Free Republic

Longtime Bush judicial nominee Charles Pickering finally made it out of the Judiciary Committee October 2, after waiting nearly two and a half years and enduring one of the worst campaigns of character assassination waged by the left-wing borking squad. Despite decades of working toward racial reconciliation, the Mississippi native and federal district judge found himself branded a racist by liberal interest groups and the Democrat senators who look to them for their marching orders. He was defeated on a party-line committee vote early last year even though he had votes for confirmation in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Last year's blatant...

Court refuses to reinstate lawsuit over slip on french fry (Published Wednesday, October 8, 2003 09:17:49 AM CDT) By Robert Imrie/Associated Press WAUSAU, Wis. -- A divided state appeals court refused Tuesday to revive a woman's lawsuit that alleged a Green Bay arena was unsafe because she slipped on a ketchup-soaked french fry on a stairway and broke her ankle. The 3rd District Court of Appeals said allowing the lawsuit to proceed as the woman contended would have impractical ramifications for stadiums, theaters, restaurants and shopping malls. "Imagine, for example, the consequences for Lambeau Field when more than 70,000 people...

It's amazing that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in a fit of pique, actually did the right thing in letting the recall election proceed. And that it did so unanimously is all the more shocking. Historically, those wunderkinds in black robes have been revolting against the will of the people of California for years. And that, to many, is just plain revolting. Why vote? The bedrock principles of this nation are perhaps best characterized by our ability to hold elections in a timely manner. The issue was not a mere "postponement" of the election, it was a cancellation...

MILWAUKEE, WI (Talon News) -- According to a number of Republican insiders and a prominent Milwaukee radio talk show host, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Diane Sykes is going to be President Bush's nominee for a vacant seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Mark Belling, Milwaukee's top talk show host and a regular fill-in for Rush Limbaugh's national radio show, revealed on his Monday afternoon talk show that his sources in the Republican Party confirmed the selection of Sykes. Sykes was one of four finalists recommended by the Federal Nominating Commission of the State Bar of...

<p>Lawyers representing a woman calling herself "Jane Doe" filed a motion that ultimately seeks to retain her anonymity in an ongoing legal battle over Internet privacy being waged between communications providers and the music industry.</p> <p>Lawyers said they filed the motion -- the first of its kind -- in federal court on behalf of a Verizon (VZ) customer who was asserting her privacy and other constitutional rights. They said the woman was accused of offering songs for free downloading through an Internet file-sharing network.</p>

<p>A lawsuit filed by Detroit and Wayne County government against what they claimed were irresponsible gun dealers and manufacturers has been thrown out by the Michigan Court of Appeals.</p> <p>In a decision released today, a unanimous, three-judge panel of the court found that legislation enacted in 2000 to bar such suits applied to the action filed amidst great fanfare by former Mayor Dennis Archer and County Prosecutor John O'Hair in 1999.</p>

Today the Senate is scheduled to vote on the motion to end the Democrats' filibuster of Texas Justice Pricilla Owen to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is the 3rd vote to end the Left's blockade of Justice Owen this year. Do you remember last year when the Democrats held the Senate majority? During those dark days, the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.), killed the Owen nomination in committee. At that time they thought they were done with her. A funny thing happened two months later that the Daschle Democrats didn't expect: the elections of...

<p>NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court rejected an attempt by survivors to collect damages from the government for the deadly 1993 confrontation in Waco, Texas, between government agents and members of the Branch Davidian cult.</p> <p>Without dissent, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (search) late Monday turned aside contentions that a lower-court judge who ruled against the survivors was biased.</p>

The incoming executive director for the nation's third-largest political party is issuing a bold appeal to the American electorate: Help us fire the government. "There are just two things standing in between the American people and their freedom: Democrats, and Republicans," says Joe Seehusen, incoming head of the Washington, DC-based party. "Government at all levels has become too big and too bossy, and it's time to cut it down to size." Seehusen, 50, comes to the party with a background in business, media, and politics, and ran for U.S. Congress in 2000 from Iowa's Third District. He plans to put...

Cox calls for changes in judicial nominating process By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 5/9/03 1:25 PM WASHINGTON (AP) -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox was at the White House Friday to support President Bush's call for changes to the process of confirming federal judges. Bush criticized Senate Democrats for holding up his judicial nominations during a brief appearance in the Rose Garden. He wants the Senate to require confirmation votes on each judicial nominee, rather than using tactics to delay voting. "The judicial confirmation process is broken, and it must be fixed," the president said. "While senators stall and...

Appeals have been launched in response to public demand to help an Iraqi boy who lost both arms in a missile blast. Newspapers and a charity reported hundreds of emotional messages from the public after a picture of Ali Ismail Abbas was published. The 12-year-old lost both arms and was badly burned when a missile destroyed his family's shack, killing his parents and eight relatives. He is being treated in north Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital, which is under severe pressure from casualties and only has access to rudimentary medicines. Doctors believe that time could be running out for the youngster, whose...

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan made yet another appeal today for united Security Council action in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction as the 15-member body continued to wrestle over whether to give UN inspectors more time or to declare Baghdad in default by next Monday. “I think what is important is that governments have to find a way of working together,” Mr. Annan said in reply to reporters’ questions at UN Headquarters in New York. “Regardless of how this crisis or the current issue is resolved, the Council will have to work together, and the Members States...

Kofi Annan 10 March-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed for a peaceful solution to ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, stressing that war must "always be a last resort" and that the UN has "a duty to search till the very end for the peaceful resolution of conflicts." Speaking at a news conference in The Hague, where he held talks on the situation in Cyprus, Mr. Annan said: "The members of the Security Council now face a great choice. If they fail to agree on a common position, and action is taken without the authority of the Security...

As Miguel Estrada waits along with the rest of the interested American people to find out whether or not he will be the next appointed member of the 2nd US Court of Appeals, the Republican members of Congress have been forced to file for “cloture” which will force a vote on Estrada’s nomination. This measure is necessary due to the fact that the Democratic members of the Senate are threatening to filibuster his nomination. This comes as quite a surprise for many reasons. An immigrant from Honduras, Mr. Estrada, although not a sitting judge, is most qualified for the position...

<p>Republican strategist Kevin Spillane recalls requesting a meeting in 1998 with Gov. Pete Wilson to introduce a promising Latino candidate.</p> <p>"They didn't have time for us," Spillane said.</p> <p>Texas Gov. George W. Bush and his political adviser, Karl Rove, did. They granted Spillane and his client a generous one-hour meeting.</p>

Californians love their coast, all 1,100 miles of it. They like it open and free, without any of those nasty oil rigs and other major developments encumbering their views. The state's voters created the California Coastal Commission in 1972 to regulate development and preserve the coastal environment, but the Coastal Commission hit a gnarly wave when a state appeals court ruled just three weeks ago that the commission itself is unconstitutional. Bummer, dude. The ruling involved a French marine scientist, a new design for an artificial reef, a hard-working environmental group, rubber tires and the commission's abuse of power. It...

DENVER — The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked a lower court’s ruling that would have returned a barrel of hallucinogenic tea to a New Mexico group that uses the tea for religious purposes. The appeals court’s decision, announced Dec. 23, granted the federal government’s request to put on hold a Nov. 13 order prohibiting enforcement of drug laws in the case. An American branch of a Brazilian religious group argued that enforcement of the law violated its rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Santa Fe, N.M.-based group called O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do...

June 26, 2002 Dear liberty activist, A wayward federal appeals court ruled today that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools in unconstitutional. For decades, federal judges have warped, shredded and outright ignored the Constitution of the United States. Liberty Caucus member Roscoe Bartlett put it well: "Today's decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a ludicrous and factually inaccurate misinterpretation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Every one of our founders is turning over in their grave." We can correct this horrific court decision. On June 12, 2002, Congressman Ron Paul introduced The First...

ANNAPOLIS -- The state Court of Appeals struck down Maryland's legislative redistricting plan today and said it will draw up its own districts for election of the 188 members of the General Assembly. The court ruled the plan prepared by Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening violated constitutional requirements that legislative districts be compact. It said the governor also did not give due regard to county boundaries. The court said it will prepare its own plan.