Free Republic

On April 18, 2024, the Supreme Court of Arkansas delivered a significant opinion impacting the restoration of the right to keep and bear arms. In particular, the court reaffirmed the right to bear arms is a fundamental constitutional right. The denial of the right is a harm that confers standing to those denied, and the procedural powers of the state judiciary, as a separate, constitutionally created branch of the state government, do not necessarily extend beyond the courtroom to the courthouse.The issue was whether Arkansas state statute § 5-73-122 – b, as modified in 2017, violated the Arkansas state constitution....

Friday, during a CNN live broadcast reporting on the jury being seated in former President Donald Trump’s trial, a man set himself on fire in front of the Manhattan courtroom. Anchor Laura Coates said, “We have a man who is literally set fire to himself. A man hasn’t plays into himself outside of the courthouse just now, our cameras are turning right now, a man has now let himself on fire. Hi, are outside of the courthouse in Manhattan where we’re waiting history to be made. A full jury panel is done. We are watching a man who was fully...

The Atlanta courthouse locked down ahead of Fani Willis’ decision to charge Trump over his efforts to challenge the 2020 election in Georgia. “Law-enforcement officers surrounded the Fulton County courthouse on Monday in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, amid closed roads and traffic barriers put up to boost security ahead of a possible indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump,” Reuters reported. A judge last Monday denied Trump’s second bid to quash Fulton County DA Fani Willis’investigation into Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election in Georgia. Meanwhile, Fani Willis is reportedly ‘ready to go’ Fulton County prosecutors are preparing sprawling racketeering...

Malik Fard Muhammad, 25, and his girlfriend Kristin McGuire traveled from Indianapolis, Ind., to Portland, Ore., to fight with cops. Muhammad will be extending his stay for an extra ten years, compliments of the feds. Muhammad is alleged to have traveled to Portland with his girlfriend from their home in Indianapolis for the specific purpose of violently engaging in civil disorder during recent area riots. On September 5, 2020, during a large civil disturbance in east Portland, demonstrators threw dangerous objects at police, including commercial grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, and bottles. At least one demonstrator was seriously burned by a...

Jacob Michael Gaines, 24, was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for brutally attacking a Deputy US Marshal with a hammer during a 2020 riot in Portland, Oregon. Gaines, a Texas man that crossed state lines to participate in a riot perpetrated by Antifa militants last July, pleaded guilty in September to assault with a deadly weapon. Scott Erik Asphaug, the Acting US Attorney for the District of Oregon, announced the sentencing in a press release on Monday and said that Gaines' actions that night could have killed the Deputy US Marshal. "Mr. Gaines' actions in July 2020...

Portland Police Bureau officers and riot teams appeared to ignore the storming of the U.S. federal courthouse in their city on Thursday night. Videos show Antifa smashing windows, spraying graffiti, and setting fires. Portland police were nowhere to be seen in the footage.

A South Dakota 7th Circuit judge, Craig Pfeifle, has initiated a conflict with the Custer County Board. The Board created an ordinance to allow people to legally carry personal firearms in the County Courthouse, as allowed by law. In effect, the ordinance removes the legal prohibition on people carrying firearms in the courthouse. There have not been any problems. The ordinance covers the courthouse, not the courtroom. Hearings in the courtroom only occur once a week. When they do, a deputy and metal detector are used to secure the courtroom. The Custer County Courthouse includes a museum type art display...

A Savage man on Wednesday was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktails into a Dakota County courthouse as unrest spilled into the Twin Cities suburbs in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in police custody, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Fornandous Cortez Henderson, 33, in August pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to one count of aiding and abetting arson. He admitted that he chose the Western Service Center in Apple Valley as a target because he had made court appearances there in the past and because he was angry...

A 115-year-old Confederate monument that was the subject of protests in Alabama this year was removed from outside a county courthouse early Friday. News outlets reported that a small group of onlookers cheered at the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville as crews took away the stone memorial, which was topped by the likeness of a soldier, in pieces. Music blasted during part of the work. “I’m speechless, literally speechless. It’s an amazing time for our culture and for people of all colors. I’m excited that I’m able to watch this event happen during this time,” said Joretha Wright. […] Madison...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution that the nightly assaults on the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, required government intervention, because local law enforcement refused to quell the attacks on the building and the federal officers already stationed on the property. Graham asked Department of Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli about the fate of the courthouse if additional officers had not been deployed.

A Portland, Ore., man was charged in a criminal complaint Friday with allegedly throwing an explosive device at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse. Authorities say security cameras caught 18-year-old Gabriel Agard-Berryhill throwing an “incendiary object” into the entrance of the building near midnight on July 28, causing an explosion inside the downtown courthouse. “No legitimate protest message is advanced by throwing a large explosive device against a government building,” U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said Friday. “Mr. Agard-Berryhill’s actions could have gravely injured law enforcement officers positioned near the courthouse, other protesters standing nearby, or himself.”

The city of Portland, Ore. is fining the federal government $500 for every 15 minutes it maintains unpermitted fencing outside of the federal courthouse that has faced nightly attacks amid ongoing protests and rioting. City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said in a statement Tuesday that the fencing is obstructing the street outside of the courthouse. As of Monday, she said, the federal government owed Portland $192,000. "We intend to collect," said Eudaly, who added that she was "committed to doing everything in my power to end this federal occupation and move forward with our community's reckoning with racial injustice and our...

Portland, Oregon - The U.S. Attorney in Oregon announced federal charges Tuesday against seven protesters who are accused in court papers of defacing a federal courthouse and assaulting federal officers during protests in Portland, Oregon against racial injustice and police brutality. The protesters are charged with offenses ranging from disorderly conduct to destruction of federal property and assaulting a federal officer and were released pending trial after a brief court hearing Monday. **SNIP** A sworn affidavit included in court filings says that during an interview after his arrest, Olsen said he was not near the courthouse door and said a...

Portland police used tear gas against protesters who had erected barricades and shot fireworks at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in the city. Friday was the third riot in Portland this week. Several hundred activists marched on Friday evening into the streets around the courthouse in downtown Portland, bearing makeshift shields and diverse materials they used to erect some barricades, police said. In the early hours of Saturday, the situation became increasingly volatile, with Portland police declaring a riot at around 4am local time. Officers deployed tear gas and pushed the protesters away from the courthouse. Earlier in the night, a...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can no longer make civil immigration arrests in and around New York state courthouses, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Legal aid attorneys and immigrant rights organizations had called for an end to the practice in recent years. The immigration raids jeopardized public safety and discouraged victims and witnesses from reporting crimes and participating in the legal process, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. He and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the lawsuit against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to end the practice.

Protesters are gathered outside the Metro Nashville Police Department Central Precinct in downtown Nashville. The group gathered after a rally in against police brutality and white supremacy has been planned for Saturday at Legislative Plaza earlier in the day. The protesters then moved to the downtown courthouse and office of Mayor John Cooper. Those who were part of the peaceful rally earlier in the afternoon were not part of the same group which became agitated and caused some damage, vandalism. As the evening progressed, some of the protesters remaining set the Nashville courthouse on fire. Metro Police issued several warning...

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio officials say a county judge was shot and wounded as he walked toward a courthouse, and the suspect was killed when a probation officer returned fire. Jefferson County Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. was shot Monday morning near the county courthouse in Steubenville, along the Ohio River roughly 30 miles west of Pittsburgh. Steubenville City Manager James Mavromatis tells WTOV-TV that Bruzzese was talking after being wounded. He was flown to a Pittsburgh-area hospital. Investigators didn't immediately release further information about the judge's condition or the suspect. The suspect's body could be seen lying next to...

Three men carrying false identification were denied access to the federal courthouse in downtown Miami Thursday. They attempted to enter at multiple vehicle check-points until security guards recognized one of the men and immediately contacted deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service. The men used badges that resembled those from three different federal agencies, including a U.S. Marshal badge, but within seconds of examining the badges, security guards knew they were fraudulent. Once the men were detained, officers searched their vehicle and discovered other fraudulent law enforcement clothing. One man was arrested and could face charges by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,...

Triple murder defendant jumps to his death off courthouse balcony YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A triple murder defendant jumped to his death from a fourth-floor balcony in an Ohio county courthouse Monday, CBS Youngstown affiliate WKBN reports. Robert Seman landed in the courthouse rotunda. A sheet was put over his body. In 1947, Frank Rigelsky committed suicide by jumping off a railing -- from the fourth floor -- in the same courthouse where Seman jumped to his death, according to court employees. Rigelsky had been worried about making alimony payments to his estranged wife following his involvement in a car accident,...

Update on Michigan Courthouse shooting:-3 dead-Officer his in left arm-Shooter inside on third floor-Berrien County Courthouse— Alison Arkin (@Cronikeys) July 11, 2016