Free Republic

Two New Jersey homeowners are being fined by their condominium association for placing an 18-inch-tall figurine of the Virgin Mary on their porch. Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara is representing Mary Jeanne Vassallo and her co-owner in what he describes as a “clear cut case of religious discrimination in housing.” On March 7, 2020, the not-for-profit, national public interest law firm sent a demand letter to the managing agent of the condominium association and the association’s board members seeking appropriate resolution on the owners’ behalf. “I am confident that we can prevail on the claims in this...

Are we about to see an expansion of the authority or impact of the Endangered Species Act? If so, how will this occur? First let’s take a look at how we got where we are today. In the early history of our country, the states were sovereign over wildlife within their borders. As late as 1896 the Supreme Court held that states have the, “undoubted authority to control the taking and use of that which belonged to no one in particular but was common to all.” (Geer v. Connecticut). Since then we have witnessed the steady passing of this...

On Tuesday, the Internet Accountability Project (IAP) will file an amicus brief in the Oracle v. Google Supreme Court copyright case. In a nutshell, the brief explains why IAP believes it is time for the Supreme Court to course correct on Google’s outrageous interpretation of the “fair use” doctrine under U.S. copyright law. But the case is bigger than one single legal doctrine and goes to the very heart of why Google is anathema to conservatives and everything we stand for. In fact, the case is the poster child for what we at IAP call “the Great 21st Century Internet...

The Disney Corporation isn't making any friends at a California elementary school this week. After the Emerson Elementary PTA showed the remake of Disney's Lion King, the school received a bill for $250 from the studio. The Berkely area school showed the film as part of a "Parents' Night Out" event, with a suggested donation of $15 from movie-goers. When Disney took notice of the unlicensed screening, the studio's licensing agent, Movie Licensing USA, sent a letter to PTA President...Organizations are required to pay a single-use licensing fee of $250 or an annual fee of $536.. The situation has caused...

Affordable-housing shortages are an abiding challenge for cities around the nation. But often policies meant to alleviate the problem aggravate it instead. That’s certainly the case in Seattle, where the City Council imposed a pair of ordinances aimed at restricting property owners’ right to choose their tenants. These misguided laws, recently upheld by the Washington Supreme Court, attempt to solve problems caused by the housing shortage by destroying property rights. Property owners in other cities should take note: Such reforms have a tendency to spread once they take root. The two ordinances in question strip landlords of the right to...

I live in a historic neighborhood in the heart of Washington, D.C. It’s not historic in the sense that anything especially important happened here — certainly not in the modest rowhouses that make up the bulk of the neighborhood. What “historic” means, here and in cities across the country, is that this is a neighborhood where buildings are not supposed to change. The law says window frames on Capitol Hill must be wooden, or something that looks very much like wood. If a front door has two parts and opens down the middle, it cannot be replaced by a single...

Funny how the environmental objectives of the "Save the Planet from the Flying Global Warming Monster" squad and that of Marxism line up so neatly. Of course you shouldn't have personal autonomy or private property. It's bad for the 'planet'. And by the planet, we mean the red planet. So it's no surprise that The Nation, where the synergy of the red and the green meet, should roll out a story like this, "If we want to keep cities safe in the face of climate change, we need to seriously question the ideal of private homeownership." ... And give up...

In modern America, February 2 is best known as Groundhog Day. But it also marks the birth of one of the most praised and criticized thinkers of the past century – Ayn Rand. Rand sold more than 30 million books. Atlas Shrugged has been ranked behind only the Bible as an influence on readers’ lives. She has also been stridently attacked for issues such as her militant atheism. But perhaps least understood has been her full-bore rejection of altruism. On her birthday, it is worth reconsideration. Altruism has commonly been held up as the standard for moral behavior. But Rand...

President Trump signed a bipartisan bill on Monday that makes certain acts of animal cruelty a federal felony, saying it’s important for the nation to combat “heinous and sadistic acts of cruelty." The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT) prohibits extreme acts of cruelty, including intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impalement, carried out against "living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians." “Aaaw isn’t this wonderfully heart-warming!” respond some amigos. “Especially as President Trump cited the hero military dog Conan during the signing ceremony!”Perhaps. But let’s look more closely at the issue—especially at some of this legislation’s most fervent sponsors:“The...

President Trump on Monday signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, a new federal ban on animal cruelty. The law will outlaw purposeful crushing, burning, drowning, suffocation, impalement or other violence causing “serious bodily injury” to animals.

(Reuters/REUTERS - An orangutan named Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, in this December 8, 2010 file photo. An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed) BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognized the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported on Sunday. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in...

Orangutan In Argentina Zoo Recognised By Court As 'Non-Human Person' Sandra, 29, can be freed in Buenos Aires and transferred to a sanctuary Animal rights campaigners win after filing habeas corpus petition Tommy the chimp is not a person, New York court decides Sandra the orangutan 21 December 2014 An orangutan held in an Argentinian zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognised the ape as a “non-human person” unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported on Sunday. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition – a document more typically used to challenge...

An orangutan named Sandra, at the center of a landmark ruling in Argentina that said she is a "non-human person" entitled to some of the same rights as humans, is making her way to a Florida sanctuary where great apes enjoy those privileges without benefit of a court order. Once Sandra is there, the 33-year-old orangutan will have the company of others in her species for the first time in many years. Sandra left her solitary world at a zoo in Buenos Aires in late September and is currently in Kansas, where she'll remain in quarantine until she's cleared to...

An Ahmadi Mosque in Punjab province, in south-eastern Pakistan, was partially destroyed on October 25, the latest casualty in Pakistan’s campaign against the tiny Muslim minority. Assistant Commissioner of Hasilpur, Mohammad Tayyab led the Friday operation which saw the destruction of the Mosque’s Mihrab. He was accompanied by the Police officers and officials from Bladia, the local development authority. A spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan, Saleemuddin, confirmed the incident saying the Local Government & Community Development authority “destroyed parts of the building without notice”. He added that members of the Ahmadi community who filmed the illegal demolition...

A New York judge earlier this month recommended a landlord pay $17,000 in fines for threatening to call immigration authorities on an undocumented tenant. This is the first case related to housing where threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to harass or intimidate a tenant has been found to be a violation of law, according to a spokesperson for the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Holly Ondaan, the tenant and an undocumented immigrant at the time the case was filed, testified in court that she became "an emotional wreck" when her former landlord, Dianna Lysius, threatened...

California landlords would no longer be allowed to reject prospective tenants solely because they hold federal Section 8 housing vouchers under a bill passed by the state Legislature on Wednesday. 300,000 Californians who receive the vouchers. The program provides the largest direct federal subsidy for low-income tenants. “Why do we continue to criminalize and penalize and have bias against people who are poor?”

President Trump’s administration has a “selfish” attitude toward intellectual property rights, a Chinese diplomat said Friday amid the White House's crackdown on IP theft. “No one has the monopoly over the application of IPR to promote social and economic development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters. “Innovation and IPR shall be harnessed for the progress and benefit of all mankind, instead of being reduced to a tool used by the U.S. to suppress others' development and serve its selfish interests.”

My 80yr old widowed mother just got a letter from the local office of the USDA *telling* her that their people were going to be on her property doing a 'grazing land inventory' survey using 'equipment'. She was given no choice to opt out of this or any other contact information. What are her rights in this matter? She does NOT want to let strangers with 'equipment' on her property. We've heard too many bad things about abuse of power and 'privilege' from fedgov wrt property rights and land use.

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 5-4 to overturn a decades-old precedent on property rights, a decision that marks a victory for conservatives. The previous 1985 ruling found that an individual whose property is taken by a local government cannot file a federal suit under the Fifth Amendment until that challenge fails in state court. But on Friday the justices ruled along ideological lines to reverse that precedent, finding that the requirement “imposes an unjustifiable burden,” conflicts with other similar rulings and “must be overruled.” “A property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment takings claim when the government takes his...

... In addition to being a victory for property owners, Knick v. Township of Scott is also notable for featuring some sharp words from Justice Clarence Thomas directed at the federal government. As Thomas noted in a concurring opinion, the U.S. solicitor general filed an amicus brief in the case which argued that "the failure to provide contemporaneous compensation for a taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment if the government has provided an adequate mechanism for obtaining just compensation." What's wrong with that? Here is a sample of Thomas' rather pointed rebuke to the federal government: The United States…urges...