Free Republic

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts and must share search data. Alphabet shares popped 6% in extended trading. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, including selling off its Chrome browser, which provides data that helps its advertising business deliver targeted ads. “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision states. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking...

A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict a woman accused of threatening President Donald Trump on social media, another sign of pushback from D.C. residents over the use of federal law enforcement and deployment of National Guard troops in the city. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accused Nathalie Rose Jones of Indiana of threatening to take the life of the president and transmitting threats over state lines on Instagram and Facebook. Jones allegedly called Trump a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She attended a march in Washington...

President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that tariffs are driving more than $15 trillion in new U.S. investment and that if courts should strike them down, the U.S. would likely become a "Third World Nation." Trump’s post comes in direct response to a federal appeals court delivering a major legal setback to his trade policy, declaring most of his sweeping tariffs unlawful under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The decision supports earlier rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade. Although they are still in effect, the tariffs face an uncertain future unless the Supreme Court intervenes....

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...

President Donald Trump has ordered federal law enforcement to patrol Washington, D.C., for seven days starting at midnight on Friday, the White House announced. The move comes in response to a surge in violent crime in the overwhelmingly Democrat-run nation's capital.The deployment includes agencies like the U.S. Park Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement."Starting...

A federal appeals court lifted a judge's order on Friday that prevented the Trump administration from ending union bargaining for federal workers. Six unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), had obtained an injunction that was issued by U.S. District Judge James Donato, a lower court judge. A three-judge panel on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused the injunction, which prevented 21 federal agencies from implementing Trump's executive order from March ending union bargaining for federal workers.

The Senate on Tuesday night narrowly confirmed Justice Department official Emil Bove to a seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, hours after his confirmation was stalled over whistleblower reports that he is under investigation. Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey requested information about the alleged investigation after a third whistleblower said Bove misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing. The whistleblowers also allege Bove abused his authority while working for the Justice Department. The Senate confirmed Bove in a 50-49 split. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski...

A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing personal information held by the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote in a 28-page opinion that the plaintiffs, a coalition of unions and nonprofits, have not proven that access to members’ medical or financial records by DOGE employees would cause irreparable harm. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, found that the plaintiffs’ complaint fell short of the high bar set for litigants seeking a preliminary injunction. While DOGE’s...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench of cases from the October 2024 term this morning at 10:00.There are five cases remaining plus the immigration case from the Emergency Docket.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the Opinion release and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the court's decisions.Besides the immigration/national injunctions case of Trump v. CASA, there is the case of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton:Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred as a matter of law in applying rational-basis review, instead of strict scrutiny, to a law burdening adults' access to protected speech.andMahmoud...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench for the October 2024 term at 10:00 this morning. Scotusblog will be liveblogging as the Opinions are released and we will be following along to try to make sense of the Court's decisions. There are ten cases remaining undecided from this term. That does not include the cases on the emergency docket.

An appeals court on Friday revived a legal challenge against a Washington, D.C., law allowing noncitizens, including illegal migrants, the ability to vote in local elections. An Obama-appointed judge in March 2024 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the district law giving certain noncitizens the right to vote in elections within the District of Columbia, ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. However, an appeals court Friday breathed life back into that challenge, finding that the law could dilute the voting power of citizens. “As long as each person can be said to have suffered a distinct and concrete...

The Supreme Court will be announcing Opinions from the bench for the October 2024 term at 10:00 this morning.Scotusblog will be liveblogging as the Opinions are released and we will be following along to try to make sense of the Court's decisions.There are 15 cases remaining undecided for this term. All cases from October, November, and December sittings have been announced. There is also several cases remaining on the Emergency Docket (mainly Trump admin related cases). Of interest from the January sitting is:Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, No. 23-1122 [Arg: 01.15.2025 ] Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred as...

The Supreme Court will be announcing opinions from the bench at 10:00 a.m. this morning.Scotusblog will be live-blogging the opinions the opinions at Scotusblog and we will be following along and trying to make sense of the court's decisions.There are 20 cases remaining undecided for this term. A list of the cases can be found at October 2024 cases.All opinions from the October and November sitting have been announced. The only remaining case from the December term is Skrmetti.Issue(s): Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow "a minor to identify with, or live as,...

Afederal judge ordered the University of Oregon to pay $191,000 to Portland State University professor Bruce Gilley to cover his legal fees in a successful First Amendment challenge to its censorship of Gilley's comment "all men are created equal" in his retweet from UO's diversity, equity and inclusion office Twitter page, according to Gilley's lawyers. Gilley secured a preliminary injunction last summer that stops UO Equity's account on X, formerly Twitter, from blocking his interactions or "hiding, muting, or deleting" several kinds of his posts to its account. They settled in full this spring after nearly three years in court,...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday directing President Donald Trump to return control of the National Guard to California. The order, which takes effect at noon Friday, said the deployment of the Guard was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority. The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling. California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to block the Guard’s deployment against his wishes. California later filed an emergency motion asking the judge to block the Guard from assisting with immigration raids.

The problem with the courts is the same as the problem with many of our other institutions. Called the Skinsuit Phenomenon, after the great @Iowahawk’s famous tweet that perfectly sums up the leftist approach to marching through our society: “1. Identify a respected institution. 2. Kill it. 3. Gut it. 4. Wear its carcass as a skinsuit, while demanding respect. #lefties.” The courts are supposed to have respect because they’re supposed to do their job, but, as is so common these days, they’re not doing the job, yet they still expect the respect. That’s just not in the cards. Things...

Migrants illegally in the US are facing a new challenge, as they head to immigration court their cases are being dropped. But although that might sound like a good thing, having a case in court gave people temporary legal status in America, that dissapears when the case does, leading to mass arrests... Activists are having meltdowns.

Once upon a time, Delaware was the Gibraltar of American corporate law. It stood for predictability, neutrality, and a kind of legal Calvinism: sober, restrained, and austere in its application of fiduciary duties. Businessmen could rest easy knowing that the rules would be applied fairly and that their decisions, if made in good faith, would be respected by courts. That Delaware is gone. In its place stands an activist legal regime, captured by a few ideological judges and hungry plaintiffs' attorneys, doling out litigation jackpots with multipliers that would make a Las Vegas pit boss blush. The epicenter of this...

Two courts ruled against the tariff policy enacted by President Donald J. Trump. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump’s tariff policy was unlawful, blocking a central tenet of the president’s agenda on the economy and trade. The Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs led to scores of nations lining up to renegotiate their deals. We’ve already inked our new one with the United Kingdom. D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras also ruled earlier today that the tariff policy was illegal, though he stayed his decision for 14 days to allow for the appeals process. Yet, before the...

A federal appeals court on Thursday granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.