Free Republic

President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week it is poised to reverse former President Donald Trump’s Navigable Waters Protection Act that helped farmers and ranchers avoid penalties based on arbitrary definitions of navigable waters that could apply to rainwater puddles, seasonal ponds, and other natural water formations. DTN covered the reaction to the EPA’s move: The Biden EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release Wednesday the Trump rule has led to a degradation in protection of waters. The agencies asked a federal court to remand the Trump rule, to allow for...

While Vitolo only addressed the race- and sex-based discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, it could prove fatal to many federal and state statutes, regulations, and practices. =========================================================================== Last week, while the press drooled over the president’s ice cream selection, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Vitolo v. Guzman declared unconstitutional the Biden administration’s race-based approach to distributing COVID-relief funds. While Vitolo only addressed the race- and sex-based reverse discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the precedent could prove fatal to many other federal and state statutes, regulations, or practices, leaving the Biden...

Yesterday evening, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted a temporary injunction barring the Small Business Administration from prioritizing applications for COVID-19 relief funding based upon the race or sex of the business owner applying for the relief. Judge Amul Thapar wrote for the court, joined by Senior Judge Alan Norris. Judge Bernice Donald dissented. Judge Thapar’s opinion in Vitolo v. Guzman begins with a simple and straightforward description of the case and holding: “This case is about whether the government can allocate limited coronavirus relief funds based on the race and sex...

Did you hear that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice wanted the Supreme Court to rule that police could search Americans’ homes for firearms — and confiscate them — without a warrant?In the case of Caniglia vs. Strom, this issue was in play. Had SCOTUS ruled that police could do that, your Second Amendment rights would have been in grave jeopardy.In March, Biden’s DoJ filed a brief with the Supreme Court in this case. It said:In its first amicus brief before the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice argued the actions taken by law enforcement to confiscate the petitioner’s firearms without...

A federal judge in Massachusetts is going to make Twitter explain whether or not it is a “state actor” or a truly private company, and the effects could be significant in reigning in Big Tech’s oppression of conservative views. Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, the man who invented email, ran for US Senate in Massachusetts as a Republican and made allegations of voter fraud on Twitter. These tweets were then deleted by the far-left tech giant. Later it was discovered that they were deleted at the direction of government employees of the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office. Discovering this, Dr. Ayyadurai filed...

A federal judge in Massachusetts is set to force Twitter to explain whether or not it is a “state actor” or a truly private company, according to reports. The effects could be far-reaching in ending Big Tech’s censorship of conservatives.

In a major but likely controversial victory for free speech, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned the conviction of a retired Air Force colonel for using a racial epithet at the shoe store on the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia. Jules A. Bartow, who is white, was arrested after a bizarre and disgraceful exchange with an employee, including the use of the “n word” with the African American woman. The highly offensive and repugnant language of Bartow was denounced by the court, but the unanimous panel still reversed T.S. Ellis III, Senior District Judge of...

Appeals court panel says interstate haulers are not exempt from AB 5 law. Interstate truckers could soon come under California’s highly restrictive independent contractor law because of a recent federal appeals court decision. A three-judge panel for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 that a federal law called the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) does not preclude application of the state’s AB 5 contractor law to trucking companies operating in interstate commerce. In early 2020, before the new law went into effect, a federal district court judge granted an injunction barring the state from enforcing it...

The case shows the judiciary is just as fractured as the rest of America, and leftist judges are defiantly ignoring Supreme Court and circuit precedent.On Friday, in a procedural oddity, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to hear the initial appeal in Bristol v. Slatery as a full court, rather than allowing the case to proceed as normal before a three-judge panel. The case involved abortion, and the takeaways are two-fold: The judiciary is just as fractured as the rest of America, and leftist judges are defiantly ignoring Supreme Court and circuit precedent.To understand the significance of the Sixth...

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in Elim Romanian Church v. Pritzker, (Docket No. 20-569, certiorari denied, 3/29/2021). (Order List). In the case, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a church's challenge to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's COVID-19 orders which restrict-- or in their latest form urge restriction-- on the size of worship services. (See prior posting.)

D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman penned a scathing dissent Friday on a defamation case The Reagan-appointed judge slammed the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan landmark decision requiring plaintiffs to prove 'actual malice' by defendantsSilberman claimed the ruling has only increased the power of the press, which is almost completely controlled by the Democratic Party 'Two of the three most influential papers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets,' he wroteHe named Fox News, The New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal as the 'few notable exceptions to Democratic Party ideological control'

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. government on Friday plans to execute a man convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter nearly two decades ago. Alfred Bourgeois, 55, is set to receive lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. He's awaiting a Supreme Court decision on his request for a stay. His attorneys said Bourgeois' execution would be unconstitutional because he is intellectually disabled and can't understand his punishment. They submitted evidence of IQ test scores of 70 and 75, as well as assessments by experts. The Eighth Amendment bans executing people with such impairments as cruel and...

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has rejected a request from a Louisiana pastor who’d sought emergency relief from criminal charges he faces for the apparent crime of holding large church services in contravention of the state’s coronavirus rules. ... As the months passed, Spell wound up accruing three additional charges, making for a total of nine. Now fast-forward to last week, when he filed a motion with Justice Alito requesting an injunction against the charges he faces. ... For reasons that remain unclear, Alito outright rejected the request — meaning it won’t receive a full hearing in the Supreme Court...

U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey are calling on President Trump to withdraw his nomination for a new federal appeals court judge in Massachusetts, saying it was made during a “lame-duck session” after the presidential race was called in favor of his rival. “Confirming the nominee during this lame-duck session would require Republicans to yet again violate longstanding Senate norms and rules,” the senators said in a statement Tuesday. “The White House should not be using its final days to try to rush through the nomination of a judge who will have a lifetime appointment to a court with...

Arias Marxuach, described as a conservative who was originally recommended by Washington Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, has already passed the Senate Republican majority. In May 2019, the then private practice attorney was confirmed 95-3 by the U.S. Senate for the seat he currently holds on the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Arias Marxuach was originally appointed to the San Juan Federal Court in 2018, but the appointment did not complete the legislative process and Trump nominated him again on January 22, 2019.

This will be a weekly post. Count is now 220 judges confirmed 2 Trade Court judges 162 District Court judges 53 Circuit Court judges 3 Supreme Court justices We've been waiting for this one! Only one judge confirmed this week. But it was a doozy!! On Monday, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the US Senate to the Supreme Court of the United States! Take a look at the above numbers and picture yourself four years ago, the weekend before the election. The above would be unthinkable, impossible even. But it's real. Leave out the three (yes THREE) Supreme Court...

Ordinarily you can’t sue the government for failing to protect you from private criminal actors. But a federal judge has allowed a suit to go forward filed by business owners against the city of Seattle over injuries done by far‐​left activists who seized 16 blocks this June and proclaimed a weeks‐​long “autonomous zone” (CHOP or CHAZ). Law professor Ilya Somin writes that he initially approached the case with skepticism, but was surprised to find it stronger than expected. The reason: the plaintiffs argue that the city did not merely stand by passively, but assisted the occupiers by letting them use...

Involved parties: Michigan Eastern District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis [Trump judge] Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel: Overrules Davis 2-1. Majority opinion by Judges Danny J. Boggs [Reagan judge] and Debora L. Cook [Dubya judge]. Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. [RapinBill judge], chief judge for the Sixth Circuit, dissented.

CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2020 / 12:31 am MT (CNA).- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled unconstitutional a mandatory 48-hour waiting period for women seeking abortion in Tennessee, which had been in effect since 2015. In the legal challenge brought by Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, Judge Bernard Friedman wrote that most women are already certain about their decision to have an abortion when they go in for their first appointment. The judge cited testimony from abortion providers that abortion does not increase risk of negative psychological outcomes. He said the regulation placed an “undue burden”...

Friday, a federal district court judge allowed a lawsuit brought by 21 businesses against the city of Seattle to proceed, despite the city's attempt to have it dismissed. The lawsuit accuses the city of harming local business owners by allowing the existence of Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), a self-declared autonomous zone that was established and occupied by racial justice protestors from June 8 to July 1. The occupied zone blocked all car traffic, reducing the businesses' access to customers, vendors and revenue, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit further alleges that city police largely neglected the zone, allowing protesters and...