Free Republic

It’s rare when lawyers — as opposed to their clients — take the Fifth Amendment. But Jeffrey Clark, the former Justice Department lawyer who reportedly tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election, is now claiming the privilege against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He has just been joined in that posture by one of Trump’s main outside legal advisers, John Eastman. Their fear of incrimination could well be justified: There can be serious state and federal criminal consequences for trying to fraudulently interfere with an election....

As the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has progressed, Americans who hope for a successful conviction have begun to focus their attentions on the true villain of the piece: the 75-year-old presiding judge, Bruce Schroeder. Among the many accusations that have been leveled at Schroeder this week are that he is “biased,” that he is “prejudiced,” that he is a secret “conservative,” “right-winger,” or “Trumpist,” that he is a “a gun nut,” that he is a “a racist” or wannabe member of the Klan, that he is the “worst judge in town,” and that he is attempting to parlay this trial...

Federal Judge Marcia Morales Howard in Florida issued a preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s plan to offer loan forgiveness to black and other minority farmers but not to indebted white farmers, and said it is an attempt to address discrimination while practicing discrimination. Howard, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote in the decision: The Constitution’s promise of equal justice under the law is that the government will treat people as individuals, not simply as members of their racial group. “In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American,” 515 U.S....

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting tested for the coronavirus or going into quarantine afterward. Previously, the agency had cautioned against unnecessary travel even for vaccinated people, but noted that it would update its guidance as more people got vaccinated and evidence mounted about the protection the shots provide. According to the CDC, nearly 100 million people in the U.S. — or about 30% of the population — have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A person is considered fully vaccinated...

The nation’s very first “vaccine passport” is coming to the Big Apple. The program, dubbed the “Excelsior Pass,” is an app that will allow New Yorkers to prove their vaccination status, or recent history of a negative COVID-19 test, in order to gain entry to events and businesses, Governor Cuomo announced in a news release Friday. “Similar to a mobile airline boarding pass, individuals will be able to either print out their pass or store it on their smartphones using the Excelsior Pass Wallet app,” the news release explains. “Each Pass will have a secure QR code, which participating businesses...

A majority of Americans support restricting the freedoms of people who have not taken a coronavirus vaccine, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released this week. According to the survey, taken March 8-9, 2021, among 1,005 respondents, 72 percent view it as at least somewhat important to know if the people around them have been vaccinated for COVID-19. The survey listed a series of scenarios for everyday activities — including traveling on an airplane, enrolling in school, working out at the gym — and asked respondents to indicate if they agree that individuals should be required to be vaccinated before engaging...

At a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Shkreli repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says no person shall be compelled in any criminal case "to be a witness against himself." Wearing a sport jacket and collared shirt rather than his usual T-shirt, he responded to questions by laughing, twirling a pencil and yawning. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, asked Shkreli what he would tell a single, pregnant woman with AIDS who needed Daraprim to survive, and whether he thought he had done anything wrong. Shkreli declined to answer....

It's been less than two weeks since Miami-Dade County announced it would be fining people for not wearing masks in public. Already, Florida media outlets are filled with stories of people cited for wearing masks improperly, lowering masks to sip a drink, or removing their face coverings once outside of a store. On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 162 citations for violating the county's mandatory mask ordinance, which comes with a $100 penalty. One woman, Johanna Gianni, says she removed her mask in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in North...

Mayors back reparations that could cost $6.2 quadrillion, or $151M per descendant" The nation’s mayors on Monday backed a national call for reparations to 41 million black people, a program that could cost taxpayers $6.2 quadrillion. The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a letter backing a Democratic plan to form a reparations commission to come up with a payment for slavery. “We recognize and support your legislation as a concrete first step in our larger reckoning as a nation, and a next step to guide the actions of both federal and local leaders who have promised to do better by...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Angus King (I-ME), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced the bipartisan Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, S. 4074, to protect property owners’ rights, defend innocent Americans, and restore the Fifth Amendment’s role in civil forfeiture proceedings. “The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will uphold the Fifth Amendment and ensure government agencies no longer profit from taking American citizens’ property without due process....

Lockdown without compensation violates the spirit if not the letter of the Fifth Amendment provision: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The lockdown may not involve government permanently taking possession of property as is usually the case, but the action deprives the owner of the right to use the property to generate income which in effect is the. same situation. States have been compensating owners of property commandeered for use to treat COVID-19 patients. States should be compensating owners of lockdown property. Firefighters may construct a firebreak to stop a major wildfire. They will...

LAKE ORION, Mich. – Canterbury Village is postponing drive-in movies that were scheduled this week and next week. The postponement announcement was posted to the Canterbury Village Facebook page with the message that the “governor just shut us down.” According to the post, the governor halted the event... Keith Aldridge, who owns Canterbury Village, said there were plans in place to make the drive-in safe and socially distanced. “We were limiting the amount of cars. Every car would get a 20-by-20 spot. You could listen to the movie on your FM radio and we decided against trying to do concessions,"...

“The right to travel is part of the ‘liberty’ of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. If that ‘liberty’ is to be regulated, it must be pursuant to the law-making functions of the Congress...Freedom of movement across frontiers in either direction, and inside frontiers as well, was part of our heritage. Travel abroad, like travel within the country,...may be as close to the heart of the individual as the choice of what he eats, or wears, or reads. Freedom of movement is basic in our scheme of values”. - U.S. Supreme...

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said Tuesday that if President Trump refuses to send the documents and witnesses that House Democrats requested in the impeachment inquiry, “We can only conclude that you’re guilty,” sparking critics on Twitter to accuse him of suggesting the president is guilty until proven innocent. "In America, innocent men do not hide and conceal evidence," Swalwell added, in his conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They are forthcoming and they want to cooperate and the president is acting like a very guilty person right now." Among those objecting to Swalwell's remarks was Ben Williamson, communications director for Rep....

A compensation plan has been developed for victims of a program established by Philadelphia that confiscated homes, cars and money without reason. The Institute for Justice sued the city and announced a year ago a settlement was being developed. Some 35,000 notices have been sent to victims, but they need to confirm their participation in the settlement, the organization explained. "Innocent Philadelphians who unjustly lost homes, money and cars to the city's forfeiture machine are able to get every penny back but they need to apply before the deadline," said Darpana Sheth, lead counsel for plaintiffs and director of the...

Police wanted to search the contents of an iPhone they found in Catrice Pittman’s purse, but she never confirmed whether it was hers and wasn’t offering up a passcode. Her defense attorney argued forcing her to do so would violate her rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 12 of the Oregon Constitution. But a Marion County judge sided with police and prosecutors by ordering Pittman to enter her passcode. On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling -- in a first-of-its-kind opinion for an appeals court in this...

In his recently published memoir, The Making of a Justice: My First Ninety Four Years, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens includes an extensive discussion of his majority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London (2005). The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment indicates that the government may only take private property for a "public use." In Kelo, a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court majority ruled that almost any potential public benefit qualifies as "public use," thereby permitting the City of New London to take fifteen residential properties for purposes of transfer to a new private owner in order...

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 5-4 to overturn a decades-old precedent on property rights, a decision that marks a victory for conservatives. The previous 1985 ruling that found that an individual whose property is taken by a local government cannot file a federal suit under the Fifth Amendment until that challenge fails in state court. But on Friday the justices ruled along ideological lines to reverse that precedent, finding that the requirement “imposes an unjustifiable burden,” conflicts with other similar rulings and “must be overruled.” “A property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment takings claim when the government takes...

It’s a fundamental power, laid out in the Fifth Amendment. The government can take your land to build public works... The federal government rarely loses its bid to take land. Under a special procedure, federal officials can file a Declaration of Taking that results in a court granting immediate title to the land. Bulldozers can roll the next day. The only fight, essentially, is over how much money the property owner will receive.

Stone discussed his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refusal to submit documents requested by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler. “Trump is guilty, he says, and now we just need to find the evidence. I call this a fishing expedition,” he said. “I don’t think Nadler has any evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy or treason.” He said he believes Nadler is trying to lay the groundwork for introducing articles of impeachment against Trump “in a rapidly left-wing Democratic House.” “I have elected not to participate. I’m executing my Fifth Amendment right given the fact that I’m facing...