Free Republic

Former US AG files brief in district court claiming Fani’s prosecution of Trump violates Supremacy Clause of Constitution Not everyone in D.C. is a scuzzy swamp rat. In fact, there are still some seasoned politicians who stand as staunch defenders of the Constitution. Among these patriots is none other than Edwin Meese, former U.S. Attorney General during the Reagan era. At the ripe old age of 91, Meese has not only offered his perspective on the Georgia racketeering (RICO) trial involving former DOJ Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, and calling it as a “noteworthy challenge to federal authority,” but he...

A Washington state lawsuit is part of a larger effort nationwide to make the cost of detaining illegal aliens unsustainable, with the goal of crashing the system. . Whenever a Supreme Court vacancy opens up, we are reminded of the Left’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution as a living and breathing document. Put another way, America’s 233-year-old charter is subject to the editing and revision of nine judges in the most undemocratic of the federal government’s three branches. While the Court is often asked to interpret the Constitution, we are seeing increased pressure from activists and bureaucrats to reshape the...

In a win for the Biden administration, a federal judge blocked an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) that would have banned the U.S. government from transporting migrants in the Lone Star State. Abbott issued the order under the banner of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, a George W. Bush appointee, determined that the governor’s order violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and said Abbott’s rationale did not withstand basic scrutiny. “Indeed, recent data shows that ‘migrants generally test positive at similar or lower rates than Americans living in the counties where they...

In 2018, California implemented the California Values Act, which gave special protection to illegal aliens by mandating that California law enforcement agencies cannot cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) thumbed its nose at California and arrested two people in Sonoma County Superior Court. California has lots of reasons to hang onto its roughly 2.2 – 3.5 million illegal immigrants. They provide cheap, easily-exploited labor. They swell the state’s population, which matters for electors and congresspeople, as well as the distribution of certain federal funds. As illegal immigrants are fed into the system, they provide...

Incoming Leftist Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, in his inaugural speech on Monday, fired a broadside against the rule of law: At his direction, the state will continue to openly defy Washington’s authority on a number of issues, further weakening federalism and bringing our country one step closer to open rebellion. In his speech, Newsom slammed an Obama-era policy that the Trump administration ended — child separation at the border — then slammed the president’s proposed border wall despite the fact that Border Patrol agents have testified that they work. He then pledged that California will provide “sanctuary to all...

Something amazing seems to be in the process of happening,a majority of the governors of our states appear to be finding the courage to stand up to the federal government and Obama's plan to resettle terrorists disguised as "refugees" all across the country. For decades, state governments have been so cowed by the federal government that time and time again, they acquiesce to any and all unconstitutional actions forced upon them by the federal government, no matter how excessive or ridiculous. However, the remarkably stupid decision by the Obama administration to proceed with its Syrian "refugee" resettlement plans, even in...

State nullification is the idea that the states can and must refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal laws. Says Who? Says Thomas Jefferson, among other distinguished Americans. His draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 first introduced the word “nullification” into American political life, and follow-up resolutions in 1799 employed Jefferson’s formulation that “nullification…is the rightful remedy” when the federal government reaches beyond its constitutional powers. In the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, James Madison said the states were “duty bound to resist” when the federal government violated the Constitution. But Jefferson didn’t invent the idea. Federalist supporters of the Constitution...

Federal judge blocks lawsuits against Detroit’s bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes stopped three lawsuits threatening to undo the city’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing. Detroit retirees had argued that the bankruptcy could dimish their pensions. DETROIT — A federal judge agreed with Detroit on Wednesday and stopped any lawsuits challenging the city's bankruptcy, declaring his courtroom the exclusive venue for legal action in the largest filing by a local government in U.S. history. The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes was a major victory for Detroit, especially after an Ingham County judge last week said that Gov. Rick Snyder ignored the...

Though this article was written in May of this year, it is always timely nonetheless given that it is used as an illustration of the larger discussion of the role of the Supremacy Clause within our Constitution. Please forgive this being a late posting: The Texas House of Representatives passed a TSA "nullification" bill that would ban passenger searches at airports without probable cause. The proposal would classify any airport inspection that "touches the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through the clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to...

The near-showdown in Texas did not break any new ground in the nullification debate. The Texas House of Representatives passed a law that made the touching of genitals or breasts by TSA personnel illegal and punishable by fines and imprisonment. The federal government responded by citing the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, together with a threat to cancel all air travel to and from Texas if the law were passed by the Senate and signed by the governor. The Texas Senate backed down. The crisis was averted – for the moment. For most, attention was probably focused on the...

When Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter signed HO391 into law on 17 March 2010, the “national” news media circled the wagons and began another assault on State sovereignty. The bill required the Idaho attorney general to sue the federal government over insurance mandates in the event national healthcare legislation passed. The lead AP reporter on the story, John Miller, quoted constitutional “scholar” David Freeman Engstrom of Stanford Law School as stating that the Idaho law would be irrelevant because of the “supremacy clause” of the United States Constitution. In his words, “That language is clear that federal law is supreme...