Free Republic

Michigan legislators claim that the state government infringed on their constitutional rights when it used ballot initiatives to change election laws. Eleven Michigan Legislators have vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering, a Biden-appointed judge, dismissed their federal lawsuit on April 11, citing a lack of standing. The lawmakers’ claim, filed Sept. 28, 2023, argues the 2018 and 2022 state constitutional amendments regulating time, place, and manner of federal elections are legally null and void because they usurped the legislators’ constitutionally protected rights. Plaintiffs include Republican Senators Jonathan Lindsey and Jim Runestad;...

An appeals court judge Wednesday denied a request by former President Donald Trump to pause enforcement of the $454 million judgment he was ordered to pay in his New York civil fraud case. But Judge Anil Singh’s ruling in Manhattan Supreme Court allows Trump and his two adult sons to stay in control of their companies while the former president seeks to appeal the massive fine. The Trumps can also continue to apply for loans from financial institutions chartered or registered in New York during this time, the judge ruled.

Washington — A California man who prosecutors described as "one of the most violent defendants on January 6, 2021" was sentenced to 151 months — about 12 ½ years — in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to violent and obstructive conduct during the Capitol riot. Daniel "DJ" Rodriguez admitted as part of a plea agreement in February that he attacked former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone with a taser, causing him to lose consciousness, and that he worked to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rodriguez will also have to pay $96,000 to cover...

WASHINGTON — At least four members of the far-right Proud Boys organization were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl each faced nine counts, and were found guilty on the rare charge of seditious conspiracy under a Civil War-era statute. They were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The jury has only reached a partial verdict, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly said Thursday, and the verdicts on other charges are still being read.

A federal judge in New York on Monday denied former President Donald Trump's bid for a mistrial in writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit alleging that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. In an 18-page filing hours ahead of his second day of cross-examining Carroll, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina accused U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the case, of making “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against his client. Barring a mistrial ruling, Tacopina requested that Kaplan “correct the record for each and every instance in which the Court has mischaracterized the facts of this...

A Manhattan federal judge blasted Donald Trump’s “entirely inappropriate” posts on Truth Social Wednesday — as witness testimony began in E. Jean Carroll’s civil rape case against the former president. Trump, 76, took to his social media platform about an hour before the second day of the trial began, claiming Carroll’s case was “a made up SCAM” and accusing her lawyers of being “political operatives.” He also called for the dress the former advice columnist wore on the day of the alleged rape to be brought into the trial — something that Carroll sought to do early on in the...

NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 was blocked Thursday by a federal appeals court. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated. The ruling from the full appeals court, 16 full-time judges at the time the case was argued, reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that had upheld the vaccination requirement. Judge Andrew Oldham, nominated to the court by then-President...

A trio of federal appellate judges upheld a prior legal ruling on Thursday that bars the state of Florida from enforcing the ‘Stop WOKE Act’ while it faces ongoing legal battles related to its constitutionality. The measure, supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis, imposes restrictions on the instruction of race-related concepts in Florida’s public universities. The decision affirmed a ruling ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker last year, where he granted a preliminary injunction against the legislation, finding that it violated First Amendment rights. “Neither the state of Florida’s authority to regulate public school curriculum nor its interest in...

by Becca LondonAt the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, several Biden nominees for Federal judicial positions appeared before Judiciary Committee members for questions. But one group of questions in particular is causing shock and even anger among the public as the video starts to go viral. The questions were posed by Lousiana Senator John Kennedy (R) to state Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, who was nominated by Biden for the lifetime position of U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington. The "answers" were non-existent. Kennedy began by asking Judge Bjelkengren, about Article V of the US Constitution. Bjelkengren responded, "Article V...

In a court filing, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried asked to redact the names of the co-signers to his $250 million bail. The filing said the U.S. government has not taken a position on the request and that it's being done to protect the privacy and safety of the sureties. The filing said the two remaining sureties have yet to sign their individual bonds, the amounts of which have not yet been determined, but plan to do so by the Thursday deadline. "In recent weeks, Mr. Bankman-Fried's parents have become the target of intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats. Among...

A homosexual federal judge has endorsed a Colorado state LGBT agenda point signed into law by a gay governor that imposes viewpoint discrimination on Christian counselors, threatening them with so-called "unprofessional conduct" charges if they encourage clients who want to rid themselves of same-sex attractions to do just that. They can, however, encourage clients to pursue homosexual behavior. It's part of a worldwide agenda against the fact that some people want to leave homosexuality, and, in fact, do. Such cases destroy the LGBT community's claim that people are "born" that way.

The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a subpoena to return all classified documents in the former president's possession, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell has not yet held a hearing or ruled on the request, the newspaper reported. One of the key areas of disagreement centers on the Trump legal team's repeated refusal to designate a custodian of records to sign a document attesting that all classified materials have been...

Obama Judge John Tuchi in Arizona ruled on Wednesday afternoon, November 23, 2022, the day before Thanksgiving, that Maricopa County was justified in discriminating against TGP reporter Jordan Conradson and preventing him access to the County’s press room after another corrupt election disaster in the county. Judge Tuchi who was appointed by Barack Obama to the District Court in Arizona waited until Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving, to announce his ruling on the case between The Gateway Pundit and Maricopa County in Arizona.

Democrats are waging lawfare to try and slow down Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Now these leftists scored a huge win. And Ron DeSantis was defeated when a judge’s ruling dealt him this major setback. Democrats are utilizing the same strategy to thwart Governor DeSantis’ agenda that they did with Donald Trump. Judge-shop until you find a friendly left-wing judge who will issue preliminary injunctions blocking key agenda items. Even if you lose on appeal, it generates headlines in the press that allows leftists to claim DeSantis is some kind of rogue executive. That’s exactly what happened when U.S. District Court...

Fulton County Judge Thomas A. Cox handed a legal victory to Georgia Democrats and Raphael Warnock’s campaign on Friday. The Georgia Secretary of State cannot prohibit counties from voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as is currently stated in Georgia election law.The Democrat Party of Georgia sued Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office to allow early voting on Nov. 26, the only Saturday in the early voting period for the run-off race between incumbent Democrat Senator Warnock and Hershel Walker, his Republican challenger. Georgia election law reforms put into effect by state legislation shortened early voting in a run-off election...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge in Florida on Thursday blocked a law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in colleges. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a temporary injunction against the so-called “Stop Woke” act in a ruling that called the legislation “positively dystopian.” The law prohibits teaching or business practices that contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or...

1,036 residents of Cobb County, Georgia, requested a mail-in ballot but never received it The deadline for some residents of Cobb County, Georgia, to return their mail-in ballots was extended by a judge on Monday after election officials failed to send out ballots to 1,036 people who requested them. Some of the affected voters filed a lawsuit over the weekend asking for an extension after election officials admitted that the mistake was due to an error on their part. "This is an important result for these Cobb County voters, who through no fault of their own did not receive the...

Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley's ruled Monday the county board of supervisors went beyond its authority by directing the county recorder to count all ballots cast instead of a small sample as required by state law, the Associated Press reports. The judge in a case, brought by the progressive group Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, which sued to stop the proposed count, said the law allows for only for a small hand-count of early ballots to ensure voting machine accuracy. The group also said the change could create chaos and possibly delay election results. The ruling is unlikely...

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who dragged former D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone into the crowd on the steps of the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison on Thursday. Albuquerque Head, a 43-year-old from Tennessee, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison, a bit shy of the 96 months that prosecutors had requested, but still one of the longest sentences to date in the Capitol riot cases. Head will get credit for the roughly 18 months he's spent locked up already. Fanone urged Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence Head to the maximum, saying...

A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law says a federal judge’s decision to send his reinstatement appeal to trial means a reckoning is coming for the state’s Republican governor. Andrew Warren, a Democrat, was removed as Hillsborough county state attorney on 4 August after saying he would not enforce the abortion ban or prosecute providers of gender transition treatment for young people. DeSantis cited Warren’s alleged “woke agenda” in reasons for his decision. At a hearing in Tallahassee on Monday, Judge Robert Hinkle denied motions from DeSantis to dismiss Warren’s lawsuit, and another...