Free Republic

A bummer from D.C., especially coming so soon after a federal judge in Pennsylvania held that the amnesty was unconstitutional. Don’t fret, though. A similar lawsuit, led by incoming Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and joined by 24 different states, has already been filed in Texas with a hearing scheduled early next month. The judge in that case is a Bush appointee who’s been critical of Obama’s DHS on immigration in the past. I like those odds. Worry about losing that one, not this one, as all it’ll take is a circuit split to force this issue before the Supreme...

Even though the citizens of Florida voted in a 2008 referendum to define marriage as between one man and one woman in their state's constitution, yet another federal district judge has ruled that amendment is unconstitutional because it does not let Floridians marry someone of their same gender. U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle came to the same conclusion Thursday as judges from four other districts in Florida previously found. Hinkle ruled that labeling marriage as only "between a man and a woman" was in violation of 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as it does not provide a guarantee...

A federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday that U.S. Marshals will not be able to able to carry out her earlier order to seize a million barrels of Kurdish crude oil unless the tanker carrying the cargo comes closer to the Texas shore. The Wall Street Journal reported that federal magistrate judge Nancy Johnson said that the United Kalavrvta tanker was not within the boundaries of the state or the court's authority. She also said that the matter of who owned the oil should be decided in Iraq, not the United States. "Seems to me this is not a matter for...

The Redskins. Just the mere mention of the name is enough to bother some people. Well, one federal judge ruling on a case about the team had forbade any references to the name in court or in court documents, and aside from a footnote, “Redskins” is never mentioned once in his ruling. U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte wrote in that footnote, “Pro Football’s team is popularly known as the Washington ‘Redskins,’ but the Court will refrain from using the team name unless reference is made to a direct quote where the name appears.” And so, when he referenced the team...

<p>A federal judge in Orange County ruled Wednesday that California’s death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.</p> <p>U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, ruled on a petition by death row inmate Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was sentenced to die nearly two decades ago.</p>

A second federal judge has now ordered the IRS to explain under oath how the agency lost emails from former division director Lois Lerner, the woman at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton told Obama administration lawyers on Friday he wants to see an affidavit explaining what happened with Lerner's hard drive. The IRS claims her computer suffered a crash in 2011 that wiped her email records at the time clean. But at a hearing examining a lawsuit against the IRS by conservative group True the Vote, Walton said he wants to...

One of President Obama’s most controversial judicial nominees will finally get a hearing Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee considers Michael Boggs for a lifetime appointment to Georgia’s federal bench.

A federal judge said Friday that she finds “disconcerting” the Obama administration’s position that courts have no role in a lawsuit over the 2011 drone-strike killings of three U.S. citizens in Yemen, including an al-Qaida cleric. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer made the comment at a hearing on a government motion to dismiss the case. The suit was filed by relatives of the three men killed in the drone strikes, charging that the attacks violated the Constitution. It names as defendants then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, then-CIA Director David Petraeus and two commanders in the military’s Special Operations forces,...

A Us judge has ruled that the Palestinian Authority has the right to cover up a memo linking it to a suicide bombing that killed two teen American citizens in Israel, The Post has learned. The document — accidentally handed over to lawyers suing the authority for $300 million on behalf of the teens’ parents — reveals a “close relationship” between the bomber and a captain in the Palestinian Authority security forces who planned the terror attack, court papers say. The two-page memo, written in April 2012 by Maj. Ziad Abu Hamid of the authority’s General Intelligence Service, also details...

"One of the forces behind the Roe v. Wade opinion could be confirmed as a federal judge as early as tomorrow, after the U.S. Senate voted to advance his nomination for a vote Monday evening. The Senate adjourned just past seven o’clock Monday evening, shortly after Hurwitz cleared a cloture vote, which ended debate on his nomination. That vote means the Senate will take up a vote to name him to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning. He is strongly favored to win confirmation from the Democrat-controlled Senate sometime this week. Eight Republicans voted with the Democrats...

The self-incriminating clause of the Fifth Amendment is always a great help for defendants who want to keep their encrypted hard drives from being decrypted when prosecution asks for it, until now. A Colorado federal judge has ruled that decrypting a computer hard drive does not violate the defendant’s rights. The ruling came in a case against Ramona Fricosu, who is charged with mortgage fraud. She had argued that decrypting the data on her hard drive would require her to testify against herself, which is prohibited by the US Bill of Rights. But Judge Robert Blackburn decided differently. According to...

When a Democratic president nominates a federal judge from a state with two Democratic senators — and the Senate itself is controlled by Democrats — a speedy confirmation hearing typically follows. But in an unusual case of intraparty defiance, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is holding up President Obama’s nomination of a judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the only time a Democrat has tried to block one of Mr. Obama’s judicial nominees. Mr. Menendez would not comment. But the nominee, Patty Shwartz, has been in a relationship for more than two decades...

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, an Alameda County judge since 2008, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday for the U.S. District Court in Oakland, where she will become the first Latina federal judge in the Bay Area. The Senate voted 89-6 to approve President Obama's nomination of Gonzalez Rogers to fill the vacancy created by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's retirement in February. There was no debate, and the opponents, all Republicans, did not say why they voted against the nominee, who had not drawn any opposition in her committee hearing. Gonzalez Rogers, 46, a Texas native and Princeton honors graduate,...

A federal judge has struck down a Florida drug law that convicts suspects of a drug offense even if they are unaware that the controlled substance is illegal.

(CNSNews.com) - Senate Democrats were able to confirm the former director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island to a lifetime federal judgeship after 11 Republicans voted to close debate on the nomination and allow it to come up for a final vote. As a lawyer, the new judge was also involved in litigation against the tobacco industry and a failed lawsuit against former manufacturers of lead paint. The cloture vote on the nomination of John J. “Jack” McConnell was 63 to 33 with 1 senator voting present and 2 senators not voting at all. Had 4 of the 11...

Suspected Tucson gunman Jared Loughner has been indicted on 46 new charges, including the murders of a federal judge and an aide to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The new indictment, by a federal grand jury in Arizona, is the first step in a formal Department of Justice process to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the 22-year-old.

A Federal District Court judge recently issued an order blocking the implementation of an amendment to the Oklahoma State Constitution. The amendment, approved by seventy percent of Oklahoma voters, would bar state court judges from considering either international or Islamic Sharia law when rendering legal decisions. This has naturally caused a firestorm of debate in the news media, all of which misses the central question, which is whether or not a federal court has the authority to arbitrarily interfere with the governance of a member state of our federal republic. The ruling in Oklahoma comes, not surprisingly, from federal judge...

U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle has ordered the Tangipahoa School Board to place a tax proposition on the April 2011 ballot, according to court documents. The order, dated Wednesday, reinforces earlier court orders and Lemelle’s statements during a U.S. District Court hearing Friday in New Orleans, when he warned the board that failure to put the measure on the ballot could result in court sanction. “To say, ‘We are not going to comply (with a court order)’ is not acceptable,” Lemelle told the board during Friday’s hearing. “You will force me to react.” The School Board could face a...

U. S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker has ruled California's Prop 8 banning gay marriage is unconstitutional. Walker is one of only two known gay federal judges. Ironically, his appointment by former President George H. W. Bush was opposed by some Democrats on the grounds he was anti-gay. The Constitution has been in effect for over 200 years and the Fourteenth Amendment, cited by Judge Walker, has been in effect for over 140 years. Some things, such as new technology, may not have been envisioned by our founding fathers and could need interpretation by the courts. Gay marriage isn't...

A Baton Rouge federal judge said Wednesday he wants details on a plan to tax St. Helena Parish residents for public school improvements without calling an election. Parish and state officials also announced that low-performing St. Helena Central Middle School will be taken over by Louisiana’s Recovery School District. U.S. District Judge James J. Brady told School Board officials at a court hearing in the parish’s 57-year-old desegregation suit: “All of you get together, come up with a schedule.” Within a month, the judge said, he wants details on how the plan would “put some money into the system.” Earlier...