Free Republic

A judge has sentenced an Illinois woman to four days in jail for not moving away while a grizzly bear with two cubs came dangerously close and bluff-charged her in Yellowstone National Park. Samantha R. Dehring, 25, of Carol Stream, Illinois, pleaded guilty Wednesday to willfully remaining, approaching and photographing wildlife within 100 yards (91 meters). In addition to sentencing Dehring to jail, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman in Mammoth Hot Springs banned her from Yellowstone for a year and ordered her to pay a $1,000 fine and $1,000 to a wildlife protection fund. Dehring's attorney, Ethan Morris, didn't...

We have been following a slew of defamation lawsuits by political figures over the last few years. (See, e.g., here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). For torts scholars, it has been a bonanza of interesting issues touching on every element of defamation law. There is now an important ruling out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that could have enormous implications not just for the media but anyone who retweets stories or claims. The appellate panel ruled unanimously for Rep. Devin Nunes against journalist Ryan Lizza...

In Magliulo v. Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, ((WD LA, Aug. 17, 2021), a Louisiana federal district court issued a temporary restraining order barring a medical college from conditioning plaintiff students' enrollment on their receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. The students had requested an exemption from the college's requirements for religious reasons-- they believed the vaccine was derived from aborted fetal tissue. The college would grant the exemption only if the objecting students complied with extensive restrictions. The court held that Louisiana statutes allow students to assert religious or philosophical objections to the vaccine requirement. It also concluded that the...

WASHINGTON—Attorney General Merrick Garland’s move last month to limit Justice Department probes of journalists is facing an early test from an unlikely source: a federal judge overseeing a criminal case against a talk-show host on Infowars, a right-wing website known for touting discredited conspiracy theories. In an order made public Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said prosecutors refused to answer on the record whether they had complied with the department’s updated media policy when seeking a warrant to arrest the talk-show host, Owen Shroyer, for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. “The events...

The U.S. government can’t be held liable for the death of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier based on a federal ranger’s negligent storage of a gun that was stolen and used to shoot her, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.Steinle was killed by a bullet that ricocheted off a concrete walkway and struck her in the back on Pier 14 in San Francisco on July 1, 2015. . . . In arguments before a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel last month, a lawyer for Steinle’s parents argued U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger John Woychowski had a duty...

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown late Wednesday issued an angry statement against a federal judge’s decision to release the man accused of making a straw purchase of the gun used to kill Chicago police Officer Ella French. Jamel Danzy, who faces federal charges of conspiring to violate firearms laws, was granted a $4,500 appearance bond pending trial, meaning he will not need to pay bail to get out of custody. At a brief hearing conducted by telephone, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert on Wednesday noted Danzy’s steady employment history and lack of criminal background. ADVERTISEMENT

Real estate titan Tom Barrack was arrested on Tuesday morning on federal charges tied to illegally lobbying Donald Trump for the United Arab Emirates, according to the Department of Justice. A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Barrack, Matthew Grimes and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, also known as “Rashid Al Malik” and “Rashid Al‑Malik,” a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, with acting and conspiring to act as agents of that nation between April 2016 and April 2018, according to the Department of Justice. The indictment said the charges are related to advancing...

This isn’t about the rule of law; this is ensuring that people are too frightened to work with Trump or any Republican ever again. There are so many things wrong with the story of Thomas Barrack that it’s hard to know where to begin. Briefly, Biden’s DOJ charged Thomas Barrack, the man who chaired Trump’s inaugural fund, with illegal lobbying for the UAE. Then, for the 74-year-old Barrack to get out of jail, a federal magistrate imposed a $250,000,000 bail on him, along with other serious restrictions on travel. This is a travesty of justice and a clear threat to...

LAREDO, Texas – A Houston-area man and woman are set to appear in Laredo federal court on allegations they attempted to smuggle undocumented aliens inside a stolen trailer. Marc Anthony Bane, 45, Porter, and Tara Renee Dillon, 33, Conroe, are set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Dos Santos at 3 p.m. today.

Quraishi was appointed in 2019 to be a magistrate judge in the District of New Jersey by the judges he now seeks to join on the bench. A magistrate judge is not technically considered a member of the federal bench the same way a district court or circuit judge is because the position is not outlined in the Constitution's Article III and magistrate judges are not appointed by the president. Magistrate judges are assigned by statute to oversee some matters and may also be delegated tasks by bona fide district judges. Quraishi, who is of Pakistani descent, got his law...

On Thursday, a pastor who previously lived a homosexual lifestyle made his appeal in a unique case regarding discrimination and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which protects Big Tech companies from liability for the content third-parties post on their platforms. The pastor is suing Vimeo for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and religion after the platform banned him from publishing videos telling the stories of people who identify as ex-gay. “This is a case of grave importance because it is about whether big tech platforms can unlawfully discriminate against persons based on religion or sexual...

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Twitter to reveal who was behind the account that allegedly spread the conspiracy about the death of slain Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in Oakland, Calif., ordered that Twitter must turn over information about the account @whyspertech. That account allegedly forged FBI documents falsely linking Rich’s killing to the Wikileaks hack of Democratic emails and provided them to Fox News. NPR first reported on the order. Twitter has sought to keep the identity of the user secret, arguing that disclosing that information would violate the First Amendment....

Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector in Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the arrests of ANTHONY RICCARDI, PATRICIA RICCARDI, ERIN VERESPY, and VANESSA BATTLE, former managers and employees of Employee Benefit Solutions LLC (“EBS”), for defrauding clients by misappropriating over $17 million in client funds intended for employee healthcare claims.  ANTHONY RICCARDI, PATRICIA RICCARDI, and ERIN VERESPY appeared before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison in White Plains federal court last week, and VANESSA...

Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the filing of an Information charging DAVID HU, a managing partner and the chief investment officer of the New York-based investment advisory firm International Investment Group (“IIG”), with investment adviser fraud, securities fraud, and wire fraud offenses.  As alleged, over a period of more than 10 years, HU perpetrated an over $100 million scheme to defraud investors in IIG’s funds, including by creating...

Ilan T. Graff, Attorney for the United States, Acting Under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, announced that SOHRAB SHARMA, a/k/a “Sam Sharma,” pled guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger to conspiring to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud in connection with a scheme to induce victims to invest more than $25 million dollars’ worth of digital funds in Centra Tech, Inc. (“Centra Tech”), a Miami-based company he co-founded and which purported to offer cryptocurrency-related financial products.  SHARMA, a leader of the scheme, and his co-conspirators used material misrepresentations and omissions to solicit...

As our nation continues to regain stability during the global pandemic, there was a news item recently that should encourage those seeking a return to law and order, process, and safe communities. District Judge Michael E. Hegarty of the U.S. District Court of Colorado ruled on April 20 that the city of Denver will have to turn over personal and work addresses, emergency contact information, information about current criminal charges and address details from bond records of three illegal aliens who went through the city’s jail system. Denver authorities had refused to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers,...

Jeffrey Epstein crony Ghislaine Maxwell is so impossible to find that a Manhattan judge has taken the rare step of allowing her to be served with a new lawsuit — by email, according to a federal court filing Friday. Lawyers for Epstein sex-assault-accuser Annie Farmer had griped to federal Judge Debra Freeman that they’ve been trying to find the disgraced British socialite to serve her with the complaint, filed in November, but that she’s done such a good job of hiding that they haven’t been able to get to her, court documents show. “Plaintiff has attempted to locate and personally...