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(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday revived a philosophy professor’s lawsuit against a public university in southern Ohio that reprimanded him for refusing to address a transgender student by her preferred pronouns. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Nicholas Meriwether can try to prove Shawnee State University violated his First Amendment free speech and religious rights by mandating pronouns that he said did not reflect “biological reality” and contradicted his devout Christian beliefs.

The next president will likely solidify a lasting majority on the courts of appeals, either cementing President Trump’s judicial legacy or largely undoing it. Our nation’s courts are nearing a tipping point. During President Trump’s first term, he has achieved a slim conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court (5 of 9) and has evened the score in the critically important federal courts of appeals, which are the final stop for more than 99 percent of all federal appeals.Now, data compiled by the Article III Project (A3P) shows that the next president will likely solidify a lasting majority on the...

The Senate confirmed Michael Park to be a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, making him the 39th circuit court judge to be confirmed under President Trump in a process on a record pace that is steadily reshaping the bench. Judge Park joins Joseph Bianco, confirmed earlier this week, on that bench, bringing the number of Republican-appointed active judges on the chief 2nd Circuit panel to six. With two more vacancies by this summer, Mr. Trump will soon have a chance to flip control of the circuit, which currently has seven Democratic appointees. Mr. Trump...

President Bush came to Washington with the goal of serving as a domestic reformer. In 2000, he became one of the few Republican candidates to focus less on defense and more on reforms to domestic social programs and public education. That was before 9/11, and the ensuing wars in the Middle East. Then, it appeared that the audacious Bush doctrine would set the pace for the ultimate legacy that will be George W. Bush. However, early into his second term, President Bush has another opportunity to leave behind a sturdy legacy in the form of the court system. In the...

WASHINGTON, April 11 (AP) - The Senate on Monday confirmed the first of President Bush's second-term judicial nominees as senators continued to argue over Democrats' blocking the White House's most prized candidates. On a 95-to-0 vote, the Senate confirmed Paul Crotty as a federal district judge for New York State. With Mr. Crotty's confirmation, Mr. Bush has put 205 trial and appellate judges on the federal court since becoming president. Democrats have blocked 10 of Mr. Bush's 52 appeals court nominations through filibuster threats, while allowing Republicans to confirm 34 others. They have said they plan to keep blocking those...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 - When William G. Myers III appears before the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, it will mark the beginning of another chapter in the fight between President Bush and the Senate Democrats over judicial nominations. Mr. Myers, one of 10 nominees blocked by Democratic filibusters last term, is being put forward again, this time as a candidate whose case might herald an era of compromise. Some Republicans hope that approval of Mr. Myers, nominated by Mr. Bush to be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, might break a logjam and allow...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com The threat from the benchBy Burt PrelutskyPublished February 28, 2005          I have always heard that confession is good for the soul, but I'm not so sure I believe it. Confession runs the very real risk of providing our enemies with ammo. Be that as it may, the burden of keeping my secret has simply become too great. You see, until he died a few years ago, one of my very best friends was a lawyer. The trouble is, I did all I could to encourage him in pursuing and ultimately achieving his dream of becoming...

WASHINGTON - Judges who have been nominated to appellate courts by President Bush face confirmation delays almost three times as long as judges nominated for the same jobs by his father, President George H.W. Bush, a new study shows. The lags in confirmations have been growing longer with each successive administration, and accelerated after Republicans took control of Congress under President Clinton, says a lengthy review of judicial confirmations by a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, John Lott. The wide-ranging statistical analysis is sure to add new fodder to the Senate battle over judicial nominations as Republicans edge closer...