Free Republic

Donald Trump threw his hands in the air in fury during a virtual appearance in a Manhattan court on Tuesday as a judge scheduled the Stormy Daniels 'hush money' criminal trial for March 25, 2024. It means the former president will be in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks in the middle of the Republican primaries and just months before the presidential election. The court day lies just weeks after the 'Super Tuesday' primaries set for March 5, and days after Florida's March 19 contest that will pit Trump against Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump, 76, scowled into the camera during a...

Customs and Border Protection told major US airlines Friday night that it is reinstating visas following a federal judge’s decision to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s travel ban. CBP is “back to business as usual” prior to the situation that was in place before last week’s executive order, an airline executive told CNN. Airlines are expected as soon as Friday night to start removing travel alerts from their websites and getting messages out to customers to alert them about the change.

A photo studio’s refusal to photograph a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony violates the New Mexico Human Rights Act, the Court of Appeals has ruled, rejecting the Albuquerque studio’s argument that doing so would cause it to disobey God and Biblical teachings. It was the third loss for the studio, and victory for Vanessa Willock. Willock first contacted photographer Elaine Huguenin of Elane Photography in fall 2006 about taking pictures of a “same-gender ceremony” and was informed the studio only handled “traditional weddings.” When her partner contacted the studio without revealing her sexual orientation, the studio responded with a price list...

Akron Municipal Court Judge Joy Malek Oldfield is denying a police officer's contention that he found her and a public defender partially clothed in the back seat of a car that smelled of alcohol. Oldfield was not charged during the early morning Feb. 5 encounter in a Copley Township parking lot. The person with her that night, Catherine Loya, an assistant public defender in Akron who appears regularly in Oldfield's court, was cited for physical control after she refused to take an alcohol breath test. Oldfield deferred questions about the incident to her attorney, John Hill. ... On the night...

I thought I was dreaming, last night, when I watched the latest episode of the CBS legal drama, “The Good Wife,” and the villain was a racist, crooked, LIBERAL judge. It’s one of the only shows I watch anymore on prime time TV. Ostensibly, the show is about a scorned wife, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), whose politico husband (Chris Noth) is caught in an Elliot Spitzer-style affair and scandal and sent to jail, and how she must pick up the pieces and go back to work as a lawyer. But, really, it harkens back to one of those serious legal...

LAS VEGAS, (AP) -- Elizabeth Halverson is a judge. But the way courthouse staffers see it, she expects to be treated like a queen. Her former bailiff, for example, says Halverson made him feel like a "houseboy." He says the judge — who is obese and uses a motorized scooter to get around — made him put her shoes on her feet, massage her back, cover her with a blanket for naps and make sure her oxygen tank was filled. He says she asked him, "Do you want to worship me from near or afar?" Halverson also surrounded herself with...

A Utah woman who was ordered by a juvenile court judge to enroll her children in public school or lose custody of them has abandoned her home, furniture and other possessions to escape the order. Denise Mafi, a nine-year veteran of homeschooling, has confirmed to WND she and her children packed up their essentials – clothes and homeschool materials – and fled Utah over the weekend, spending more than 50 hours on a bus trip to another undisclosed part of the country. There she has obtained an empty home, and is spending the Christmas break trying to find beds for...

New Orleans -- A judge who earlier drew a reprimand for expunging convicts' records was suspended after complaints that he set bonds too low for suspects in violent crimes, the state's high court said Thursday. The court said it found probable violations of the state's constitution and judicial conduct code, and it faulted Judge Charles Elloie for continuing to set low bonds even after "heightened scrutiny and intense media attention." A study commissioned by a New Orleans judicial watchdog group found last year that Elloie was responsible for 56 percent of all defendants who walked out of Orleans Parish Prison...

The Honorable Anna Diggs-Taylor probably means well. The lone judge in American history to order a president to halt in wartime a foreign-intelligence-collection program that has undoubtedly saved lives probably sympathizes with the journalists, and others, who are suing to stop the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in which NSA intercepts foreign-U.S. terrorist communications. She probably feels in her heart the program is wrong, and undoubtedly hears the footsteps of the federal judicial panel moving towards taking this case away from her and consolidating it with others. We can sympathize with her motives, and even share some of her gut feelings...

'Home intruder' law vague to judge Refuses to dismiss murder charge By Brandon Ortiz HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER A Fayette judge struggled to make sense of Kentucky's new "home intruder" law yesterday, calling the National Rifle Association-backed legislation confusing, vague and poorly written. "I'm not quite sure that the drafters had even a marginal knowledge of criminal law or Kentucky law," Circuit Judge Sheila Isaac said. "It is absolutely silent on the court's role." Isaac rejected James Adam Clem's request to have his murder charges dismissed because of the recently enacted law, which grants immunity to homeowners who use deadly force...

WINNIPEG -- A former soldier was so badly traumatized by a six-month tour in Bosnia that he cannot be held criminally responsible for sexually assaulting a teenage girl 10 years later, a Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench judge ruled Thursday.

An Alameda County judge granted the wish of 47,000 high school seniors Friday after abolishing the exit exam as a graduation requirement this year. Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman ruled that students who earn enough credits may receive a diploma, regardless of their performance on the test. State Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell is expected to appeal the injunction immediately. The state will seek a reversal that would become effective before the end of the school year, according to a request for a stay on the decision filed today. The decision deals a significant blow to the future of the...

Roane County Sessions Court Judge Thomas A. Austin was arrested this morning by the FBI as part of an undercover probe into a driving school. Kingston Police Chief Jim Washam confirmed Austin was taken into custody as he arrived about 8:30 a.m. at the Roane County Courthouse. Washam said it was his understanding that the FBI and TBI were the lead agencies in the probe. "We've known for a short period of time that there's been an investigation going on," Washam said. Asked about the specifics of the charges, Washam said, "There's been so many rumors floating around, I guess...

In a possibly precedent-setting case, the state Appeals Court has ruled that an ex-wife is entitled to alimony even though she signed a prenuptial agreement waiving it. Donna Austin was 37, and Craig Austin was 35 when they were married in May 1989, each for the second time. Two days before the wedding, Craig Austin presented Donna with a prenuptial agreement, which she signed, according to her attorney, Dana Curhan. The Appeals Court upheld the portion of the prenuptial that protected assets Craig Austin had acquired before the wedding. But it said Donna Austin's waiver of alimony was not reasonable...