Free Republic

In the current debate over judicial nominations, some commentators claim Republicans such as myself are misrepresenting history by suggesting the current filibuster tactics of the Democrats are unprecedented. These commentators cite the 1968 nomination of Abe Fortas to be chief justice of the United States as an example of how Republicans once attempted to block a judicial nomination on the Senate floor. I welcome the opportunity to respond to this claim, because the more Americans learn about the history of judicial nominations, the more they will realize how terribly off-track our confirmation process has become. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson...

If you've ever wondered, the word "filibuster" originally meant "pirate." That is to say, senators once viewed the process of talking a bill to death as "piracy" of the will of the majority. But to today's Democrats, the concept of judicial filibusters is a "time-honored tradition." Not exactly. Any excursion into filibuster history should begin with the Constitution. In Article 2, Section 2, the Framers make it clear that they understood the concept of what we now call a "supermajority" – by setting up a two-thirds majority vote to approve treaties. But when it comes to the president's power to...

The Federal Judge who just went after @DOGE is married to the attorney representing Hampton Dellinger in his lawsuit against the Trump administration. She was also Lisa Page's personal attorney during a GOP inquiry into her efforts to smear President Trump with the Russia Collusion Hoax with Peter Strozk. How is this not a conflict of interest!?

Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a lawsuit from an Ohio woman who claimed she was the victim of reverse discrimination because her employer denied her a promotion because she is straight. In a unanimous decision in the case of Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the high court tossed out a ruling by a federal appeals court that dismissed Marlean Ames' claims because she failed to clear a higher bar applied to members of a majority group in order for her employment discrimination case to proceed. (snip) The background circumstances rule required plaintiffs who are members...

‘You can’t say that it’s OK to discriminate against someone because they’re white, but not OK because they’re black. We all know it’s wrong.’The U.S. Supreme Court should extend its prohibition on reverse discrimination to American schools, not only workplaces, Federalist CEO Sean Davis said on Thursday. The moment came during an interview Davis participated in on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show when the host of the same name asked The Federalist CEO to comment on a SCOTUS decision released on Thursday in a case known as Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. As The Federalist reported, the...

The Trump administration has escalated its battle with Harvard University, freezing all future grants and threatening to strip the school’s tax-exempt status. In response, Harvard has adopted some conciliatory measures— rebranding its DEI office and cancelling its racially segregated graduation ceremonies—but, behind the scenes, the university’s discrimination machine continues to operate at full capacity. We’ve obtained a trove of internal documents that reveal Harvard’s racial favoritism in faculty and administrative hiring. The university’s DEI programs are more than “unconscious bias” training. They are vectors for systematic discrimination against disfavored groups: namely, white men. As one Harvard researcher told us, “endless...

The Trump administration has escalated its battle with Harvard University, freezing all future grants and threatening to strip the school’s tax-exempt status. In response, Harvard has adopted some conciliatory measures— rebranding its DEI office and cancelling its racially segregated graduation ceremonies—but, behind the scenes, the university’s discrimination machine continues to operate at full capacity.We’ve obtained a trove of internal documents that reveal Harvard’s racial favoritism in faculty and administrative hiring. The university’s DEI programs are more than “unconscious bias” training. They are vectors for systematic discrimination against disfavored groups: namely, white men. ...***In another hiring guide, “Best Practices for Conducting...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) joined the chorus of Democrats and pro-abortion activists reacting furiously to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday. Waters, flanked by Rep. Al Green (D-TX), joined activists outside the Supreme Court following the ruling, telling reporters: “The hell with the Supreme Court, we will defy them.” “You see this turnout here? You ain’t seen nothing yet,” the California Democrat, who serves as chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, also warned.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the government of Mexico may not continue its lawsuit seeking to hold firearms manufacturers and a firearms distributor civilly accountable for their role in causing cartel-driven gun violence in Mexico. Having taken the case at an unusually early stage in the litigation, and so working from an undeveloped factual record, all nine justices agreed that Mexico’s current complaint does not even satisfactorily allege that the defendants have aided and abetted U.S. dealers who illegally sell guns to traffickers who then get them to the cartels in Mexico. What’s worse, Justices Clarence Thomas...

SummaryTrump campaigned on eliminating Education Department Judge blocked mass firings and bid to close department The Justice Department said the lower court lacked jurisdiction to "second-guess the Executive’s internal management decisions," referring to the federal government's executive branch."The government has been crystal clear in acknowledging that only Congress can eliminate the Department of Education. And the government has acknowledged the need to retain sufficient staff to continue fulfilling statutorily mandated functions and has kept the personnel that, in its judgment, are necessary for those tasks. The challenged (reduction in force) is fully consistent with that approach," the filing said.The department,...

On January 20, 2025, the President signed an executive order “establish[ing] the Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) with the goal of “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Exec. Order No. 14158, 90 Fed. Reg. 8441. The executive order requires agency heads to establish “DOGE Team[s]” within their agencies and to “ensure [DOGE] has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems” in a manner “consistent with applicable law.” Id., §§3(c), 4(b), 5(b). On April 17, the District Court preliminarily enjoined the Social Security Administration (SSA) from granting DOGE affiliates...

The Supreme Court handed down three blockbuster rulings Thursday focused on hot-button cultural issues, and all three of them went in the conservative direction. That’s not exactly a surprise—the court has a conservative majority, after all. The first real surprise was that the rulings were unanimous. The second real surprise? Each of the court’s three liberal justices wrote one of the opinions. Justice Elena Kagan, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote the opinion in Smith & Wesson v. Mexico, upholding the rights of U.S. gun manufacturers from Mexico’s attempt to sue them, blaming them for abetting cartel violence. ... Justice Sonia...

In a unanimous decision the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Thursday that the government of Mexico cannot hold American gun manufacturers accountable for criminal activity. More specifically, cartel violence south of the border. "The Government of Mexico sued seven American gun manufacturers, alleging that the companies aided and abetted unlawful gun sales that routed firearms to Mexican drug cartels," the order states. "Mexico focuses on production of 'military style' assault weapons, but these products are widely legal and purchased by ordinary consumers. Manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting criminal acts simply because Mexican cartel members also prefer these guns. The same...

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a Wisconsin-based Catholic charity group in a case centered on unemployment tax credits for religious institutions – delivering a victory for faith-based institutions, who had argued the state's decision had violated the religious clauses under the First Amendment. In a unanimous opinion, justices on the high court agreed that the state had engaged in an "unnecessary entanglement" in attempting to define whether religious groups should be entitled to an otherwise-available tax exemption based on the state’s criteria for religious behavior. "When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision...

SCOTUS Just ruled "Reverse Discrimination" IS Discrimination 9-0 A rare UNANIMOUS ruling from the Supreme Court. Honestly, this should be obvious and never made it to the Supreme Court. - June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “reverse discrimination” is discrimination, siding with Marlean Ames, who claimed she was denied a promotion and demoted at the Ohio Department of Youth Services for being straight. - The ruling eliminates the “background circumstances” requirement in 20 states, ensuring majority groups like straight or white employees face the same evidentiary standard under Title VII. - Justice Ketanji "Woman?" Brown Jackson wrote...

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Mexican government's lawsuit against major U.S. gun manufacturers, delivering a win for the firearms industry in a test of a federal law that shields them from civil suits. The high court unanimously rejected Mexico's arguments that its effort to hold firearms makers accountable for the violence wreaked by drug cartels armed with their products should proceed because it satisfied an exception to the liability shield provided through the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA. In the case known as Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Mexico had...

The Supreme Court will be issuing Opinions this morning at 10:00 a.m. Scotusblog will be live-blogging the opinion release and we will be following along to try and make sense of the court's decisions.There are 32 cases remaining to be decided for the October 2024 term in addition to several cases on the emergency docket.One case of interest, and the only case remaining undecided from the December sitting is the Skrmetti case. Issue(s): Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow "a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the...

The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Thursday to limit environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects in a case that will have sweeping impacts on President Donald Trump’s energy agenda. In a move that will restrict power of federal judges, Thursday’s decision reduces the scope of reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to focus solely on immediate impacts. Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to study any potentially significant environmental consequences of federal permits for infrastructure projects. “NEPA does not allow courts, ‘under the guise of judicial review’ of agency compliance with NEPA, to delay or block agency projects...

A Supreme Court more interested in playing politics than faithfully upholding the Constitution is one that will lose Americans’ trust. If there was any doubt left that a majority of Supreme Court justices are more interested in playing politics than upholding Americans’ constitutional rights, it was all flushed down the drain following the Monday release of the high court’s weekly order list. A week after refusing to defend the free speech rights of a Massachusetts minor, the nation’s highest court declined to take up two pertinent cases involving the Second Amendment. As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd reported, one involved a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday renewed its request for the Supreme Court to clear the way for plans to downsize the federal workforce, while a lawsuit filed by labor unions and cities proceeds.The high court filing came after an appeals court refused to freeze a California-based judge’s order halting the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency.By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the downsizing could have broader effects, including on the nation’s food-safety system and health care for veterans. In her ruling...