Free Republic

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a blustering dissent in an ideologically split 5-4 Supreme Court ruling released Friday night in which she accused the five conservative justices who voted in the majority of repeatedly favoring the Trump administration. The case involved an appeal by the Department of Homeland Security for an injunction in a ruling against the imposition by the administration of a “public charge rule” regarding immigrants in an Illinois case that the Court has already allowed for the other 49 states. (DHS fact sheet on public charge rule.) Sotomayor’s dissent is in the context of the growing pushback...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2009 – Doctors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center here and the University of Miami collaborated to perform the first pancreas islet cell transplant Thanksgiving Day on an airman whose pancreas was injured so severely in Afghanistan that it had to be removed. Army Col. (Dr.) Craig D. Shriver, chief of general surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., describes groundbreaking pancreas islet cell transplant surgery performed Nov. 26, 2009, to reporters during a Dec. 15, 2009, news conference. Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, dean of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami,...

Latest News and Updates Iraq vet's home takes shape A three-day Build Brigade event to build a home for a disabled veteran here with Homes for Our Troops continued Friday as a completed framework was erected by the end of the day. A warrior's reward: His own accessible home Yesterday, amid the din of banging hammers and whining saws, he and his wife, Sara, caught a glimpse of a brighter future as 100 volunteers held an old-fashioned house-raising in Florence. Bikers take to the road to provide Homes for Our Troops Over 225 motorcycles hit the road in support of...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Army Sgt. John Keith likes to finish what he starts. So even after a rocket-propelled grenade tore into the door of his Humvee during his deployment to Iraq, leaving his leg dangling, he wasn’t willing to give up his 15-year military career. Army Sgt. John Keith is among a growing legion of severely wounded troops who have opted to continue their military service. Despite losing a leg in Iraq, Keith now serves with the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier program at Fort Belvoir, Va. Here, he holds an “eagle cane” presented by the Northern...

TAMPA, Florida: He lies flat, unseeing eyes fixed on the ceiling, tubes and machines feeding him, breathing for him, keeping him alive. He cannot walk or talk, but he can grimace and cry. And he is fully aware of what has happened to him. Four years ago almost to this day, Joseph Briseno Jr. was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range in a Baghdad marketplace. His spinal cord was shattered, and cardiac arrests stole his vision and damaged his brain. The 24-year-old is one of the most severely injured soldiers — some think the most injured...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 -- Troops appreciate a congressionally legislated insurance program that provides financial aid to badly wounded servicemembers, a senior DoD official told a Senate committee here yesterday. Congress established the Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance program in 2005 in response to the experiences of some former and current military members who found themselves financially strapped after they suffered severe injuries during the war against terrorism. Coverage applies to active-duty and reserve-component members. “The program is working very well, and the Department of Defense is a satisfied customer,” Michael Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 6, 2005 – Naval Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Ty Redmon starts each day at the Military Severely Injured Center with a new life-changing challenge. Each case that comes across Redmon's desk involves helping a severely injured Reserve, Guard or active sailor, mostly due to action in Iraq and Afghanistan. He may help get military orders for relatives to stay bedside, wrangle with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service on pay issues, or simply provide a list of free child care centers injured troops' hometowns. "You can't put a cookie-cutter pattern on people that are hurt," Redmon said. "And...