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On Thursday a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that Steven Duarte, a felon, has a “right to possess a firearm for self-defense.” Courthouse News Service noted Duarte has five felony convictions and was a member of a street gang in Los Angeles. The decision upholding Duarte’s gun rights was split, with George W. Bush appointee Carlos Bea and Donald Trump appointee Lawrence VanDyke deciding in the majority. Bea wrote the majority opinion, noted the panel tested the prohibition against felons possessing guns in light of Bruen (2022) and found the government...

As a rule, few things are less likely to be the source of humor than court decisions. Sometimes there are excellent puns or low-key snark, but you don’t find belly-laugh material. Usually. Last Friday, a panel of the Ninth Circuit published a decision on a complaint arising from Ventura, California, that covered both the COVID panic and the Second Amendment. During the height of the COVID panic, that county ordered firing ranges, and gun shops closed. Presumably, this is because the Wuhan virus has a particular affinity for recreational venues. Several groups and individuals sued to overturn the order as...

In one opinion published last week, 9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said Ventura County, California, violated the Second Amendment when it shut down gun stores early in the COVID-19 pandemic. In another opinion the same day, VanDyke said the county's policy was perfectly consistent with the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. That second, tongue-in-cheek opinion was meant to illustrate the disrespect that the 9th Circuit and other federal appeals courts have shown for the Second Amendment since 2008, when the Supreme Court explicitly recognized that the provision guarantees an individual right to armed self-defense. The Court may finally...

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the three-judge panel decision in Duncan v. Becerra, the ban on magazines that hold over 10 rounds. The opinion was released on November 30, 2021.Update: The case nomenclature has changed from Duncan v. Becerra to Duncan v. Bonta, because of the change in the California Attorney General.At the end of March, in 2019, Judge Roger T. Benitez wrote a well-reasoned opinion that found the California ban on magazines of over 10 rounds to be an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The case was...

Over a conservative judge’s angry dissent, a federal appeals court refused Thursday to let a group of Republican-led states try to revive a Trump administration rule that denied legal status and work permits to noncitizens who accept public benefits, such as food stamps and Medicaid.

Being proudly pro-life, we have all had our hearts broken countless times. Politician after politician pledges to protect the unborn. We work hard, we vote, and we elect them only to see those promises postponed until after the NEXT election. In 2016, a lot of us voted for President Trump solely on the promise of pro-life judges, half expecting the usual bait and switch. I am happy to say we ARE NOT waiting until after the next election. Promises made have been kept and will continue! Why do we care about judges? Some 47 years ago, the Supreme Court created...

President Donald Trump has ushered in the end of an era — no more will liberals dominate the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and use the federal appellate court as a rubber stamp for defeating pro-life legislation and pushing abortion on demand. Today the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lawrence VanDyke to serve on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. President Trump nominated VanDyke in September. He is a committed and strong 'constitutionalist' who will uphold the values and deeply held beliefs of our nation. VanDyke joins the ranks of over 150 judges confirmed to...

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed the 50th appeals court judge appointed by President Trump, helping to fulfill his promise to remake the federal bench with a conservative bent. Lawrence VanDyke, tapped for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, cleared the Senate by 51 - 44, making him the 50th judicial nominee appointed to a federal circuit court since the president took office in January of 2017. By comparison, President Obama appointed 55 federal circuit court judges in all of his eight years, putting Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans on a much more fast-tracked pace. Mr. Trump has also...

NOW VOTING: Confirmation of Executive Calendar #534 Lawrence Vandyke to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit 4:08 PM · Dec 11, 2019

Democratic senators are using derogatory statements from a Montana Justice Department official to justify their opposition to Lawrence VanDyke, President Trump’s nominee for the Ninth Circuit, without disclosing that the official has donated nearly $30,000 to Democrats running for federal office nor the background that he and VanDyke are longtime political foes. Michael Black, who served as the chief of the Civil Services Bureau of the Montana Department of Justice when VanDyke (pictured) was the state solicitor general, has made no secret of his personal and professional disdain for VanDyke. (snip) Earlier this week, conservative judicial advocacy groups revealed that...

'You would not allow women and blacks to vote because that was not in the Constitution when it was ratified' Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) attacked a judicial nominee Wednesday, charging that he would rule against suffrage for blacks and women if a hypothetical U.S. Constitution banned them from voting. Hirono took issue with Trump judicial nominee Lawrence VanDyke's statement that he would "look to the Constitution" when considering whether laws were constitutional. She said during a Judiciary Committee hearing such an approach would threaten the voting rights of minorities and women if the Constitution had not already been changed...

One of President Trump's nominees for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals broke down in tears during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, as he disputed suggestions that he would not be fair to members of the LGBTQ community. Lawrence VanDyke was the subject of a scathing letter from the American Bar Association, sent to committee leadership Tuesday night, which alleged that people they interviewed expressed this concern, and that VanDyke himself "would not say affirmatively that he would be fair to any litigant before him, notably members of the LGBTQ community." But conservatives have adamantly defended the nominee. And...

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has deemed President Trump nominee Lawrence VanDyke unqualified to sit on the 9th Circuit Court, determining that he lacks “professional competence” and “judicial temperament.” The Judicial Crisis Network noted some concerns regarding the ABA's evaluation. For starters, the lead evaluator, Marcia Davenport, a trial attorney in Montana, openly opposed VanDyke when he ran for a seat on the Montana Supreme Court and even contributed to his opponent's campaign. Davenport is a "left-wing partisan," JCN claims."The ABA has amassed quite the history of bias against conservatives over the last few decades, but...

WASHINGTON (CN) – President Donald Trump announced six new judicial nominees on Friday, including two to seats on the once reliably liberal Ninth Circuit and four to federal courts in California. One of the nominees to the Ninth Circuit will be familiar to senators, as Trump has now three times chosen Patrick Bumatay for a federal judgeship. Trump first chose Bumatay, a prosecutor in the Southern District of California, for a seat on the Ninth Circuit in 2018, but the Senate never took action on the nomination. Trump tapped him for a judgeship again earlier this year, this time for...