Free Republic

Sixteen unvaccinated athletes won another round in their legal battle to play sports, despite Western Michigan University’s mandate that all of its inter-collegiate athletes get the COVID-19 vaccination shot. In a unanimous published decision issued Oct. 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, held that the university violated the athletes’ First Amendment rights. All 16 athletes had filed for religious exemptions, which, according to the court, the university “ignored or denied.” The court stated: “The university put plaintiffs to the choice: Get vaccinated, or stop fully participating in intercollegiate sports. By conditioning the privilege...

A federal appeals court ruled against Tennessee’s abortion restrictions on Friday, nine days after another pro-life “heartbeat” law went into effect in Texas. In July 2020, Tennessee enacted a law restricting abortions at several stages in pregnancy, including abortions conducted after detection of a fetal heartbeat which can occur as early as six weeks post gestation. The law also prohibited abortions conducted because of the race or sex of the baby, or because of a Down syndrome diagnosis. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled against both provisions, upholding a lower court’s ruling that halted them from...

DETROIT (AP) — A Catholic school in Lansing has lost an appeal over a Michigan policy that required masks on young kids earlier in the pandemic. Although the statewide mandate ended, some counties are stepping in and requiring masks in schools when the 2021-22 year starts. Resurrection School and some parents sued in 2020, saying a state mask order violated the free exercise of religion, among other objections. A judge, however, refused to intervene and issue an injunction. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision Monday.

It happens when every baby is born in Michigan, blood sample is taken from the newborn. But a judge has ruled the way the state of Michigan does this, is most likely unconstitutional. Its a complicated legal ruling, but it may pave the way for changes in the newborn health screening process. “They don’t tell the parents, they don’t explain it to the parents, they just do it,” says Saginaw County attorney Phil Ellison. He is talking about the state of Michigan’s program where it takes a sample of blood from every newborn shortly after birth. The blood is taken...

While Vitolo only addressed the race- and sex-based discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, it could prove fatal to many federal and state statutes, regulations, and practices. =========================================================================== Last week, while the press drooled over the president’s ice cream selection, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Vitolo v. Guzman declared unconstitutional the Biden administration’s race-based approach to distributing COVID-relief funds. While Vitolo only addressed the race- and sex-based reverse discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the precedent could prove fatal to many other federal and state statutes, regulations, or practices, leaving the Biden...

Yesterday evening, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted a temporary injunction barring the Small Business Administration from prioritizing applications for COVID-19 relief funding based upon the race or sex of the business owner applying for the relief. Judge Amul Thapar wrote for the court, joined by Senior Judge Alan Norris. Judge Bernice Donald dissented. Judge Thapar’s opinion in Vitolo v. Guzman begins with a simple and straightforward description of the case and holding: “This case is about whether the government can allocate limited coronavirus relief funds based on the race and sex...

The case shows the judiciary is just as fractured as the rest of America, and leftist judges are defiantly ignoring Supreme Court and circuit precedent.On Friday, in a procedural oddity, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to hear the initial appeal in Bristol v. Slatery as a full court, rather than allowing the case to proceed as normal before a three-judge panel. The case involved abortion, and the takeaways are two-fold: The judiciary is just as fractured as the rest of America, and leftist judges are defiantly ignoring Supreme Court and circuit precedent.To understand the significance of the Sixth...

A federal appeals court on March 26 reversed a lower court decision, ruling that an Ohio professor’s First Amendment rights may have been violated when his university tried forcing him to refer to a biological male student using female pronouns.A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether “has plausibly alleged that Shawnee State violated his First Amendment rights by compelling his speech or silence and casting a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.”Shawnee State University, in Ohio, has employed Meriwether for 25 years.The case centers around a 2016 rule change that requires...

A federal appeals court gave the state of Tennessee great news late Friday when it issued a ruling that the Volunteer State can ban abortions done specifically because a baby has Down syndrome. Earlier this year, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a broad pro-life law to protect unborn babies from abortions once their heartbeats are detectable. Though the legislation is described as a heartbeat bill, it includes many different measures to protect unborn babies. The law passed the state legislature in June, and pro-life lawmakers said they wrote the bill to withstand a legal challenge. The heartbeat portion of the...

On a sunny Friday afternoon in July 2014, James King, a 21-year-old college student, was walking to a summer job in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when he was accosted by two unshaven men wearing jeans and baseball caps who asked his name and grabbed his wallet. When King tried to flee, the men tackled him, choked him unconscious, and punched him in the face over and over again. The men, it turned out, were cops, and for six years King has been trying to hold them accountable for their actions that day. Next Monday the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether...

It took nearly twelve years, but we did it. My organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has just won an important victory for the freedom of speech. Back in 2009, the Detroit area's SMART transit refused to run our AFDI ads offering help to people who were in fear for their lives for wanting to leave Islam or having left it. After an incredibly protracted court battle, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals just stood up for the First Amendment and completely reversed the judgment banning our ads. It's a total victory for freedom: we won our free speech...

Involved parties: Michigan Eastern District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis [Trump judge] Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel: Overrules Davis 2-1. Majority opinion by Judges Danny J. Boggs [Reagan judge] and Debora L. Cook [Dubya judge]. Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. [RapinBill judge], chief judge for the Sixth Circuit, dissented.

Kentucky may enforce its law requiring abortionists have transfer agreements with local hospitals for patient emergencies after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state Friday.Abortion groups in Kentucky are challenging the life-saving 1998 law, claiming it imposes an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion. Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center have argued that they may have to close because they cannot meet the safety requirement, thus preventing women in Kentucky from getting abortions.According to Reason, the Sixth Circuit panel disagreed with the abortion groups’ argument and reversed a lower court ruling blocking...

Late Monday afternoon the Supreme Court issued a “Stay” with regard to an order from a South Carolina federal district court judge who rewrote a provision of South Carolina election law due to the impact of COVID 19. Judge Julianna Michelle Childs, an appointee of President Obama, granted an injunction for Plaintiffs preventing the South Carolina election officials from enforcing a provision of South Carolina election law requiring a witness signature on an absentee ballot envelope. Judge Childs set for the relief being sought by the plaintiffs as follows: SNIP But the Supreme Court’s emergency “stay” prevents Judge Childs order...

A federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit by Michigan Republican groups seeking to block a new state redistricting commission. The ruling is the latest legal setback for Republicans, who earlier this year failed to win an injunction that would prevent the formation of the commission, which they contend is unconstitutional. The decision Monday — by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff, appointed by GOP President George W. Bush — is a blow to state Republicans who fought against the implementation of the redistricting commission, which was created in 2018.

A federal judge in Kentuck has overturned Governor Andy Beshear’s ban on mass gatherings as it relates to in-person church services. The ruling clears the way for churchgoers to attend services on Sunday.

  https://twitter.com/AnthonySabatini/status/1256349799319851010      

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A federal appeals court in Cincinnati, for now, has declined to get involved with a lawsuit over how abortion providers in Ohio can continue to provide their services amid a public-health order restricting non-essential surgeries during the coronavirus pandemic. A three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday issued an order dismissing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s appeal of a ruling from Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett issued last week. The ruling temporarily blocked Ohio officials from using Health Director Dr. Amy Acton’s health order to completely bar women from access to...

(CNN) - In his 23 years with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Dan O'Kelly was one of the agency's top gun experts. He served for five years as the lead firearms technology instructor at the ATF National Academy, where he co-wrote the curriculum for incoming agents. These days, however, O'Kelly is using his formidable firearms expertise and institutional knowledge of the ATF to take aim at his former employer. He's at the center of a brewing legal dispute that federal prosecutors say has the potential to upend the 1968 Gun Control Act and "seriously undermine the ATF's...

CINCINNATI (AP/WSAZ)- Ohio's law banning abortions involving a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis is getting a new hearing. The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Friday to hear the case. A three-judge panel from the 6th Circuit in October upheld a lower court decision placing the 2017 law on hold, ruling it likely was unconstitutional. The Ohio Attorney General appealed and asked the entire court to reconsider the constitutionality of barring doctors from performing such abortions.