Free Republic

A district court judge in Kentucky has ruled that the “buffer zone” law outside an abortion facility in Louisville cannot be enforced, granting pro-life groups a court victory and the ability to continue counseling women. A permanent injunction was placed on the buffer zone ordinance on September 13, following a legal battle which lasted over three years. The court’s permanent injunction has effectively struck down Louisville’s unconstitutional buffer zone law, permitting sidewalk counselors to do what they do best — offer desperate women life-saving and empowering alternatives to abortion. “We are thrilled with this victory after a years-long battle that...

A federal judge has thrown out major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor's door before they fatally shot her. U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson's ruling declared that the actions of Taylor's boyfriend, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a bad warrant. Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 during a high-profile visit to Louisville. Garland accused Jaynes and...

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the city of Louisville, Kentucky, cannot ban a Christian photographer from limiting her wedding photography business to opposite-sex couples. In the lawsuit which Petapixel has previously reported on, photographer Chelsey Nelson challenged a Louisville law that required her to take photographs and blog online for same-sex weddings.Louisville’s 20-year-old “Fairness Ordinance” prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the lawsuit, filed on behalf of wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson by the conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, alleges that the city’s law infringes on Nelson’s freedom of religion and speech. Beaton ruled that the...

Abortions have resumed in Kentucky after a federal judge temporarily blocked a multi-faceted abortion restrictions law and said the state needs to do more to ensure those affected by it can comply. The two abortion clinics in the state had challenged the law, saying they couldn’t meet the requirements immediately because the state had not established clear guidelines. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, a President Donald Trump appointee, blocked the law in its entirety in an April 21 restraining order, saying she was unable “to specifically determine which individual provisions and subsections are capable of compliance.” She said her...

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a Kentucky law that effectively eliminated abortions in the commonwealth, where the only two clinics said they couldn't meet its requirements. The decision by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings was a victory for abortion rights advocates and a setback for the Republican-led legislature, which passed the law in March. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, had vetoed the measure, but the legislature overrode him last week to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and require women to be examined by a doctor before receiving abortion pills. Both of Kentucky's clinics said that...

A federal judge struck down Hardin County's [Kentucky] right-to-work ordinance in an order Wednesday, ruling that states, not counties, can exempt themselves from portions of the National Labor Relations Act. U.S. District Judge David Hale dismissed each of the county's arguments for its ordinance, which passed Hardin County Fiscal Court Jan. 13 and barred unions from collecting fees from non-members. "The NLRA preempts the right-to-work, hiring-hall, and dues-checkoff provisions of Hardin County Ordinance 300," Hale wrote in his order. "Section 14(b) is the only exception to NLRA preemption of the field of labor relations, and it does not extend to...

A federal judge in Kentuck has overturned Governor Andy Beshear’s ban on mass gatherings as it relates to in-person church services. The ruling clears the way for churchgoers to attend services on Sunday.

Donald Trump’s most lasting legacy will be his appointments to the federal bench. In his tenure so far, the Senate has confirmed 193 judges, 51 of whom were circuit judges. All were nominated by President Trump. Indeed, President Trump and the Senate have confirmed federal appellate judges faster than any other president in U.S. history. For all judges, President Trump’s rate is the second fastest. The Senate returns to Washington next week, and on the agenda is another stellar judicial nominee, Judge Justin Walker. Walker is the quintessential Trump appointee. He’s young, he has impeccable legal credentials, and he has...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of Democrats calling on Senate Republicans to pause their efforts to confirm federal judges when the Senate returns on May 4 amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the GOP seems less interested in passing further measures to combat the virus than they are in putting more of President Trump's nominees on the federal bench. "The GDP just had its biggest drop since the Great Recession, the United States has surpassed one million confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, and we still don’t have adequate testing," Schumer said in a statement....

On Saturday, American Thinker pointed out that Democrat-run jurisdictions, at both the state and the local level, seem to be enjoying a little too much the power that a public health emergency has put into their hands. One of the examples was the order Mayor Greg Fischer issued in Louisville, Kentucky. He banned all Easter services, including drive-ins, and explicitly instructed his police department to write down the license plate numbers of people attending a drive-in Easter Sunday service. The On Fire Christian Center sought an emergency temporary restraining order in the United States District Court for the Western District...

Well, at least one federal judge has some common sense. Louisville Kentucky Mayor, Greg Fischer, attempted to ban drive-in Easter church services and use local police to arrest and detain any non-compliant parishioners. The church quickly sued Mayor Greg Fischer and the city of Louisville on Friday, arguing the mayor’s directive for churches to forgo gatherings to help slow the spread of COVID-19 violated Constitutional rights and their religious liberty. The judge agreed. District Court Judge walker issued an emergency restraining order banning the city from “enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition...

A judge in Louisville, Kentucky issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop Mayor Greg Fischer from preventing a church from having a drive-in Easter service. According to the First Liberty Institute, a religious law group, the TRO was filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on behalf of On Fire Christian Church located in Louisville. Judge Justin Walker granted the order on Saturday, preventing the city from "enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services at On Fire," according to court...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville-based church was granted an injunction in response to the city's crackdown on drive-in services. Earlier this week, On Fire Christian church sued Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and the city of Louisville, arguing the mayor's action to stop drive-in services at churches was a violation of constitutional rights. Advertisement According to court documents obtained by WLKY, Kentucky District Judge Justin Walker issued a temporary restraining order Saturday, which says the city is banned from stopping On Fire Christian Church from holding the services. "The Court enjoins Louisville from enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or...