Free Republic

(The Epoch Times)—Restrictions imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration on so-called ghost guns are illegal, a federal appeals court ruled on Nov. 9. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), an Executive Branch agency that promulgated the rule containing the restrictions in 2022 with President Biden’s support, overstepped its authority, according to a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. “The agency rule at issue here flouts clear statutory text and exceeds the legislatively-imposed limits on agency authority in the name of public policy,” U.S. Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt wrote in the ruling....

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the vaccine mandate for federal contract workers is unconstitutional. The majority opinion stated that a broad interpretation of the mandate could provide the president “nearly unlimited authority to introduce requirements into federal contracts.” The court said Biden wanted it “to ratify an exercise of proprietary authority that would permit him to unilaterally impose a healthcare decision on one-fifth of all employees in the United States. We decline to do so.” Judge Kurt Engelhardt, writing for the majority, demonstrated the fallacy of the government’s...

Afederal appeals court in Louisiana has ordered the release of two leaders the election watchdog group True the Vote after they were detained for contempt of court late last month. A panel of three GOP-appointed judges for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Sunday ordered group President Catherine Engelbrecht and one-time board member Gregg Phillips to be released, show court documents obtained Monday by Just the News. A spokesperson for True the Vote told The Epoch Times Engelbrecht and Phillips are expected to be released Monday, "when the paperwork is complete." The two leaders were sent to jail...

A sharply divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ruled that a Texas judge may start the day with prayer, overturning a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

On Monday the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Navy's request to reinstate the U.S. Navy's COVID-19 vaccine requirement. In November, dozens of U.S. Navy SEALs claimed they were wrongfully denied COVID vaccination exemptions on religious grounds. The suit, which lists 35 unnamed service members, argues that that the Defense Department's mandate violates their First Amendment rights. While the percentage of vaccinated active duty personnel in each service is at 95 percent or higher, the number of unvaccinated personnel is close to 30,000. The Navy itself has previously said that it has not granted an exemption to any...

In U.S. Navy Seals 1-26 v. Biden, (5th Cir., Feb. 28, 2022), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant the Navy a partial stay of an injunction issued by a Texas federal district court protecting 35 special warfare personnel who object on religious grounds to complying with the military's COVID vaccine mandate. The court said in part: Defendants have not demonstrated “paramount interests” that justify vaccinating these 35 Plaintiffs against COVID-19 in violation of their religious beliefs. They insist that “given the small units and remote locations in which special-operations forces typically operate, military commanders have determined...

On December 13, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed an order issued by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, enjoining the Biden administration’s June 1 termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as “Remain in Mexico”. The circuit court’s decision is a doozy, and I trust the Biden administration is chastened by the exercise. History of Remain in Mexico, and the Biden Administration’s Attempts to End It. In a November 4 post, I provided a full run-down of the Remain in Mexico saga...

A U.S. appeals court on Friday affirmed its decision to put on hold an order by President Joe Biden for companies with 100 workers or more to require COVID-19 vaccines, rejecting a challenge by his administration.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the ruling despite the Biden administration saying on Monday that halting implementation of the rule could lead to the deaths of dozens or even hundreds of workers.

President Biden’s much-touted vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 employees or more met a roadblock on Saturday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court issued a temporary stay blocking the mandate while considering a permanent injunction. The ruling from a three-judge panel on Saturday resulted from a stay sought by the states of Texas, Utah, Mississippi and South Carolina, as well as several businesses that opposed the Biden plan. The states and businesses filed a petition of review of the agency action, which goes directly to a federal appeals court instead of a one-judge federal district...

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court issued a stay Saturday freezing the Biden administration's efforts to require workers at U.S. companies with at least 100 employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested weekly, citing "grave statutory and constitutional" issues with the rule.The ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit comes after numerous Republican-led states filed legal challenges against the new rule, which is set to take effect on Jan 4.

JUST IN - 5th Circuit panel believes the OSHA vaccine mandate has "grave statutory and constitutional issues". Biden admin ordered to respond by 11-8-21. Federal Court of Appeals just issued a temporary halt to Biden’s vaccine mandate, Texas Governor Abbott announces.

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/21/21-60845.0.pdf

President Trump has nominated a slate of solid picks for the federal bench, including a new list of nominees this week. Among them is Kurt D. Engelhardt. Trump nominated Engelhardt to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a district that covers the area from Alabama to the Rio Grande. Engelhardt already serves as a United States District Court judge in New Orleans. Engelhardt will be familiar to PJ Media readers. He is the judge who wrote a scathing 129-page order blistering the misconduct of lawyers at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the local New Orleans U.S. Attorney's...