Free Republic

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has rejected a request by Democrat primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a temporary restraining order preventing Google-owned YouTube from censoring his content. Despite legacy media fears that tech platforms are relaxing their censorship efforts in response to Elon Musk’s changes at Twitter/X, YouTube recently doubled down on its “medical misinformation” policy, which it has used as a pretext to censor RFK Jr., who is Joe Biden’s closest competitor in the Democrat party primary, on several occasions. "The Court finds that the First Amendment claim is unlikely to succeed...

Administration has 14 days to appeal ruling ... The Biden administration was dealt a major blow in its efforts to control the ongoing border crisis on Tuesday when a federal judge blocked a rule introduced in May that makes migrants ineligible for asylum if they have entered illegally and failed to take advantage of expanded lawful pathways set up by the federal government. Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule in response to a lawsuit from a coalition of left-wing immigration groups, which claimed the rule...

In separate pleadings, Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange asked a federal court judge to declare the Federal Trade Commission's structure unconstitutional. The filings, both made on April 25, were in response to the FTC seeking an injunction against their merger in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Now, both Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange, are seeking their own injunctive relief against the FTC. These latest pleadings make similar separation of power arguments that were included in their responses made on March 20 to the FTC's filing for an administrative hearing to quash the...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit tossed a Berkeley, California, ban on gas stoves on Monday, saying that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempted state and local authorities in regulating natural gas. The Courthouse News Service reported: The three-judge panel’s ruling reverses a federal judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit by the California Restaurant Association claiming the Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts the San Francisco Bay Area city’s ban. The group said the ordinance would affect chefs’ ability to prepare food the way they are typically trained — using natural gas stoves.

Google “adopted a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for keeping messages, at the expense of its preservation duties,” a federal judge said. The court ordered Google to pay attorney fees involved in the dispute but is still deciding remedies.

The brand's packaging and website both disclose that many of its products are made in the U.S.A.Everyone knows Barilla pasta's blue box. The company refers to its "Classic Blue Box" on its website, and it has even become such a pasta aisle icon that one designer even based a limited-edition handbag on it. But some of the design elements on that box have gotten Barilla into a bit of a legal jam and, earlier this week, a federal judge in California ruled that a class-action lawsuit against the company could move forward. Two plaintiffs, Matthew Sinatro and Jessica Prost, took...

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Walgreens “substantially contributed” to one of the nation’s deadliest public health crises by not stopping suspicious orders and dispensing drugs that were diverted for illicit use, causing a public nuisance in a major city that is among the hardest hit by addiction and overdoses. Walgreens, responsible for shipping nearly 1 out of every 5 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills distributed nationwide during the height of the opioid crisis, was the only drug company sued by San Francisco that did not settle, going to trial in April. “Walgreens has regulatory obligations to take reasonable steps to...

Rumble is going to get to discovery in its anti-trust and damages lawsuit against Google. Discovery on Googke’s allegedly manipulated and anti-trust search algorithms. Everyone should appreciate just how huge this is.

(Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Friday nominated a lawyer who represented the Mississippi clinic at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to become a federal appeals court judge. Biden's latest slate of nine new judicial nominees included Julie Rikelman, an abortion rights lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights whom the president picked to serve on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Biden's latest nominees continued the White House's push to diversify the federal bench. They include Daniel Calabretta, a California state court judge nominated...

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec BREAKING: Twitter has suspended @MikeJLindell after just 2 hours! Stand up to cancel culture -> 5:12 PM · May 1, 2022

A federal judge on Monday sentenced the undocumented man acquitted of murder in the 2015 shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco pier to the seven years he's already spent in jail -- bringing to a legal close the case that ignited a national firestorm over immigration, crime and sanctuary cities.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in California has dismissed a securities fraud and defamation lawsuit filed by a Tesla investor against CEO Elon Musk, one of Musk's supporters and Tesla. In an order filed Thursday, Judge James Donato threw out the lawsuit by the investor, Aaron Greenspan, who runs a legal document website. Donato wrote that the lawsuit had failed to make plausible legal claims. Donato had previously dismissed the case in June, but he offered Greenspan the opportunity to file another complaint on federal legal issues. The judge wrote that claims such as defamation that were made...

A federal judge in San Francisco tossed a lawsuit from former President Trump against Twitter because of its decision to ban him from the platform after the January 6 riots in Washington D.C. In his suit, Trump alleged that Twitter and other social media companies which moved to curb his speech were acting as de facto government agents and were therefore infringing on his first amendment rights.

Gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the lower 48 United States following a court ruling Thursday that struck down a Trump Administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list. Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in declaring wolf conservation a success and removing the species from federal protection, did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains where they have rebounded most significantly. Although the decision to...

SANTA CRUZ — During a U.S. Department of Homeland Security search at a Lower Ocean neighborhood home early Wednesday, a Santa Cruz man was taken into custody in a child pornography-related investigation. Court records for the case, filed late last month in the U.S. Northern District Court, were sealed by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu as of this week. However, an online case description cites federal code for alleged crimes relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. According to a copy of the executed search warrant shared with the Sentinel, the raid occurred on the 100 block of...

A federal court on Thursday nixed a Trump-era rule that limited state and tribal authority to block projects that could impact their waters, including pipelines. California Federal Judge William Alsup vacated the rule and sent it back to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for further proceedings. The Clinton appointee's move came after the agency asked the court to remand the issue back to the EPA amid litigation filed by states and environmental groups... ...The now-vacated rule had limited states’ authorities to block projects by giving them a strict one-year time limit to do so before the federal government could decide...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who previously said that Democratic politicians should "lean into" COVID-19 policies such as vaccine mandates and issued the nation's first such mandate for schoolchildren, is trying to get the federal courts to halt a vaccine mandate for prison guards. Two weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that the COVID-19 vaccine must be mandated for California's prison guards on Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment) grounds given the risk unvaccinated guards pose to incarcerated individuals. Only 42% of prison guards are fully vaccinated. The state's prison guard union — a group that donated $1.75 million to Newsom...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is facing criticism after congratulating a Korean American judicial nominee on Wednesday, commenting on the “hard work ethic” of “you and your people.” “What you said about your Korean background reminds me a lot of what my daughter-in-law of 45 years has said: ‘If I learned anything from Korean people, it’s a hard work ethic. And how you can make a lot out of nothing,’ ” the 88-year-old told judicial nominee Lucy Koh on Wednesday. “So I congratulate you and your people,” he added. Koh thanked the senator following the comments. Grassley, who is running for...

Former President Trump in a late Thursday court filing expressed opposition to YouTube’s motion to move the case regarding the former president’s removal from the platform from Florida to California. The filing, submitted on behalf of Trump and others opposing the decision by YouTube to suspend him from the platform in the wake of the Jan. 6 capitol riot, argued that YouTube’s Terms of Service, including its clause on appropriate forums to resolve disputes, “do not apply to government entities,” including Trump himself. Trump’s team argued that the case should remain in the Southern District of Florida, and not be...

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down a decision in the Epic Games v. Apple trial on Friday. Rogers issued an injunction that said that Apple will no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other communications that direct users away from Apple in-app purchasing. Epic Games’ Fortnite violated Apple’s App Store guidelinesKif Leswing for CNBC: Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down a decision in a closely-watched trial between Apple and Epic Games on Friday.Rogers ordered an injunction that said that Apple will no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from providing links or other communications that direct...