Free Republic

...Judge Trevor McFadden sided with two ranchers from Arizona—a border state that's a battleground in the presidential race—who claimed that the Biden administration's halt on the border wall, which violated laws requiring an environmental review, caused concrete damage to the environment. The case centers around whether the Biden administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not reviewing the potential environmental impact of halting construction.. The ruling came from the case Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security... "In sum, the Court finds that Smith suffered tangible harms that were caused by an influx...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a Tennessee law that bans transgender students and staff from using school bathrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identities. A transgender student, identified only as D.H., filed the lawsuit nearly two years ago, saying her school stopped supporting her social transition after the Republican-dominant Statehouse and GOP Gov. Bill Lee enacted several policies targeting accommodations for transgender people. The school instead accommodated the student by allowing her to use one of four single-occupancy restrooms. However, according to D.H.'s attorneys, the accommodation caused severe stress, leading to the...

On August 30, 2024, Judge Iain D. Johnston of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order and opinion showing the ban on carrying concealed weapons on public transportation is unconstitutional. The ban is “as applied”. It is only applicable to the individuals before the court in this case. The Chicago Transit Authority is commonly referred to as the CTA. From the opinion and order: After an exhaustive review of the parties’ filings and the historical record,as required by Supreme Court precedent, the Court finds that Defendants failed to meet their burden to show...

A U.S. District Judge ruled Friday that Illinois’ ban prohibiting concealed carry for self-defense on public transportation violates the Second Amendment. The judge, Ian D. Johnston, issued his opinion in Schoenthal v. Raoul. The plaintiffs in the case, Benjamin Schoenthal, Mark Wroblewski, Joseph Vesel, and Douglas Winston, all claimed the ban violated the Second Amendment. Schoenthal, Wrogblewski, Vesel, and Winston’s case was supported by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition. Judge Johnston noted: In Illinois, openly carrying firearms is unlawful. Under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, an individual with a concealed-carry license may generally carry a concealed...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has weakened the Biden administration’s effort to use a historic civil rights law to fight industrial pollution alleged to have taken a heavier toll on minority communities in Louisiana. U.S. District Judge James David Cain of Lake Charles handed down the ruling Thursday, permanently blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing what are known as “disparate impact” requirements on the state.... In its lawsuit, the state argued that the Biden administration’s plans went beyond the scope of Title VI.... The state also said the policy is discriminatory because it would allow regulation of...

The First Amendment does not allow the United States to adopt "Oceania's Ministry of Truth." That line from George Orwell's dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" opens U.S. District Judge John Sinatra's order Thursday imposing a preliminary injunction on New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is threatening pro-life pregnancy centers for telling women about so-called abortion pill reversal, as their lawsuit proceeds. Her office may not enforce state consumer fraud laws against the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), Gianna's House and Options Care Center, which sued in May, for referring to APR, calling it safe and effective or...

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can continue to pursue his censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration. The Supreme Court ruled in June that state and individual plaintiffs who alleged the Biden administration violated their First Amendment rights when it pressured social media companies to suppress speech did not have standing to sue. District Court Judge Terry Doughty found Kennedy meets the standard set by the Supreme Court because there is “ample evidence” to show he has been censored in the past at the direction of government actors and “substantial risk” that the censorship will continue....

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER This matter is before the court on Defendant’s motion to dismiss based on Second Amendment grounds. (Doc. 26.) A response and a reply have been filed (Docs. 28, 29), and the court held a hearing to establish additional facts about the weapons charged. The motion is thus ripe for review. The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are “bearable arms” within the original meaning of the amendment. The court further finds that the government has failed to establish that this nation’s history of gun regulation justifies the application of 18...

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday barred a US Federal Trade Commission rule from taking effect that would ban employers from requiring their workers to sign non-compete agreements. The ban, which had been scheduled to go into effect nationwide on September 4, is now effectively blocked. US District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas said the FTC does not have the authority to ban practices it deems unfair methods of competition by adopting broad rules. “The Court concludes that the FTC lacks statutory authority to promulgate the Non-Compete Rule, and that the Rule is arbitrary and capricious. Thus, the FTC’s...

PHOENIX — Arizonans who lack proof of citizenship can again sign up to vote in this year’s presidential and congressional races. The action comes after two of three judges on a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday overturned a ruling to the contrary by a different three-judge panel whose duty it is to rule on pending motions. The majority of this panel — the one actually assigned to hear the case — concluded the other judges should never have made such a radical change in voting registration rules so soon before the election, saying it would...

A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, rejected various arguments that the four states led by Alabama made in challenging U.S. Department of Education regulations that say a federal law barring sex discrimination in education extends to gender identity. The regulations also bar harassment against LGBTQ students, such as refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns, and changes...

Ouch! That's the only thing I could think to say in response to reading the order handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Scarsi on Wednesday requiring Hunter Biden's legal team to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for making false statements in their recently filed motion to dismiss. While Hunter was presumably focused on his father's Oval Office address, his attorneys were getting lit up by a federal judge. Here's what happened: On July 15th, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Florida criminal case against former President Donald Trump regarding his alleged improper retention of classified documents...

According to the Anchorage paper: adn.com And the Alaska Landmine: alaskalandmine.com It turns out a federal judge in Alaska was engaging in a little hanky panky. So were a couple of attorneys who were in his court.

Voters in Arizona who register with the state and do not provide proof of citizenship will be rejected. "This is a victory for election integrity in Arizona. Only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections. It sounds like common sense, but the radical left elected officials in our state continue to reject this notion, disrespecting the voices of our lawful Arizona voters. We are grateful the court is upholding this provision in our law, and it's time for Congress to take action to ensure only lawful U.S. citizens are voting in federal races."

The court found that regulating home alcohol stills is not one of the enumerated powers given to the government. At https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.384014/gov.uscourts.txnd.384014.49.0.pdf UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS FORT WORTH DIVISION

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge in Kansas has refused to block the nationwide enforcement of a Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers to do background checks of buyers at gun shows, leaving Texas as the only state so far where a legal challenge has succeeded. U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse’s ruling this week came in a lawsuit brought by Kansas and 19 other states, three individual gun collectors and a Wichita, Kansas-based association for collectors. They sought an order preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from enforcing the rule that took effect in May through...

Afederal court in Kansas on Tuesday blocked the Biden administration's Title IX regulations from taking effect in four states, becoming the latest court to stop the new controversial rules from taking effect in August. The Department of Education's new rules expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and pregnancy, and included a ban on single-sex bathroom and locker rooms. It also required schools to use pronouns based on a student's preferred gender identity. The new rules have now been stopped in 14 states as of Tuesday. [snip] “Gender ideology does not belong in public schools and we...

A federal court lifted the Biden administration’s pause on approvals for new natural gas export terminals on Monday. Judge James Cain Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, who was appointed to his post by former President Donald Trump, ruled to grant an injunction against the administration’s January pause on approvals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals while ongoing litigation plays out. The LNG pause stands as one of President Joe Biden’s most aggressive climate decisions through his first term in office. Cain’s ruling was issued as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by...

Here’s a scoop from Long Island: A federal judge has ruled that a woman can sue an ice cream company after she found that her pistachio ice cream had no pistachios in it. Jenna Marie Duncan of Farmingdale said that when she ordered ice cream from the Cold Stone Creamery in Levittown, her taste buds were tricked. Now, a lawsuit she filed could bring a delicious payout for ice cream lovers nationwide. Duncan went home, looked up the ingredients and found that she was right, according to her civil suit: The ice cream's bright green color and pistachio flavor were...

Several Catholic organizations have prevailed, at least temporarily, in their efforts to block the Biden administration from enforcing a rule that would require them to provide their employees with accommodations for elective abortions in violation of their deeply held religious beliefs. In an opinion released Monday, federal Judge David Joseph granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Biden administration from enforcing a rule interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to require employers to provide their employees with accommodations in order to obtain an abortion against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Lafayette and Lake Charles...