Free Republic

Thursday, the Supreme Court announced its opinion in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association. The case involved the fate of approximately $783 million in NIH research grants that were tied to DEI initiatives rather than to general scientific research. By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that a single federal judge could not compel the federal government to spend nearly $1 billion on nonsensical pseudo-research it no longer wished to fund.This case may ultimately prove more important than the money it saved because it indicated the Supreme Court was losing patience with inferior courts and with one...

It seems to be a given that the courts have the final say in whether a law, or an executive order, is constitutional, but the reality is not always so clear.According to a Newsmax report, “on Thursday [8/21], the high court ruled that the Trump administration can proceed with making sweeping cuts to National Institutes of Health diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) grants.” In doing so, SCOTUS reversed a lower court.This reversal is a good one, but the problem is that it was necessary because a rogue lower court had defied the Supreme Court, which had already ruled that courts...

“If they are interacting with a customer and the customer says, this is my preferred name and these are my preferred pronouns, this is the way I want to be addressed, there is a legal obligation to do that. They're compelled to use those pronouns and those surnames under Colorado's law. That's compelled speech, and the real kicker is there criminal penalties for it. You can have prison time, jail time for up to 4 months if you don't abide that.” - Kristen Waggoner, President, CEO & General Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom

The Democrats’ hackneyed falsehood that Republican gerrymandering in Texas is racist and will end American democracy is not only hysterical – it’s hypocritical. While gerrymandering is ethically impaired, it has been part of U.S. politics for more than 200 years, and a mainstay of Democratic Party ...... According to Article I, “[t]he Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations….” The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment provides that “[n]o State shall...

A most interesting Interview with John Solomon today.

The Texas redistricting battle is entering a new front as the fight turns to the courts, where Democrats and civil rights groups are expected to challenge the newly passed maps. Texas House Democrats who had fled the state to stall the maps said that they were returning “to the House floor and to the courthouse” this week — and several groups signaled they are ready to sue as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs the legislation. But experts forecast Democrats will face an uphill climb to stop or even stall the maps, which could net five GOP House seats,...

During a Q&A session in the Oval Office on Friday, President Donald Trump reignited the national conversation on gun rights by proposing a bold expansion of concealed-carry laws to include Washington, D.C. Trump argued that residents of the nation’s capital must have the ability to protect themselves amid a surge in violent crime.“People have to be able to protect themselves,” Trump said. “Especially in Washington, you walk down the street, a guy comes up and slugs you. He’s got a pistol in his hand. You can be tough, you can be powerful, or you can be a guy that weighs...

President Donald Trump Friday suggested that federal troops could be deployed to Chicago amid his efforts to crack down on crime, repeating a threat that both Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson have said would be illegal. During a news conference Friday in the Oval Office, Trump said Chicago could be next to receive federal intervention, similar to Washington, D.C., where nearly 2,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to address what his administration has described as a surge in violent crime, even though D.C. officials say crime is falling in their city. “Chicago is a mess, you have...

Justice Neil Gorsuch called out lower courts on Thursday for a pattern of defying Supreme Court rulings. Allowing the Trump administration to move forward with cutting millions in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants marked the “third time in a matter of weeks” the Supreme Court had to reverse a lower court on an issue it had already addressed, Gorsuch wrote. “Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this Court’s decisions, but they are never free to defy them,” Gorsuch wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

President Donald Trump is not the first prominent American politician to demand that the federal government take partial control of Intel and other manufacturers of advanced computer chips. But it might surprise you to learn whose idea he has embraced. During debate over the CHIPS and Science Act, the 2022 bill that ultimately delivered $52 billion in subsidies to chipmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) floated the very same idea that Trump is now pursuing: that the government ought to have a stake in those companies.

The Edmund Burke Foundation is pleased to announce a conference on: National Conservatism Conference — NatCon 5 to be held on September 2–4, 2025 in Washington, DC https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-5-2025/contact-us/ Featuring: (With more speakers to be announced) Tulsi Gabbard Russell Vought Nigel Farage MP Jay Bhattacharya Sen. Jim Banks Harmeet Dhillon Amb. Jamieson Greer Sen. Josh Hawley Tom Homan Sen. Eric Schmitt Christopher DeMuth Larry Arnn Steve Bannon Mike Benz Rachel Bovard Mike Davis Patrick Deneen Yoram Hazony Tom Klingenstein Albert Mohler Rep. Riley Moore Jack Posobiec Kevin Roberts Kristen Waggoner Douglas Wilson

The rogue judicial branch continues to overstep its bounds. In the latest example yet, a federal judge just ordered the effective shutdown of Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz detention facility. Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama appointee, ruled that no new illegal alien detainees can be brought in to Alligator Alcatraz. In addition, she has barred further construction and given orders for many parts of the facility to be dismantled within 60 days. Here are the details: JUST IN: A federal judge has barred the Trump admin and FL from bringing new detainees into “Alligator Alcatraz” and to dismantle some aspects of the...

Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) sent a letter to President Donald Trump Thursday urging him to award Patrick J. Buchanan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, The American Conservative has learned. “Honoring Patrick J. Buchanan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom would recognize his role as one of the truest patriots of the past century,” Moore told TAC in an exclusive statement. “His unrelenting focus on the forgotten men and women of America paved the way for President Trump’s America First Movement. He was right about pretty much everything 20 years before most people realized it and should be honored for defending...

SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — California voters will decide in November whether to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year, after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at President Donald Trump’s urging. California lawmakers voted mostly along party lines Thursday to approve legislation calling for the special election. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has led the campaign in favor of the map, then quickly signed it — the latest step in a tit-for-tat gerrymandering battle. “This is not something...

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, enabled the Trump administration to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants linked to diversity initiatives. The decision partially lifts a Boston-based judge’s ruling that declared the cancellations illegal and blocked the administration from moving forward. Five of the court’s six Republican-appointed justices sided with the administration: Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. They said the judge wasn’t following the high court’s emergency decision this spring allowing the administration to cancel education grants. Gorsuch was the most pointed in...

Is this the last gasp of Latin America's disastrous "pink tide"?Two decades ago, democratic socialism was rising in Latin America. The so-called "pink tide" swept leftist leaders into power in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Their useful idiots in the U.S. were delighted. Linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky saw "seeds of a better world" in Venezuela. Filmmaker Michael Moore praised Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez as a champion of the poor. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz claimed he was witnessing an "economic miracle" in Argentina. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) said Bolivia's socialist government had improved the lives of...

James Dobson, the influential conservative Christian therapist, author and radio personality who founded Focus on the Family, has died at the age of 89. The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute announced Thursday morning that Dobson had passed away following a brief illness. He is survived by Shirley, his wife of 64 years, two children, and two grandchildren. “Dr. Dobson was a pioneer — a man of deep conviction whose voice shaped the way generations view faith, family and culture,” said Gary Bauer, senior vice president of Public Policy at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, as quoted in the announcement....

The California Supreme Court, dominated six-to-one by Democratic appointees, rejected a Republican challenge to the legality of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts Wednesday. The court said that it was all right for Democrats in the state legislature to evade a 30-day minimum for new legislative proposals by replacing the text of existing bills with the gerrymandering language. The San Francisco Chronicle reported: The state Supreme Court opened the door Wednesday to plans by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats to redraw California’s congressional districts in a gerrymander designed to pick up five seats, rejecting...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that a man born in New York City in 1950 is NOT an American citizen. The court affirmed what the Constitution’s framers and generations of Americans have always understood: the Fourteenth Amendment does not grant automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to foreign diplomats.

Lucy Connolly has today been released from prison after being jailed for writing a 'racist' tweet during last summer's riots. The mother had spent more than nine months behind bars after admitting making the inflammatory post on X in the wake of the Southport attacks in July last year. Connolly, who is the wife of Tory councillor Ray Connolly, pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred and was handed a 31-month sentence in October.