Free Republic

Maryland’s “can’t carry anywhere” legislation will take effect on Sunday, but a federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement in at least some of the state’s new “gun-free zones.” U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III, appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in 2012, split the baby in his decision; allowing Maryland’s prohibitions on lawful carrying to remain in effect as they apply to museums, health care facilities, state parks and state forests, mass transit facilities, school grounds, government buildings, stadiums, racetracks, amusement parks, and casinos while granting an injunction against enforcement of the new law when...

A New York judge’s Tuesday ruling valuing Donald Trump’s sprawling, headline-making Florida estate at $18 million has left industry experts perplexed. In his verdict, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron delivered a bombshell ruling that the former president committed fraud by inflating the value of his wealth, with details including the monetary value associated with Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. This decision, which came down without a jury, has sent shockwaves through political — and real estate — circles, especially that $18 million base value for the property. One prominent Palm Beach real estate broker, speaking on the condition of anonymity,...

A full federal appeals court declined to take up Democrat groups’ challenge of Florida’s 2021 election integrity law on Thursday, marking a major win for Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled state legislature. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Thursday’s decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals “let stand an April ruling by a three-judge panel of the [court] that sided with the state on major issues in the case.” The 11th Circuit’s April decision effectively overturned a prior ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker — an Obama appointee — who baselessly claimed the law in question discriminated...

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Florida lawyer who claimed Trump should be banned from the 2024 ballot for inciting an insurrection. The legal theory is based on Section 3 of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment which states public officials who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the US may be disqualified from public office. Trump has not been charged with engaging in insurrection or rebellion against the United States. Judge Robin Rosenberg a US District Judge for the Southern District of Florida ruled the attorney, Lawrence Caplan, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit....

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied requests made by Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest in Fulton County while their requests to move the case to federal court are pending. Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark, both former federal officials, have been named as defendants in an indictment against former President Donald Trump and 16 others. Their actions in the former president's challenge of the Georgia election results have led to them being charged with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that their actions constituted a "criminal...

The measure barred trans women and girls of all ages from participating in female sports teams at public schools in the state, from primary school through college. A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to allow Idaho to enforce a first-in-the-nation ban on transgender women and girls from participating in female sports leagues, saying the measure likely was unconstitutional. A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel delivered a victory to LGBTQ rights advocates by upholding an injunction blocking Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, the first of many such laws to be enacted by Republican-led states. “This is an...

On August 8, 2023, In the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the case of Wolford v. Lopez.The case was filed on June 23, 2023, and has been written about previously on AmmoLand. The plaintiffs asked for a TRO for five of fifteen so-called “sensitive places” in the new Hawaii law. Judge Kobayashi issued the TRO for most of the places asked for by the plaintiffs, with some exceptions. Whether the other places which are labeled as “sensitive places” in the law will be upheld by...

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 Judge Chutkan rolled her eyes and put her face in her hands yesterday when Trump’s lawyers pointed out the political nature of the case and the fact the sitting president’s DOJ is criminally charging his presumptive 2024 opponent:

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 I've often said the real villains in DOJs abusive prosecution of Trump, his allies, and his voters are the DC judges. And no one is more villainous than Beryl Howell, former chief judge appointed by Obama. Almost all of her orders are under seal--so much so that she was mocked by her own colleagues during her send off in March for her secret rulings and hearings. She claimed Trump's Twitter records would reveal evidence of a crime so she ordered the company to produce the files while keeping her order secret from both the public and...

On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump’s legal team made what most would consider a very normal, reasonable request. Yet, it was quickly denied in a move that previews really rough seas ahead for the former president. The controversy surrounds a hearing on a recent DOJ-requested protective order against Trump relating to a post he made on Truth Social attacking Mike Pence. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the D.C.-based election-related case, quickly set a hearing date of August 11th. The problem? It wasn’t immediately clear that either of Trump’s primary lawyers could make that date. That led to a request that...

Wow, talk about an overreach.

On Friday President Trump posted this warning on Truth Social. [Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU! Aug 04, 2023, 3:16 PM] This should not be a surprise. Trump ALWAYS goes after those who attack him first. Just ask Rosie O’Donnell or CNN. As reported earlier – In response to President Trump’s post on Truth Social, dirty Jack Smith asked the far-left Obama judge overseeing the DOJ’s latest case against Trump to prevent the president from sharing information on the case with the public. .....snip..... Now this… The Obama judge on the case gave...

A federal judge issued a ruling ordering Donald Trump to respond to a protective order filed by the Justice Department that would block the former president from sharing details of evidence from his Jan. 6 criminal case proceedings. In a court order filed Saturday afternoon, Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Trump's legal team must respond to the special counsel's motion by Monday at 5 p.m. The order comes after the DOJ issued a court filing at about 10 p.m. on Friday, calling attention to a message Trump posted on his Truth Social account that prosecutors say raises concerns the former president...

The judge in the Pensacola Naval Air Station terrorist shooting case has asked the Biden administration to declare whether victims of the 2019 attack should be barred from suing Saudi Arabia because of “serious and sensitive matters of foreign policy and military affairs.”@media(min-width:0px){#div-gpt-ad-floridabulldog_org-box-3-0-asloaded{max-width:728px!important;max-height:90px!important;}}U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers directed the court clerk to serve her order on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and others, and asked for a response within 30 days of her July 27 order.@media(min-width:0px){#div-gpt-ad-floridabulldog_org-medrectangle-3-0-asloaded{max-width:580px!important;max-height:400px!important;}}“Given the sensitive nature of the United States foreign relations that could be impacted by this case, the Court finds it necessary…to raise the...

Once again, the political world has been engulfed by another indictment of Donald Trump, this time surrounding his alleged actions involving January 6th.The details include four different counts, including two counts of conspiracy and two counts of obstruction. Those four counts break down specifically to Trump allegedly attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, which has to do with January 6th, while the conspiracy charges appear to center on the supposed alternate electors scheme.Obviously, arguments about selective prosecution and weaponization of the DOJ will be at the forefront for political circles, but even on legal grounds, this indictment appears to be...

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...

Florida Democrats say they’re spending and organizing to chase down people who vote by mail after election officials across the state canceled all standing mail ballot requests this year. The mass cancellations were to comply with a 2021 election law that added new restrictions to mail-in voting. The legislation — which was celebrated by Gov. Ron DeSantis and slammed by voting rights advocates as discriminatory — cut the duration of mail-in ballot requests in half from four years to two. It also required that existing requests for mail ballots be canceled at the end of 2022, forcing election workers to...

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court in Virginia this week delivered a message to Congress, the White House and developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline: not so fast. Pennsylvania-based Equitrans Midstream’s roughly 300-mile pipeline, envisioned to bring shale gas from the Marcellus and Utica in Appalachia to markets in the Southeast, was fast-tracked as part of the Biden administration’s deal with Congress to suspend the debt limit in June. It’s also supported by Pennsylvania congressmen, including U.S. Reps. John Joyce, R-Blair, and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, who joined U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., to introduce the legislation in May that helped...

The developers of Mountain Valley Pipeline have asked the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency intervention to allow the project’s construction to progress. The pipeline developers made their application late Friday to vacate the stays of the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Such applications represent a request for emergency action addressed to a specific justice, in this case Chief Justice John Roberts. Each justice is assigned to circuits to handle such applications, and Roberts has the Fourth Circuit, which includes the region where the pipeline is being developed. The 35-page filing is in...

A record number of bills aimed at restricting the rights of LGBTQ people have become law in the past three years, but the majority of those that have faced legal challenges haven’t held up in court, according to an NBC News analysis, legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed legal challenges against some of the laws. Just this year, state representatives introduced 491 bills aimed at restricting LGBTQ rights, with 77 of them becoming law, according to the ACLU. The majority of bills proposed and passed focused on limiting the ability of transgender youth to receive...