Free Republic

The first reports out of New Orleans from popular blogger "Ernie the Attorney" were upbeat and positive. On Aug. 29, he had taken a drive to assess the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, and he seemed comfortable and safe. But the next day, the posts on his site took a frightening turn. The levees protecting the below-sea-level city were breached, and floodwaters began to rise. One of Ernie Svenson’s friends took over his Web log and was pleading for help coordinating his escape from the storm-ravaged city. Only after he reached safety did Svenson comprehend the catastrophic nature of a...

Edith Jones, A Fifth Circuit judge and possible Supreme Court choice, argues that the "reigning legal philosophy" is responsible for the bitter politics that surround judicial nominations. Jones charged that legal elites ("mandarins of the law") have long since come to view the courts as agents of social change. Federal judges, and later state judges, caught on to this heightened view of their power. Then, as judge-made law invaded politically sensitive areas, it provoked a political reaction. Jones thinks it will take decades to repair the damage and return to assessing Supreme Court nominees according to their brains and fairness...

Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit talks to members of Harvard Law School's Fed-eralist Society. Jones said that the question of what is mor-ally right is routinely sacrificed to what is politically expedient. The American legal system has been corrupted almost beyond recognition, Judge Edith Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, told the Federalist Society of Harvard Law School on February 28. She said that the question of what is morally right is routinely sacrificed to what is politically expedient. The change has come because legal...

Fifth Circuit continues to take Second Amendment seriously Posted by David Hardy · 6 April 2005 04:12 PM In United States v. Everist, 368 F.3d 517 (5th Cir. 2004), the issue was a challenge to the Federal bar on felons in possession. The Circuit, citing its earlier ruling in Emerson, upheld the bar, noting: The Second Amendment right is subject to "limited narrowly tailored specific exceptions or restrictions for particular cases that are reasonable and not inconsistent with the right of Americans generally to individually keep and bear their private arms as historically understood in this country." Id . at...

Bush Decision to Comply With World Court Complicates Case of Mexican on Death Row By LINDA GREENHOUSE WASHINGTON, March 28 - At first glance, the Bush administration's decision to comply with an international tribunal's order for new hearings for 51 Mexican nationals on death row might have appeared to resolve, or at least simplify, a pending Supreme Court case. After all, new hearings are what the Mexicans are seeking in an appeal brought by one of them, a Texas death row inmate named Jose Ernesto Medellin. The Mexicans, inmates on the death rows of Texas and four other states, are...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a Louisiana school district's magnet school's admission policy, which takes an applicant's race into account as a factor, violates white applicants' equal protection rights, despite the fact that the district is under a desegregation consent decree. Caddo Parish School Board's (CPSB) admission policy for Caddo Middle Magnet School (CMMS) uses racial classifications to achieve racial balance. The policy sets initial qualifications that all applicants must meet to be considered for admission. Out of all applicants who satisfy the initial qualifications, priority is given to siblings of current CMMS...

Appeals court asked to uphold abortion clinic protections NEW ORLEANS - A prosecutor today told an appeals court in New Orleans that federal authorities have the right to protect local abortion clinics from violence. Prosecutors are trying to overturn a lower court ruling in Houston that decided the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act -- is unconstitutional. Anti-abortion activist Frank Lafayette Bird was accused of ramming a van into a Planned Parenthood clinic near downtown Houston in March of 2003. U-S District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled Congress had no right to pass such sweeping protections for abortion clinics. Hoyt...

ROE v. WADE MAY BE OVERTURNED On January 20, 2004 The Justic Foundation received official notice from The U.S. Court of appeals for the Fifth Circuit, that the court will hear oral argument on Norma McCorvey's Rule 60 motion to overturn Roe v.Wade . (Norma McCorvey was Roe, in Roe v. Wade and is now a fine Christian lady.) CONSIDERATIONS IN THE CASE......... 1. Whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned. 2. Whether to grant Motion based on evidence that was submitted with Rule 60 motion. 3. Should the case be sent back to trial court for trial ? 4....

JACKSON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a claim that the Mississippi flag contains a Christian symbol that represents state endorsement of a particular religion. John Ellis Briggs, a Muslim who sought punitive damages of up to $77.77 million and a ruling to ban the flag from public display, was appealing lower court dismissals of his claim the flag's Confederate battle symbol included the St. Andrew's Cross.Briggs filed suit in federal court in Gulfport in 2001. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2002. Briggs appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which...