Free Republic

In a motion filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Trump DOJ is moving to dissolve the ‘Flores Consent Decree.’ Attorney General Pam Bondi maintains the decree is incentivizing illegal immigration at the southern border. The Flores decree has governed the detention and release of migrant children since 1997. The motion, filed by the DOJ and jointed by HHS and the Department of Homeland Security, asks a federal court in southern California to dissolve the decree. However, the motion to terminate the Flores decree will be heard at a July 18 hearing before US District Judge Dolly Gee in...

The attorney general is asking an appellate court to lift the block on a new state immigration law. The law makes it a misdemeanor for adults who came to the U.S. illegally by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers to enter Florida. The governor and Uthmeier contend that the judge in the case has gone beyond her boundaries in calling on Florida law enforcement agencies to stop making immigration arrests. “She’s trying to exercise authority that she does not possess. Fine,” DeSantis said. “There’s parties to the case and she’s rendered a decision even though it’s a...

Suffolk County taxpayers could be on the hook for $60 million in a migrant class-action lawsuit for holding on to illegal immigrants until the feds could show up and ship them out of the country, officials said Wednesday. A federal judge ruled that the sheriff’s office in the Long Island county acted on its own when it held undocumented immigrants for deportation proceedings — because New York State law doesn’t allow local cops to do so. Adding insult to injury, the judge says the feds won’t have to chip in to pay off the hefty ruling — even though they’re...

Jena Griswold, who argued to keep Trump off the presidential ballot, must release records that could show dead people registered to vote... Jena Griswold, Colorado’s rabidly leftist Secretary of State who will forever be known for her anti-democratic drive to knock former President Donald Trump off the ballot, has suffered another election law loss in federal court. The U.S. District Court for the Colorado District last week issued an order demanding the Democrat secretary of state release Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) reports suspected of containing dead registrants on the state’s voter rolls. The reports, according to a settlement, include...

A federal judge in Florida granted a request for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of a new federal gun law related to stabilizing braces and whether they convert firearms into short-barrel rifles. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cannot enforce the rule against individuals who live “in the state of Florida,” U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven wrote in an order this week. In part, the judge wrote that the ATF and other defendants, including Director Steven Dettelbach, were not able to meet the standard of showing that the ATF rule falls under “the plain text of...

In answer to the question of whether Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala) should be removed from the Senate Armed Services Committee, Michael Hayden, the former CIA Director under President Bush, called for him to be "removed from the human race." His animus toward the Senator was inspired by Tuberville's refusal to allow blanket "unanimous consent" approval of military promotions. This refusal is in protest over using taxpayer money to pay for military personnel to travel to another state to get an abortion. Promotions could be made on a case-by-case basis, but Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) refuses to schedule any...

On April 27, 2023, Governor Jared S. Polis of Colorado signed Senate Bill 23-169 into law. The bill increased the required legal age of a person to purchase firearms from 18 to 21, preventing people under 21 from legally purchasing firearms. Exceptions were provided for people in the United States armed forces or peace officers. The bill was challenged by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) with two individuals plaintiffs in April, then amended in May. The RMGO and other plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the statute while the case is undergoing adjudication on July...

A federal Judge in Colorado blocked a gun control law that limits the sales of firearms to people 21 and older, holding that it ran afoul of recent Supreme Court precedent. Phillip Brimmer, chief judge for the U.S. District of Colorado, ruled Monday in favor of a firearms advocacy group that sued in order to block the law known as Senate Bill 169. While the law took effect Monday, the judge blocked it from enforcement, ruling it fails the test established in the Supreme Court's 2022 decision Bruen v. New York Rifle & Pistol Association. Overall, voters are slightly torn...

A cop pulls you over for a minor traffic violation. After giving you a warning or a ticket, he says, "Drive safe!" and starts walking away. But he immediately turns around and walks toward your car again, saying, "Hey, can I ask you something?"That maneuver, known as the "Kansas Two-Step," is aimed at evading the Fourth Amendment's constraints on searches and seizures. Police are not supposed to continue detaining you after the ostensible purpose of the stop has been accomplished unless they reasonably suspect you are involved in criminal activity. The two-step is designed to extend the encounter by making...

Administration has 14 days to appeal ruling ... The Biden administration was dealt a major blow in its efforts to control the ongoing border crisis on Tuesday when a federal judge blocked a rule introduced in May that makes migrants ineligible for asylum if they have entered illegally and failed to take advantage of expanded lawful pathways set up by the federal government. Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule in response to a lawsuit from a coalition of left-wing immigration groups, which claimed the rule...

A federal appeals court on Monday vacated a water permit needed by developers to restart construction on the Mountain Valley pipeline in West Virginia, marking the latest setback for the $6.2 billion project. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found several defects in the review the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection conducted before issuing the permit.

Afederal appeals court in Louisiana has ordered the release of two leaders the election watchdog group True the Vote after they were detained for contempt of court late last month. A panel of three GOP-appointed judges for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Sunday ordered group President Catherine Engelbrecht and one-time board member Gregg Phillips to be released, show court documents obtained Monday by Just the News. A spokesperson for True the Vote told The Epoch Times Engelbrecht and Phillips are expected to be released Monday, "when the paperwork is complete." The two leaders were sent to jail...

A federal judge is questioning whether he has jurisdiction to hear a sprawling lawsuit against Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems that accuses the election technology company of organized crime and intimidating its critics. The named plaintiffs to the class action lawsuit, all of whom are in Michigan, allege Dominion has violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act — typically used to prosecute gangs, cartels and the Mafia — by sending cease and desist letters to those who defamed the company. “Generally, Plaintiffs are everyday Americans. They are fathers, mothers, daughters, and sons. They are the neighbor you say good morning...

WILLIAMSPORT – More than seven years in prison and then likely deportation is the fate of a Nigerian citizen who with his wife admitted laundering nearly $1.9 million obtained by making false pleas for money on social media. Jabin Godspower Okpako, 36, of Sayre, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann to 7 years, 3 months in prison followed by three years’ supervised release. Deportation proceedings likely will prevent him from serving his supervised release, court officials said. Earlier this year Okpako and his wife, Christin Bradley Okpako, 54, of Sayre, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty...

The Trump Organization secured a partial victory on Monday as a Washington, D.C., superior court judge dismissed a portion of a lawsuit brought by the D.C. attorney general over actions by former President Donald Trump's 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee. The judge dismissed a claim by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine that Trump's inaugural committee "wasted" $1 million in rented ballrooms at Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel, writing that they have not met the standard of proof ... ..The ruling removed the Trump Organization as a named defendant in the case, yet still keeps the former president's Washington hotel as a named...

A federal judge has denied a restraining order on Thursday that would have blocked vaccine mandates for up to 125 city employees in South Carolina. Tom Fernandez and his firm Fernandez Law represented the plaintiffs, 100 of whom are first responders who filed a lawsuit against the cities of Charleston and North Charleston, Charleston County, and the St. Johns Fire District over the mandates. “They felt that it was nothing short of government coercion to get the vaccine,” Fernandez told The Epoch Times. “We filed a lawsuit in state court alleging their constitutional protections. They did not want the vaccine....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who previously said that Democratic politicians should "lean into" COVID-19 policies such as vaccine mandates and issued the nation's first such mandate for schoolchildren, is trying to get the federal courts to halt a vaccine mandate for prison guards. Two weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that the COVID-19 vaccine must be mandated for California's prison guards on Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment) grounds given the risk unvaccinated guards pose to incarcerated individuals. Only 42% of prison guards are fully vaccinated. The state's prison guard union — a group that donated $1.75 million to Newsom...

Fauci Agency Emails Describe Close Gates Foundation/China Relationship Federal Court Rules Judicial Watch Lawsuit Can Proceed to Force Cleanup of Colorado Voter Rolls Secret Service Records Show Biden Dog Repeatedly Bit Secret Service Personnel ~snip~ Federal Court Rules Judicial Watch Lawsuit Can Proceed to Force Cleanup of Colorado Voter Rolls Another step forward in our historic efforts for cleaner elections. A federal court ruled that our lawsuit can proceed against Colorado officials to force a cleanup of the state’s voter rolls. We filed the lawsuit on October 5, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado...

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings a preliminary injunction on Sunday evening challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis' statewide ban for businesses to require vaccines before engaging in certain activities. In the ruling, she wrote that Florida failed to "provide a valid evidentiary, factual, or legal predicate" for the ban, documents obtained by Politico show. The order allows the company to operate with 100% vaccinations or the requirement of all guests and crew to be vaccinated when sailing from Florida ports. The company will not be subject to $5,000 fines for every violation of the Republican governor's order,...

Sunday, the judge said Florida failed to “provide a valid evidentiary, factual, or legal predicate” for banning requirements that passengers prove they’ve been vaccinated. Norwegian has shown that suspending the requirement will jeopardize public health, potentially causing “super-spreader” events wherever passengers disembark, she wrote. Florida separately sued the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeking to block federal cruise ship vaccination requirements. The CDC lost on appeal, but then made its guidelines non-binding, and all cruise lines operating in Florida have agreed to keep following the CDC’s instructions on a voluntary basis, the judge wrote.