Free Republic

First Amendment: A federal court has ruled that the ObamaCare contraception mandate violates the guarantee of free exercise of religion and forces some to choose between their religious conscience and bankruptcy. The Supreme Court's decision in June 2012 that ObamaCare was constitutional because its fines for not complying with its mandates made the law a tax within Congress' authority to impose did not end the constitutional or court challenges to this attempt at redistribution of health and wealth. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Gilardi v. HHS that ObamaCare's contraception mandate violates the constitutional rights of...

Members of the Cordova Church of Christ in Rancho Cordova, California, said goodbye to members Janice Rogers Brown and her husband, Dewey Parker, on Sunday, July 3, before their departure this week for Washington, D.C. The Parkers were honored by minister Chris Goldman and the elders of the 700-member congregation, on the couple's last Sunday at the church where she had been a member for more than 20 years. The shy and modest jurist was presented with a huge bouquet, and given hearty applause and a standing ovation which brought tears to the eyes of many members. Janice Rogers Brown...

Goodness gracious, she dared say it and the New York Times – the voice of collectivism in the U.S. – and all its Marxist allies are aghast. An appointee to the federal judiciary, no less, dared to describe the New Deal for what it was: a socialist revolution. For this egregious offense she must be pilloried and cast into the outer darkness inhabited by those who offend the mighty Times, whose omniscience must never be questioned and before whom all right-thinking Americans must cower in humble obeisance. In retribution for her lese majeste, Justice Janice Rogers Brown – now, by...

To get a starkly disturbing idea of how deeply American liberals have failed in understanding, honoring and executing the Founders' republican mission, all one has to do is, amazingly, look at the front page of last Thursday's New York Times. David D. Kirkpatrick offers a stellar profile of Janice Rogers Brown, a black "daughter of Alabama sharecroppers" finally confirmed the day before by the Senate to sit on the D.C. federal appeals bench. Given the liberal bent of The Times, it would be easy to read the headline -- "Seeing slavery in liberalism" -- in the mocking tone that one...

Not only is there a bright side for conservatives in the recent Senate “compromise” on Presidential appointments, but it’s hard to find any reason at all to justify celebration by liberal Democrats. President Bush’s long-stalled 5th Circuit nominee, Priscilla Owen, now sits on that federal bench, and confirmations of capable conservatives Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are soon to follow. Even the prospective nominations of William Meyers and Henry Saad have been sidetracked in thought only. Make no mistake – the dam has cracked and its eventual collapse is as easy as ever to see. The seven Republican signatories...

I agree with John Podhoretz that politics in the real world calls for some compromise — at least when a matter of principle is not involved. But he’s dreaming if he really thinks the filibuster “compromise” struck last night in the Senate is a “victory.” Let’s say the signatory senators had not bothered to write up the kumbaya agreement with all those pretty phrases about “mutual trust and confidence” and “good faith” and “spirit and continuing commitments” (gossamer, if ever there was, rivaled only by “should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances” in the depth of its meaninglessness). Let’s say,...