Free Republic

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down the state’s recently passed redistricting referendum, dealing a massive blow to Democrats who hoped to gain several seats from new House maps. The redistricting ballot measure passed by three percentage points in late April in what was seen at the time as a major win for Democrats, who stood to gain as many as four seats from redrawn maps ahead of the November midterms. The Virginia Supreme Court decision comes amid an ongoing partisan gerrymandering war and as Republican-led states across the South are working to redraw their House districts after a...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A marathon session of the State Senate that began Tuesday ended early Wednesday morning with a bill banning “convertible pistols” being passed.At the state Capitol, legislators voted largely by party lines, except for Republican Tomy Hwang, who joined the Democrats in support, and Democrat Cathy Osten, who joined Republicans in opposition.

Nick Sortor@nicksortorSubscribeClick to Subscribe to nicksortorBOMBSHELL: Secretary Rubio just stated that he believes the War Powers Act, which Democrats keep trying to invoke to stop President Trump's Iran operations, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL"The War Powers Act is unconstitutional, 100%. Now, this is not the position of me, not the position of the President of the United States now.This is the position of EVERY SINGLE president that has occupied this position since the day that law passed.It's completely unconstitutional. Now, we comply with it in terms of notification because we want to preserve good relations with Congress, right? And we do that, but...

President Trump on Friday suggested that the War Powers Act, which requires presidents to seek congressional authorizations for foreign conflicts, is unconstitutional, as the Iran war hit 60 days, a key milestone under the Vietnam War-era law. The U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, but Trump formally notified Congress on March 2 about U.S. military operations against the country — 60 days ago Friday. Ahead of his departure for a weekend in Florida, Trump was asked whether he would now seek approval from lawmakers. “It’s never been sought before, there’s been numerous, many, many times and...

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — The debate over legislation aiming to restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) actions in Connecticut is expected to resume Friday. The bill was approved in the state Senate earlier this month.Discussion at the state Capitol stretched into Thursday night. There were hours of questioning from House Republicans and repeated attempts to amend portions of the bill.

@Geiger_Capital This is insane… The Virginia redistricting amendment on the ballot today is framed as a vote to "restore fairness in the upcoming elections." In reality, it turns a state that Kamala barely won by 5 pts from 6D-5R to 10D-1R

They don’t call it censorship anymore. They call it protection. Protection for communities. Protection for organizations. Protection from “threats.” The language is softer now, more strategic, designed to pass scrutiny without triggering it. But behind California’s AB 2624, the intent is harder to ignore: if you document the wrong thing, in the wrong place, involving the wrong people, the state may decide you shouldn’t be allowed to show it at all. And this time, they’re not going after institutions. They’re going after the individuals who don’t need one. In Sacramento, that effort now has a bill number. AB 2624. According...

A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for ​Congress to exercise its power to tax. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of ‌Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members. They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as ​a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create ​an apple-pie-vodka recipe. The ban was part of a law passed during ⁠Reconstruction in July 1868, in part...

Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is actually running for governor on her willingness to take flagrantly unconstitutional action. Bellows is touting her removal of Trump from the ballot, an effort that led to a unanimous Supreme Court swatting down Colorado and Maine. Bellows is virtually giddy recounting her efforts to stymie democracy and prevent voters from casting their ballots for the man who ultimately won the election. Democrats have been running this year on the pledges to launch a virtual roundup of Trump officials and supporters for investigations and impeachments. New York congressional candidate George Conway is pledging to...

Maine's Supreme Judicial Court said Monday that a proposed expansion of ranked-choice voting would violate the state constitution. A bill pending in the Legislature would expand ranked-choice voting to races for governor and legislative seats by counting only the final vote tally to decide a winner. The bill has enough support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature to pass, but lawmakers asked the state supreme court to examine the constitutionality of the measure, LD 1666, ahead of the 2026 elections. In a unanimous advisory opinion, the justices on Maine's highest court said the language of the state constitution makes clear that the...

Washington — President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requiring states to impose stricter mail-in voting rules and directing his administration to create a list of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state. The additional requirements, made without any action by Congress, are all but certain to face challenges in the courts. It's not clear whether or how the order will affect the midterm primary elections, which are already underway in many states. "The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary," the president said in the Oval Office ahead of the signing. He said requiring voters to...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday cracking down on mail-in voting across the country, the Daily Caller learned first. The executive order will require the Secretary of Homeland Security to create a list of verified U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state with the Social Security Administration’s help, according to a fact sheet shared with the Caller. The presidential action will also require that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) only send absentee ballots to those on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list. Ballots will now have specific secure envelopes, with unique barcodes...

Connecticut already has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country, and a new bill advancing in the state legislature targets Glocks and Glock clones. Backed by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), state House Bill 5043 advances a ban on popular handguns that have been on the market for over 40 years and are commonly used for lawful self-defense. The measure, advanced last week in a partisan vote of the House Judiciary Committee, ambiguously bans the future manufacture, sale, and importation into the state of "convertible pistols" defined as "any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar" that could...

Abigail Spanberger ran for governor of Virginia as a sane, middle-of-the-road Democrat, but once elected immediately went communist crazy. Among her rapidly developing acts of comradely solidarity is an “assault weapon” and magazine capacity ban. There is, of course, no such thing in firearm nomenclature as an “assault weapon.” There are military assault rifles, which fire intermediate cartridges and have select fire—automatic—capability, but such rifles are essentially banned by federal law. What Spanberger is targeting is America’s most popular rifle, the semiautomatic AR-15 and anything like it. The bill also bans magazines of greater than 15 round capacity, which encompasses...

The Colorado legislature is moving quickly to pass bills that would prevent people from making their own firearms without government permission. Two bills appear likely to become law. The two bills are expected to be signed by Governor Jared Polis. House Bill 1144 has passed the House 40 – 25 on a party-line vote and was introduced in the Senate yesterday. Senate Bill 43 passed the Senate 19-16, with four Democratic senators joining 12 Republican senators to vote against it. House Bill 1144 prohibits the manufacture of firearms by “3D printing”, except for people licensed by the government:Knowingly manufacturing or...

“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced just one day after the U.S. officially withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) that his state would become the first to join the organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, in a seeming rebuke of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from international collaborations. Newsom traveled this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he was scheduled to speak at an event but was canceled at the last moment. During his trip, he met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization,...

OAKLAND, Calif. - A proposal to create "ICE-free zones" within Alameda County in response to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions, is heading for a vote before the full Board of Supervisors. The Alameda County Together For All ad hoc committee heard several hours of testimony and public comment on Thursday, before the two committee members Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and Supervisor Elisa Marquez voted to forward the proposal to the board. At the meeting What they're saying: At the meeting, the committee chair Fortunato Bas, Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, and Public Defender Brendon...

"California’s wealth tax is only on billionaires!" That’s how the income tax started too. Only for the ~1%… until it wasn’t. When you allow the government to introduce new taxes, they never shrink, only expand.

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that California's ban on openly carrying guns in most parts of the state is unconstitutional. A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling ‍that the state's prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the ‍Constitution's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. About 95% of California residents live ⁠in counties of that size. The state has had some of the nation's strictest gun control laws. U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said the Democrat-led state's law could...