Free Republic

An Iowa man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for setting an LGBTQ flag on fire. Adolfo Martinez, 30, stole a rainbow-colored pride banner that was hanging from the side of a church and lit it on fire in June of this year. The County Attorney said “hate crimes” were added to the charges because Martinez is suspected of criminal mischief against someone’s property because of “what it represents as far as sexual orientation.” This is outrageous! Murderers and rapists serve less time! The Des Moines Register reported: An Ames man was sentenced Wednesday to about 16 years in...

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court this week blasted the Federal Bureau of Investigation for “misconduct” in the Carter Page surveillance warrant. Some would call this accountability. Others will more rightly call it the FISC’s “shocked to find gambling” moment. ... On Feb. 7, 2018, Devin Nunes, then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Judge Collyer informing her of its findings in his probe of the FBI’s Page application. He wrote that “the Committee found that the FBI and DOJ failed to disclose the specific political actors paying for uncorroborated information” that went to the court, “misled...

Watching the hysterical reaction of the radical left—such as Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post—to Attorney General William Barr’s thoughtful, well-reasoned, important speech at the Federalist Society convention on the constitutional doctrine of the unitary executive is like history repeating itself. Liberals had the same overreaction to then-Attorney General Edwin Meese’s 1985 speech to the American Bar Association on the Constitution and originalism. Only someone as openly partisan and ill-informed as Marcus could possibly claim that a speech explaining the historical basis of the Founders’ views on the importance of a strong executive is “angrily partisan” and “scary.” So what...

Candidates raised as little as 1 percent from locals Several candidates backed by Justice Democrats are relying on out-of-district donors in their congressional bids, receiving as little as 1 percent of their contributions from local residents, according to federal campaign records. Texas candidate Jessica Cisneros has been one of the most high profile candidates backed by Justice Democrats, the liberal group seeking to defeat incumbents they perceive as insufficiently progressive. While Cisneros has received praise from freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), local residents appear more skeptical. She has received just $3,585 of her $190,000 (1.8 percent) in itemized contributions...

A group of three Obama-appointed federal judges struck down Trump's border wall and allowed Congress to subpoena Trump in bold rulings. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., Edgardo Ramos and Amit Mehta challenged President Donald Trump's administration with rulings over the last week. According to The Associated Press, Gilliam Jr. ruled against the construction of parts of Trump's border wall. The decision will prevent the Trump administration from diverting funds allocated to a national emergency. On May 20, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Trump must comply with a Congressional subpoena that will ask for financial records since 2011. And...

For decades the U.S Ninth Circuit Court, which embodies Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Guam, and Hawaii, has been populated with Left-wing judicial activists who rule not in accordance with existing law or the Constitution but in alliance with their liberal principles. In the process, the Ninth Circuit has become one of the most overturned of all federal judiciaries by the U.S. Supreme Court. But thanks to POTUS Donald Trump and his dedication to appointing constitutionalists to the federal judiciary, things are about to change for the Ninth Circuit, much to the chagrin of the Marxist Democrats...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is siding with public health groups suing the Food and Drug Administration to begin reviewing thousands of e-cigarettes on the U.S. market. The ruling handed down Wednesday in district court states that the agency shirked its legal duty when it postponed reviewing all U.S. vaping products by several years. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other groups filed the federal lawsuit in Maryland last year. The groups say the lack of FDA oversight has led to an explosion in underage vaping by teenagers, threatening to hook a generation of Americans...

SEATTLE - A federal judge says police in Tukwila acted unconstitutionally when they arrested an illegal immigrant and turned him over to immigration authorities for deportation. Wilson Rodriguez Macareno, who is originally from Honduras, called police early last year about someone trespassing in his yard. The officers instead arrested him based on indications he was in the country illegally and brought him to a detention center for deportation. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones ruled Wednesday that the local police did not have the authority to arrest him for a civil, federal violation. He said a trial will be held to...

A Massachusetts judge has left court in tears after being indicted on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant evade immigration officials. Judge Shelley M Richmond Joseph and trial court officer Wesley MacGregor are accused of conspiring to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking an undocumented immigrant into custody at Newton District Court on April 2, 2018. Joseph had allegedly ordered the courtroom recording device to be turned off for 52 seconds while she and the defendant Jose Medina-Perez's lawyer had a conversation about getting him out of the courthouse instead of handing him over...

A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a climate lawsuit brought by an environmental organization and two children against the federal government. The lawsuit, Clean Air Council v. United States, claimed that Trump administration rollbacks of environmental regulations and other “anti-science” decisions violate Constitutional rights and the public trust.  In dismissing the claims on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond scoffed at what he interpreted as a request that he “supervise any actions the President and his appointees take that might touch on ‘the environment.’”  Beyond ruling on this case, however, Diamond went further to rebuke U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for her ruling in Juliana v....

Over the past year, the federal government’s lead Supreme Court litigator has repeatedly attempted to expedite Trump administration cases by using an unorthodox maneuver, one that legal experts say is rarely successful. Solicitor General Noel Francisco has requested on eight separate occasions, twice in the same case, that justices bypass the regional federal appeals court and instead review the ruling by a lower district court. Those requests, known as petitions for a writ of certiorari before judgment, stemmed from challenges to President Trump’s restrictions on transgender people serving in the military, its decision to wind down the Deferred Action for...

A federal judge on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of ordering that asylum seekers who sued after their deportation be returned to the U.S. to have their claims heard anew, ruling against the Trump administration's revised asylum policies. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington came a day after the same judge presided over a contentious sentencing hearing for former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- in which he questioned whether the ex-White House official committed “treason” and accused him of selling out the United States to foreign interests. He later delayed Flynn’s sentencing until 2019, as...

DENVER - Attorneys for a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds - a stand partially upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court - argued in federal court Tuesday that the state is punishing him again over his refusal to bake a cake celebrating a gender transition. Lawyers for Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver, are suing to try to stop the state from taking action against him over the new discrimination allegation. They say the state is treating Phillips with hostility because of his Christian faith and pressing...

DENVER — He won his six-year legal battle over his refusal to create a gay wedding cake, but Christian baker Jack Phillips is now facing what could be a lengthy courtroom sequel on the issue of transgender birthday cakes. Any hope of a speedy resolution was dashed Tuesday when a federal judge indicated he plans to reject the effort to dismiss the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s latest complaint against Masterpiece Cakeshop involving a birthday cake for a gender transition. “I’m inclined to deny the motion to dismiss,” said senior U.S. District Court Judge Wiley Y. Daniel. He also advised Mr....

This week on The David Rubenstein Show, retired Justice Kennedy finally admitted the real reason behind his Obergefell ruling, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that created a novel definition of marriage to give legal status to same-sex couples. Kennedy said, “It seemed to me just wrong that under the Constitution, over 100,000 adopted children of gay parents could not have their parents married. I just thought this was wrong.” Well, now we know. The justice’s reasoning had nothing to do with Constitutional principles. He had an emotional reaction and in his hubris he imposed his private feelings on the nation....

A federal judge in New York has ruled the Trump sanctuary city crackdown illegal Friday — but even went further and also ruled the law Congress passed requiring information-sharing is unconstitutional. Judge Edgardo Ramos‘ decision frees sanctuary jurisdictions in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington, Massachusetts and Virginia to continue their policies without fear of losing federal money. The judge said the Trump administration attempted to write new conditions of cooperation, including notifying the feds of illegal immigrants ready for pickup, beyond what Congress had authorized. He said it is up to Congress to decide those conditions. “The...

Some offered to donate their ribs, others recommended cloaking her in bubble wrap. The reactions following news that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had fractured three ribs in a fall at her office on Nov. 7 may have been made in jest, but some no doubt were rooted in real worry. At 85, Ginsburg is the oldest member of the Supreme Court, and this month’s health scare left many wondering if she’ll really serve for five more years as promised. But she’s not the only one in recovery mode. Washington is slowly recuperating from the bitter battle over Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s...

Fox News host Mark Levin defended President Trump on Wednesday after Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked the president's criticism of a federal judge. The conservative host argued in a Facebook post defending Trump that "there are ... too many progressive judges and justices who legislate from the bench." "Indeed, when it came to Obamacare, Roberts himself led the court’s leftists in rewriting the Constitution and imposing that damnable law on all of us," he wrote. "It appears John Roberts doesn’t live in the real world." Levin weighed in after Roberts offered a rare statement rebuking Trump's criticism of a federal...

A Georgia federal judge ruled in favor of Democrat Stacey Abrams’ campaign Monday night, ordering election officials to review thousands of provisional ballots that have not been counted in the contested election for governor. Judge Amy Totenberg, a New Yorker who serves on the Atlanta-based court, said that the race cannot be officially certified until those ballots were counted. Many voters have complained they were told at polling stations they weren’t registered and had to file provisional ballots. Abrams would need to gain more than 20,000 votes to force a runoff against Republican Brian Kemp.

Years from now, perhaps only days from now, when people are no longer quite so inebriated with partisanship, those who wish Brett Kavanaugh well and those who wish him ill will probably agree on one thing: His defiant September 27 statement denying the charges leveled against him in the course of his Supreme Court confirmation is the defining speech of our time. Kavanaugh rejected outright Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that he had jumped her and gagged her at a party 36 years ago, when both were in high school. He denied knowingly having met her. None of the witnesses she...