Free Republic

U.S. Court of Appeals Rules IRS Cannot Apply Force Against A Tax Payer Without A Court Order Tax Payers Free To Ignore An IRS Summons Queensbury, NY – On January 25, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that taxpayers cannot be compelled by the IRS to turn over personal and private property to the IRS, absent a federal court order. Quoting from the decision (Schulz v. IRS, Case No. 04-0196-cv), “...absent an effort to seek enforcement through a federal court, IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers, and no consequence whatever can befall a taxpayer...

Martini gets OK as federal judge MITCHEL MADDUX Former Rep. Bill Martini has been confirmed as a New Jersey federal judge by the U.S. Senate. Martini, 55, a Republican who lives in Clifton and practices law in Newark, is a former federal prosecutor who also has served as a Passaic County freeholder. A member of a prominent Passaic County family long involved in politics, he serves as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Martini will have to resign from the agency, and Governor McGreevey will name his replacement on the 12-person board. Martini said...

To resolve any concern that I would block pro-life judicial nominees, take a look at my record. I have consistently opposed any litmus test. I have backed that up by voting to confirm pro-life nominees including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Anthony Kennedy. I led the fight to confirm Justice Clarence Thomas, which almost cost me my Senate seat in 1992. I have voted for all of President Bush's judicial nominees in committee and on the floor. The current controversy was artificially created by incorrect reporting. I never "warned" the president on...

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led House voted Tuesday to break up the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an action opponents said was motivated by conservatives' ire over some of the court's rulings. Nine states are currently covered by the 9th Circuit, but the legislation would leave just California and Hawaii in a revamped lineup. The proposal splits the seven other states into two new courts: one to handle appeals from Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Nevada; and the other to oversee Alaska, Oregon and Washington.

Six weeks after the New York Court of Appeals effectively threw out the state's death-penalty law, a new bill to protect capital punishment against new legal challenges has been introduced in the state Legislature. Unfortunately, the measure probably won't even come up for a vote. That's because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has no interest in passing a capital-punishment bill without enough legal loopholes to ensure that no death sentence ever is carried out in New York. ... New York's capital-punishment law, he said, would be "the most effective of its kind in the nation." Yet, numerous lawmakers at the time...

Until Wednesday afternoon, the significance of Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was largely symbolic. His appointment by President Bush outraged senators who objected to Pryor's record on issues such as gay rights, abortion and federalism. As Alabama attorney general, Pryor defended statutes criminalizing homosexual sodomy, spoke out against decisions legalizing abortion and won cases trimming congressional power over the states. Democrats blocked a vote on his nomination, but the president's recess appointment will allow him to be on the court through 2005. Since Pryor joined the bench in February, his...

Ben Levy, founder of ACLU here made his mark `All I wanted to do was to protect the right to speak freely without penalty, without being afraid.' The bullets always were fired at night, but the threats, curses and social snubs came at any hour of the day. Houston's early American Civil Liberties Union members often found themselves in conflict with groups willing to use unsavory means to maintain the status quo. Founded in 1957 by Houston lawyer Ben G. Levy and a handful of supporters, the organization eventually made its mark in prison, civil rights and First Amendment litigation....

In support of Janice Rogers Brown Posted: October 27, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com I don't usually get too excited about judicial nominations by the Bush administration. But, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Occasionally, even the Bush administration gets one right. And that's what has happened with the nomination for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The nominee's name is Janice Rogers Brown. Repeat that name over and over to yourself. Make sure you know it and you make it known to others. You will want...

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday pondered whether an employee fired for drug use can later, after rehabilitation, demand special rehiring preferences as a recovered addict under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The justices took up the issue in the case of Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 02- 749, which challenges employer drug-use guidelines in place at companies across the country. "This is a decision that has extraordinary implications for thousands of companies that have similar policies," said attorney Carter Phillips, who represented Raytheon at oral arguments. Raytheon, based in Lexington, Mass., appealed to the Supreme Court over a 9th U.S. Circuit...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP)--News accounts claiming that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore had the Ten Commandments monument installed in the middle of the night are misleading, a friend and supporter of Moore noted. Moore faces an Aug. 20 deadline for having the 5,300-pound granite monument removed from the rotunda of the state judicial building -- an order he has said he will not obey. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson -- who issued the order -- denied a stay request from Moore's lawyers Aug. 18, saying that the opportunity to request a stay had passed. Moore's lawyers then appealed Thompson's denial of...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court asked a federal appeals court to block an order for the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from a state building. Attorneys for Chief Justice Roy Moore asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to stay an order to remove the monument by midnight Wednesday. The papers were filed late Monday. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson has said he may fine the state about $5,000 a day if the monument is not removed by the deadline. Moore has fought to keep the monument in the judicial...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is being asked to overturn an appeals court ruling that said the Constitution does not guarantee people a personal right to own a gun. The court's past rulings on Second Amendment gun rights — many in the 1800s — are a mess that should be straightened out when the justices return from their summer break, an appeal being filed Thursday at the court said. The appeal relates to one of two closely watched cases from the liberal-leaning 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The high court will also decide later this year...

Democratic opposition to Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, whom President Bush nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, is based on bias against traditional religious beliefs, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has charged. In his hearing before the committee last week, Pryor denounced abortion rather than veiling his views as other embattled Bush nominees have been accused of doing. The Pryor nomination raises the question of whether Bush's conservative-minded nominees are better off speaking out on their views, as the 41-year-old Catholic has done, or avoiding comment on the grounds that it could involve future cases that...

<p>The battle over President Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit casts a deadly cloud of partisan gridlock over the future of candidates who want to serve as judges on the nation's highest courts.</p>

This should lead to CSPAN.org, then just click Stand-Alone Player where it says CSPAN 2.

My reaction to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance is a little different than most of those you will read or hear elsewhere. Is it a correct ruling? No. Is it a ruling that has anything to do with the Constitution? No. Is it unexpected? Not by me. To me, it was just a matter of time. Let's remember that in 1962 and 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer in the schools was unconstitutional. The fact that it took nearly 40 years for the other shoe to drop is something of...

My Fellow Freepers....I dont' even know if this is allowable under the posting rules but I am so incensed by this ruling by that appeals court, I decided to post this offer! If its pulled, so be it! I offer one FREE Sheet of Pledge of Allegiance 0cents Stamps (10 self-adhesive stamps) to any Freeper who sends me a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Evelope)! This is one of my favorite stamps from both a message and an artistic viewpoint. It was designed by my Freeper wife several months ago - way before this 9th Circuit BS.I just want my...

<p>Maryland Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele has asked the state Court of Appeals to begin criminal contempt proceedings against four Democratic state senators who contacted judges about redistricting while the court was hearing lawsuits over the new legislative map.</p>