Free Republic

A federal court struck down a lawsuit backed by the Biden administration which claimed Georgia's new election integrity laws are discriminatory towards black voters. Judge J.P. Boulee issued the ruling for the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Wednesday. According to The Federalist, Judge Boulee said that the Biden administration and other Democratic groups "failed to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits as to their claims that the provisions intentionally discriminate against black voters in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the [Voting Rights Act]." In other words,...

A federal judge in Tulsa ruled Thursday that the Oklahoma Legislature was justified in banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, saying there was no fundamental right to the treatment and that a new state law did not discriminate against transgender adolescents. U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III said the law, enacted in May, is “rationally related to legitimate state interests because it regulates parental decision-making as to the Treatment Protocols based on the legislature’s interests in protecting children, public health, and integrity of the medical profession. “This (is) an area in which medical and policy debate is unfolding, and...

A full federal appeals court declined to take up Democrat groups’ challenge of Florida’s 2021 election integrity law on Thursday, marking a major win for Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled state legislature. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Thursday’s decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals “let stand an April ruling by a three-judge panel of the [court] that sided with the state on major issues in the case.” The 11th Circuit’s April decision effectively overturned a prior ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker — an Obama appointee — who baselessly claimed the law in question discriminated...

In a significant ruling late Thursday, Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana sided with American energy advocates, striking down the Biden administration’s eleventh-hour restrictions on a pending offshore oil and gas lease sale. The injunction, favoring the plaintiffs – the State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute (API), and energy giants Chevron and Shell – puts a halt on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) restrictive measures concerning Lease Sale 261. This crucial sale, encompassing vast expanses in the Gulf of Mexico, was scheduled for the following week. The ruling by Judge Cain reiterates the federal...

The suit claims that the images of the sandwich on the store's menus are misleading and amount to a breach of contract. AFlorida judge this week rejected a bid from Burger King to dismiss a class action lawsuit against the fast food chain that has alleged the franchise repeatedly exaggerated the size and beef content of its signature Whoppers. The suit claims that the images of the sandwich on the store's menus are misleading and amount to a breach of contract. It also claims that deceptive advertising, which allegedly began in 2017, has made the Whoppers appear "approximately 35% larger...

A federal judge compared Waylon Bailey’s Facebook jest to "falsely shouting fire in a theatre."Back in March 2020, a dozen or so sheriff's deputies wearing bullet-proof vests descended upon Waylon Bailey's home in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, with their guns drawn, ordered him onto his knees with his hands on his head, and arrested him for a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The SWAT-style raid was provoked by a Facebook post in which Bailey had made a zombie-themed joke about COVID-19. Although a federal appeals court recently ruled that Bailey could pursue civil rights claims based on...

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a new Illinois law that allows the state to penalize anti-abortion pregnancy centers if they use deception to interfere with patients seeking the procedure. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston said Thursday the new law “is painfully and blatantly a violation of the First Amendment.” The law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week bans anti-abortion pregnancy centers, often referred to as “crisis pregnancy centers,” from using “misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation” to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception. Violators faced fines of up to $50,000. The bill was...

On Friday night, a judge dismissed former President Donald Trump's lawsuit against CNN in which the current 2024 front-runner for the Republican nomination claimed CNN’s coverage of his election lies equated him to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Judge Raag Singhal, a Trump-appointed judge, ruled that CNN referring to Trump’s claims about the election being stolen as “The Big Lie” did not meet the criteria for defamation despite Trump’s belief to the contrary. "There is no question that the statements made by CNN meet the publication requirement for defamation under Florida law," Singhal wrote. "The next question is whether the...

the judge handling Hunter Biden’s plea agreement threw a wrench in the process on Wednesday morning after it became apparent that there were issues with the sweetheart deal. That revelation came after a night of controversy when someone representing Hunter Biden’s legal team called the court to get an amicus brief removed from the docket. The clerk’s notes indicated some subterfuge was afoot, but after the judge demanded an explanation, Hunter Biden’s lawyers submitted a letter asserting it was a misunderstanding. As the actual hearing began, the judge was immediately skeptical of what the DOJ and Hunter Biden’s team had...

From Judge Clifton Corker's opinion today in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. (E.D. Tenn.): This case concerns whether, under the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, Defendants the United States' Department of Agriculture ("USDA") and the Small Business Administration ("SBA") may use a "rebuttable presumption" of social disadvantage for certain minority groups to qualify them for inclusion in a federal program that awards government contracts on a preferred basis to businesses owned by individuals in those minority groups. The court generally answers this "no"; here's an excerpt, though if you're interested in the details you should read...

A federal judge has made a historic ruling by partially granting an injunction that blocks various Biden administration officials and government agencies like the Justice Department and the FBI from working with big tech firms to censor posts on social media. The injunction came in response to a censorship-by-proxy lawsuit brought by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who have accused Biden administration officials and various government agencies of pressuring social media companies to suspend accounts or take down posts. The judge, Terry A. Doughty, wrote in the July 4 judgment (pdf) that various government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and...

Joe Biden on Wednesday stopped to chat with reporters on the South Lawn before he departed en route to Chicago, Illinois. A reporter asked Biden about Hunter’s threatening message to a Chinese business associate. .... Snip.... The July 2017 WhatsApp message Hunter Biden sent to Henry Zhao is as follows according to the IRS whistleblower: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz argued that the judge who has to approve of Hunter Biden’s plea deal needs to call Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney David Weiss, and the six witnesses who whistleblower Gary Shapley’s legal team say can corroborate his statements before accepting the deal. Dershowitz said, “[T]he judge who is sentencing Hunter Biden and who has to approve of the plea deal, must call Garland, must call Weiss, must call these six witnesses, and must say, look, Hunter Biden’s lawyers, we know you want the deal to...

There are a number of definitions of "sweetheart deal." They include: 1. An industrial agreement made between an employer and local labor union officials containing terms beneficial to the employer without the knowledge of the employees, typically in exchange for money to the union or its leaders.2. Any kind of agreement or contract that is mutually beneficial two the two parties directly involved, typically at the expense of a third party that is not privy to the agreement.But it seems to me that the most applicable one is this one a deal made between friends so that both may profit...

The Delaware federal judge likely to sign off on Hunter Biden’s guilty plea next month was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump — but was backed by the First State’s two Democratic senators and has donated to both parties. US District Judge Maryellen Noreika was randomly assigned to preside over a hearing on the first son’s plea deal, which is set for July 26 in Wilmington federal court. SNIP Those donations include $5,200 to Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) 2014 Senate campaign, $5,000 to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, $2,300 to John McCain’s presidential run in 2008, and...

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of transgender plaintiffs asking the state of Tennessee to allow them to change the sex on their birth certificates. The plaintiffs were looking to overturn a 1977 law that generally does not allow people to alter the sex designation on their birth certificates. They argue that the law unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender people and that the sex designation on their birth certificates is wrong because it does not accurately correspond with their gender identities. The lawsuit also claims that the law is harmful because transgender people showing their birth certificates...

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is stonewalling a judge’s subpoena of internal documents related to how the medical organization came up with its guidelines for gender confused minors. WPATH, a leading advocate for child sex changes, was subpoenaed in March by a federal judge in Alabama after the organization’s guidelines were repeatedly referenced to argue against the state’s restrictions on sex changes for minors during a lawsuit. WPATH has attempted to quash the subpoena, which a judge denied in March. The court case challenges Alabama’s law banning sex changes for individuals under 19. While WPATH argued it...

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.

U.S.A. — In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal Judge Stephen P. McGlynn has issued a well-reasoned and argued opinion covering several challenges to the “Protect Illinois Communities Act” (PICA). The opinion puts in place a temporary injunction against the enforcement of PICA.PICA bans the ownership of over 190 models of firearms and criminalizes the possession of magazines that hold over 10 rounds, among other things. Judge McGlynn filed the opinion on April 28, 2023. The opinion is straightforward. In the fifth paragraph, after describing the events...

The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear a case that could significantly scale back federal agencies’ authority, with major implications for the future of environmental and other regulations. The justices next term will consider whether to overturn a decades-old precedent that grants agencies deference when Congress left ambiguity in a statute. Named for the court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the Chevron deference has become one of the most frequently cited precedents in administrative law since the decision was first handed down in 1984. It involves a two-step test: First, judges decide if Congress...