Free Republic

Allegedly murdered Jerry Smith after the pair had sex A Virginia Tech football player begins his trial today for the alleged murder of a homosexual, cross-dressing man named Jerry Smith. Montgomery County prosecutors accused Isimemen Etute (pictured) of murdering Smith, a 40-year-old homosexual man who allegedly presented himself as a woman during a Tinder date with Etute. He pleaded not guilty on May 19 to the charge. His trial is expected to take two days, according to the Virginia judiciary database. The county declined to provide a police report because the case is ongoing. Virginia Tech did not respond to...

<p>A federal appeals court has declined, for now, to allow the Biden administration to require COVID-19 vaccinations for federal employees.</p><p>The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 2-1 Wednesday to maintain a block on the mandate that a Texas-based federal judge had issued on Jan. 21. The administration had asked the New Orleans court for an injunction allowing the federal worker mandate to move forward pending appeal.</p>

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has rejected a request from a Louisiana pastor who’d sought emergency relief from criminal charges he faces for the apparent crime of holding large church services in contravention of the state’s coronavirus rules. ... As the months passed, Spell wound up accruing three additional charges, making for a total of nine. Now fast-forward to last week, when he filed a motion with Justice Alito requesting an injunction against the charges he faces. ... For reasons that remain unclear, Alito outright rejected the request — meaning it won’t receive a full hearing in the Supreme Court...

Most lawyers trying a case abide by the maxim: Don’t piss off the judge. President Obama disregarded that when he lectured the Supreme Court not to overturn the health care law. Indirectly the President was challenging the entire judiciary and it struck a raw nerve with Judge Jerry Smith, of the 5th Circuit Appeals Court. Judge Smith had, less than two years earlier rejected, in a 2 to 1 decision, the Interior Department request to stay a lower court order lifting the offshore drilling moratorium (Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar) – thus requiring the moratorium lifted. In one of...

... a federal appeals court apparently is calling the president's bluff -- ordering the Justice Department to answer by Thursday whether the Obama Administration believes that the courts have the right to strike down a federal law ...