Free Republic

The U.S. Supreme Court recently halted Florida’s “Protection of Children Act,” a law designed to prevent children from attending sexually explicit live performances, including drag shows. This ruling, coming after a federal district court sided with an Orlando drag bar, Hamburger Mary’s, marks a significant setback in efforts to safeguard minors from potentially harmful content. SB 1438, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, criminalizes allowing children to witness sexually explicit live performances.

The Supreme Court declined to immediately block Illinois’s assault weapons and high-capacity magazine bans, leaving them in place, for now. A gun rights group and gun shop owner asked the justices to pause the law’s enforcement by intervening in the case ahead of an appeals court’s final ruling. The lawsuit also challenges an ordinance in Naperville, Ill., that bans the sale of assault rifles.

In January, the Senate Judiciary Committee will swing from a 10-8 Democrat-to-Republican advantage to an 11-9 Republican to Democrat advantage. Here are the eleven Republicans: Chuck Grassley, Iowa (presumptive chairman) Orrin Hatch, Utah Jeff Sessions, Alabama Lindsey Graham, South Carolina John Cornyn, Texas Mike Lee, Utah Ted Cruz, Texas Jeff Flake, Arizona David Vitter, Louisiana David Perdue, Georgia Thom Tillis, North Carolina

As we all know, in the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. Last night's episode of television's longest running drama -- NBC's "Law & Order" -- featured District Attorney Jack McCoy prosecuting a John Yoo-esque Bush administration Justice Department attorney for writing a legal memo authorizing the torture of detainees. "Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?" McCoy is asked in the season premiere episode, titled "Memo from the Dark Side."...

On the heels of a recent procedural vote defeat for a federal amendment recognizing marriage exclusively between a man and a woman, we’ve all had the privilege of being tutored over and over again by many of our illustrious senators on Capitol Hill. They say that the legal status of same-sex marriage should be left up to the states to decide. At first consideration, one would have to agree with such a premise. However, after closer examination of such admonition, one might also get the impression that this type of rhetorical knee-jerk response is nothing less than a political smoke...