Free Republic

Officials tried to use a novel interpretation of tax law to expand the reach of Title IX regulations. This ruling put a stop to that. . A federal court of appeals ruling last month protects nonprofits (including private schools and homeschools) from federal overreach in the context of Title IX regulations. Schools that receive government money have to abide by Title IX, but the court found that having 501(c)(3) status is not enough to put a private school into that category. The ruling means private schools cannot be subject to Title IX solely because of their status with the IRS....

On March 6, 2023, federal Judge Brian C. Wimes ruled the Missouri Second Amendment Protection Act was unconstitutional, claiming the Act violates the Supremacy clause of the US Constitution, invalidates federal law, and violates the doctrine of “intergovernmental immunity”. On June 12, 2021, Governor Parson signed the Missouri Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA). The act prohibits state and local officers from cooperating with Federal agents to enforce certain federal laws, mostly to do with firearms.The Federal court system has long held states cannot be compelled to use their resources to enforce federal laws. States are not required to explain why...

by Becca LondonAt the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, several Biden nominees for Federal judicial positions appeared before Judiciary Committee members for questions. But one group of questions in particular is causing shock and even anger among the public as the video starts to go viral. The questions were posed by Lousiana Senator John Kennedy (R) to state Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, who was nominated by Biden for the lifetime position of U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington. The "answers" were non-existent. Kennedy began by asking Judge Bjelkengren, about Article V of the US Constitution. Bjelkengren responded, "Article V...

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who dragged former D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone into the crowd on the steps of the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison on Thursday. Albuquerque Head, a 43-year-old from Tennessee, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison, a bit shy of the 96 months that prosecutors had requested, but still one of the longest sentences to date in the Capitol riot cases. Head will get credit for the roughly 18 months he's spent locked up already. Fanone urged Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence Head to the maximum, saying...

by Brian Hayes | BorderPACYou may recall our report nearly 3 years ago about an arrogant liberal Massachusetts judge who was indicted on charges that she helped an illegal alien — who had been twice-deported — sneak out a back door of the courthouse to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent.Hard to imagine a more egregious violation of the rule of law from a sitting judge than that. She left her indictment in tears, devastated -- as she should have been -- that she was going to be held accountable for her betrayal of her oath:Or so we thought.Joseph was...

resident Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee shielded one of Hillary Clinton’s top State Department aides from scrutiny about his use of a personal email account to conduct official business. Then-U.S. district judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2015 denied Gawker’s request for details about press aide Philippe Reines's stewardship of the account in the context of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which sought emails Reines traded with 34 different media outlets. Jackson blocked Gawker’s request, calling it "extraordinary" and claiming there was no proof that Reines had acted in "bad faith" by using a personal email address. Like Clinton, Reines...

Gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the lower 48 United States following a court ruling Thursday that struck down a Trump Administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list. Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in declaring wolf conservation a success and removing the species from federal protection, did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains where they have rebounded most significantly. Although the decision to...

Joe Biden has reportedly narrowed down his search for his Supreme Court nominee down to four potential candidates.“What I’ve done is I’ve taken about four people and done the deep dive on them, meaning these thorough background checks, and see if there’s anything in the background that would make them not qualified,” Biden told NBC news anchor Lester Holt in a recent interview.It’s not said who these four candidates are, but among those reportedly under consideration are U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs; Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

Juliette Kayyem, a CNN contributor, Harvard professor and Obama’s former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs, advocated for violence and property damage to deal with the freedom trucker convoy currently blocking the Ambassador Bridge. (snip) Juliette Kayyem @juliettekayyem The convoy protest, applauded by right wing media as a "freedom protest," is an economic and security issue now. The Ambassador Bridge link constitutes 28% of annual trade movement between US and Canada. Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, NBC News reported Wednesday, giving President Joe Biden a crucial opportunity to replace the liberal justice.

For many rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, self-incriminating messages, photos and videos that they broadcast on social media before, during and after the insurrection are influencing even their criminal sentences. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson read aloud some of Russell Peterson’s posts about the riot before she sentenced the Pennsylvania man to 30 days imprisonment. “Overall I had fun lol,” Peterson posted on Facebook. The judge told Peterson that his posts made it “extraordinarily difficult” for her to show him leniency. “The ’lol’ particularly stuck in my craw because, as I hope you’ve...

A federal court on Monday declined to block the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal government employees and military service members. In a 41-page memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied emergency relief sought by several avowedly “devout” Christians who have argued that being forced to take the vaccine would compromise their “closely held religious beliefs.” The Washington, D.C.-based judge’s decision to rule against the numerous plaintiffs in the case, some of whom are members of the U.S. Marine Corps, however, is largely a product of their own recent victories against the Biden administration in the exact same...

This afternoon, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before a congressional hearing, and he wasn't prepared for the kind of metaphorical beating he was going to receive. Senator Ted Cruz gave one helluva performance, skull dragging Garland for every single person in the chamber to see. It made for very compelling television. It was magnificent. And before Garland could even begin to process anything, Cruz eviscerated him. He demonstrated just how the AG did, in fact, weaponize the DOJ against parents in an act of political persecution. Garland played stupid—which is never difficult for a leftist hack—as Cruz drilled into him...

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge issued a restraining order against a suburban Denver county’s policy allowing parents to opt their children out of a mask mandate at school, finding the rule violates the rights of students with disabilities who are vulnerable to COVID-19. U.S. District Judge John L. Kane on Tuesday called the Douglas County Board of Health order that allowed parents to opt their children out of mask-wearing a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees equal access to education for all. Kane’s order came after the Douglas County School District filed a federal lawsuit challenging...

US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A defiant Garland stood by his letter labeling parents who protest CRT “domestic terrorists” even though the National School Board Association on Friday apologized for the letter. A Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) wasn’t having it and erupted on Merrick Garland for writing the threatening letter ‘citing news reports’ claiming parents were a danger to school board members. The news reports were referring to Scott Smith, the father a teenage girl who was raped by a boy wearing a skirt in a girl’s bathroom on campus at a...