Free Republic

In a significant win for supporters of Second Amendment rights, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted a preliminary injunction order to William Drummond and the Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. on October 13, 2021. Drummond had sought to open a sportsman’s club at an existing range that had operated as the Greater Pittsburgh Gun Club since the middle 1960s. It consists of 265 acres in Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.In December of 2017, Drummond entered into a lease to operate the club. On February 19, 2018, the Robinson Township Board of Supervisors commenced proceedings to...

A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday threw out a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s campaign, dismissing its challenges to the battleground state’s poll-watching law and its efforts to limit how mail-in ballots can be collected and which of them can be counted. The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan — who was appointed by Trump — in Pittsburgh also poured cold water on Trump’s claims that Pennsylvania is fertile ground for election fraud. Trump’s campaign said it would appeal at least one element of the decision, with barely three weeks to go until Election Day in...

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration’s request for a stay on a federal court decision that found some of the governor’s COVID-19 pandemic restrictions to be unconstitutional. The Wolf Administration sought the stay while appealing U.S. Western District Judge William Stickman IV’s order that was issued last week that ruled the governor’s closure of nonessential business, a stay-at-home order and an order to limit gathering sizes were unconstitutional. In denying the stay, Stickman said, “the public interest would be ill served if the court would grant the stay allowing the unconstitutional measures to remain in place.”...

Federal judge rules Gov. Wolf’s shutdown orders were unconstitutional A federal judge in Pittsburgh on Monday found that orders issued by Gov. Tom Wolf restricting the size of gatherings and closing non-essential businesses to protect against the spread of covid-19 were unconstitutional.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) coronavirus orders, which shut down the state, closed businesses and limited gatherings, were unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, a Trump appointee, said in his opinion that Wolf’s and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine’s COVID-19 orders violated and continue to violate the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly and the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus “were undertaken with the good intention of addressing a public health emergency,” Stickman wrote. “But even in...

A federal judge in Pennsylvania told the Trump campaign and the Republican Party that they must produce evidence they have of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday. The judge's order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up President Donald Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting. "The Court finds that instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case," District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote on Thursday, telling Republicans that they need to provide evidence of fraud to...

This will be a weekly post. Count is now 202 judges confirmed. 2 Trade Court judges 145 District Court judges 53 Circuit Court judges 2 Supreme Court justices The Senate Judiciary committee held hearings this week so those will likely be voted to the floor soon.

This will be a weekly post. Count remains at 200 judges confirmed 2 Trade Court judges 143 District Court judges 53 Circuit Court judges 2 Supreme Court justices This week the Senate was mostly working on legislation. However, they did confirm some appointments, including two judges to the Court of Appeals for Veteran's Claims. But these are Article I judges, not Article III judges. This week the Senate voted for cloture for a District judge (vote Monday) and McConnell filed for cloture on another District judge. So there will be judicial confirmations next week.