Free Republic

Unlike in Colorado, a case brought in federal court to keep former Republican president Donald Trump off of the primary and general election ballots in West Virginia was dismissed. In a memorandum opinion and order released Thursday evening, U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger granted motions made by attorneys for Trump, Secretary of State Mac Warner and the West Virginia Republican Party to dismiss a lawsuit brought in September by Texas resident and write-in presidential candidate John Anthony Castro. Berger also ordered that Castro’s case be dismissed without prejudice, which would allow Castro to possibly file the case again during...

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. Has been ordered to give federal prosecutors more than 1,600 text messages, emails, and other communications related to the investigation of Donald Trump’s alleged alleged attempt to alter the results of the 2020 election. On Tuesday, Politico reported that Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled most of Perry’s messages could not be withheld from prosecutors due to protections afforded to members of Congress. Boasberg concluded that the 1,659 communications were not subject to the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause. The clause prohibits prosecutors and courts from looking into official congressional business. The court documents allege...

A federal narcotics agent accused of blowing through a stop sign and hitting and killing a bicyclist while on a surveillance mission in Salem has successfully moved the criminal case from state to federal court. In federal court, he can assert immunity from prosecution on the criminal charge of negligent homicide, a defense not available to him in state court. Lawyers for the state objected to removing the case from Marion County Circuit Court. They argued that the agent’s alleged “grossly negligent actions” were not a necessary part of his federal law enforcement work. U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane...

The 7-month prison sentence of Douglass Mackey has been stayed per a federal judge. He was convicted in March for circulating a satirical meme that encouraged Hillary Clinton voters to cast their votes via text in the lead up to the 2016 election. The Motion Order reads: "granting motion for release pending appeal, at docket entry 16 Mackey's surrender date is stated. The District Court is ordered to determine the appropriate terms of release, without prejudice to the government's making a future request for detention, on behalf of Appellant Douglass Mackey, It is further ordered that this appeal is expedited....

Lawsuits against Donald Trump brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the U.S. Capitol riot, can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request to dismiss the civil lawsuits that accuse him of inciting the violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021. But the court said it’s ruling was not the final word on whether presidential immunity shields the Republican from liability in the case and said the judges express “no view on the ultimate merits of the claims” against the former president. Trump had...

A federal judge has ordered the government and law enforcement to disclose to the court information about suspected DNC leaker Seth Rich’s murder. The release is to include Rich’s laptops, DVD, and the tape drive associated with the case. Te𝕏asLindsay™ @TexasLindsay_ Breaking: FBI ordered to turn over evidence regarding former DNC employee Seth Rich who was allegedly linked to leaking disparaging DNC emails to WikiLeaks prior to his untimely and controversial demise. Before this order, information that has been provided about the case through Freedom of Information Act requests has been heavily redacted and offered little with which independent investigators...

ATLANTA – Georgia Democrats scored minimal gains in the General Assembly in last year’s elections – and even lost one congressional seat – despite population growth during the last decade among Blacks, who tend to vote for Democrats. But Democratic prospects likely will look a lot better after lawmakers gather under the Gold Dome for a special session starting Wednesday and redraw the state’s legislative and congressional lines on the orders of a federal judge appointed by then-President Barack Obama. “(Republican incumbents are) either going to end up in districts highly likely to elect a Democrat or in a district...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a gun rights group, saying Maryland's preliminary handgun-licensure requirement is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in favor of Maryland Shall Issue, which challenged the law, The Daily Record reported. The decision is a victory for gun rights advocates in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.

Jimmie Gardner, a youth motivational speaker and the brother-in-law of twice-failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, has been arrested on charges of human trafficking. Gardner, 57, was taken into custody by Tampa Police after a 16-year-old victim reported that she had been coerced into sexual acts and physically assaulted by Gardner at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza. The Tampa Police Department detailed the arrest in a recent press release, stating that the incident occurred in the early hours of November 17, 2023. According to the victim’s account, Gardner invited her to his hotel room and offered her money for...

A federal appeals court has set a mid-January deadline for the Louisiana state legislature to draw up a new congressional map, which comes in a long-running legal dispute that included a lower court ruling that found the current map likely unfairly diluted the power of black voters. A three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its order on Nov. 10, requiring the state legislature to pass a new map by Jan. 15, 2024. The appeals court's order notes that, if the state legislature fails to adopt a new map by the deadline, then the lower court should...

In the Progressive utopia championed by Woodrow Wilson and his successors, government will iron out the imperfections in human affairs through the use of regulatory agencies run by non-political experts. Such people, being experts and completely non-political, would pose no reason for concern about abuse of power, because of course they would never seek go outside their proper regulatory portfolio to use their authority to stamp out the freedoms and speech of their political opponents on important topics of the day. In the real world government regulators since the creation of their agencies have inevitably used their powers to disadvantage...

Democrat-appointed judge ordered Republican legislature to create one new black-majority congressional district and seven such districts for state elections. Judge Jones said if the legislature fails to act, he would carry out the map-drawing process himself.

CV NEWS FEED // A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a challenge to Indiana’s pro-life law which was filed by The Satanic Temple (TST). As reported by WISH-TV, TST “sued to force the state to allow it to provide mail-order drugs for its members in Indiana to have an abortion.” The satanist group “claimed Indiana’s new abortion law, passed in 2022, violated the state’s religious freedom law as well as the Fifth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” TST is based in Massachusetts and operates a virtual “health clinic” that prescribes abortion-inducing drugs. The organization has named its “telehealth”...

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Georgia’s redrawn congressional maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act. The Georgia General Assembly approved the maps back in 2021 and were signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The maps shifted the Republican edge from 8-6 to 9-5. A series of lawsuits were filed against the state of Georgia arguing that the redrawn maps illegally discriminate against minorities and take away their voting power. Governor Brian Kemp issued a proclamation on Thursday afternoon calling for a special session of the Georgia General Assembly on Nov. 29 to revisit laws relating...

A federal judge refused on Tuesday to certify the ongoing lawsuit alleging President Donald Trump defrauded individuals in his promotion of a multi-level marketing venture as a class action. Filed in 2018, the complaint focused on ACN, which sold telecommunications products, and two other companies. The plaintiffs are represented by Roberta Kaplan, the same attorney who represented E. Jean Carroll in her successful sexual battery and defamation suit against Mr. Trump. U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that putative class members lacked certain common elements in bringing the case. "Here there is no common evidence showing that putative class...

Chalk up another one to the very disintegrating system of justice that we seem to have now in this country and add another to the pile of the "two-tiered" application of the law. Douglass Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison on Wednesday. He intends to appeal, and let's hope that's successful. His big crime? He got convicted for spreading a meme. This meme got Douglass Mackey 7 months in jail. https://t.co/kdswMU7S1B pic.twitter.com/r4LnjHXeLG— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) October 18, 2023His conviction was ridiculous.Mackey was convicted on a single count of conspiring with others to interfere in the 2016 presidential...

President Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday filed a notice of appeal of Judge Tanya Chutkan’s unconstitutional gag order, Reuters reported.

The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal for lack of standing of an action, brought before the 2022 general election by former Republican nominees for Governor and Secretary of State of Arizona, alleging that Arizona’s use of electronic tabulation systems violated the federal Constitution. The gravamen of Plaintiffs’ operative complaint is that notwithstanding safeguards, electronic tabulation systems are particularly susceptible to hacking by non-governmental actors who intend to influence election results. On appeal, Plaintiffs conceded that their arguments were limited to potential future hacking, and not based on any past harm. The panel held that because Plaintiffs are no longer...

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,...