Free Republic

Hunter Biden is asking appellate courts in both of his criminal cases to consider dismissing his tax and gun charges, according to court documents. Biden asked the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to hear his arguments for dismissal after a judge in Delaware denied Biden’s requests to drop three felonies related to a 2018 gun purchase. Biden had argued to Judge Maryellen Noreika that his charges should be dropped by claiming that a since-withdrawn plea agreement was actually active and had immunized him from being charged; that special counsel David Weiss, who is overseeing Biden’s prosecutions, was inappropriately...

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...

A paper at the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), founded by researcher John Lott, shows how faith in the police, arrest rates, and crime reporting are all interrelated. The paper is titled " The Collapse in Law Enforcement: As Arrest Rates Plummet, People Have Been Less Willing to Report Crime", published on April 5, 2024. As faith in the police collapses, reporting of crime drops, and so do arrest rates and clearance rates for both violent crimes and property crimes. This has the classic look of a positive feedback loop. The consequences are far from positive. It is not a...

It was Al-Quds Day last Friday. To celebrate the occasion, protesters in Dearborn, Mich., chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” while a speaker named Tarek Bazzi declared the United States — a place that’s afforded him the liberty to openly support rapists, murderers and terrorists — one of the “rottenest countries” on the planet. “It’s the entire system that has to go,” he explained to cheers of, what I assume, were American citizens. As commentator Seth Mandel noted on X, there’s Charlottesville every other day in America, and barely anyone on the left cares. Most progressives, let’s face...

A judge in Texas struck down a Biden administration rule on March 28 that required states to measure and report the greenhouse gas emissions from any vehicles using the national highway system. The rule was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2023 as part of President Biden’s efforts to slash carbon emissions in half by 2030. Specifically, it required state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to both measure their transportation-related emissions on the U.S. highway system and set their own emission reduction targets. Additionally, the measure required state DOTs and MPOs...

I am just asking. How hard Is it to move a U.S. District Court from one location to another? It seems to me that at certain Federal District Courts democrats usually get a jury of their peers but republicans almost usually do not. A conservative president can appoint as many conservative judges as he is able, but if the jury pool is decidedly one-party then justice is never served. As long as these courts are centered in major cities that are about as blue as they can get, justice will always be weighed for one side over another simply for...

Afederal judge on Friday dismissed a challenge from 21 states against a Biden administration program that allows 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. from four countries each month. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton ruled that Texas and 20 other Republican-led states didn’t have legal standing in the lawsuit because they didn’t demonstrate suffered financial harm from the federal program, the Associated Press reported. The program lets a total of up to 30,000 asylum-seekers enter the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. “In reaching this conclusion, the Court does not address the lawfulness of the Program,” Tipton wrote...

A federal judge in Austin on Thursday halted a new state law that would allow Texas police to arrest people suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally. The law, Senate Bill 4, was scheduled to take effect Tuesday. U.S. District Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction that will keep it from being enforced while a court battle continues playing out. Texas is being sued by the federal government and several immigration advocacy organizations. Ezra said in his order Thursday that the federal government “will suffer grave irreparable harm” if the law took effect because it could inspire other states...

A lawyer representing former President Donald Trump said that his team will challenge a New York judge’s decision last week, targeting the judge’s definition of what fraud is. Last Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the former president is liable for a $355 million fine and cannot operate his Trump Organization in New York state for three years. “The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding ‘fraud’ claims/findings without any actual fraud,” Chris Kise, the former lawyer in the case, told Newsweek on Monday. Regarding the appeal of the cause, the lawyer said that it “will depend on many...

A federal court ruled Thursday that Louisiana’s state House and Senate district maps dilute black voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act, and has ordered the maps to be redrawn. The ruling by U.S. District Chief Judge Shelly Dick came just weeks after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed on Jan. 22 a bill creating a new congressional map that establishes a second majority-black district. The new map reshapes Louisiana’s 6th District, that of Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), giving it a black population of around 56 percent and making it the state’s second majority-black district. In her ruling on...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection. The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from the ballot under a voter-approved measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from reelection if they have more than 10 unexcused absences. Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks — the longest in state history — and paralyzed...

A federal judge in Florida granted a request for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of a new federal gun law related to stabilizing braces and whether they convert firearms into short-barrel rifles. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cannot enforce the rule against individuals who live “in the state of Florida,” U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven wrote in an order this week. In part, the judge wrote that the ATF and other defendants, including Director Steven Dettelbach, were not able to meet the standard of showing that the ATF rule falls under “the plain text of...

A family in Glasgow, Montana is accusing the state’s child protective services of “kidnapping” their teenage daughter after the girl began to identify as a transgender “boy.” Krista and Todd Kolstad spoke to Reduxx about their ordeal, revealing that the child had been removed from their care and was now going to be sent to Canada. Krista, the child’s step-mother, explains that their nightmare began in August of 2023 after they received a call that their 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer*, had expressed suicidal ideations while at school. “She had always had problems at school,” Krista says, noting that she and Todd...

If the Democratic attorney general of The Garden State wants to shut down your business or scare away your donors, the federal courts cannot help you. That's the warning issued by a network of pro-life pregnancy centers fighting an allegedly harassing subpoena from New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin, who seeks a wide range of documents going back 10 years, after a federal court ruled Jan. 12 it didn't have jurisdiction to hear their constitutional challenge. First Choice Women's Resource Centers filed an emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal Tuesday to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, accusing U.S....

A federal judge in New Hampshire ruled against an effort to block former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballots, coming just before the state holds its first Republican primary election. The ruling, posted by Republican lawyer and former California GOP Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon, was handed down by U.S. District Judge Samantha D. Elliott against long-shot Republican presidential candidate John Anthony Castro, a Texas resident who filed similarly rejected cases in other states. In his petition, the judge noted that Mr. Castro brought a “nearly identical” claim in New Hampshire as his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging that...

Remember Seth Rich, the DNC staffer who perished under highly questionable circumstances several years ago, whom many have speculated may have been the Wikileaks source for the DNC email hack of 2016? Hillary Clinton and the DNC sure would prefer that we don’t.Via Newsweek, Nov. 29, 2023 (emphasis added):A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the laptop of murdered Democrat staffer Seth Rich.Texas Judge Amos L. Mazzant ordered "a timeline for the disclosure of information on Seth Rich's personal laptop, Seth Rich's work laptop, the DVD and tape drive within 14 days following issuance of this Memorandum of...

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday invalidated the state's landmark Climate Protection Program (CPP), which aimed to slash greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel companies by 90 percent by 2050. The state's rulemaking failed to "substantially comply” with the requirements for disclosure when adopting rules under the federal Clean Air Act of 1970, a three-judge panel of the state appeals court said. "We conclude that the CPP rules are invalid," reads the ruling, authored by Judge Jacqueline Kamins. The ruling follows a legal challenge by farmers, fossil fuel companies, and others, and comes as a setback to the Oregon...

On Monday, social media "influencer" and vocal Trump supporter Brandon Straka proclaimed victory in a January 6th-related civil case filed against him by several Capitol Police officers. Straka released this statement on X/Twitter:🚨VICTORY!!!🚨I have WON the J6 civil case against me by the corrupt, lying, leftist Soros-funded DC nonprofit lawfirm Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (@LawyersComm).Over 2 years ago I was served in a civil lawsuit by 8 black and brown Capitol Police officers whom I’ve never met, had no contact with on J6, and whom I was not even within proximity of. They sued me under the...

A federal district court in Rhode Island on Monday rejected a bid to disqualify former President Donald Trump from candidacy in the 2024 presidential elections, citing an earlier ruling by an appeals court that rejected a similar claim.Chief Judge John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Monday summarily dismissed a complaint by John Anthony Castro, a lesser-known Republican presidential candidate from Texas, who sought to disqualify President Trump from the ballot.That marked another defeat for Mr. Castro, who has filed lawsuits in more than two dozen states over the past few months, including the one...

A political committee that helped expand the Democratic majority on the Illinois Supreme Court and was backed by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon emptied its bank account just weeks after being notified it faced one of the largest state election fines ever for failing to timely disclose millions of dollars it spent until after last November’s election. On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections issued a final order assessing $99,500 in fines against the All for Justice political action committee. The action followed a Tribune story earlier this year detailing the PAC’s reporting deficiencies as it spent more than $7.3...