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Schools may not strip-search students for drugs based on an unverified tip, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Overturning two other rulings, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said an assistant principal at an Arizona middle school violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old by ordering her to be strip-searched. He thought the honor student had prescription-strength ibuprofen; she did not. The 6-5 ruling by the San Francisco-based court reinstated a lawsuit that a divided three-judge circuit panel threw out last year. The lawsuit was brought by the parents of Savana Redding, who was an eighth-grader at Safford Middle...

Howard Kaloogian is a lawyer and a former member of the California State Assembly. GITMO AND GUNS are getting all the press. But energy mavens are talking about another recent far-reaching — but little noted — U.S. Supreme Court decision on the California energy crisis: It took them seven years but they finally figured it out. The revisionist part of the story is well known: Big bad oil traders like Enron gamed the market and drove up energy costs fifteen-fold. The blackouts, insolvent utilities and economic chaos are remembered as the worst energy crisis in American history. But the Supreme...

A federal appeals court gave an anti-abortion group the go-ahead Wednesday to drive trucks with enlarged photos of aborted fetuses past California schools, saying the Constitution protects the display of disturbing messages.  Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies interfered with free speech by ordering the driver of one such truck to move away from a middle school, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The deputies had cited a state law barring disruptive activities near public school grounds.  "The government cannot silence messages simply because they cause discomfort, fear or even anger," said a panel of three...

Top federal judges ruled this week that their own court has gone too far in holding up logging projects, saying western judges from now on must show more deference to the agencies planning the cutting. The ruling involving an Idaho timber sale is a blow to environmental groups that have increasingly relied on federal courts to block projects they see as unsound. The decision is especially striking because it comes from the federal appeals court that encompasses most national forest land in the West and is known for its liberal bent and for often siding with environmental interests. The...

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Hands First Amendment Victory to Center for Bio-Ethical Reform COLUMBUS, OH– July 3, 2008 – A federal appellate panel ruled Wednesday that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department violated the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's (CBR) free speech rights when two CBR associates were forced to move a mobile billboard display of enlarged photos of early-term aborted fetuses away from a Rancho Palos Verdes middle school campus.   The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), a non-profit pro-life educational foundation, sued the LA County Sheriff's Department and an assistant principal at Dodson Middle School, claiming civil rights...

Ninth Circuit Rules Against Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' By Pete Winn CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer May 21, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - The future of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was cast into doubt on Wednesday. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., ruled that it is no longer enough for the military to state the policy -- which says that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" -- when it discharges members of the armed services it discovers to be homosexuals. In a split decision, a three-judge panel ruled that the U.S. Air Force will have...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A roommate-finding site cannot require users to disclose their sexual orientation, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday, in the latest skirmish over whether anti-discrimination rules apply to the Web. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Roommates.com, which obliges users to list their sexual orientation, was different than Internet sites where people can volunteer or withhold personal information. To inquire electronically about sexual orientation would not be different from asking people in person or by telephone if they were black or Jewish before conducting business, the panel said in an 8-3 ruling that partly...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised a Sunday decision by a U.S. Supreme Court justice to keep a convicted killer behind bars. Justice Anthony Kennedy put a hold on a federal court's decision ordering the release on parole of Fred McCullough, who was convicted of second-degree murder in Los Angeles in 1983. McCullough is serving a term of 15 years to life. "The governor's top priority is public safety," said spokeswoman Lisa Page, who said Schwarzenegger will continue to seek to deny McCullough parole. The state parole board twice before recommended McCullough for parole, citing his good behavior. In 2002, then- governor...

Some columns write themselves. Some are a struggle and leave me confused, conflicted and a little angry. This is one of those. It started out as a tongue-in-cheek look at the recent action by the city council in Berkeley, Calif., to oust the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office and brand the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” I planned to compare the situation in that strange city with our fairly-liberal-but-not-ridiculously-so approach here in Corvallis. Then I started doing research. I learned that an anti-military organization has access to our high school students equal to that of the U.S. Armed Forces. The...

Services will be Friday for Joseph Sneed of San Francisco, a conservative judge on a liberal federal appeals court for more than three decades and a member of the judicial panel that appointed Kenneth Starr to look into President Bill Clinton's financial dealings. Judge Sneed, a senior judge on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, died Saturday at his home. He was 87. Among his survivors is daughter Carly Fiorina, who was chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. from 1999 to 2005.

The U.S. Senate has approved adding another judge to the nation’s busiest appellate court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco. Judges on the court have the highest caseload in the nation, says U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of the sponsors of the legislation. The measure transfers a judgeship from the District of Columbia Circuit to the Ninth Circuit. “California needs more judges. The Senate has recognized that it makes sense to take a judgeship from where it is needed least, and put it in California where it is needed most,” says Ms. Feinstein. According to...

Two blockbuster religious liberty cases - involving the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools and "In God We Trust" on our money - will be heard this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. PJI Chief Counsel Kevin Snider will be arguing alongside lawyers for the Department of Justice in defense of the national motto, "In God We Trust." Both lawsuits were filed by atheist Michael Newdow, who claims that the Pledge of Allegiance and national motto are unconstitutional "establishments" of religion. Ninth Circuit judges have previously heard and agreed with Newdow's position that...

When I was browsing Rough & Tumble this morning and saw that Associated Press had come up with its own in-depth analysis of the governor's health care proposal, I was hopeful that the global wire service would take a close look at the vast evidence that the gov's plan was illegal under a 1974 federal law known as ERISA. No such luck. Even though the only state in the union with a law mandating that employers provide or pay for health insurance is the one (Hawaii) with a congressional exemption from the federal law, this fact has barely been acknowledged...

The Court of Appeals for the U.S. Ninth Circuit upheld this summer an Oakland, Calif., city government declaration that the phrase "marriage is the foundation of the natural family and sustains family values" was inflammatory and promoted harassment based on so-called sexual orientation. The phrase was also deemed to be homophobic and disruptive. It seems a few Christian women working for Oakland's city government formed a Good News Employee Association, and in promoting the club, included the aforementioned phrase on a flier. Later, a lesbian worker complained that the flier made her feel "targeted" and "excluded." Most recently, hate crimes...

In this opinion just released this morning, three Judges of the Ninth Circuit, including one of the most liberal anti-government judges in the Country, Harry Pregerson, sided with the Administration on its asserting of the “State Secrets” privilege in a lawsuit brought by Islamic groups and others against both the government. and the telecommunication companies that helped put in place the terrorist surveillance program that involved the use of warrantless wiretaps. The court first ruled that the existence of the program was no longer a state secret because the Admin. confirmed its existence and some of its details following the...

WARDLAW, Circuit Judge: Plaintiffs Cynthia and Craig Corrie, Mahmoud Al Sho’bi, Fathiya Muhammad Sulayman Fayed, Fayez Ali Mohammed Abu Hussein, Majeda Radwan Abu Hussein, and Eida Ibrahim Suleiman Khalafallah filed this action after their family members were killed or injured when the Israeli Defense Forces (“IDF”) demolished homes in the Palestinian Territories using bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar, Inc., a United States corporation. The IDF ordered the bulldozers directly from Caterpillar, but the United States government paid for them. The district court dismissed the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), finding it lacked jurisdiction because, inter alia, the political...

Alcoholics Anonymous, the renowned 12-step program that directs problem drinkers to seek help from a higher power, says it's not a religion and is open to nonbelievers. But it has enough religious overtones that a parolee can't be ordered to attend its meetings as a condition of staying out of prison, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. In fact, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the constitutional dividing line between church and state in such cases is so clear that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through...

In 2004, within four months of each other, two three-judge panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided cases involving the Constitution's Establishment Clause and its requirement of government neutrality regarding religion. In May, a panel held that a Latin cross on federal lands in honor of American servicemen killed in World War I violated the Establishment Clause and must be removed. That the memorial commemorated American "history and culture" was irrelevant to the panel; after all, the cross symbolizes Christianity. In September, another panel held that Arizona's designation of private property as sacred to American...

A federal appeals court allowed the Navy today to resume using underwater sonar blasts in anti-submarine warfare tests off the Channel Islands in Southern California, saying the nation’s military needs outweigh the safety of endangered whales. In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco suspended an April 6 injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles that ordered the Navy to halt the sonar experiments during training exercises scheduled through 2009. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said the underwater sound waves could harm nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including five...

For years, the 9th Circuit has been the Supreme Court’s whipping boy. And this year was no different: The Court reversed more opinions from the 9th Circuit than any other: According to an Op-Ed in today’s LA Times, the Court reversed or vacated a whopping 19 cases out of 22 it took from the 9th Circuit. (Skeptics of 9th Circuit decisions aren’t limited to Washington, though. Several years ago, we heard a respected federal judge in New York refer to the circuit — in open court and not entirely in jest, it seemed — as “the land of fruits and...

A U.S. District Court judge has been asked to reconsider his ruling in a 2004 free speech lawsuit filed by a former Poway High School student who was prohibited by school officials from expressing his opposition to a “Day of Silence” sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Tyler Harper, then a student at Poway High School, came to school wearing a T-shirt bearing the handwritten messages, “I will not accept what God has condemned” and “Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:27." School officials, claiming that Harper’s message could be disruptive, suspended him after he refused to take off...

We consider the Fourth Amendment’s limits on the use of trickery and force in conducting seizures. Facts Ascension Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend drove up to a traffic light. As the light turned green, the car in front of them lurched forward, then stalled. Alverez-Tejeda managed to stop in time, but the truck behind him tapped his bumper. As Alverez-Tejeda got out to inspect the damage, two officers pulled up in a police cruiser and arrested the truck driver for drunk driving. The officers got Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend to drive to a nearby parking lot, leave the keys in the...

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- A court in San Francisco ruled that a roommate-matching Web site may be held accountable for what users say about their preferences. A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court ruled in favor of two California fair housing groups that brought the complaint against Roommate.com, saying the Web site violates the Fair Housing Act by allowing users to specify roommate preferences based on sex, race, religion and sexual orientation, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The ruling took away the main argument of the defense: that a 1996 ruling granting immunity to Internet service providers that...

Legislation restoring a parental consent law for minor girls seeking an abortion has been established in Idaho, after Governor Butch Otter signed the measure March 27. ?This is a tremendous victory for the families of Idaho. We fully expect this law to go unchallenged in court,? said David Ripley of Idaho Chooses Life. ?With the bill?s emergency clause, this law is now in effect. Hopefully the days are past when Planned Parenthood and others can prey upon Idaho?s daughters.? Court battles over parental consent legislation have cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs over the past...

From: LifeSiteNews US Court Rules it's OK to Censor the Terms 'Natural Family,' 'Marriage' and 'Family Values' Attorney representing harassed Christian employess warns, "If we choose to be silent, silenced we shall be" TEMECULA, California, March 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Earlier this week, San Francisco's United States notorious Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the matter of Good News Employees Association v. Hicks that municipal employers can completely censor the terms "natural family," "marriage" and "family values" as hate speech. The court concluded that municipalities have a right to literally dictate what form an employee's speech may take, even...

The [San Francisco] Chronicle has agreed to be held in contempt of court and could face fines of more than half a million dollars if a federal appeals court decides the newspaper must disclose its reporters' sources of information about grand jury testimony by Giants outfielder Barry Bonds and other star athletes about steroids. In court papers filed Thursday, The Chronicle and federal prosecutors stipulated that the newspaper would not oppose a finding of contempt, and that any penalty would be delayed until a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on appeals by...

(AgapePress) - A spokesman for a Michigan-based law center that defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians says a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an Islamic indoctrination case indicates that Islam is "in" and Christianity is "out." The Thomas More Law Center represented the parents of the California seventh-graders who were subjected to an intensive, three-week indoctrination in Islam at school. The students were forced to become Muslims, in effect, and were not allowed to say anything critical about the religion. The original trial court and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld...

Two judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were wrong to disregard the will of Arizonans over a law requiring would-be voters to show identification at the polls and present proof of citizenship to register to vote. The ID and proof-of-citizenship provisions were part of Proposition 200, which Arizona voters approved by 56 percent in 2004. The Associated Press reported in Friday's Star that the order by the 9th Circuit judges means people who want to register to vote for the Nov. 7 general election won't have to prove U.S. citizenship. The deadline to register is midnight Monday....

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) obligates the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider the environmental impact of potential terrorist attacks when conducting environmental reviews. The June 2 decision could affect the NRC’s decision-making processes for other nuclear facilities, and it could have far-reaching effects on decisions affecting other facilities in the nation’s infrastructure, observers say. In December 2001, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) applied to the NRC for a license to build and operate an on-site dry storage facility for used nuclear fuel at its Diablo Canyon nuclear...

An Alaska high school violated a student's free speech rights by suspending him after he unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" across the street from the school, a federal court ruled on Friday. Joseph Frederick, a student at Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska, displayed the banner -- which refers to smoking marijuana -- in January 2002 to try to get on television as the Olympic torch relay was passing the school. Principal Deborah Morse seized the banner and suspended the 18-year-old for 10 days, saying he had undermined the school's educational mission and anti-drug stance. Friday's ruling by...

February 7, 2006 - Breaking News: Representatives from the ACLU have announced that the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals has upheld Pandora Leftwitch’s right to kill her 2 month-old baby girl. In a unanimous decision, the court stated that she could have legally obtained a partial birth abortion a few months earlier anyway, and as such there seemed to be “…little difference between then and now.” If the phony news bite above seems farfetched, consider that two separate courts have ruled that President Bush’s partial birth abortion ban is unconstitutional. The Eighth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals have both...

He’s the judge who says parental rights end at the schoolhouse door and that the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms is unconstitutional. He admires an Israeli judge who’s outlawed spanking and radically expanded the power of the federal judiciary. He considers an opinion he wrote in 1996 in favor of assisted suicide his greatest achievement. He’s Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—the most infamous member of the most radical court in America. He’s notorious because he’s caused real harm—to parental rights, public safety and the reputation of the federal courts. But one of...

<p>TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005 ORDER It is ordered that the following allotment be made of the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of this Court among the circuits, pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 42 and that such allotment be entered of record, effective October 11, 2005. For the District of Columbia Circuit, John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice, For the First Circuit, David H. Souter, Associate Justice, For the Second Circuit, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice, For the Third Circuit, David H. Souter, Associate Justice, For the Fourth Circuit, John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice, For the Fifth Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, For the Sixth Circuit, John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice, For the Seventh Circuit, John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice, For the Eighth Circuit, Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, For the Ninth Circuit, Sandra Day O’Connor, Associate Justice, For the Tenth Circuit, Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, For the Eleventh Circuit, Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice, For the Federal Circuit, John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice.</p>

President Bush Friday nominated former Idaho Republican Chairman N. Randy Smith, now a state trial judge, to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed by the Senate, Smith, 56, would fill the vacancy created when Judge Stephen Trott took senior status. Idaho is currently the only state in the circuit without an active judge, as Trott took senior status at the end of last year and Judge Thomas Nelson did the same in November 2003. Bush has nominated Boise attorney William G. Myers III to succeed Nelson, but Democrats have thus far prevented him from winning confirmation. His...

Former Solicitor of the Interior William G. Myers III of Idaho is a highly respected attorney who has extensive experience in the fields of natural resources, public lands, and environmental law. His nomination enjoys widespread support from across the ideological and political spectrum. Mr. Myers has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit, which covers the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, as well as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Looking for easy scapegoats after a series of violent "white" vs. "Arab" attacks in Australia, Islamic leaders and news media outlets have been quick to fault talk radio for fanning the flames. From the London Times: - Yesterday, Islamic leaders blamed the trouble on influential talk radio hosts who had whipped up racial tensions in the wake of last weekend’s attack on the lifesavers, who epitomise Australia’s white traditions and Anglo-Saxon roots. From The Mercury in South Africa: - The President of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, Keysar Trad, said the violence was "bound to happen" after callers to...

Parents of elementary school children in California were upset that their kids were the targets of a sex survey conducted by the Palmdale School District. The survey, distributed in 2002, focused on how often prepubescent school kids thought about sex and touched themselves--you know, just the kind of things educators need to know to in order to effectively teach reading, writing and math skills. The parents filed a lawsuit, claiming that the survey "violated parents' substantive due process and privacy rights." Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Fields v. Palmdale School District [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0356499p.pdf], dismissed the suit, saying:...

Grumbling about whether or not judges are taking away God given rights from parents is worth doing. Fighting said activist judges in order to keep them from taking additional rights away from parents is ALWAYS a good thing. Purposefully voting away your own rights to your kids well being is utterly foolish, utterly stupid, and ultimately utterly dangerous to your children. Every parent that voted against Prop 73 should have their children taken away from them - for they obvious do not have the ultimate well being of their kids in mind... SHAME ON EVERY ONE OF THEM!

Pro-family leaders are disturbed and incensed over Wednesday's decision by an appellate court panel in San Francisco, which held that parents have "no fundamental right" to control their kids' upbringing by introducing them to sexual information "in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs." Nor, according to the panel, do mothers and fathers have the right to prevent their kids' exposure to sexual information whenever and however the school chooses. 'The Circus Has Now Ruled ...' The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals informed six parents in California's Palmdale School District that they have...

9th Circuit Court Rules Against Parents The new ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating, "There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children...Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students," has Californians in an uproar, and rightfully so! The liberal ninth district court known for it's legislating from the bench, such as in the recent case where the court ruled the Pledge of...

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Parents have no constitutional right to prevent public schools from exposing children to sexual topics, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision that found the rights of parents were not violated by a California public school district that allowed a psychological survey of its elementary school children. Among the survey questions asked of the children were 10 with sexual references, such as "Can't stop thinking about sex" and "Not trusting people because they might want sex." A group of parents...

an Francisco (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by elementary school parents who were outraged that the Palmdale School District had surveyed students about sex. While the surveys asked students how often they thought about sex, among other questions, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said parents of public school children have no "fundamental right" to be the exclusive provider of sexual information to their children. The parents maintained they had the sole right "to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex." The plaintiffs had...

Bill Would Split Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals By Melanie Hunter CNSNews.com Senior Editor October 11, 2005 (CNSNews.com) - Two U.S. senators Monday introduced a measure to split the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) have introduced the Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act or CARMA (S. 1845), which is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the court by reducing its size and creating a new Twelfth Circuit. CARMA was also co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). "It's always been...

Click the link to read the whole opinion, and escpecially Judge Kozinski's dissent, which lays out the facts in all their ugly detail. Talk about your robed dictator! "Just because I said it, counsel."

A hoofer with a sense of humor, Callahan likes to surprise judicial and legal gatherings by starting discussions about serious topics and ending with a quip about appellate judges who tap dance around issues. She then pulls off her black robe to reveal a sequined costume and tap shoes. She's been known to hop on a tabletop or in one case on a judicial bench during these special events and do some pretty impressive steps. "I may be the highest ranking tap dancer in federal court," Callahan said with a grin during a recent interview in her chambers in the...

SAN FRANCISCO — Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (search) in public schools was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge who granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The opinion issued Sept. 14, 2005 may be accessed here.

Just heard on top of the hour on Fox News Radio

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday it is unconstitutional for public school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." Karlton said he's bound by precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2002 that it was unconstitutional for the Pledge to be recited in public schools. The Supreme Court threw out that case, ruling that Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow had no standing...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court Tuesday substantially reduced the $108 million in punitive damages a Portland, Ore., jury awarded to abortion doctors and clinics harassed by abortion opponents. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the activists' actions reprehensible, but unanimously reduced the judgment to $4.73 million to conform with a Supreme Court precedent limiting damages that financially punish persons or corporations for misconduct. An attorney for many of the 12 activists who created Wild West-style posters and a Web site targeting abortion doctors said the damages should be reduced further. "They...