Free Republic

Court Denies Access to Fannie/Freddie Political Records Judicial Watch recently suffered a temporary setback in its pursuit of records related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s political contributions. On September 30, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled, in effect, that the Obama administration may keep the records of these two government-controlled enterprises secret. Here is the statement I offered to the press in response: This [ruling] shows that the Obama Administration’s commitment to transparency is a big lie. It is incredible that taxpayers are on the line for at least $400 billion, yet cannot access...

From issuing historic rulings on gay marriage, affirmative action and abortion rights to ushering in a new era of legal and political clout for California's highest court, Chief Justice Ronald George has cast a long shadow of influence across the state since the mid-1990s. On Wednesday, California's 27th chief justice decided it was time to step aside, unexpectedly announcing he will not seek a new 12-year term in November and will put an official end to the "George Court" on Jan. 2. The 70-year-old George said he will retreat from his notoriously frenetic life to read, run and travel —...

First YES on 8 television ad. Yes on 8: Whether You Like It Or Not

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked enforcement of a state law that requires voters to show identification and would-be voters to submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The general election is Nov. 7, The law had already been used for the Sept. 12 primary and in some municipal elections. State Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard said he would appeal.

In New Jersey, one's home is not one's castle after all. The real castle, it turns out, is the car. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled 4-3 yesterday that police do not need a reason to ask permission to search someone's home. The same court four years ago issued rules saying police must have a good reason before asking motorists if they can search their cars. Yesterday the court said the rules for cars -- which prohibit police from asking motorists if they can conduct a search unless they have "a reasonable and articulable suspicion" of criminal activity -- are...

ST. LOUIS - A federal judge ordered a small-town school to suspend a program that gives free Bibles to students, saying it improperly promotes Christianity. U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry also scolded school officials for continuing the program after warnings that it violated the Constitution. South Iron Elementary in Annapolis, a town of 300 in southeastern Missouri, has quietly allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to fifth-graders for years. After concerns were raised last year, the then-superintendent consulted with the district's attorneys and insurance company and recommended that the handouts stop, but the school board voted to continue...

South Africa's highest court ruled today that same-sex marriages enjoy the same legal status as those between men and women, effectively making the nation one of just five worldwide that have removed legal barriers to gay and lesbian unions. But the Constitutional Court, as the high court is known, effectively stayed its ruling for one year to give the Parliament time to amend a 1961 marriage law to reflect its decision. Should the legislature balk, the court said, the law will be automatically changed to make its provisions gender-neutral. Few expect the Parliament to resist, even though African nations are...

In a recent opinion against judicial activism, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker reproduces a stunningly precient 200-year-old quote from a former Congressman and judge about the dangers of permitting judges to claim the final authority to interpret the Constitution: "Just before Marbury v. Madison was decided (1803), Congressman Joseph Nicholson, a former judge, warned what might happen if a right of judicial review of constitutional questions was permitted to become a doctrine of judicial supremacy: By what authority are the judges to be raised above the law and above the constitution? Where is the charter which places the sovereignty...

FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT March 30, 2005 THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK [PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 05-11628 D.C. Docket No. 05-00530-CV-T-27-TBM THERESA MARIE SCHINDLER SCHIAVO, incapacitated ex rel, Robert Schindler and Mary Schindler, her parents and next friends, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus MICHAEL SCHIAVO, as guardian of the person of Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo, incapacitated, JUDGE GEORGE W. GREER, THE HOSPICE OF THE FLORIDA SUNCOAST, INC., Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ON PETITION FOR EXPEDITED REHEARING EN BANC (Opinion March 25, 2005)...

One more reason in a long history that judicial appointments will not solve the problem of leftist judges and judicial tyranny was seen on Mar. 23, 2005, in the request for emergency rehearing of the 11th Circuit en banc of the case of Schiavo v. Schiavo when George W. Bush recess appointment William H. Pryor, Jr., voted AGAINST rehearing. Rather than joining in the cogent and spirited dissent of Judge Tjoflat or associating himself with the dissent of Judge Wilson (a Clinton appointee) in the original three-judge panel, he voted with the majority in the 10-2 denial of rehearing. Judge...

<p>Tonight it is, March 23, 2005, over five days since Theresa Marie Schiavo commenced her ordeal of purposeful and legally sanctioned dehydration and starvation. We await a decision from the three judge panel from Eleventh Judicial Circuit as to her fate, as her family struggles with seeing Terri's physical health deteriorate.</p>

YOU ARE WRONG! I don't care if you do teach Con Law. Irwin [Chemerinsky] teaches Con Law. Nuff said. The threat of Executive Nullification of Judicial Edicts is an Essential part of the separation and balance of powers. If Executive enforcement is a mere arm of Judiciary legal fiat, you have the Executive, Legislative and Judicial power invested in one Judicial Oligarchy. That is anathema to anything American. The Court was envisioned to have the power of persuasion only. But if their pronouncements bind the Congress and President automatically, the need for persuasion is gone. PLEASE read Federalist #78. It...

VILNIUS, February 25 (Itar-Tass) - Lithuania has again lost in the Strasbourg-based European Court for Human Rights. Siauliai prison inmate Ramunas Jankavuskas sued Lithuania for censorship of private letters. A representative of the Lithuanian government failed to explain to the court why a democracy would want to check private letters of a convict, the court resolution says. The court said that the prison administration had flagrantly violated Article 8 of the Human Rights and Freedoms Convention, which binds a government to respect private life. The court said that the Siauliai prison personnel had illegally censored over 360 letters to and...

NASHVILLE -- A judge Friday blocked Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen from removing 323,000 adults from the state's expanded Medicaid program, cuts the governor says are necessary to keep the roughly $8 billion program from bankrupting the state. The state said it was immediately appealing U.S. District Court Judge William J. Haynes' decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "The federal courts do not have the right nor the power to dictate the fiscal policy of the state of Tennessee," Dave Goetz, state finance and administration commissioner, said in a news release. "This is an emotional and difficult enough...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Federal judge rules the evolution disclaimer stickers placed inside Cobb County science textbooks are unconsitutional.

-snip- Right-Wing Party Declared Illegal in Belgium [John Derbyshire] In a nasty little example of what the Left would like to do to anyone that refuses to toe the PC line, a Belgian court has just ruled Vlaams Blok "racist," effectively making the party illegal. Vlaams Blok is the most popular party in Flanders (the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium). Last June they got almost a quarter of the votes in regional elections. The Belgian establishment hates them, however, since they have at various times advocated (a) the secession of Flanders from Belgium, (b) the repatriation of non-European immigrants. The lights...

The so-called “right-to-die” movement was handed another victory last week when the Florida Supreme Court struck down a law designed to prevent the starvation death of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who has been the latest target in the Left’s crusade against the elderly and disabled. The ruling by the Florida High Court is the most recent episode in a six-year legal struggle by Terri’s estranged husband Michael Schiavo to end her life. Mr. Schiavo contends that Terri is in a “persistent vegetative state” and therefore should be condemned to a starvation death by having her feeding tube removed, even...

These days, if you announce that the Supreme Court is doing politics rather than law you will provoke more yawns than protests. But what sort of politics is the Court doing? Justice Antonin Scalia frequently charges the Court with stepping out of its judicial role and taking sides in the culture wars. That is eminently plausible. Still, we are admonished to have charity, and a more charitable interpretation is at least possible. Some of the Justices, including some who are most centrally placed on the Court, seem to have a very different self-understanding. They seem to see themselves as performing...

AUSTIN -- Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick overstepped his authority by dispatching state troopers to search for Democratic state representatives who bolted in May to kill a redistricting bill, a state district judge ruled Thursday. State District Judge Charles Campbell ruled that a state government code defining the role and limits of Texas Department of Public Safety officers superseded a House rule employed by Craddick to hunt down the legislators. More than 50 Democratic representatives fled the Capitol May 12. Craddick, citing House rules, ordered the DPS to try to find the missing legislators. Most of them soon turned up...