Free Republic

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by Kansas Republicans to revive laws that require people to prove their citizenship before voting.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that a state can’t even require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital. And the logic of the concurring opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts, who provided the fifth vote, suggests not even de minimis regulation of abortion will survive his Court’s scrutiny. Here’s the stunner: Four years ago a different Court majority overturned a similar Texas statute, with then Justice Anthony Kennedy joining the four liberals. Chief Justice Roberts dissented in that case. Yet on Monday the Chief joined the liberals, citing his duty to follow precedent. As the dissenters point...

Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court is in the home stretch of an unexpected term, racing to issue opinions in more than 30 cases, many that were impacted by the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. At the center of it all is Chief Justice John Roberts, facing perhaps one of the the greatest challenges of his 10-plus year tenure -- navigating a series of issues such as abortion access, health care, affirmative action and immigration with a court comprised of four liberal and four conservative justices. Early in his tenure, Roberts said that promoting unanimity and collegiality were a priority. He's...

It’s been one year since the Supreme Court decision that allowed Obama administration officials to begin implementing the Affordable Care Act, and the frequency and volume of reports about the challenges facing those reforms—and the difficulties they are visiting on those who were supposed to benefit from them—are increasing dramatically.

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that a passenger in a vehicle has the same right as a driver to challenge the constitutionality of a traffic stop. The court decided that when police stop a vehicle, passengers are "seized" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and -- like drivers -- can dispute the legality of a search. The ruling overturned a California Supreme Court decision in the case of Bruce Edward Brendlin, who was arrested on parole violation and drug charges after a November 2001 traffic stop in Yuba City, Calif. Brendlin, who subsequently was sentenced to four years...

One glaring failure of the Bush administration is its inability to affect public opinion; the Democrats, with their allies the MSM, always gets page 1; the GOP gets page 13B. According to Kirtpatrick and Hulse in the New York Times, Bush is calling for conservatives to tone down their rhetoric about his possible Supreme Court nominees, particularly Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Evidently the administration determined in a poll that people say they want the Senate to conduct a dignified and fair confirmation process.

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved closer Monday to a confrontation over a Republican threat to block a Democratic filibuster of some of President Bush's judicial nominees. Both sides pointed to the record of Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice who was nominated by President Bush four years ago and whose case may be used by Republicans in a procedural challenge to the filibuster. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, charged that Owen's nomination to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has been stalled by Democrats eager to score political points. "This debate is not about principle; it is all about...