Free Republic

A Brooklyn man has been convicted of 13 weapons charges after having been arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms. Dexter Taylor’s ordeal could become a landmark Second Amendment case in light of the Bruen ruling handed down in the same year. The jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers. Two...

Matt Gaetz floated the prospect on Thursday that Representative Lauren Boebert could be better suited to serve as House speaker than current Speaker Mike Johnson who continues facing outrage from conservatives over his support for Ukraine aid.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take up a Biden administration appeal over the regulation of difficult-to-trace ghost guns that had been struck down by lower courts. The justices by a 5-4 vote had previously intervened to keep the regulation in effect during the legal fight. Ghost guns, which lack serial numbers, have been turning up at crime scenes with increasing regularity. The regulation, which took effect in 2022, changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished parts, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun, so...

We have often discussed how cities and universities will use the threat of protests to block or shutdown free speech, particularly of conservative speakers or groups. We now have a major decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that could prove an important precedent in resisting the growing anti-free speech movement in the United States. In Meinecke v. City of Seattle, the court ruled against Seattle in a case involving the arrest of a pro-life protester. Matthew Meinecke was harassed by Antifa and other counterprotesters, but police arrested Meineche when he refused to yield...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate held a "trial" regarding the Articles of Impeachment directed at Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. I've got "trial" in quotation marks because the trial never really got off the ground. As detailed in the overview of the proceedings, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) started out with a show of allowing the Republicans to have a say in the proceedings, it would all be for naught, and the Republicans exposed that, beginning with Senator Eric Schmitt's (R-MO) objection calling for a full trial. Schumer then raised a point of order asserting that...

On XApr 17, 2024 TRANSCRIPT:Katherine Maher: The number one challenge here that we see is, of course, the First Amendment in the United States... is a fairly robust protection of rights, and that is a protection of rights, both for platforms, which I actually think is very important. The platforms have those rights to regulate what kind of content they want on their sites, but it also means it is a little bit tricky to really address some of the real challenges of 'where does bad information come from?' and some of the influence peddlers who have made a real...

Left-wing activists in Montana have officially launched their signature collection effort to enshrine abortion into the state constitution. “On Tuesday, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights announced that it has officially launched its signature drive to get the required 60,000 signatures from Montanans by June 21 to qualify the measure on the ballot,” The Hill reported. The constitutional initiative, called CI-128, would “expressly provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. It would prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability.”

We have the first opinion, from Justice Jackson in Rudisill v. McDonough. 8 The vote is 7-2, with a dissent by Thomas joined by Alito. This is a case about education benefits for veterans and whether the veteran can access benefits under the Post-9/11 Veterans Act without being subject to limits imposed by the Montgomery GI Bill. The Court holds that service members who, through separate periods of service, accrue benefits under both bills, can use either one, in any order, up to a 48-month aggregate cap. Kavanaugh files a concurring opinion that Barrett joins. Decision is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-888_1b8e.pdf The...

April 15 is usually Tax Day in the United States – the day by which your individual federal tax return has to have been filed, if you’re to avoid a late penalty. And if you’re in one of the many states with its own statewide income tax – 43 at last count – that usually shares the same deadline. By what right does the government take this money from us? That’s an easy one. The Constitution says it can. To be specific, the 16th Amendment authorized the federal government to collect income taxes, so it’s been legal for 110 years....

Time to Change Our Language.. It is time to stop blaming “Covid” for breaking the economy, destroying businesses and livelihoods, and wreaking untold havoc upon families. It was not “Covid” that did this. It was not even the Chinese. It was our government. The government has conditioned us to blame the impersonal “Covid” for the destruction it wrought upon our businesses and families. We need to change the discussion by using the proper language to fix the blame where it belongs. Good generals can win a battle by picking the terrain upon which they fight. At Waterloo, Wellington forced Napoleon...

From Amy Howe at Scotusblog.com "We're expecting one or more opinions in argued cases this morning. As is almost always the case, we don't know how many opinions we'll get or which ones. We are only waiting on two decisions from October, and they're both significant ones: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association, and Alexander v. SC Conference of the NAACP. As our regular readers know, the parties in the SC case had originally asked the court to act by January 1, but the lower court in the case ruled late last month that the congressional district...

Conservative groups backing former president Donald Trump in his re-election bid say they are "deeply disappointed" with his official position on abortion unveiled Monday, but it won't deter their support in November. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee in a video posted on Truth Social Monday morning said he cemented his position on the controversial issue, saying that abortion access should be a states’ issue and didn’t endorse a national, federal limitation – like a 15-week ban. Pro-life interest groups who have endorsed Trump expressed disappointment at his announcement, but it appears unlikely to sway their support in consideration...

(Apr. 2, 2024) — Introduction In 2015, two former high officials in the Office of the Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice – Messrs. Paul Clement, a Republican, and Neal Katyal, a Democrat – jointly authored an article on the Constitution’s “natural born Citizen” term (hereafter, for brevity, “nbC”). Entitled “On the Meaning of ‘Natural Born Citizen,’” the article appeared in the March 2015 edition of the Harvard Law Review Forum (128 Harv.L.Rev.F. 161), which describes itself as the “the online companion to the print journal (i.e., the Harvard Law Review) and where “[i]t hosts scholarly discussion of...

[snip] It may be true that a remnant of the old constitution — the old American nation — remains alive in the hearts of some portion of the American people. But if so, it is now battered and bloody, struggling for breath as the new constitution seeks to finish it off once and for all. Perhaps this is the best way to describe the true cause and nature of the existential political and cultural clash that has riven the American body-politic and continues to grow fiercer by the day: it is indeed, as Joe Biden has put it, a final...

Private money to fund elections will be banned in Wisconsin after voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday put forward by Republicans in reaction to grants received in 2020 that were funded by donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Voters also approved a second question put on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature that amends the constitution to say that only election officials can administer elections. That’s already state law, but putting it in the constitution makes it more difficult to repeal or change. Democrats opposed both measures, which they argued would make it more difficult to conduct elections in the...

(Apr. 1, 2024) — Last Tuesday, Independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. declared he had chosen attorney and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan, 38, as his vice-presidential running-mate. Both are former Democrats, with Kennedy in October changing his party affiliation to “Independent” in what he said was a “very painful” decision he found necessary to break through the “two-party system.” Shanahan, a wealthy tech entrepreneur, patent attorney, Democrat donor, full-time philanthropist and emerging farmer, said during the announcement that the Democrat Party has “lost their way in their leadership” and cares excessively for “elitism and winning at all costs.” A...

Gabriel Metcalf of Billings, Montana, has accepted a plea deal in the Gun Free School Zone (GFSZ) case, which has been extensively covered by AmmoLand. The plea deal appears to be for probation only, with forfeiture of the single-shot Rossi shotgun and six rounds of ammunition. There is no mention of a fine in the plea agreement. The right to appeal is preserved on page 7 of the agreement. The plea deal specifically preserves the right to appeal the conviction based on the motion to dismiss entered on October 10, 2023. The motion to dismiss made two arguments. First, the...

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - In an effort to discourage homeless camps, Washoe County Commissioners voted on a controversial camping ban. Community members came forward Tuesday morning to speak on the ordinance that would make it a misdemeanor to sleep in a car or tent, or park an RV on county owned property. “Its unconstitutional to arrest someone who has no access to alternative shelter,” said one resident. ... The Supreme Court will also have a hearing to weigh in on whether cities can legally ban or limit unhoused people camping in public spaces. If they vote against this, the current...

Amidst all the liberal outrage over NBC's hiring of Ronna McDaniel, CNN offered an example this morning of what passes for a perfectly acceptable revolving-door hire. CNN commentator Ashley Allison was on a CNN This Morning panel to discuss Trump's hawking of a God Bless America Bible. Allison was the National Coalitions Director for Biden-Harris 2020 and deputy director and senior policy advisor for the Obama White House Office of Public Engagement, where she strategized on running campaigns during "the Resistance." Her bio features her commitment to "equity."Allison displayed a combination of fearmongering and ignorance about America's founding. Allison claimed...

In the book, ‘1984’ is a famous quote: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face—forever.” Too often, laws are passed without looking through the foundational lens of our country. By that I mean the lens of the “purpose of government.” Where do we find that lens? We find it in one of the four organic laws of the United States: Namely, The Declaration of Independence. In it we are told the purpose of government is “…to secure God-given rights.” Without that lens, liberty is at risk of being stomped in the...