Free Republic

This summer the Supreme Court will rule on a case involving what a district court called perhaps "the most massive attack against free speech" ever inflicted on the American people. In Murthy v. Missouri, plaintiffs ranging from the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana to epidemiologists from Harvard and Stanford allege that the federal government violated the First Amendment by working with outside groups and social media platforms to surveil, flag, and quash dissenting speech – characterizing it as mis-, dis- and mal-information – on issues ranging from COVID-19 to election integrity. The case has helped shine a light on...

After years of trying — in the words of the judge — “to get the damned rascal in this court,” it was a conviction that many welcomed. But those words were not from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, and the conviction was not that of former President Donald Trump. Rather they were from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, at the end of the 18th century, when America embraced political prosecutions to target critics and opponents. The man on trial then was James T. Callender, a muckraking writer critical of President John Adams. For accusing politicians of corruption, Callender...

The judge donated money — a tiny amount, $35, but in plain violation of a rule prohibiting New York judges from making political donations of any kind — to a pro-Biden, anti-Trump political operation, including funds that the judge earmarked for “resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.” -snip Most importantly, the DA’s charges against Trump push the outer boundaries of the law and due process. That’s not on the jury. That’s on the prosecutors who chose to bring the case and the judge who let it play out as it did. -snip But when you impose...

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Mitch Landrieu stated that in order for 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump “to be President of the United States, he has to destroy democracy.” Landrieu said, “Yesterday a very sacrosanct principle that is necessary to sustain democracies was upheld, which is very simple, in America, that everybody is subject to the rule of law and nobody is exempt from it, not even somebody who was President in the United States. And yesterday was a very sober and somber day for our country. It’s not good for anybody...

Democratic pollster and former Clinton adviser Mark Penn said Friday during an appearance on Fox News Channel that he believes Judge Juan Merchan will sentence former President Donald Trump to serve some jail time because he's "trying to take him out of the presidential race." "So far, this judge has wanted to take, obviously, wants to take Donald Trump out of the presidency," Penn said during an appearance on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on Friday. "So, for all this talk that, of course, he's a first time offender and not eligible ... he's convicted of things that could send...

ALL ABOARD THE TRUMP FAMILY TRAIN, EST. 2017 BY DOLLYCALI! Survived everything thrown at it over the years, just like President Trump....including trolls, moles and saboteurs. Welcome to the TRUMP FAMILY TRAIN THREAD, where all things Trump are welcome! Feel free to share news, your comments and opinions, memes, recipes, travel photos... the list is endless. Posting on behalf of the TFT founder and thread mama, Dolly Cali. Am I The Only One – Aaron Lewis

Ohio’s Republican-controlled state legislature has approved a bill to secure President Joe Biden’s spot on the state’s November ballot, ending weeks of political gamesmanship over a deadline that in past years was relaxed without drama. The measure, which passed Friday in a special session of the state Senate, now heads to Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican. DeWine, who called the special session to resolve the Biden issue and tackle unrelated campaign finance legislation, is expected to sign the bill. "I don’t think anybody on this side of the aisle really feels like they’re going to be voting for President Biden,...

A group of 46 Republican House members and nominees pledged Friday to only back a speaker next session who commits to ending the tradition of appointing Democratic committee chairs — a move that narrows the path to the gavel for House Speaker Dade Phelan, who has vowed to continue the longstanding practice. To be elected speaker, a House member must secure 76 votes, a majority of the 150-seat chamber. Democrats control 64 seats, meaning a speaker hopeful could theoretically win with full Democratic support and around a dozen of the 86 Republicans. To prevent this scenario, Phelan’s rivals have called...

A political action committee with a mix of national and state money has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on mailers intended to sway voters in a series of bitterly contested Republican legislative primary elections that reveal the fissures in Montana’s dominant political party. As of this week, the PAC, Conservatives4MT, has spent roughly $240,000 in more than two dozen contested GOP primary races for state House and Senate. The primary election is next Tuesday, June 4. The group is at least tangentially affiliated with the group of state lawmakers called the Solutions Caucus, a loose coalition of Republicans known...

The ACLU, another polarizing organization, was willing to defend the NRA in court. That should tell you that some things aren't partisan.What do the National Rifle Association (NRA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and nine U.S. Supreme Court justices from five presidential administrations all have in common? That list is likely relatively small. But at least one area of overlap was made evident Thursday when the Court published a unanimous ruling that a New York government official allegedly violated the First Amendment by pressuring insurers and banks to sever business ties with the NRA, which the ACLU is representing....

MAGA Continues to November, Stronger Than Ever

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday called on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to testify for the “political prosecution” of former President Donald Trump. Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, teed up a hearing where both men will testify in front of the Weaponization of Federal Government Subcommittee on June 13. “This hearing will examine actions by state and local prosecutors to engage politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials,” Mr. Jordan wrote. “In particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.”

During patriotic holidays, the news media applaud the Founding Fathers. But rarely does anyone mention some important facts about them: that they were smugglers, tax evaders, and traitors. Not only is this important, it is also praiseworthy; it produced the most advanced civilization ever known. The Revolution is often said to have begun in 1775 at the Battle of Lexgton [sic]. In truth, it began in the 16th century when the first colonists began traveling to the New World. Consider the hardships these people faced. Abandoning their relatives and friends, they boarded small leaky boats like the Mayflower—which was only...

Joe Biden‘s campaign said, with no hint of irony, that Donald Trump’s conviction on Thursday is evidence that “no one is above the law.” “In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain,” Tyler said. “But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at...

Students who sued the University of Chicago for tuition refunds due to COVID-19 closures have reached a nearly $5 million settlement agreement with the school. The private Illinois university finalized the class-action lawsuit settlement with the students last week, agreeing to pay $4.95 million, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Students affected by the university’s 2020 decision to switch to online classes due to COVID-19 could receive $25 or more from the settlement, the report states.

News Analysis: After a bogus FBI probe, two impeachments, one Mar-A-Lago raid, four indictments and multiple overturned ballot disqualifications, Democrats finally got what they wished. For now ... In one of the darkest hours in American history, after an ex-president for the first time was convicted in criminal court, Alvin Bragg could only smile and banter with laughing reporters. “I did my job,” the Manhattan district attorney declared to a breezy, whimsical news conference that belied the gravity of having just secured 34 felony convictions that could send Donald Trump to prison for life. That job was not begun by...

Top Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin argued in the New York Times this week that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito could, in theory, be forced to step down from cases related to the January 6 Capitol riots. In a guest essay for the New York Times on Wednesday, Raskin detailed ways Thomas and Alito could be forced to recuse themselves from the upcoming Trump v. United States and Fischer v. United States, both involving former President Trump's role during the Capitol protests. "Of course, Justices Alito and Thomas could choose to recuse themselves — wouldn’t that be nice? But begging...

From Justice Sotomayor's opinion today in NRA v. Vullo (the NRA was represented by the ACLU, with David Cole arguing before the Court; by William Brewer, Sarah Rogers & Noah Peters of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors; and by me): "[A.] Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity's "threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion" against a third party "to achieve the suppression" of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment. Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan (1963). Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to...

Temporary Platform and Resolutions as Amended and Adopted by the 2024 State Convention of the Republican Party of Texas

Verdict in.