Free Republic

An appeals court has reinstated a California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, reversing a federal judge’s decision to stop the checks that he said violate the constitutional right to bear arms. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the state attorney general’s request to stay the judge’s order. “This means that the same restrictions that have been previously in effect regarding ammunition in California are back for the time being,” the National Rifle Association, which hailed the judge’s injunction, said in a news release. The law, which took effect last July, requires Californians to pass...

The Supreme Court has handed President Trump a victory, albeit a temporary one, by allowing the administration to enforce the “remain in Mexico” policy.Via The Hill:The justices will allow the “Remain in Mexico” policy to continue while the administration appeals a lower court ruling which deemed the program illegal and ordered a suspension that was scheduled to take effect tomorrow.Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only justice to publicly dissent from the decision to allow the policy to continue.Known officially as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), the policy aims to curb entry into the U.S. by asylum-seekers, many of whom are Central...

The Supreme Court issued an Order this morning, at the URL above, staying enforcement of a trial court order that had barred the Trump Administration from enforcing its policy requiring those applying for asylum having come from Mexico to remain in Mexico until the application is ruled on. The policy is being challenged in court,and the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to review the trial court order barring enforcement. The Supreme Court says today that Trump can continue to enforce the policy while the legal challenge continues. One is tempted to read the tea leaves and see this...

The Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court on Friday to preserve the key program that solved last year’s border surge, after a lower court ruled it was illegal. Known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), and more commonly called “Remain in Mexico,” the policy allows the U.S. to push migrants who entered from Mexico back across the border to wait for their immigration court dates. About 60,000 migrants had been subjected to MPP. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling last week that MPP was illegal, but stayed the order. On Wednesday, the court gave the...

The Constitution grants Congress plenary authority over immigration policy, but liberal judges have increasingly usurped the law. On Monday the Supreme Court will consider if immigrants whom Congress has deemed deportable can seek sanctuary in the courts. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) establishes rules and procedures by which immigrants may be removed from the country. To prevent federal courts from getting clogged, Congress created special immigration courts with multiple levels of administrative appeal and limited federal judicial review of cases. In Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam, a Sri Lankan man caught after crossing the Mexican border illegally is...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed that YouTube, a Google subsidiary, is a private platform and thus not subject to the First Amendment. In making that determination, the Court also rejected a plea from a conservative content maker that sued YouTube in hopes that the courts would force it to behave like a public utility. Put another way, had the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Prager University—also known as PragerU—and against YouTube, it would have violated YouTube's First Amendment rights. Headed by conservative radio host Dennis Prager, PragerU alleged in its suit against YouTube that the...

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously Friday to suspend an order it issued earlier in the day to block a central pillar of the Trump administration’s policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. courts.

A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that requires asylum seekers who attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the U.S. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated the policy conflicted with U.S. immigration law. The court blocked the Remain in Mexico policy, originally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. Around 59,000 people are currently a part of the program, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said on Thursday. Top...

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that internet giants like Google and Facebook can censor content on their platforms, rebuking arguments from conservatives who claim the tech companies violate users' First Amendment rights by removing certain messages or videos. With its unanimous opinion, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the latest court to dismiss arguments that platforms like YouTube can be sued under the First Amendment for decisions on content moderation. "Despite YouTube’s ubiquity and its role as a public-facing platform, it remains a private forum, not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the First...

  Thread A couple of days ago I wrote that the Democrats are implementing the Algerian Strategy in the United States. @realDonaldTrump knows this, of course. @SpeakerPelosi tore up the State of the Union address to signal that she's on board with the Algerian Strategy. mentions A refresher: During the Algerian Civil War of 1991-2002, the Algerian government helped the Armed Islamic Group or GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé), the most violent terrorists in human history.   mentions The GIA's motto was "No agreement, no truce, no dialogue." All they did was mass murder civilians in night raids. They cut the throats of entire villages...

Statement from the Press Secretary STATEMENTS & RELEASES  IMMIGRATION  Issued on: February 6, 2020 Today, a single, unelected, district judge in the Central District of California issued a legally groundless and sweeping injunction that—if not immediately lifted—will guarantee the release of innumerable criminal illegal aliens into our communities putting citizens at dire risk. This ruling undermines the pillars of immigration enforcement and blocks traditional and vital law enforcement cooperation that has occurred for decades. This injunction puts the health and lives of innocent Americans in direct jeopardy. Our neighborhoods are less safe today as a result of this dangerous district court ruling.     The Free...

A federal court has ruled Arizona Republicans’ ban on mail-in ballots is illegal and unconstitutional, calling it intentionally discriminatory toward people of color, who already face increased barriers to voting. The ruling is a major victory for the Democratic party, which filed the suit, and will likely make it easier for minorities to get their ballots counted in the largely red state.

A review of lawsuits on livestock grazing  Hammond grazing permits On December 20 of 2019, federal judge Michael H. Simon revoked the grazing permit for Hammond Ranches Inc., finding that former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order renewing it earlier this year was an “abuse of discretion.'' Background: The Hammonds had 4 different grazing permits on BLM lands. In June of 2012 Steve and Dwight Hammond were convicted of intentionally setting fires on BLM land. On Oct. 30, 2012 federal judge Michael. H. Hogan sentenced Steve Hammond to 12 months and one day of imprisonment and 3 years of supervised...

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

Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, tapping a federal prosecutor and a conservative appellate lawyer for the west coast court. The nominees, Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke, are likely to elicit strong opposition for Democrats. If confirmed, the pair would raise the number of Trump’s 9th Circuit appointees to nine, with one other nomination pending. Trump has clashed frequently with the 9th Circuit, which upheld injunctions against top administration policy priorities like the travel ban. His criticisms drew a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who rejected Trump’s charge that judges are sometimes motivated by politics. Friday’s nomination is...

A 1986 federal law makes it a crime to “encourage” unauthorized immigrants to come to or stay in the United States. “The statute potentially criminalizes the simple words — spoken to a son, a wife, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, a student, a client — ‘I encourage you to stay here,’” Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote last year for a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, in striking down the law. The law applies to a grandmother urging a grandchild to overstay a visa or a lawyer...

A traditionally liberal federal appeals court has ruled once again that the Little Sisters of the Poor have to pay for abortions under their health insurance plan under the Obamacare mandate. Over the past three years the Supreme Court has twice protected the Catholic nuns, but pro-abortion state officials have filed new lawsuits trying to force the Catholic order to pay for abortions in their health care plan. Today, a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a decision. The panel’s ruling invalidated the new pro-life rules the Trump administration put in place to...

With the confirmation of Kenneth Kiyul Lee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, President Trump is on track to flip the notoriously liberal court to Republican by 2020. According to National Review's Ed Whelan, Lee will be filling a seat that was held for decades by "arch-activist Stephen Reinhardt." And there's nothing but good news for Republicans on the horizon, Whelan says: Up soon for a floor vote—next week, I hope—should be Ninth Circuit nominee Daniel P. Collins. [Update (3 p.m.): Cloture has been filed on the Collins nomination, so it should be voted on next week.] Collins...

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost his bid at the Supreme Court on Monday challenging a lower court’s appointment of a special prosecutor in his criminal case. Arpaio earned a national reputation for harsh conditions in the Arizona prisons he ran for a quarter century, before losing his 2016 reelection bid. Arpaio was found in criminal contempt of court in 2017 for not following a judge’s orders to stop traffic patrols that targeted illegal immigrants. President Trump then pardoned the former Maricopa County sheriff. Arpaio, 86, is now attempting to vacate his conviction. At issue in the Supreme Court...

The Honorable Roger T. Benitez issued a stay on his own ruling to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who imported magazines into California while his ruling stood. He did that as a preemptive strike against the Ninth Circuit issuing a stay without the protection for those who had purchased magazines while it was in effect. He had a choice, issue the stay under his conditions, or have the Ninth Circuit issue the stay under their conditions. He chose wisely.The Summary Judgment ruling on Duncan v. Becerra was made on on 29 March, 2019. At that point it...