen by Mr. Trump in his first term reversed rulings made by district court judges in his second, clearing the way for his policies and gradually eroding a perception early last year that the legal system was thwarting his efforts to amass presidential power. When...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a Senate hearing on Wednesday called for the impeachment of two federal judges, including Judge James Boasberg, who authorized the surveillance of Republican lawmakers during then-special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the January 6 protests.

In President Donald J. Trump's vision of American justice, there are two kinds of judges: "smart" ones who allow him and his administration to do whatever they want, and "radical activist" ones who uphold the law and thwart his illegal actions. But Mr. Trump is going far beyond political rhetoric in the realm of immigration courts. He is openly trying to turn judges into rubber stamps for his anti-immigrant agenda. Mr. Trump's manipulation of the system began earlier this year when he fired more than 100 permanent immigration judges who apparently were ruling too often in favor of people the...

Milwaukee County’s convicted judge, Hannah Dugan, is asking for a new trial. Dugan’s lawyers filed a notice with the federal court on Tuesday. No one is yet saying why they are asking for a new trial, their motion does not list a specific reason. There is also no word when the official request will be filed. Dugan’s lawyers have said since her verdict came-in last week that they would be filing an appeal. Her attorney, Steve Biskupic, said on UpFront over the weekend that they want Judge Lynn Adleman to toss the jury's split verdict. Jurors convicted Dugan on a...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

Meet three AWFL (Affluent, white, female, liberal) Minnesota judges who are making headlines for the most predictable reasons imaginable. These ladies have recently dismissed cases against Somali fraudsters in Minnesota, even overturning jury verdicts, allowing the immigrants stealing millions from Americans and Minnesotans to walk free. Each of these judges found small, technical prosecutorial errors, resulting in the cases being tossed. Here's local reporting in Minnesota on the case where Judge Sarah West tossed the jury verdict: Jurors who were chosen for the case were shocked by West's decision. 'I am shocked,' jury foreperson Ben Walfoort told KARE 11 News....

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Bill Glahn in Crime, Illegal immigration, Judiciary Rule No. 4 I spent countless hours in 2025 sitting in the back of federal courtrooms in Minnesota observing two types of cases play out: illegal immigration and welfare fraud. The one thing that both had in common was the application of Saul Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals Rule No. 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” It’s a distillation of the Cloward-Piven “overwhelm the system” strategy. Federal bureaucracy was designed to handle a system where we had a few thousand illegal immigrants...

INDIANA MOVES TO IMPEACH "ROGUE" JUDGES & PROSECUTORS: FINALLY, REAL TEETH FOR PUBLIC SAFETY Indiana Rep. Andrew Ireland filed a proposed constitutional amendment to let the state legislature impeach judges and prosecutors who go soft on violent offenders. Repeat killers or rapists get slaps on the wrist, and now lawmakers could boot the enablers out the door. The push? It's aimed square at spots like Marion County, where critics say DA Ryan Mears has let folks with rap sheets, like the IndyGo bus arsonist, walk free, spiking fear in neighborhoods. Ireland's bill would expand impeachment beyond just "high crimes" to...

A Minnesota judge is under scrutiny for overturning a $7.2 million fraud conviction of a couple who were found guilty of misappropriating Medicaid funds to support their “lavish lifestyle” of fancy cars and designer duds. Abdifatah Yusuf, 44, was charged in June 2024 and found guilty in August 2025 after he and his wife were accused of stealing millions from Minnesota’s Medicaid program while running a healthcare business out of their home, according to a release from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Yusuf was found guilty of six counts of aiding and abetting theft by swindle by a jury, but...

The number has skyrocketed in recent weeks and includes at least 20 judges appointed by Trump himself.The Trump administration’s bid to systematically lock up nearly all immigrants facing deportation proceedings has led to a fierce — and mounting — rejection by courts across the country.That effort, which began with an abrupt policy change by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 8, has led to a tidal wave of emergency lawsuits after ICE’s targets were arrested at workplaces, courthouses or check-ins with immigration officers. Many have lived in the U.S. for years, and sometimes decades, without incident and have been pursuing...

Now for the feel-good story of the week: A California immigration judge wept after being abruptly fired mid-asylum hearing, making her the latest victim of the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown. Won’t someone please stop laughing and share in the tears of this victim? Shuting Chen, 41, of San Francisco, was halfway through a hearing on Friday for three Venezuelan siblings who had fled persecution and waited years for their day in court when an email labeled ‘notice of termination’ flashed onto her screen. Chen was appointed by Biden’s handlers in 2022. ‘I started to cry in my courtroom in front...

he mass firings of the executive branch judges who run the nation’s immigration courts is leading to longer wait times for asylum seekers and other non-citizens, some of those who have been terminated said on Thursday, who described their dismissals as politically motivated. The Justice Department, which runs the court system that adjudicates cases for millions of immigrants each year, has taken an aggressive approach to shed more than 100 judges since President Trump took office. That marks a significant reversal.... Justice has fired the judges without cause, three impacted employees said, and despite their receiving the highest possible performance...

A panel of federal judges blocked Texas from using a newly drawn map for the state's congressional districts on Tuesday. "The public perception of this case is that it's about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map," the ruling states. This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

CHICAGO - Rambling and threatening letters from the man believed to be the killer of Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and mother prompted the Illinois Attorney General's office to investigate him six years ago, former state officials say. Investigators went to the Chicago home of Bart Ross in the winter of 1999 and created an extensive file on him, noting his paranoia and anger at the government and judiciary, said a former investigator and the office's one-time chief of investigations. Ross, 57, an unemployed electrician, committed suicide Wednesday in a Milwaukee suburb after a police officer pulled him over because of...

Over one full term and less than a year of a second term, Trump has had confirmed: 3 justices of the Supreme Court (33%) 60 judges to the Circuit courts (34%) 187 judges to the district courts (28%) 29% of the judiciary overall Trump has filled all the existing vacancies on the Circuit courts this year. But there are five Circuit judges appointed by Reagan and four by HW Bush that should be retiring (they are all late 70's 80's and one who's 98). There are also several Clinton judges in their late 70's or 80's. There are currently twelve...