Free Republic

U.S. v Stewart has finally struck a blow for freedom. In a November 13 published opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a majority of 2 to 1 says that the federal government's ban on homemade machineguns is abusive of the government's authority to regulate interstate commerce. Ninth Circuit judge Alex Kozinski wrote the opinion. Judge Kozinski is the same judge who wrote a strong dissent in the Silveira v. Lockyer case, firmly supporting the true meaning of the Second Amendment. The relevant and most interesting text from the ruling: "We start by considering the first and fourth prongs...

Teddy Kennedy used to oppose delays of judicial nominations, especially of women and minorities -- at least he claimed to. SEN. KENNEDY: "When the Founders wrote the Constitution and gave the Senate the power of advice and consent on Presidential nominations, they never intended the Senate to work against the President. . ."------ Republicans have often, and rightfully, denounced the efforts of Leftists to prevent a number of President Bush's quality judicial nominees from being confirmed. By blocking votes and dragging the nominees through the mud to make them look as bad as possible, Senate Democrats have delayed and denied...

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...

WASHINGTON - Mississippi federal Judge Charles Pickering is getting another shot at a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seat, and this time it looks like the deck may be stacked in his favor. In what Capitol Hill observers are calling an unprecedented move, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah will ask the Senate Judiciary Committee today to approve Pickering's nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans without another committee hearing. Pickering's nomination was rejected last year when Democrats controlled the committee. The nomination was fiercely debated in two Judiciary Committee hearings in which Pickering's opponents...

SACRAMENTO -- More than 400 people gathered Thursday to watch former San Joaquin County jurist Connie Callahan ascend to the post of federal judge, less than eight months after she was nominated to the position. A host of San Joaquin County Superior Court judges, attorneys and court staffers joined Callahan's close friends and family Thursday as the diminutive legal star took her place on what is widely considered the most controversial court in the nation. "Connie Callahan will make her decisions based upon the law regardless of controversy or what the public opinion will be," said Morrison England, judge of...

During Clinton's tenure, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) supported forcing the Senate to vote on judicial nominations before a long break, like the looming August recess. He even proposed legislation to get it done. Now he's blocking the Senate's duty of advice and consent.This week Senate Democrats were successful in blocking a confirmation vote on three superb Circuit Court nominees – Priscilla Owen, Miguel Estrada, and William Pryor. They most likely would have been successful in blocking a fourth – Carolyn Kuhl to the Ninth Circuit – had the vote on cloture not been vitiated last night. Instead, Ms. Kuhl must...

As expected, Senate Democrats on Tuesday refused to end their partisan filibuster of the nomination of Priscilla Owen to the 5th Circuit. Owen, unanimously rated "well-qualified" by the American Bar Association, was defeated in the Judiciary Committee last year when the Democrats were running the Senate but was renominated by the President this year. Today, Democrats have the opportunity to do the right thing and end their blockade of the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. But they won't. They cannot stand the idea of a Hispanic who does not fit their model sitting on...

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...

Murder Convictions Overturned For Two Men Appeals Court Says Judge Should Have Allowed Defense Strategy POSTED: 3:43 p.m. HST July 23, 2003 UPDATED: 4:04 p.m. HST July 23, 2003 HONOLULU -- Two men convicted of killing an Army pilot in 1998 have had their murder convictions overturned. Roberto Miguel and Bryson Jose were convicted of felony murder for the death of Capt. John Latchum. Latchum was shot in 1998 when he caught Jose and Miguel trying to break into his Waianae vacation cabin. An appeals court Wednesday ruled that Judge Helen Gillmor should have let the defense try to blame...

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — The Sayreville school district did not violate the rights of a kindergartner it suspended three years ago for threatening to shoot his friends as they played a game during recess, a federal appeals court ruled. The June 19 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge’s decision last year that dismissed a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents. Scot and Cassandra Garrick sued the Middlesex County school district after their son and three other students were suspended following the March 15, 2000, incident in which their child told...

The left-wing People for the American Way (PFAW) published the following quotes, among others, from Pryor on its website. PFAW intended them to be a distillation of the reasons he should not be confirmed. Conservatives reading them might stand up and cheer. On Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history" On "states’ rights" federalism "With the New Deal, the Great Society, and the growing federal bureaucracy, we have strayed too far in the expansion of the federal government." On the American government "the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are rooted...

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today that the Scottsdale public school district discriminated against a local Christian when it banned the distribution of flyers for his summer camp while allowing other non-profits to distribute their materials. Joseph J. Hills ran the camp, which would have had 17 classes in wood-working, dance, and other subjects, as well as two religious classes: Bible Heroes and Bible Tales. The school district refused to allow distribution of the flyers because of the so-called “separation of church and state.” The case, Hills v. Scottsdale Unified School...

<p>It has been argued that the 9th Circut Court's banning of the word God will be quickly overturned by the Supreme Court, but the lower court closely followed long established Supreme Court guidelines for prohibiting religion in state run schools.</p>

CHICAGO SCANDALS REACH DALEY'S DOOR Associated Press Tuesday, October 28, 1997; 6:56 a.m. EST BY JAMES WEBB Associated Press Writer EXCERPT: Daley scolded minority aldermen and low-level city and county workers who fell to federal probes involving illegal dumping and no-show workers who are friends or relatives of public officials. In July, he pushed grumbling aldermen to adopt ethics rules governing their conduct. But political observers say the behavior pales by comparison to the behind-the-scenes relationships getting attention now. "What's different now is the light has finally shown on where the real money is being made," said Alderman Joe Moore,...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court ruling upholding California's ban on assault rifles was being portrayed Friday as a landmark in the constitutional debate over the right to bear arms.</p> <p>In a 72-page ruling issued Thursday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the Second Amendment only guarantees the rights of states to organize a militia, and doesn't say anything about citizens being allowed to own semi-automatic weapons or any other firearms.</p>

[SNIP] Barksdale said he built his work ethic tending to his father's dairy farm in rural southern Virginia. "You work in an office," he said, "you are not really working."

[SNIP] Barksdale, 38, is one of four lawyers challenging six sitting Circuit Court judges in the nonpartisan judicial race, marking the first time since 1986 that incumbent judges are facing contested elections. "I have nothing but respect for the judiciary," he said. At the same time, Barksdale said, "If someone has the word 'judge' in front of their names, that doesn't mean they have more experience than some litigators in this county." Barksdale said he built his work ethic tending to his father's dairy farm in rural southern Virginia. "You work in an office," he said, "you are not really...

[SNIP] Barksdale, 38, is one of four lawyers challenging six sitting Circuit Court judges in the nonpartisan judicial race, marking the first time since 1986 that incumbent judges are facing contested elections. "I have nothing but respect for the judiciary," he said. At the same time, Barksdale said, "If someone has the word 'judge' in front of their names, that doesn't mean they have more experience than some litigators in this county."

Charles B. Barksdale, a last-minute entrant into the crowded Circuit Court judicial race, hopes to parlay his 14 years of legal experience into a seat on the bench. "I have a lot of experience. I have good legal skills," said Barksdale, a senior litigator with the Office of the Corporation Counsel in Washington, D.C. "I have a very strong feeling I would be a good judge." Barksdale, 38, is one of four lawyers challenging six sitting Circuit Court judges in the nonpartisan judicial race, marking the first time since 1986 that incumbent judges are facing contested elections. "I have nothing...

Charles B. Barksdale, 38, an attorney with the Office of the Corporation Counsel in Washington, D.C., joins Shalleck, Eldridge and school board member Stephen N. Abrams in challenging the judges -- the first time since 1986 that anyone has tried to knock sitting judges off the bench. Eldridge is a Democrat; the other three are Republicans.