Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court refused today to let same-sex marriages resume in California while it considers the constitutionality of a 2008 ballot measure that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco had asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month to lift its suspension of a federal judge's August 2010 ruling that declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. The couples and the city, plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Prop. 8, cited the appeals court's decision to put the case on hold while the...

The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated a Sacramento man's conviction and life sentence Monday for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in her apartment, dismissing an appellate court's decision that the prosecutor may have had racial reasons for removing two African Americans from the jury. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had granted a new trial to Steven Frank Jackson in July. The court said the prosecutor at Jackson's 2004 trial had used pretexts to justify his challenges to the two African American jurors, because the reasons he gave could have applied to jurors he left on...

Supreme Court unanimous reversals of the Ninth Circuit are becoming so common as to be almost yawn inducing. Today comes the latest reversal of a Ninth Circuit ruling in favor of a sex offender who attacked a 72-year-old woman. In short, the big bench once again was forced to remind the S.F.-based court that it is supposed to defer to local court decisions.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ordinances approved by voters in Arcata and Eureka to prohibit military recruiters from contacting minors are unconstitutional attempts to regulate the federal government and limit its authority over the armed forces, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The measures, which won majorities of 73 percent in Arcata and 57 percent in Eureka in November 2008, were promoted as protections for local youths from heavy-handed and misleading recruiting pitches. Backers in the Humboldt County communities cited an international treaty, signed by the United States, that bars military recruitment of youngsters under 17. The ordinances prohibited contacting youths under...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- A federal appeals court has ordered a trial judge to reconsider a lawsuit by a Santa Cruz man who was arrested for raising a Nazi salute during a city council meeting. Robert Norse claims his free speech rights were violated with the 2002 arrest.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that air quality regulators in California's smog-laden San Joaquin Valley have the right to charge home builders a fee to control their pollution emissions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the local air district's rule requiring developers to reduce emissions from new housing projects by building features like bicycle lanes and energy-efficient cooling systems. If they don't do enough to preserve air quality, they must pay fees that have averaged about $500 per house. The valley, stretching 240 miles from Stockton...

Complete title: Homosexual nuptials: A sweetheart deal--Judges ignore conflicts of interest to push radical social agenda Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to disqualify himself from a case challenging California's homosexual "marriage" ban even though his wife has been directly involved in the case. His insistence on serving as one of three judges to consider Perry v. Schwarzenegger is an affront to the rule of law.The case involves a ban on homosexual "marriages" that was passed by statewide referendum. Federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, himself a homosexual, ruled the law unconstitutional, and...

MISSOULA, MONT. --(Ammoland.com)- Plaintiffs in litigation to validate the principles of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA) have appealed an expected but adverse federal district court decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs in MSSA v. Holder include the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and MSSA President Gary Marbut of Missoula. The MFFA is designed to test the power of Congress to regulate everything without limits under the narrow power given to Congress in the Constitution to “regulate commerce … among the states.” The MFFA declares that any firearms, ammunition and firearm...

The Ninth Circuit has just announced that the panel hearing the appeal of Judge Vaughn Walker’s anti-Prop 8 ruling will consist of Stephen Reinhardt, Michael D. Hawkins, and N. Randy Smith. As regular Bench Memos readers know, Reinhardt (appointed by President Carter in 1980) may well be the most aggressive liberal judicial activist in the nation—and the most reversed judge in history. Hawkins, a 1994 Clinton appointee, is also regularly on the Left on the Ninth Circuit.

(11-01) 16:14 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court appeared willing Monday to reinstate, but weaken, a central provision of an Arizona law allowing police to stop and question suspected illegal immigrants. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that it would authorize police to demand papers from those they reasonably suspected of being in the country illegally, but would not allow authorities to arrest or prosecute them under state law. That would still allow suspects to be referred to U.S. authorities for deportation, however.

SAN FRANCISCO — Three federal judges will hear arguments Monday by attorneys for the governor on why Arizona should be allowed to start enforcing SB 1070. John Bouma, Brewer’s lead attorney, will argue the law that Gov. Jan Brewer signed last April designed to give state and local police more power to detain and arrest those they suspect are in this country illegally is within the legal authority of the state. That will get an argument from lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice. Those attorneys contend only the federal government can regulate immigration. They want the law — or...

Excerpt from the US Constitution: Article III Section 1: “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. Section 2: The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States,...

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, has struck down the law requiring Arizona voters to present proof of citizenship to vote. Prop. 200, approved by Arizona voters in 2004, was found to violate federal law - the majority opinion was that the National Voter Registration Act precludes states from imposing additional requirements.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court says the military should keep in place its "don't ask, don't tell" policy for now.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna and Secretary of State Sam Reed got a resounding victory recently in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when all 11 judges upheld the state’s ban on voting by prison inmates. Washington’s felon voting law is reasonable. Newly adopted provisions that allow felons to reregister to vote after they have completed their prison time are reasonable, too. It’s encouraging to see the appellate judges uphold the ban — especially by such a wide margin. The 11-0 decision was a sharp turnaround from a three-judge panel of the appellate court which ruled in January that Washington...

SEATTLE — A federal appeals court reversed course Thursday and upheld Washington state's ban on voting by prison inmates in a case that challenged the disproportionate effect it has on minority voters. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals caused a stir by ruling in January that Washington's inmates should be allowed to vote. That decision was expected to give momentum to other efforts to expand voting to inmates; only Maine and Vermont allow those behind bars to cast ballots. But an 11-judge panel reconsidered the case at a hearing in San Francisco last month and...

In the first decision of its kind in the nation, an appellate court has ruled in a Sacramento case that DNA testing is a legitimate condition of release on bail for a federal defendant not yet convicted. Before a federal felony can be charged, there must be probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, a three-judge panel of the 9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted in Tuesday's 47-page opinion. Under those circumstances, the panel ruled, the government's interest in definitively identifying the defendant "outweighs the defendant's privacy interest in giving a DNA sample as a condition...

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements. That is the bizarre - and scary - rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government...

  The revolution in tort liability has claimed another victim. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is now traveling lighter by around $140,000. The reason is a decision handed down about a month ago by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concerning two of its San Diego-area outlets that supposedly wouldn't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The award might not be a king's ransom by the standards of one of the nation's most successful restaurant chains. But the ruling could have major consequences for the way business as a whole operates in this...

This week, two things happened in the gay marriage wars: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay overruling U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to permit gay marriages to take place immediately, before higher courts have a chance to review his unprecedented ruling. And a new poll released by Public Policy Polling shows that Americans continue to oppose gay marriage by an almost 2-to-1 margin. Normally, when a lower court judge finds a new constitutional right never before acknowledged by any federal court except his, he is modest and reasonable enough to stay his decision, recognizing that...