Free Republic

Justice Clarence Thomas opened the door to future Supreme Court sparring over an issue with profound legal and practical implications that go well beyond Trump’s travel ban in his concurring opinion in Trump v. Hawaii.Thomas — the underappreciated revolutionary of the Supreme Court, in the sense of his work to restore founding principles in the law through philosophically consistent originalist jurisprudence – called into question the very idea that a single federal judge in Hawaii can impose an injunction barring a presidential executive order against anyone nationwide in the first place.If his words are any indication, the practice of...

Brett Kavanaugh (2.5:1) Amul Thapar (3.6:1) Amy Coney Barrett (4.0:1) Raymond Kethledge (5.0:1) Kevin Newsom (6.0:1) Patrick Wyrick (8.0:1) Britt Grant (8.0:1) Thomas Hardiman (9.5:1) Mike Lee (9.5:1) William Pryor (10.0:1)

In November of 2011, the Mississippi legislature restored the right to carry concealed weapons in most public buildings, including courthouses, but not courtrooms while a judicial proceeding was in process, to people with an enhanced concealed carry permit.  Some judges in Mississippi attempted to reverse the modest restoration of the right to bear arms. They banned the carry of concealed firearms within 200 feet of any door to any courtroom. In 2016, Rick Ward, a Second Amendment activist, filed a petition to the Supreme Court, complaining that the judges had overstepped their authority. On June 7, 2018, the Supreme...

President Trump has now energized voters in both parties to levels not seen in decades as the midterm elections approach. On the GOP side, voter enthusiasm even exceeds the levels reported before the red wave of 2010, and one of the main reasons Republican voters cite is the progress being made on judicial appointments. When it was announced that Congress would need to hang around for most of the August recess and continue working, processing nominations was a key factor in that decision. But now somebody might be putting the brakes on the nominee confirmation process and it’s not even...

OCTOBER TERM, 1992 Syllabus RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ET AL. v. FLORES ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 91-905. Argued October 13, 1992-Decided March 23,1993 Respondents are a class of alien juveniles arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on suspicion of being deportable, and then detained pending deportation hearings pursuant to a regulation, promulgated in 1988 and codified at 8 CFR § 242.24, which provides for the release of detained minors only to their parents, close relatives, or legal guardians, except in unusual and compelling circumstances. An immigration judge will...

Chicago, Ill., Jun 9, 2018 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A U.S. appellate court has ruled against a self-described Satanist from Chicago who had filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the motto “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency. The ruling, released May 31, found that “a reasonable observer would not perceive the motto on currency as a religious endorsement.” Kenneth Mayle, who describes himself as a non-theistic Satanist, filed the original lawsuit in May 2017. A lower court had dismissed the suit, and Mayle appealed. The 36-year-old told the Chicago Tribune that carrying and using money with the motto...

This will be a weekly post. Count is now at 42. Also, the Senate Judiciary committee moved a 9th circuit judge to the floor. And Trump nominated his 15th wave of judges.

The Senate confirmed four of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees to federal appeals courts this week, bringing his total number of circuit court appointments to 21. Two nominees to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Michael Scudder and Amy St. Eve, were confirmed on unanimous votes Monday, as they were selected in consultation with Illinois’ two U.S. senators, Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. Senators generally have special prerogatives for judicial vacancies arising in their states, and the 7th Circuit is based in Chicago. “The unanimous, swift confirmations of Judges St. Eve and Scudder attest to the value...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a directive to immigration judges Thursday telling them they can no longer shunt deportation cases off onto permanent wait lists and leave illegal immigrants free to roam the U.S. Known as administrative closure, the wait list had become a favorite tactic of the Obama administration, serving to protect low-priority illegal immigrants from deportation. Rather than pursue those cases, government attorneys would propose — and judges would grant — administrative closure by shipping more than 200,000 cases to the suspension list in what analysts said became a de facto amnesty. Mr. Sessions, flexing his attorney general...

Senate Republicans are poised to confirm more of President Trump’s nominees to appeals courts next week, putting Trump on pace to have more of those nominees approved in the first two years of his tenure than any other recent president. It’s the latest milestone for GOP senators who have worked frantically to confirm nominees to the key bench, where judges have played crucial roles in cases involving controversial issues like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and Trump’s travel ban. Etc...

The American Civil Liberties Union, backed by millions in funding from billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, is investing resources and applying organizational muscle in local district attorney races in 2018. The ACLU is among a variety of organizations working to elect prosecutors willing to jumpstart a laundry list of criminal justice reforms, including an overhaul of the pretrial bail bond system. It received a $50 million grant from Soros’ Open Society Foundations in 2014. These and other groups want to end “zero tolerance” and “tough-on–crime” approaches which, they argue, have increased incarceration rates for mainly non-violent, minority offenders at a...

There is a very real possibility that war memorial crosses at Arlington National Cemetery could be in jeopardy, a federal judge warned in a chilling dissent to a court case involving the fate of a 90-year-old monument honoring soldiers in Bladensburg, Maryland. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to revisit an October decision that declared the 90-year-old "Peace Cross" was unconstitutional because it rests on public property. The monument is a memorial to the 49 men from Prince George's County, Maryland who died fighting for liberty in World War I. The memorial, paid for by the...

A federal court ruled that the Trump administration has the power to waive environmental laws in order to speed up construction of the border wall. The ruling Tuesday has paved the way for President Donald Trump to construct his border wall, which the state of California and environmental groups have been trying to prevent, according to The Washington Times. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who Trump has previously called biased by Trump due to his Mexican heritage, made the ruling that will allow the administration to waive environmental laws and build sections of the wall. The judge said...

Appeals Court affirms lower court decision: The Opinion/Dissent runs 285 pages so linked only (with apologies for any incorrect posting info) http://coop.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/Published/172231.pdf

The Sixth Amendment states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed….” Those words stand a clearly as they did when the Bill of Rights was adopted, but these days, Americans who insist on a jury trial may find themselves punished for doing so. Here’s the problem. The American judicial system is so overwhelmed with cases that prosecutors don’t want to bother with trials. They would much rather strong-arm the defendant into a plea bargain, thus...

Cloud storage and computing is an emerging technology increasingly in use worldwide. Documents and email discussions can be stored in the Cloud, and then be accessed by collaborators from anywhere to work on joint projects together. That is an American led business, with market leaders such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, among others. But U.S. law has not yet caught up with the technology, though that is being resolved now, in the courts and in Congress. In the currently leading case, United States of America v. Microsoft, the U.S. government issued a warrant to Microsoft, an internet service...

Recently, I had the honor and privilege of reading “Equal Justice for Victims,” by Lester Jackson. It’s a great and fantastic book showing why capital punishment is urgently needed. I am a big fan of capital punishment; so this book is right up my alley. Something always has bothered me, as our legal system has become increasingly liberal: the lack of justice for victims of vicious criminals. Legalistic sympathies often lie more with those who have committed heinous crimes than the victims they have killed or damaged irreparably. This book addresses that issue in depth. Far too often, politician-judges decide...

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the acquittal of 'Peepli Live' co-director Mahmood Farooqui in a rape case, citing an email sent by the victim, a US woman, saying, "I do love you." "How many times you have come across a case where the (rape) victim says I love you," a bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao asked advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the woman. "They were good friends. The facts of the case show good friendship. How did she communicate initially 'yes'. How does the other person know that her response is false," the bench...

Several California cities and counties are suing Big Oil for allegedly suppressing evidence of climate change dangers. But ExxonMobil's attorneys did some legwork and found something interesting in municipal bond offerings of many of the same cities and counties suing them. Those offerings include several examples of climate change threats being downplayed or even completely ignored. The Big Oil lawyers also note that: * San Francisco has twice made bond offerings for its Municipal Transportation Agency since 2014 that do not contain the words "global warming" or "climate change." * San Mateo County is suing the oil companies because it...

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash dismissed a lawsuit claiming a man defrauded FedEx by accessing a corporate shipping account offering discounted rates, then charging third parties higher rates to ship items.A federal judge has dumped claims that FedEx Corp. was defrauded of more than $1.5 million by a man who “highjacked” a corporate account offering discounted shipping rates, then charged third parties inflated rates to pocket a profit. The ruling lets defendant Dimitar Petlechkov off the hook for FedEx’s claims for fraud, unjust enrichment and tortious interference with business relations, but he still faces criminal charges in Tennessee, where FedEx...