This is an excellent commentary on judicial activism, criminal justice, and media sensationalism:
Law or soap opera?  The Scott Peterson case demonstrates that legal processes can be excessive, not only in terms of time, but also in terms of the kinds of non-legal considerations and indulgences that are allowed into the administration of justice.  Courts do not have unlimited resources or unlimited time.  How many other cases must be put on hold while emotions are vented?

Editor's response:
Scott Peterson got a much better deal than Terri Schiavo, who was intentionally starved to death in Florida, at the insistence of her estranged husband, who at the same time was also someone else's common law "husband".  You can bet that if Terri Schiavo had been a Guantanamo detainee, or a beached whale, there would have been no shortage of lawyers coming to her defense.

Overview articles:

The Real Constitutional Crisis is Upon Us.  Since the judicial branch has become a political player, judge shopping has become standard practice.  If there's something your side wants from a court, you may simply select a sympathetic judge — rather like an a la carte menu item.  That has brought us the phenomenon of rogue judges.  It became commonplace for district judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidential orders — regardless of the constitutionality of those orders.  We also saw judges unilaterally appropriating the powers of Department of Justice (DoJ).  The DoJ has the sole authority to decide when, and when not, to prosecute someone.  Yet when DoJ decided to drop charges against Michael Flynn, Judge Emmet Sullivan decided to appoint his own prosecutor and continue the proceedings against Flynn.  He became judge, prosecutor, and jury — all wrapped up in one robe.  As judging goes, what could be more out of control (rogue) than that?  The Supreme Court could have reined in rogue judges with clear rulings about the inappropriateness of their behavior.  But it didn't, and equal justice under the law is no longer a given.

Why Do We Have Courts and Judges?  The left prefers a "living Constitution."  As the late Justice Brennan said, judges must "give meaning" to the Constitution, implying that it has no meaning until the Court declares it.  That allows the Constitution to change as society changes, without the inconvenience of amending it.  It turns the Courts into what the Wall Street Journal calls the left's "preferred legislature."  The right asserts "originalism" or "textualism."  That is, the Constitution is a document that had a particular meaning when it was adopted.  To apply it properly, we must understand what its text meant to the people who wrote it.  To change it, we must amend it.  Amending the Constitution is really hard.  The states have rejected six amendments, including the Equal Rights Amendment.  This difficulty blocks the path to fundamentally transforming America the way the left wants.  So they love it when judges adopt legal theories that let them ignore the original understanding of the law.

Rising tide of judicial tyranny threatens our republic.  Our country, designed to be a nation of laws not of men, deserves a judicial system that keeps any judge's personal philosophy out of the legal system.  But some judges have trended in recent years to use the courts as an instrument of their will, to create law through judicial activism.  Unfortunately, judicial activism often turns to judicial dictatorship, as the people's Constitutional right to govern themselves dwindles under the arbitrary judgment of a relatively low number of judges.

The Deep State Wears Black Robes.  Freedom Watch Founder Larry Klayman discusses the bad legal advice President Trump is getting about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia-gate probe and urges the president to hire new lawyers to go after Mueller and the Deep State.  He also declares Judge Brett Kavanaugh "uniquely unqualified and unfit" to serve on the Supreme Court because of his controversial decision in favor of Barack Hussein Obama's illegal NSA mass surveillance program, which targeted President Trump!  Klayman is proposing the use of citizen grand juries to go after the Deep State operatives who control the intelligence agencies and have "the ability to gather information to blackmail" people such as Kavanaugh to do their bidding.  [Video clip]

Timely news and commentary:

Judge Merchan Rejects Trump's Effort to Overturn Felony Conviction Despite Presidential Immunity Ruling From Supreme Court.  Judge Juan Merchan on Monday upheld the 34 felony convictions against President Trump despite the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling.  In April, Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts after he was accused of paying porn star Stormy Daniels, AKA, Stephanie Clifford, 'hush payments' through his then-attorney Michael Cohen in a scheme to silence her and stop the story about their alleged affair from being published in the National Enquirer.  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged Trump committed fraud because the payment was labeled "legal fees."  Late last month Judge Merchan delayed Trump's November 26 sentencing in Alvin Bragg's lawfare case indefinitely.

Hawaii Judges Defy SCOTUS and the Constitution.  [T]he Constitution is not a chameleon, changing with the political winds or cultural trends.  It is a fixed, enduring framework meant to safeguard liberty and ensure the rule of law.  Judges are bound by its text and original meaning, not free to reinterpret it to suit their preferences or the moment's fashionable ideologies.  To treat it otherwise is to abandon constitutional governance altogether.  This principle could not be more relevant in the wake of the Hawaii Supreme Court's defiance of U.S. Supreme Court precedent in State v. Wilson.  The procedural posture of the case is important:  Christopher Wilson, a Hawaii resident, was charged in 2017 with carrying a pistol without a license while hiking.  Wilson argued that his actions were protected by the Second Amendment, particularly after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen (2022), which affirmed the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.  The Hawaii Supreme Court, however, reinstated charges against Wilson, effectively ignoring Bruen.

Biden Commutes Sentence of Judge Who Took Kickbacks for Sending Kids to For-Profit Juvenile Detention.  President Biden on Thursday commuted the prison sentence of Michael Conahan, a former judge who pleaded guilty to sending juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks.  The 72-year-old judge pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges in 2011 and was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for the "Kids-for-Cash" scheme.  He has been in home confinement in Florida under federal supervision since June 2020, when he requested a "compassionate release" because of the Covid-19 pandemic, arguing he was "in grave danger of not only contracting the virus, but of dying from the virus."  Conahan, whose commutation was first reported by the Citizens' Voice, was one of 1,499 commutations Biden granted this week.

Another skanky Biden pardon:  A corrupt judge who jailed kids for long terms on minor offenses in exchange for kickbacks.  After spending his entire presidency coddling criminals and supporting Sorosian lawlessness, Joe Biden decided to commute the sentence of the one judge out there who sentenced kids to draconian, disproportionate jail terms on minor drug offenses — in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks from private prison owners who belong in jail, too. [...] Rats like this belong in jail, given the level of injustice they do to young people from their position of respectability and public trust.  A sentence that overpunishes a miscreant is just as bad as a slap on the wrist sentence for a bad crime, but in some ways worse, actually, given the injury it does to the detainees' psyches.  And to see that in this judge's case, that it was done for big dollars for himself, is unspeakable.

How Government Unions Won in Wisconsin by Stacking [the] Judicial Deck.  Remember when impassioned protesters stormed a Capitol building and disrupted the democratic process?  No, not the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.  I'm talking about the pro-union one that stormed the Wisconsin state Capitol on Feb. 21, 2011.  More than a decade ago, hundreds of protesters charged into and occupied the state Capitol in Madison, fighting against the enactment of Act 10, Wisconsin's sweeping and transformative labor reforms.  Nearly 14 years later, government unions and their activist network finally won a legal battle against Act 10.  On Monday, a county judge ruled Act 10 unconstitutional, effectively reinstituting the law as it existed before 2011.  To do so, the judge had to stiff-arm at least three prior court rulings on the same law involving the same legal principles from the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  It's almost like the unions hand-selected the judge who decided this case.  That's not far off.

Judge Rules The Navy Can Discriminate by Skin Color.  A judge ruled that the US Navy can keep racial preferences.  Marxist DEI is alive and well in the Navy.  Meritocracy is dead if this isn't overturned. [...] US Senior District Judge Richard D. Bennett of Maryland on Friday allowed the US Naval Academy to keep considering applicants' race and ethnicity in its admission practices, calling the issue a matter of national security.  Usually, meritocracy is the best way to protect national security.  We should have the best candidates in our Navy.

The Judge Who Was Executed By His Sheriff Friend Was [Allegedly] Running A Brothel In The Courtroom.  The Kentucky judge who was executed in his own office is accused of running a "brothel" out of the courtroom, allegedly forcing women to have sex for favors.  District Judge Kevin Mullins was killed by his close friend, Sheriff Shawn 'Mickey' Stine.  According to a woman who was raped by one of Stine's deputies, Mullins was seen having sex with a girl in the judge's chambers.  "I have seen Judge Mullins having sex with a girl... In his office, in the judge's chambers," the woman, Sabrina Adkins, said in a police interview.  Adkins was raped by former deputy sheriff Ben Fields, saying he"does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge's chambers... just with girls, sexual and stuff."  [Video clip]

Massachusetts judge accused of misconduct by impeding immigrant's arrest.  A Massachusetts judge who was criminally charged during President-elect Donald Trump's first administration with impeding a federal immigration arrest of a defendant in her courtroom is now being accused by state judicial disciplinary authorities of engaging in willful misconduct.  The Massachusetts Judicial Conduct Commission on Monday filed formal charges against Judge Shelley Joseph related to the same conduct that was at issue in the criminal case, which prosecutors agreed to drop in 2022 after Trump left office in exchange for her referring herself to disciplinary authorities.

Delaware judge rejects Musk's $56 billion Tesla pay — again.  A Delaware judge ruled on Monday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk still is not entitled to receive a $56 billion compensation package despite shareholders of the electric vehicle company voting in June to reinstate it.  The ruling by the judge, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery, follows her January decision that called the pay package excessive and rescinded it, surprising investors, and cast uncertainty over Musk's future at the world's most valuable carmaker.

Bragg Won't Drop Trump's 'Hush Money' Sentencing, But May Suspend It for 4 Years.  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday [11/19/2024] that his office will oppose President-elect Donald Trump's motion to dismiss his felony conviction in New York.  Bragg said that despite plans to oppose Trump's motion, his office would agree to hit pause on the proceedings pending the judge's decision on Trump's motion to dismiss.  Bragg also suggested the case could wait until Trump finishes his term in the White House.  "No current law establishes that a president's temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on unofficial conduct for which the defendant is also not immune," Bragg wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan.  "Rather, existing law suggests that the court must balance competing constitutional interests and proceed 'in a manner that preserves both the independence of the executive and the integrity of the criminal justice system.'"

A Radical Judge Just Got a Lifetime Appointment Because Republicans Didn't Show Up to Stop It.  A radical, leftist judge was just handed a lifetime appointment to the 11th Circuit, and Republicans have no one to blame but themselves.  As RedState recently reported, Judge Embry Kidd's nomination to the 11th Circuit was set to be voted on by the full Senate chamber Monday night.  We'll cut to the chase — Embry was approved by a vote of 49-45, but here's the kicker:  Five Republicans didn't show up for the vote.

Judge recuses himself in Arizona fake elector case after urging response to attacks on Kamala Harris.  A judge recused himself Tuesday from presiding over Arizona's fake electors case after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for the presidency.  In the Aug. 29 email, Maricopa County Judge Bruce Cohen lamented that he didn't speak out when Harris was called a "DEI hire," believes that white men must speak out against unfair treatment of women, and raised a historical lesson from the Holocaust about the need to speak up when people are attacked.  Cohen didn't specify who made the comment regarding Harris.

The great flaw in the Human Rights Act.  It is true and important that Parliament enacted the HRA and has not yet repealed it.  But it does not follow that judicial enforcement of that Act is the 'vindication' of democracy, as Lord Hermer put it.  The HRA arms British judges to question the merits of legislation and policy on uncertain grounds, systematically undermining legal certainty and, worse, disabling parliamentarians and the public from deciding freely how we should be governed.  Human rights law — the ECHR and the HRA — has a rule of law problem, introducing a kind of make believe into our law and politics.  Judges purport to give effect to legal rights that protect fundamental human rights.  Yet in practice they often end up choosing what rights people should enjoy from time to time, which results in an unstable body of case law.  This is a terrible way to make law or to decide on the merits of law.

An Electoral Awakening Worth Celebrating.  [Scroll down]  These public revelations caught fire once Democrat prosecutors chose to engage in an unprecedented lawfare campaign against President Trump that threatened his liberty and property.  Americans have witnessed the Clintons and other Democrat politicians in good standing with the D.C. "blob" escape prosecution for real crimes (including Hillary's Russia collusion fraud against the American people) too many times for the avalanche of criminal and civil cases against President Trump to pass muster.  There was a time when Americans would have placed credence in the serious accusations coming from the mouths of U.S. prosecutors.  After years of watching corrupt judges assist in the political targeting of Trump confidantes such as Rudy Giuliani, Peter Navarro, and Steve Bannon, though, the lawfare against President Trump has appeared malicious, unacceptable, and un-American.

Judge Throws The Book At 69-Year-Old Tina Peters For Minor Infraction Because She Believes The 2020 Election Was Stolen.  Tina Peters served as the elected county clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, where she oversaw that county's elections.  She ardently believes President Donald Trump was the victim of election theft in 2020.  In an effort to discover how this could have happened, Peters teamed up with individuals associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, also a believer that Trump had the election stolen from him.  Tina Peters' opponents falsely alleged she illegally colluded with Lindell's associate, Conan Hayes, to steal and misuse the ID badge of a Mesa County employee named Gerald Wood to access the county's election system and to save a copy of the hard drive before a new system was installed.  Indeed, Democrat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Democrat Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser colluded to bring a 10-count indictment against Peters.  Griswold and Weiser are two highly partisan Democrat activists who led the failed effort to throw Trump off the Colorado ballot, leading to a ruling that got reversed 9-0 by the Supreme Court.  The two seized the opportunity to up their own political profiles by deploying Robert Shapiro, first attorney general for Special Prosecutions, and Janet Drake, a senior assistant attorney general in the Special Prosecutions Unit, which reports directly to the Colorado attorney general, to spearhead the effort to overcharge and railroad Peters.

Denver Judge Denies Hand-Count Of Ballots Following Massive Leak Of Voting System Passwords.  Colorado state District Judge Kandace Gerdes ruled Tuesday against a lawsuit launched by the Libertarian Party to force a hand-count of ballots in over half of the state's counties.  Gerdes decided that there was no evidence that election processes had been undermined after Democrat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office posted election systems passwords on their website, according to The Denver Post.  The judge noted that she did not have the authority to settle parts of the ruling and left room for appeal.  Griswold's office admitted that BIOS passwords connected to election systems in Colorado counties were publicly accessible on the SOS website from June 21 to late October, according to Fox 31.  The Department of State said on Oct. 25 the posted passwords exposed systems in 34 out of 64 counties.  The employee who posted the passwords left "amicably" before the security breach was uncovered, the department said.  Gerdes argued that the plaintiffs did not prove that the passwords were put up knowingly on the Secretary of State's website, The Denver Post reported.  Under Colorado law, knowingly publishing election passwords is a class 5 felony.

Turn Off the Politicians and Listen to Yourself.  If we succumb to the sheer volume of political noise, we will just be handing elections over to the ones whose collection of interest groups are the largest and have the most money.  For many decades, this is exactly what has resulted in the election of leftist radicals to what I now call the Montana Extreme Court — far and away the worst, most incompetent and most politicized state court in the country.  Trial lawyer money flooded the airwaves and mailboxes, and voters didn't do their own due diligence.  If Montanans aren't careful, the same thing will happen this time around, where the message of the moderate-to-conservative justice candidates Corey Swanson and Dan Wilson threatens to be obliterated by the liberal legal establishment and their mega-dollars.  Other states with supreme court elections take heed!

Biden-Appointed Judge Orders Noncitizens Back on Voter Rolls in Virginia.  There's plenty of debate over whether Virginia is truly in play for 2024, but one thing is certain:  multiple polls have shown the race neck-and-neck within the margin of error.  The possibility that Donald Trump could flip Virginia may well have been a factor in Joe Biden's exit from the race.  Sure, there have been polls showing Kamala Harris with a formidable lead there as well, but in the end, we won't know until after Election Day.  One promising sign that Virginia was looking good for Trump was Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order ordering that all votes for the 2024 presidential election be cast by paper ballot, and when he had the voter rolls in his state reviewed and thousands of non-citizens removed from the voter rolls.  I guess Virginia is in play because a federal judge just ordered that all noncitizens the state purged from the voter rolls be reinstated following a lawsuit that the Biden-Harris administration brought.

Judge Releases Tranche of Redacted Documents Filed by Special Counsel in Trump Election Case.  District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan released a redacted version of the appendix to special counsel Jack Smith's immunity motion on Oct. 18, offering more insight into the evidence undergirding his prosecution of former President Donald Trump.  So far, the tranche of released evidence consists of four volumes and nearly 1,900 pages, although large portions of the files are sealed or redacted.  Trump described Smith's motion as "falsehood-ridden" and said the Justice Department violated its policy on avoiding actions that could influence an election.  "This entire case is a Partisan, Unconstitutional, Witch Hunt, that should be dismissed, entirely, just like the Florida case was dismissed!," the former president said in a statement earlier this month in response to Smith's filing.

The Plot to Manage Democracy.  The reality facing America now is that of widespread, coordinated efforts to control our politics, carried out by a self-interested elite grown openly disdainful of the nation's traditions.  If not for a last-minute postponement, a Manhattan judge would have sentenced Donald Trump for the former president's conviction last May by the time this article appeared, in what could fairly be characterized by an objective observer as a politically motivated trial, intended to hamper his 2024 presidential campaign.  The charges pushed the "outer boundaries of the law and due process," according to a former federal and state prosecutor, now working as an analyst for CNN — not exactly a bastion of conservative bias.  The judge in the trial, Juan Merchan, previously violated New York State ethics rules by donating to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign and to a group called Stop Republicans.

Georgia judge blocks ballot counting rule and says county officials must certify election results.  A judge has blocked a new rule that requires Georgia Election Day ballots to be counted by hand after the close of voting.  The ruling came a day after the same judge ruled that county election officials must certify election results by the deadline set in law.

Federal judge dismisses nursing home COVID death case against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his handling of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.  New York families with relatives who died from COVID-19 in nursing homes filed the lawsuit in early 2022, accusing Cuomo's administration of undercounting fatalities. [...] Cuomo was widely lauded in the early months of the pandemic, but his reputation took a hit amid revelations that his administration released an incomplete accounting of the deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  He resigned from office in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.  Cuomo testified before the subcommittee in June, but it was behind closed doors.

Indiana judge rules prison must provide transgender surgery for inmate who killed baby.  A federal judge has ruled that it would be unconstitutional for an Indiana prison to deny a transgender inmate sex reassignment surgery following the inmate's lawsuit against the facility.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Indiana Department of Corrections last year on behalf of a transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.  Indiana law, however, prohibits the Department of Corrections from using taxpayer dollars to fund sex reassignment surgeries for inmates.  However, the ACLU argues in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 28, 2023, that the law is a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment."

Keywords:  Taxation without representation.
Can You Run for a House Seat From a Prison Cell in Another State?  We've been trying to keep up with covering all of the twists and turns being seen in Alaska's race for the state's lone seat in the House of Representatives.  It's a complicated task, particularly because of all of the complexities of the state's bizarre ranked-choice voting system.  The race finally appeared to settle down this month to what should amount to a head-to-head matchup between incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican challenger Nick Begich.  But now an even stranger wrinkle has been added into the mix.  Peltola is also being challenged by another Democrat named Eric Hafner.  What makes Hafner so unique is the fact that he's never even been to Alaska in his life and he's currently residing in a jail cell in New York.  And yet a judge ruled this week that he must appear on the ballot.  You might be thinking that's impossible, but under Alaska's rules, pretty much anything goes, or so it seems.

Here's How One Biden-Appointed Judge's Ruling Could Bring Drilling In Gulf Of Mexico To A Halt.  A single ruling from a judge appointed by President Joe Biden may end up halting oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in December.  Judge Deborah Boardman, the Biden-appointed district judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, sided with suing environmentalists in August to vacate a key National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) environmental review — known as a biological opinion — underlying offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  Unless the federal government manages to revise the biological opinion by Dec. 20, and barring intervention from a higher court or the Congress, the ruling could force offshore oil and gas drilling to grind to a halt as developers decide whether to proceed at their own risk or shut down their operations until a new review is issued, according to multiple energy sector experts and stakeholders.

Harris Campaign Hired Marketing Firm Run by Judge Merchan's Daughter, Ethics Complaint Reveals.  Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign hired a marketing firm run by Judge Juan Merchan's adult daughter, according to an ethics complaint that accuses the New York state supreme court justice of having a conflict of interest that should disqualify him from presiding over the hush-money case against former president Donald Trump.  The complaint, filed on Friday by Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), reveals that the Harris campaign paid $468 to Loren Merchan's political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns on July 30, nine days after Harris replaced President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket.  "This indicates that one of the very first things that Harris did upon taking over the Biden campaign infrastructure is to hire this firm, Authentic," Stefanik wrote.

Judge Juan Merchan Sued For Financial Disclosures.  America First Legal sued Judge Juan Merchan for financial disclosures amid reports his daughter's political firm has made tens of millions of dollars off of his trial against Trump.  Juan Merchan is the far-left, conflicted judge who oversaw Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's Stormy Daniels 'hush money' trial against President Trump.  The judge's daughter, Loren Merchan, is a far-left political operative who worked for the Biden-Harris campaign.  Loren Merchan's firm, Authentic Campaigns, Inc., has received tens of millions of dollars from Democrats who want to take down Trump.

Jonathan Turley Says He Thinks 'Merchan Was Aware' Sentencing Trump Before Election Would Help Him Win.  George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley on Friday said that Judge Juan Merchan's decision to delay former President Donald Trump's sentencing could be an effort to avoid boosting his campaign.  Merchan had scheduled Trump's sentencing for Sept. 18, but on Friday, he postponed the date to Nov. 26 "if necessary," according to his order.  Turley, on "America Reports," claimed that Merchan's rulings against Trump during his case were advantageous to his reelection bid, suggesting that maintaining the September sentencing date would have further intensified support for the former president.

Judge in Trump Non-Disclosure and Records Case Sued for Hiding His Disclosures and Records.  How many data points must you identify before you can identify a pattern?  This is a question I've pondered about in the case of New York's Acting Judge Juan Merchan.  He is the judge presiding over the bookkeeping and non-disclosure agreement case of Donald Trump.  What happens when you hide evidence of a pattern?  Ironically — and illegally — Judge Merchan and the people at the oxymoronically-named Ethics Commission for the New York State Unified Court System have been hiding the judge's records and disclosures since 2018. America First Legal is suing both Merchan and ethics overseers for illegally hiding the judge's disclosures for the past seven years.

Federal judge backs school:  Student cannot wear 'Let's Go Brandon' hoodie.  A federal judge has sided with a Michigan school district in that it was right to order a student to remove a hoodie with the phrase "Let's Go Brandon!" on it.  "Le's [sic] Go Brandon" (in)famously came about in October of 2022 after NASCAR driver Brandon Brown won his first race. [...] According to Jonathan Turley's blog, plaintiff "D.A.," a student at Tri County Middle School, was told last spring by Assistant Principal Andrew Buikema (pictured) and teacher Wendy Bradford to take off his "Let's Go Brandon!" hoodie as it violated school dress code.

12-Year-Old Has Broken Into 5 Car Dealerships, Police Can't Charge Him Because He's A Minor.  [A] 12-year-old boy is accused of targeting five dealerships in Montgomery County, including Audi and BMW in Rockville.  According to reports each time police have caught the boy, they have had to drop him off at home in D.C.  Police couldn't hold him due to a Maryland juvenile justice law preventing kids under 13 from being charged with property crimes.  [Video clip]

Progressivism Makes the World Smaller, In A Bad Way.  There are people in prison right now just for posting memes, or simply for being in the vicinity of the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. We've all seen the stories.  But at least, as of now, we still have the thinnest veneer of a Constitution to protect us, though, clearly, if it rests in the hands of a progressive judge, all is lost.  How tragic that you have to hope you get a non-progressive judge to have even a prayer of a fair trial.  We can thank Mitch McConnell and our garbage Senate Republicans for gaveling through dozens upon dozens of judicial nominees when Obama was president for the current spate of tyranny on the bench.  And why did the Republicans do it?  All in the name of "governing."  We should just call "governing" what it is:  Uniparty capitulation to corruption.  That's what "governing" is nowadays.

Federal judge rules HIV-positive individuals must be allowed to join the military.  US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has ruled that the US military cannot discriminate against HIV-positive people who want to join the military.  In her ruling, this crazy woman said the military's ban on HIV-positive recruits contributes "to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals."  For reference, here is a short list of medical conditions that CAN get you disqualified from military service:
  •   Allergies
  •   Colorblindness
  •   Missing teeth
  •   Asthma
  •   2 or more concussions in the last 12 months
  •   ADD/ADHD
  •   Psoriasis
But HIV?  Yeah, that's no problem!  The military is also facing such a massive recruitment crisis, that they're considering a return to the draft.  Since 2013, male enlistments have dropped 35%.  (Somehow, we don't think this new ruling will lead to male recruits lining up outside begging to enlist.)

A Reality Check for American Voters.  There are 667 District Court judges in 94 districts who resolve disputes and conduct trials.  Fifty-four percent of the current serving judges were appointed by Obama and Biden.  Based on historical averages, if the Democrats retain the presidency and the Senate, they will appoint upwards of 160 [to] 170 judges over the next four years, bringing the total number to 84% of all District Court judge appointed by the Obama/Marxist-controlled Democrat party.  The only check on the District Court judges are the Circuit Courts of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court.  Currently, 50% of serving Circuit Court judges were appointed by Obama/Biden.  Historically, a president during his term will appoint 30 [to] 35 Circuit Court judges; thus, by 2029, the Marxists will have appointed 74% of all Circuit Court judges.

New Details Reveal How Judge Merchan's Daughter Has Ties to Kamala Harris.  The House Judiciary Committee announced an investigation into Judge Juan Merchan's daughter's Democrat fundraising firm.  The firm served as the director of digital persuasion for then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.  In a letter addressed to Loren Merchan, the committee believes Authentic Campaigns's fundraising firm has political ties to now-presumptive Democratic nominee Harris and other high-profile Democratic figures.  Merchan's firm received an $8 million check from Rep. Adam Schiff's (D-CA) campaign, as well as payments from Rep. Dan Goldman (D-CA) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).  In 2020, the Biden-Harris campaign also paid Authentic Campaigns, which focuses on "digital marketing and fundraising," more than $2 million in one month alone.

Judge Merchan's Daughter Raked in $12.7 Million in First Six Months of 2024.  Democrats have paid the company owned by the politically active daughter of compromised Judge Juan Merchan at least $12.7 million in the first half of this year.  Federal election reports show Authentic Campaigns, the consulting firm owned by Loren Merchan, raked in the windfall between January 1 and July 1, 2024.  Her father currently presides over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against Donald Trump in New York City.  The sum represents an 86 percent increase in Authentic Campaigns receipts from the same time period in 2022. Democratic elected officials, candidates, and PACs reported $6.8 million in payments to Merchan between January 1 and July 1, 2022, the last general election cycle.

Activist Judge Says Nevada Can Keep Counting Ballots That Show Up After Election Day.  A federal judge dismissed a challenge from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and former President Donald Trump's campaign that argued accepting mail-in ballots up to four days after Election Day is unconstitutional.  Chief U.S. District Judge Miranda Du dismissed the suit on standing after Nevada officials argued the RNC and Trump campaign did not prove the extended deadline created a disadvantage.  "The causal link between counting mail ballots received after Election Day in Nevada and Organizational Plaintiffs' alleged electoral injuries is too speculative to support standing," Du ruled.  After President Joe Biden won Nevada in 2020 by 33,596 votes, the state legislature officially extended the deadline for which counties could accept mail-in ballots post-marked by Election Day to four days after Election Day.  The statute is similar to a temporary pandemic-related measure that extended the mail-in ballot deadline to seven days post-election in 2020.  It also permits ballots "whose date of postmark cannot be determined" to be accepted so long as they arrive before 5:00 p.m. on the third day after Election Day, according to the ruling.

California Judge Rules That Teachers Were Correct To Punish A 7-Year-Old Girl Who Wrote 'Any Life' Over A BLM Sign.  California judge rules that teachers were right to punish a 7-year-old girl who wrote 'ANY LIFE' over a Black Lives Matter drawing because 'she's too young to have First Amendment rights.'  The first grader at Viejo Elementary in Orange County was banned from recess and drawing pictures after she added the words "any life" below "Black Lives Matter" on a picture she drew and gave to a black friend.  School principal Jesus Becerra told B.B. her drawing was inappropriate and racist.  He also made her publicly apologize and banned her from recess and drawing pictures for two weeks.  The girl's family filed a lawsuit against the Capistrano Unified School District, claiming her First Amendment rights were violated in the 2021 incident.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
At what age will she acquire First Amendment rights?

Girl, 7, 'Too Young' for First Amendment Rights, Punished for 'Racist' BLM Drawing.  The woke indoctrination of your kids will never stop.  Homeschooling is a great option.  A California judge decided that punishing a seven-year-old schoolgirl for being "racist" is A-OK.  What did the li'l bigot do?  She drew a BLM picture including drawings of her diverse group of friends and added two "inclusionary" words, which this British news outlet found too vile to share on Twitter:  [Tweet]

Is Nashville Shooter's Psych Hospital behind the Push to Keep Her Evidence Secret?  Nashville Judge I'Ashea Myles caused an uproar among transparency advocates earlier this month, when she decided that evidence left behind by trans school shooter Audrey Hale should be kept secret.  Judge Myles accepted the dubious argument that Hale's victims have copyrights to the material — even though the victims haven't registered with the federal copyright office.  But why are the victims' families pushing so hard to keep the evidence secret?  The Tennessee Star suggested on Wednesday that Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where Hale was treated for more than two decades, might be behind the push for secrecy.  The Star said it contacted attorney Ed Yarbrough, who works at the Spencer Fane firm and represented the Covenant Children's Trust, to ask whether his client, the Covenant School or Covenant Presbyterian Church were approached by VUMC.

Covenant School Judge Nonsensically Claims Manifesto Is Copyrighted and Will Remain Hidden.  Right before midnight on Thursday, July 4th, a Nashville judge named I'Ashea Myles ruled that the Covenant School shooter's manifesto cannot be released to the public.  Her ruling is 60 pages of repetitive language and nonsensical misapprehension of law and fact.  She denied the release of the murderer's manifesto on the basis of the canard of an "ongoing" criminal investigation and a new theory — the writings seized as evidence from the murderer are protected from disclosure because the entire collection is copyrighted.  All those claims are nonsense.  The first claim is complete claptrap.  The Covenant School mass shooting took place in March 2023, 15 months ago.  There is no evidence of a conspiracy.  There is no evidence that the murderer had help in any form or fashion.  There is no "ticking timebomb."  She acted alone.  In 15 months, not a shred of evidence has been produced that would warrant an "open" investigation.  The killer is dead.  The investigation is dead.  The second claim is also nonsense.  Myles claimed that because the murderer's parents assigned "all copyright" rights to the parents of Covenant children, they had a right to shield the writings from disclosure.  Although Tennessee has a public disclosure law that requires the release of public documents (with few exceptions), Myles claimed for the first time in Tennessee history that copyright holders (who are assignees) can prevent the release of evidence because they have an assigned right.  Again, it's nonsense.

Montana judge strikes down law defining male and female, deems it "unconstitutional".  Democrat-appointed federal Judge Shane Vannatta of the Missoula County District Court ruled that Montana Senate Bill 458, what some called the "anti-transgender bill," was "unconstitutional."  What they mean when they say "anti-transgender bill" is a law simply defining the words "male" and "female."

Massachusetts Judge Releases And Illegal Who Raped A 15-Year-Old On 500 Dollar Bail, Illegal Is Now On The Run.  United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking a Haitian migrant accused of raping a disabled 15-year-old girl in March after he was released on a low bond on Wednesday.  A Massachusetts judge released Cory Alvarez on only a $500 bail despite the charge, Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin reported in a post on X Thursday.  Prosecutors sought a bond of $10,000 after Massachusetts Judge Susan Sullivan rejected prosecution arguments to have Alvarez deemed dangerous and to be held, according to the Patriot Ledger, a Massachusetts-based outlet.  [Video clip]

How Did This Woman Become A Judge?  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo blames Trump for 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungray's brutal killing and rape by 2 illegal aliens.  She then says NOT to politicize it.  [Video clip]

Clarification:
Heads Up:  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is Not a 'Real' Judge.  I wanted to clear up some confusion about Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.  She is creating some media buzz over her callous remarks on the murder and rape of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.  The Harris County Judge is not a 'real' judge.  It is the county CEO position.  She was not elected as a judge in the county's judicial system.  She was elected to manage the county.  It's squirrely, I know, but that's how it is in Texas.  The position makes her the county's chief executive and emergency manager.  People who don't live here were rightly confused.  There was outrage over Hidalgo's remarks about crimes committed by illegal aliens.  Hidalgo is more concerned about the hurt feelings of illegal aliens than the senseless and violent murder of a 12-year-old child.  Hidalgo is an immigrant.  She came here from Columbia via Peru and Mexico City.  She was 15 when she arrived in the United States.  She graduated from a suburban Houston high school.  She attended Stanford University where she graduated in 2013 with a degree in political science.  That is the year she became a U.S. citizen.  She ran for office in 2016.

Corporate Media Vilify Judge Aileen Cannon For Doing Her Constitutional Duty.  Anonymous sources claimed to The New York Times last week that two federal judges allegedly urged Judge Aileen Cannon in the Southern District of Florida to pass the high-profile case concerning former President Donald Trump's classified documents to a colleague.  The article, along with several other seemingly scathing attacks by the press on the Columbian-born American for "pro-Trump rulings," conveniently made their rounds just a few weeks after a federal appeals court rejected Democrats' "orchestrated" attempt to get Cannon to recuse herself from the case.  [Advertisement]  According to media like the Times, Cannon is unable to fairly oversee this particular case because Trump appointed her.  Never mind that Democrat-appointed judges have escaped scrutiny for years despite routinely presiding over political cases.

Can We Save Our American Judicial System?  Many of us are reeling from the outcome of the trial against President Donald Trump.  Like him or hate him, people on both sides of the aisle are seeing the process, and outcome as a tragedy - not for election power but for the fairness of the American Judicial system. [...] Rule of Law requires justice based on the law, not on personal bias, political agenda, or individual preference.  Rule of law means, no matter what race, religion, gender, or political preference, a Judge will follow the intent and word of the law in a fair unbiased manner.  The facts and the law are supposed to prevail, not political agendas.

Bush Appointee Tried to Bully Judge Cannon Off the Trump Documents Case..  Two fellow federal District Court judges attempted to push Judge Aileen Cannon to hand off the classified documents prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump to another judge in Miami, Florida.  One of the judges involved in the intimidation effort was the Southern District of Florida chief judge, Cecilia M. Altonaga, who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush.  Judge Altonaga's husband, attorney George Mencio, has made extensive contributions to the Bush family's political operations — suggesting the couple have a more Republican establishment-aligned and anti-Trump mentality.  The other judge mentioned in a report on the matter by The New York Times was not identified by name.

Metro Atlanta judge arrested at Buckhead nightclub, faces felony charge.  Douglas County Probate Judge Christina J. Peterson was arrested at a Buckhead nightclub early Thursday and charged with battery and felony obstruction, accused of striking an officer on the head and refusing to identify herself, records show.  Peterson, who is the subject of a yearslong judicial misconduct investigation, was apprehended at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on Peachtree Road.  Fulton County Jail records show she faces a felony charge of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers by use of threats or violence, and a charge of simple battery against a police officer.

Vote delayed for federal court appointee who Mitch McConnell calls 'committed Marxist'.  A lack of support for federal court trial judge appointee Mustafa Kasubhai forced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to postpone an affirmation vote Tuesday.  Kasubhai currently is a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court of Oregon and is the Biden administration's appointee as a federal trial judge in the same federal court.

Judge Explains Why He Released Woman Charged with Stabbing 3-Year-Old to Death.  An Ohio judge has defended his decision to release the woman accused of killing three-year-old Julian Wood.  "I'm confident in the way the court handled the matter," he told Fox 8, as reported by Daily Mail.  [Tweets]  "We did it by the letter of the law, there was nothing there to send up alarms.  There wasn't any red flags shooting up that pole."  Judge Brian Hagan explained that there were "no signs of mental distress, no signs of previous, violent acts," despite a referral for a mental health evaluation just days before the fatal stabbing.

My Testimony at the Eastman Disbarment Trial.  About a year ago, I received a phone call from John Eastman, the prominent constitutional scholar.  He was facing disbarment proceedings for the advice he had given President Trump, had read my book (Debunked), and wanted me to testify on his behalf at the forthcoming California disbarment trial.  Of course, I was eager to testify because I believed (and still believe) that the six key swing state elections in 2020 were not certifiable.  The specific reasons are laid out in the book.  Originally, I was one of seven "experts" selected by Eastman and his attorney, Randy Miller.  As experts, we would be able to give our opinions regarding the integrity of the election.  However, well financed attorneys for the California State Bar Association (SBA) immediately objected — to every witness.  Most of the time, Judge Yvette Roland was eager to oblige the SBA.  In my case, Judge Roland ignored the fact that I was a veteran auditor and CPA, had written a comprehensive numbers-based book on the 2020 election, had written a book describing 23 ways we can improve our elections, and had published at least 25 articles on the subject.

String Of Unanimous SCOTUS Decisions Confirms Proliferation Of Activist Lower Courts.  Coordinated attacks on SCOTUS's integrity, led by Democrats and their allies in the corporate media, try to deceive Americans into believing partisans hijacked the highest court in the land and ideologically fractured it into near-dysfunction.  The prominence of unanimous opinions and even more unanimous judgments not only discredits this notion but suggests a far more concerning narrative about the politicization of lower courts.  Since its inception, the Supreme Court has wielded its authority to deliver decisions rooted in bench agreement.  In recent years, especially, justices "defied critics" with "historic unanimity" on cases that circuit, appeals, and state supreme courts decided in defiance of the Constitution.  Of the 32 cases already decided in the 2023 term, 21 of the judgments were agreed upon by all of the presiding justices.  Many of them signaled justices' concern that lower courts abused their ruling power to violate the Constitution.

Judge Marchan [was] NOT Chosen Randomly — The FIX Was In.  Democrat-appointed Judge Juan Merchan went out of his way to stack the deck in favor of Manhattan Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg's false criminal case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly falsifying business records.  Merchan was allegedly randomly assigned the Trump and Bannon cases by the New York court system.  That is a lie — he was also assigned to the politically motivated cases of Trump CFO on tax fraud as well as his War Room Trump advocate Steve Bannon whom he recently sentenced to 4 months for allegedly lying to Congress.  Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has filed a complaint with the New York State Unified Court System over the claim that Merchan was randomly assigned the case.  "If justices were indeed being randomly assigned in the Criminal Term, the probability of two specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is quite low, and the probability of three specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is infinitesimally small," Stefanik wrote.  "And yet, we see Acting Justice Merchan on all three cases."

A New Era for the DoJ.  The backlash of disgust with all the lawfare will speed Pres.  Trump back to the White House.  Once there, he will have a mandate like no other to the address the cesspools of legal corruption across so many states and cities.  America's possibly worst judge, Juan Merchan, now has a choice.  Give Trump a confinement sentence, home detention, Rikers Island, etc.; or levy a fine, like every other first-time offender of so insignificant a violation receives.  He will probably ask his daughter first, to see what decision will bring in the most money to her consulting business.  It should be noted that Trump was not so attentive, unfortunately, to the appointments he made at the beginning of his first term; none more costly than to the Department of Justice.  Consequently, his own DoJ was eagerly working with the Deep State to frustrate his agenda, while his first AG looked on in bafflement.

The Trump Verdict Indicts an Angry Elite.  The work of Trump's prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, and his judge, Juan Merchan — consistent with their middling legal pedigrees — is shoddy.  Trumping up a charge on a clean man like a legal MacGyver takes talent.  These guys don't have it.  Bragg and Merchan's show trial is hobbled by many grave errors.  Chief among them is that Merchan allowed jurors to disagree on exactly what unlawful conduct Trump supposedly intended to commit or cover up.  Practically, that meant Trump had to put forth evidence that he had no unlawful intent once Bragg produced just enough evidence to convince some jurors of one intent and others of another.  But a prosecutor must bear to the trial's end the burden of proving a defendant's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.  Merchan let Bragg get away with leaving some jurors with reasonable doubt on what other jurors may have thought Trump's criminal intent was and vice versa so that ultimately all jurors could have reasonable doubt yet still convict.  That's an unconstitutional outrage.

The Editor says...
The jury system in America is becoming one of its weak links.  The prosecution doesn't have to prove anyone's guilt — all they have to do is convince the jury to find him guilty.  So the most gullible dunces in the jury pool are selected, and after a few days of small-town theater in the courtroom, the verdict is delivered.  The outcome depends far more upon the performances of the lawyers than the quality of the evidence.

Jesse Watters: "There is Something Very Fishy About How Judge Merchan Came to Preside Over This Case".  The Gateway Pundit reported that GOP Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) filed a misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the "random" assignment of far-left radical and conflicted Judge Juan Merchan to Trump's NYC 'hush money' trial.  Stefanik announced, "I just filed an official misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the "random" assignment of Acting Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan, a Biden donor whose daughter is fundraising millions off his unprecedented work, to criminal cases against President Donald J. Trump, his companies, and his allies."  Stefanik is not the only one raising questions about the "random" assignment of crooked Judge Juan Merchan as the judge to oversee the Trump Bragg case.

Did Judge in Trump Case Violate Constitution With His Jury Instructions?  These Attorneys Think So.  Defense attorney Randy Zelin and former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore said on Friday that Judge Juan Merchan violated the U.S. Constitution with his instructions to the jury in former President Donald Trump's trial.  Merchan instructed the jury that it is not a requirement for them to be in unanimous agreement about what "other crime" Trump committed, instead receiving a choice of three separate crimes they can select to convict the former president.  The two attorneys on "CNN Special Report" said Merchan's jury instructions were flawed to the point that an appeals court could conceivably overturn the conviction.  "I hate to do this, but I would be remiss if I didn't," Zelin said.  "Whether you are driving in a Ford or a Ferrari, if someone gives you bad directions, you're going to end up lost.  And those jury instructions were just a complete, just take the Constitution, throw it out a window, burn it, shoot it, and hang it."

Cruz: Juan Merchan 'Has Diminished the Credibility of Every Judge in America'.  Thursday, immediately following the Trump guilty verdict, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on Newsmax TV to criticize the court for its handling of the case.  He called it a "grotesque abuse" of the justice system and warned that New York Judge Juan Merchan "diminished the credibility of every judge in the country.  [Video clip]

The Merchan Scale.  [Scroll down]  That wasn't Trump's problem in the case in New York.  That was straight-up Bolshevism on display.  A judge instructing the jury that they didn't have to reach a unanimous conclusion on every count?  In front of the cameras and everything?  That is just flat-out amazing and a level of judicial malfeasance that requires it's own scale.  On a scale of 1-10 of judicial malfeasance, that's somewhere in the 12 or 13 range, requiring a different scale all together, the Merchan Scale of judicial malfeasance.  When a judge has gone completely off script and began making up his own laws right in the courtroom, one must be rated on the Merchan scale that starts at 3 and goes to 15, because, on the Merchan Scale, there is no innocence.  That is just an archaic principle used way back in say 2015, before Trump had all of the rules of judicial practice altered to fit the level of lawfare they intended to use against him from 2015 to the present.

Judge Merchan's Instruction to the Jury Will Leave Your Jaw on the Floor.  Fox's John Roberts has since issued an update to his original "smorgasbord" interpretation of Judge Merchan's instructions.  He posted, "It is more nuanced than that.  All 12 need unanimity that Trump committed a crime.  But the underlying unlawful means is a smorgasbord they can pick from — and they don't all need to agree on what it was."  [Advertisement]  What this means is that there must still be a unanimous guilty verdict, but the jurors do not have to be unanimous about what the actual offense was.  There are three to choose from, and all 12 jurors don't have to agree, just so long as there are 12 votes overall.  I'm told that's New York law in these cases.  Even with this correction, none of the underlying problems with the case against Trump have changed.  There's still no crime that the prosecution has defined, there's still no magic math that lets two misdemeanors add up to a felony, and there's still no getting around Merchan allowing the prosecution to do almost anything while shackling Trump's defense.

Four-Four-Four.  The more time we have to look through Judge Juan Merchan's byzantine jury instructions in Donald Trump's "hush money" trial in Manhattan, the worse they look.  The vague nature of the instructions has even led to disputes among legal analysts who have struggled to make sense of the case from the beginning.  At Townhall, our colleague Matt Vespa has a good rundown of one of the most glaring problems with the instructions.  The judge gave the jurors the unheard-of option of picking any one of three crimes that were "concealed" by the entry of "false business records" and said that all twelve of them didn't necessarily have to agree on which of the three crimes was committed.  In other words, he appears to be opening the door to a conviction without a unanimous finding by the jury.  Matt warns that we "should be prepared for a conviction."

Stefanik Complaint:  Judge Merchan Was 'Intentionally Selected' To Ensure Trump Is Convicted.  Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., has submitted an official misconduct complaint to the New York State Unified Court System regarding the allegedly "random" selection of Juan Merchan as the judge over the ongoing case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, she announced Tuesday evening.  [Tweet]  Her complaint comes toward the end of a criminal trial in which Trump has faced 34 felony charges stemming from accusations that he instructed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay "hush money" to pornographer Stormy Daniels to conceal an alleged past affair.  Trump is accused of falsifying financial records by failing to label these payments as campaign expenses, an absurd allegation given that labeling such payments as campaign expenses would have been illegal.  [Advertisement]  Stefanik's complaint pertains to Merchan's assignment to three separate criminal cases related to Trump, including his ongoing criminal trial, the previous trial against the Trump Organization, and the upcoming trial against Trump ally Steve Bannon.  The New York State Unified Court System's rules state that criminal cases are assigned to judges randomly, but Stefanik doubts this rule was followed in Democrats' lawfare crusade, which has proved to be their top 2024 campaign strategy.

Judge In Trump Case Issues Unbelievable Jury Instructions.  Legal minds are beside themselves at how the judge in the Trump 'hush money' case has instructed jurors to rule — first in what constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley called "the coup de grace instruction," Judge Juan Merchan said that there is no need to agree on what occurred — and can disagree on what the crime was among the charges.  "Merchan just delivered the coup de grace instruction," Turley wrote on X.  "He said that there is no need to agree on what occurred.  They can disagree on what the crime was among the three choices.  Thus, this means that they could split 4-4-4 and he will still treat them as unanimous..."

Justice Merchan gets even sleazier.  New York State Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg's trial of President Trump over a bookkeeping issue is getting sleazier now that Bragg's case is starting to fall apart, giving the Red Queen of the Alice In Wonderland story a run for her money.  At issue now are his instructions to the 12-person jury as it goes into deliberations, telling them that they don't need to agree about what the supposed 'underlying' crime of Donald Trump was that would make his hush money payment to porn "star" Stormy Daniels a felony, which is the legal basis for turning the bookkeeping issue into a 34-count felony.  They just need to think that Trump was thinking about commiting a crime when he signed off on the check and what that crime was can be anyone's guess.  But no matter:  Sentence first, verdict later.

Corrupt Judge Says Jury Can Convict Trump Without Agreeing on Crime.  Closing arguments in former President Donald Trump's Manhattan "hush money" trial begin today, and the judge gave the jury the green light to convict him without agreeing on the underlying 'predicate' crime he committed.First, into the legal weeds:  Trump's being charged for labeling "hush money" payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels as "legal fees." That alone is just a misdemeanor crime, and the statute of limitations has already expired. [...] Judge Juan Merchan sided with the prosecution and ruled that the jury does not need to agree on the alleged felony in order to find Trump guilty.

An Illegal Alien Car Crash That Never Made The Papers.  I was talking recently to a cop in a small town in a northern state.  The town has a lot of immigrants (both legal and otherwise) who work in local area farms.  He told me they had a 16 year old illegal Guatemalan kid who crashed into a parked car while driving drunk.  In an effort to get away, he sped off at high speed and managed to smash into a house.  He was arrested and dragged off to jail.  Well, he had his trial a few months ago, and the defense attorney was quick to tell the judge to please reduce the charges against the kid because he was in the country illegally and a conviction would reduce his possibility of being granted amnesty or political asylum.  (Lots of judges — and prosecutors — are willing to listen to that argument.)  The kid's illegal alien mother was with him there in court too. The case never made the papers because of the kid's status as a youthful offender.  He likely didn't have a driver's license, was drinking underage, was drinking and driving, causing an accident, fleeing the scene of that accident, and causing another accident.  For all this, he may not be punished.  Illegal alien privilege!

The Editor says...
Both the defendant and his mother should have been deported as soon as their attorney spilled the beans about their immigration status.  If the defendant is afraid of being deported, he should have considered that possibility before driving like a maniac.  His mother should have explained their situation to him.  Judges need to stop feeling sorry for illegal aliens.

Biden's New Nominee Is the Absolute Worst, and Ted Cruz Is Having None of It.  Federal magistrate judge Sarah Netburn is one of those judges who probably has ordinary Democrats doing face-palms so hard that you can see perfect fingerprints embedded in their foreheads.  Naturally, Presidentish Joe Biden has decided what Netburn really deserves is a promotion to a U.S. District Court — and Sen Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was having none of it in Netburn's confirmation hearing on Wednesday.  [Advertisement]  Before we get to that, though, a few words about the oh-so-very woke Judge Netburn.  In 2022, Netburn found herself hearing the transfer request of William McClain — and this is where any questions about Netburn's fitness to serve are all answered with a hard NO.  McClain had pled guilty 30 years ago — in two separate cases — of molesting a nine-year-old boy and raping a 17-year-old girl.  Released all too soon in 2009, McClain broke his parole and was sent back to prison, only to be released again in 2014.  McClain was arrested and convicted of distributing violent child [pornography] just one year later.

The Editor says...
The article above includes a video clip of Senator Ted Cruz excoriating the nominee and exposing her as a far-left politically-driven hack who should not be a judge anywhere, at any level.  Not in this country.  The video is well worth your time.

Top Dem Hakeem Jeffries Sent Over $1.4 Million to Trump Trial Judge's Daughter's Home.  Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has sent over $1.4 million to Loren Merchan, according to investigative reporter Laura Loomer.  Merchan is the daughter of the judge overseeing Democratic District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg's election interference prosecution of Donald Trump in Manhattan, Juan Merchan.  "Hakeem Jefferies is a client of Judge Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, and has sent her over $1,428,879.99 in payments to her PERSONAL RESIDENCE!" Loomer posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Sinking the Republic.  The trial going on in New York is a classic example of what we all have coming in the years ahead.  The judge, Juan Merchan, when asked to recuse himself due to conflicts of interest simply declared himself "not conflicted" despite the fact that his daughter is raising money for Democrat candidates on the basis of her father putting Trump in jail.  That is authoritarian rule and while the communists in the media scream about the threat of Trump imposing authoritarian rule should he be re-elected in November, they are completely happy with authoritarian rule when it's imposed against their political enemies.

Jonathan Turley Questions Why Judge Who Donated To Biden Was 'Hand-Picked' For Trump Trial.  George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that the judge in the Trump business records trial violated ethics rules with his donation to President Joe Biden's 2020 election campaign, and questioned why he was presiding over the case at all.  Merchan made a $15 donation to Biden's election campaign in 2020, a $10 donation to a group called "Stop Republicans" and a $10 donation to a "Progressive Turnout Project," according to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Turley said that the small size of the donation was irrelevant.  "It is very clear, they say you can't make political contributions and he did," Turley said on "Fox and Friends" after co-host Ainsley Earhardt mentioned the donations.  "And the fact it is 'de minimus' or small, really, I think, misses the point.  You make donations to show your support, that is what that $15 did."

What if Justice Merchan has been compromised?  Given what we know about what has been going on in Justice Juan Merchan's Manhattan courtroom, including the preposterous, over-the-top bias of this judge for the prosecution and his overt antipathy for the defendant, Donald Trump, what explains his willing destruction of his own reputation as a judge?  Each and every legal scholar who has weighed in on the course of the trial, from Alan Dershowitz to Jonathan Turley and countless others, (with the exception of those paid by CNN and MSNBC) is gobsmacked by Merchan's thoroughly unconstitutional rulings, gag orders, contempt charges, exclusion of practically every witness with relevant testimony for the defense, and his allowance of non-relevant witnesses like Stormy Daniels. [...] We've known for years now that our judicial system has been corrupted, transformed into an extension of the Democrat party by President Obama and Joe Biden, but Justice Merchan has taken their unscrupulousness to a wholly new and shocking level.

Tom Fitton: 'Caution' Letter Proves Judge Merchan's Ethics Violation.  The judge now infamous for his role in the politically charged New York case against Donald Trump reportedly received an official "caution" for his ethics violation.  Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton cited the as-yet-unreleased caution letter to Judge Juan Merchan as proof of the latter's ethical failure.  While a sitting judge, Merchan reportedly donated to Democrats, including Donald Trump's current Democrat presidential opponent Joe Biden.  The latest news is that Merchan was officially cautioned over this ethics failure.  Fitton had originally posted back on May 6, 2023, "Judges are prohibited under ethics rules from donating to political campaigns and organizations.  Accordingly, there are legitimate concerns about Judge Merchan's reported political contributions while a sitting judge to Biden and Democratic causes."  Merchan is a dedicated Democrat, it would seem, indicating political bias in the trial of GOP frontrunner Trump.

Federal Judge Rules Against ICE's 'Knock-And-Talk' Tactics to Arrest Illegal Immigrants.  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can no longer use knock-and-talk tactics to arrest immigrants, according to a ruling from a federal judge this week.  "Considering the policies and practices governing how ICE conducts its 'knock and talks,' the more accurate title for certain law enforcement operations would be 'knock and arrests,'" said U.S. District Judge Otis Wright, a George W. Bush appointee.  The knock-and-talk maneuver relies on an administrative warrant enacted in-house by ICE, which skips the due process of establishing probable cause and obtaining a judge's signature.

A judge ruled that tacos and burritos are sandwiches.  If there's one thing you can count on, it's that people will never tire of arguing about what does and doesn't constitute a sandwich.  A judge in Fort Wayne, Indiana, contributed to the ongoing debate on May 13 by ruling that tacos and burritos are indeed sandwiches after a years-long court case, WISH-TV reports.  "Tacos and burritos are Mexican-style sandwiches," Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig J. Bobay wrote in his ruling.  The legal case started in 2022 when restaurateur Martin Quintana announced plans to open The Famous Taco Mexican Grill in a Fort Wayne strip mall.  The local planning commission rejected Quintana's bid, citing a prior agreement that only restaurants selling "made-to-order or subway-style sandwiches" without outdoor seating or alcohol would be permitted, CBS 4 reports.

Trial Judge's Daughter Helped Campaign to Kick Trump Off Colorado Ballot.  They aren't even trying to HIDE the corruption in New York.  After all, nobody will call them on it until an appeals court reverses a conviction against Trump in the New York fake hush-money case.  [Tweet]  It had been revealed earlier that Judge Merchan's daughter was making bank off the trial, and now a Post Millennial report outlines how Loren Merchan has been working to destroy Donald Trump for months and making a pretty penny in the process.

Oklahoma Judge Accused of Shooting at His Brother-in-Law's Home.  An Oklahoma judge awaiting trial for allegedly shooting at parked vehicles and rear-ending a woman in Texas now faces charges in his own state, accusing him of shooting into the home of his brother-in-law six months before the road-rage incident.  Garfield County Associate District Judge Brian Lovell, 59, was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday on two felony counts involving a drive-by shooting into a home, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced.  Convictions would be penalized by no less than two years in prison, according to the indictment.

DPS charged hundreds of migrants who rushed a border gate with rioting.  A judge threw out the charges.  Twice in recent months, hundreds of migrants have rushed a border gate in El Paso in an effort to push past state troopers and National Guard and get into the U.S.  The Texas Department of Public Safety responded by arresting hundreds of the migrants en masse on misdemeanor rioting charges.  Now that strategy is being tested in local courts.  Earlier this week, a judge in El Paso dismissed 211 of the rioting cases related to one incident; the same judge had previously dismissed 140 other cases from another border-rushing incident — those cases were revived when the local district attorney took the unusual step of presenting the misdemeanor cases to a grand jury, which indicted all the migrants.

Judge Arthur Engoron Under Investigation for Allegedly Receiving Unsolicited Advice Before Fining Trump $454 Million.  Judge Arthur Engoron is now under investigation after claims surfaced that he received unsolicited advice from a prominent New York City real estate attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, weeks before ordering former President Donald Trump to pay a hefty $454 million judgment.  This investigation by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct seeks to determine whether Engoron violated judicial conduct rules, NBC New York reported.  In March, Engoron ordered Trump to pay more than a $355 million fine and barred Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years."  Trump was also required to pay interest on the penalties, bringing the total amount to $454 million.

Johnson: Merchan not 'serious judge' after threatening Trump with jail time in election year.  House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., blasted Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday for fining former President Trump 10 times for gag order violations during an ongoing presidential campaign.  Merchan is presiding over Trump's hush money case in New York.  "The judge, who is a well-known Democrat, is pursuing an indefensible gag order on President Trump.  Now, just think about that.  Think about the magnitude of that.  He's trying to override President Trump's constitutional right to defend himself against the constant smears of his political opponents, in an election year," Johnson said during a news conference on Tuesday after a House GOP conference meeting.  "You cannot call yourself a serious judge and threaten a presidential candidate with jail time when he defends his reputation in public in the middle of a campaign.  And I think everybody of good conscience understands that," he added.

Democrats are Silencing Voices of Opposition.  In the 'Hush Money' trial, which began on March 25, Democrat Judge Juan M. Merchan cited Trump's prior comments about him and others in the case in granting the prosecution's request for what it termed a 'narrowly tailored' gag order barring Trump from making certain out-of-court statements.  Prosecutors cited what they called Trump's 'long history of making public and inflammatory remarks' about people involved in his legal cases when it asked for the gag order.  Further damaging Trump's ability to campaign and raise funds, Judge Merchan ruled that Trump must be in court when it's in session.  Merchan gave a warning "...that if Trump disrupts the proceedings, he could face jail time."  In what has to be the greatest case of chutzpah ever, Marchan said, "There's no agenda here.  We want to follow the law.  We want justice to be done.  That's all we want."  He also said he is certain of his "ability to be fair and impartial."  He said that despite the facts he's contributed to Democrats and his daughter is a party consultant.

The leftist credentials of a Seattle judge who gave a pass to illegal acts.  The facts aren't complicated.  On January 6, 2024, a huge number of pro-Hamas protesters blocked I-5 in Seattle.  Clearly acting on the orders of local elected officials, the state troopers did nothing to clear this conduct, which is illegal on its face as well as being an act of domestic terrorism.  Instead, they just waited it out.  After the fact, law enforcement officers combed through social media posts about the event to identify participants.  Eventually, they filed criminal trespass and disorderly conduct charges against six of the participants.  Nevertheless, attorneys for the I-5 Six argued at the defendants' arraignment (the formal charging proceeding) that using social media was an improper form of suspect identification for three of the six named defendants.  This is nonsense.  If the photos from an event in a public place show that these defendants were among engaged in illegal acts, that's sufficient for the charges against them.  Judge Andrea Jarmon, however, accepted the defense argument and dismissed the criminal trespass charges.  (The prosecution has not dropped the charges.)

This Is The Judge That Just Dismissed All Charges Against The Communist Morons Who Blocked a Major Highway In Seattle.  This is Judge Andrea Jarmon in Seattle.  She just dismissed ALL criminal trespass charges against half of the pro-Palestine activists who blocked the I-5 for 4 hours.  Jarmon sided with the defense attorneys, suggesting it was wrong of state patrol to recognize the suspects from social media.  [Video clip]

Harmeet Dhillon Reveals Judge Juan Merchan's Sneaky Move To RIG Trump's Trial.  In an explosive appearance on the Megyn Kelly Show, Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney closely associated with former President Donald Trump's legal affairs, vehemently criticized Judge Juan Merchan's conduct in Trump's ongoing hush money trial.  Dhillon has been actively involved in high-profile legal cases, such as defending Project Veritas and participating in election integrity efforts during the 2020 presidential election.  According to Dhillon, Merchan has made the controversial decision to exclude campaign finance experts from testifying, a move she argued could unfairly impact the trial's outcome.  As the case is set to resume Tuesday in Manhattan, concerns over judicial fairness have intensified.  Dhillon described the situation that has been compromised by biased judicial oversight.

The D.C. Court's fiendish plan if the Supremes overrule J6ers' 1512(c)(2) convictions.  [Scroll down]  You may have noticed that what you're seeing is an order, meaning it comes from the judges.  However, the D.C. judges haven't impressed anyone as a particularly intelligent bunch.  They are ideologues.  That's all.  That's why I keep throwing in the DOJ when I discuss this issue.  I'd bet good money that the bright minds in the Democrat party, both in the DOJ and among the Democrat cadre of lawyers who lurk behind the scene, are the ones who came up with this idea.

Judge Shoots Down Effort to Identify FBI, Undercover Police on Jan. 6.  A federal judge in Washington D.C. has denied seven motions from a defendant seeking to identify FBI agents in Jan. 6 crowds and gain access to undercover videos shot by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, at least one of whom incited the crowds at the U.S. Capitol.  In a 22-page order, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled against William Pope on a range of motions filed in his Jan. 6 criminal case since May 2023.  Judge Contreras partially granted a government cross-motion to modify the evidence protective order in the case.  "I now have the most restricted discovery access conditions of any Jan 6 defendant," Mr. Pope wrote on X.  "All I'm asking for is a fair fight in court, but he's denying me rights to defend myself Pro Se that aren't denied to attorneys," Mr. Pope told The Epoch Times in a statement.

Judge Juan Merchan's 'Manifestly Unfair' Gag Order on Trump Comes Under Serious Legal Scrutiny.  A gag order that severely limits what former President Donald Trump can say publicly about a case where a Democrat district attorney is seeking to put him in jail was the focus in court on Tuesday as part of the business records trial he faces in Manhattan.  Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of violating the gag order 11 times for allegedly attacking witnesses and other members of the court — even if they have attacked him.  [Advertisement]  [Promotional video]  New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case and who imposed the gag order, could fine Trump up to $11,000.  As examples of attacks, Bragg's team cited in an April 1 filing some of Trump's posts on Truth Social, including one in which Trump called on Merchan to recuse himself from the case, and called him "biased and conflicted."

Judge Who Ruled to Disbar Ex-Trump Lawyer Exposed as Democrat Donor.  Investigative journalists with the Georgia Star News revealed that California Judge Yvette Roland, who recently recommended the disbarment of former Trump lawyer John Eastman, donated substantial amounts of money to leftist organizations and candidates, despite attempting to claim impartiality in the case.  Since becoming a judge, Roland has made five partisan donations totaling $594, according to records by the Federal Election Commission.  Prior to that, during the 2008 campaign, she made nine donations to the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee totaling $7,078 while working as a lawyer at Duane Morris LLP.  Last year, Roland donated $500 to a Democrat PAC called Newsom for California Governor 2022, which then passed all of its earnings — about $23 million — to a super-PAC called Campaign for Democracy Group.

NYC Man Convicted Over Gunsmithing Hobby After Judge Says 2nd Amendment 'Doesn't Exist in This Courtroom'.  A Brooklyn man has been convicted of 13 weapons charges after having been arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms.  Dexter Taylor's ordeal could become a landmark Second Amendment case in light of the Bruen ruling handed down in the same year.  The jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, violation of certificate of registration, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.  Two lesser charges, including third-degree criminal possession of three or more firearms and third-degree possession of a weapon, were not voted on.  Taylor, a 52-year-old New York native and a software engineer, discovered the world of gunsmithing years ago.  He decided to take it up as a hobby and possibly turn it into a business later.  However, when a joint ATF/NYPD task force discovered he was legally buying parts from various companies, they opened up an investigation that led to a SWAT raid and arrest.  He is currently being jailed on Rikers Island as he awaits sentencing.

Black Robe Cannot Hide That Juan Merchan Is Deep Blue.  Juan Merchan, the Manhattan judge presiding over the convoluted case concocted against Donald Trump, contributed small amounts of money in the 2020 cycle to Joe Biden, the Progressive Turnout Project, and another group called Stop Republicans.  His 2024 in-kind contributions to both Biden and Stop Republicans dwarf the minimal amounts donated four years ago.  One surmises these campaign gifts vastly exceed the limits allowed by law.  This raises serious questions about the state judge flouting the federal campaign finance laws that the trial he oversees accuses the defendant of violating.  Some people do not get their own irony.  "I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states, North Carolina, Georgia campaigning," Trump told the media at the courthouse Tuesday morning.  "This is all coming from the Biden White House because the guy can't put two sentences together.  He can't campaign.  They're using this in order to try to win an election."

Judge in Trump Hush Money Case Has an Odd Way to Determine a Juror's Impartiality.  It is the weakest case against the former president, but like the bogus civil fraud case, it's one where Trump could get screwed.  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is arguing that Trump's hush money arrangement with adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels, a supposedly critical piece of information for the wider public in the lead-up to the 2016 election.  The former president is accused of falsifying records in what essentially is a super-sized campaign finance violation.  It's also a charge that district attorneys seldom bring to court.  Those who do are rare cases, and in most cases where jail time was handed down, the sentence was no more than a month.  No jurors were selected yesterday, though around 100 were rejected due to partiality concerns.  That was then, today, Judge Juan Merchan approved of a juror who reportedly posted a video of what is alleged to be an anti-Trump event in 2020.  Judge Merchan looked into the eyes of this juror who thought "she could be fair."  Six jurors were selected for this circus today.

Judge Allows Juror Who 'Celebrated Trump's Loss in 2020' to Stay in Pool.  New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan reportedly allowed a juror who celebrated former President Donald Trump's 2020 loss on social media to remain in the jury pool.  Trump's unprecedented trial began Monday morning with jury selection, the first day of a process that could span two weeks.  The trial could last until June.  During Tuesday's jury selection, Trump's defense attorneys tried to prevent a potential juror from staying on the case because she celebrated Trump's 2020 loss, Fox News reported.  "They wanted to have a peremptory challenge to excuse the juror because they thought that she said she could be impartial, but had social media posts that apparently had her celebrating Trump's loss in 2020," Trace Gallagher reported, "and so they challenged her.  The judge said, 'Nope, she can be impartial.  She stays.'"

Trump Lawyer: 'Extremely Improper' that Judge in Trump Criminal Case Is a Biden Donor.  The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's New York criminal case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is a Biden donor, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.  Discussing the case involving Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records in relation to a "hush money" payment made to Stormy Daniels, Binnall reminded listeners that the entire case "is based on the word of Michael Cohen," an "admitted perjurer."  "That's the kind of the best they have.  That's what they're building their case around is someone who... has lied to courts and factually, this case is just absolutely baseless," he said, reminding listeners that Judge Merchan is a Biden donor.

Report: Donald Trump to Sue Judge Juan Merchan in Gag Order Challenge.  Former President Donald Trump will reportedly sue New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan in an appeals court to challenge his sweeping gag order.  Merchan, who is presiding over the New York criminal case, imposed a gag order on Trump after news surfaced about a connection between Merchan's daughter and conspiracy theorist Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).  Trump believes Merchan should recuse himself, citing a conflict of interest regarding his daughter's position at a Democrat consulting firm that supported President Biden's 2020 campaign.

Judge Reggie Walton: Political Speech Commissar.  Reggie Walton was hopping mad — again.  During a court hearing last year, Walton, a 75-year-old senior judge on the U.S. district court in Washington, fumed over an interview an individual named Daniel Goodwyn had given to then Fox News host Tucker Carlson to describe the government's harsh treatment of January 6 defendants.  Goodwyn, a Texas man who suffers from autism spectrum disorder, entered the Capitol building on the afternoon of January 6 and remained inside the doorway for less than a minute.  Goodwyn committed no violence, destroyed no property, and assaulted no one.  Nonetheless, FBI counterterrorism agents arrested Goodwyn in January 2021; the Department of Justice indicted Goodwyn the following month on felony obstruction and four common misdemeanors.  He pleaded guilty to one low-level trespassing count in December 2022.  But Goodwyn's real crime, according to Walton, was appearing on a cable show hosted by the most influential commentator on the Right a few months earlier.

Donald Trump is demanding a new judge just days before the start of his hush-money criminal trial.  Former President Donald Trump is demanding a new judge just days before his hush-money criminal trial is set to begin, rehashing longstanding grievances with the current judge in a long-shot, eleventh-hour bid to disrupt and delay the case.  Trump's lawyers — echoing his recent social media complaints — urged Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to step aside from the case, alleging bias and a conflict of interest because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant.

Trump's Judges Aren't Using Legal Reasoning.  Even if you don't happen to be a lawyer, law professor or legal scholar, it isn't hard to see a big problem with many of the published decisions made by judges who are hearing defense arguments and motions made by President Trump, in the continued "lawfare" cases being used by the DNC (not the United States) to persecute him financially, and block him politically.  There are a number of these judicial positions that are out in the press.  I'd like to focus on just one:  the most recent case in Georgia involving free speech.  I'm not going to write up a "case review" that is readily available from several professional critics involving substantive and procedural law.  What I want to point out here, rather, is that the government's case, and the judge's opinion stemming from it, rest on systematic logical fallacy.

Alvin Bragg's 'hush money' case:  No due process and a judge whose objectivity is highly suspect.  From the second it was filed, it was clear that Alvin Bragg's indictment against Donald Trump for the payments he made to Stormy Daniels was a due process disaster.  The complaint alleges legal conduct and then concludes that this legal conduct constituted illegal action of an undisclosed nature.  The case should have been tossed instantly.  But now that we know that the judge trying the case has deep Democrat ties and is trying to prevent Trump from exposing those ties, it's becoming clear why it's proceeding to trial.

El Paso Judge Orders Release Of Migrants Who Stormed Texas Border.  On Easter Sunday a magistrate judge in El Paso, Texas, ordered the release of migrants who were charged with rioting after a large group stormed the border, tearing down razor wire and clashing with members of the Texas National Guard in the process.  Presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta delivered the ruling after accusing the El Paso District Attorney's office of failing to prepare properly and thus not being ready and "not being ready to proceed with detention hearings for each defendant," The El Paso Times reported on Sunday.

Dem clients of daughter of NY judge in Trump hush-money trial raised $93M off the case.  Two major Democratic clients of the daughter of the judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush-money trial have raised at least $93 million in campaign donations — and used the case in their solicitation emails — raising renewed concerns that the jurist has a major conflict of interest.  Trump's attorneys are considering filing another motion demanding Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan recuse himself from the trial set to begin April 15, sources said.  The judge's daughter, Loren Merchan, is president of Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm whose top clients include Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was the lead prosecutor in Trump's first impeachment trial, and the Senate Majority PAC, a major party fundraiser.

Ties Between Judge Merchan's "Child" and Adam Schiff Represent Major Conflict in Hush Money Trial.  After months of making accusations and conducting Congressional inquiries related to Trump's July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — a conversation Democrats described as a "quid pro quo" attempting to trade military aid for an investigation into the Biden family's corrupt business deals — [Representative Adam] Schiff and six other Democrats delivered articles of impeachment to the Senate in January 2020.  That same month, Schiff's campaign committee paid a new Chicago-based consulting firm $600,000 for digital media buys presumably to spread the word via email, text, and social media/online advertisements that the California congressman planned to oust Trump.  The firm, Authentic Campaigns, is headed by Loren Merchan, the 34-year-old daughter of the New York judge now overseeing the so-called hush money case against Trump. [...] Contrary to hand-wringing assertions that the former president and his allies are unfairly "attacking" Judge Merchan's "child," Loren Merchan's lucrative contracts with some of Trump's most prolific enemies are fair game.

Even Senate Democrats Are Objecting to Biden Judicial Nominee With Ties to Terrorists and Cop Killers.  Adeel Abdullah Mangi is a Biden administration judicial nominee to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  They have been trying to push him through the senate confirmation process for months, but Republicans have blocked the nominee because he has ties to people who were in the domestic terror group the Weather Underground and other radicals, including cop killers.  Now even senate Democrats are objecting to Mangi's nomination, meaning that the Biden administration should probably stop wasting everyone's time with this.

Biased Federal Judge Handling January 6 Cases Goes on CNN to Rip Trump in Unprecedented TV Interview.  In an appalling violation of the code of ethics, US District Judge Reggie Walton went on CNN to speak publicly about pending legal matters.  Judge Walton, a Bush appointee, spoke with CNN's Kaitlan Collins Thursday evening about threats he has received after he called Trump a "charlatan" and rendered excessive punishment to J6 defendants.  "I've had more threats than what used to be the case," the judge said referring to a January 6 case he oversaw.  Even Kaitlan Collins conceded that it is "rare that we get to hear from a sitting federal judge."

Judge overseeing NY hush money trial imposes gag order on Trump.  The New York judge overseeing former President Trump's hush money trial imposed a gag order on Trump on Tuesday, preventing him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors and others during what is slated to be the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president.  Judge Juan Merchan's order still enables Trump to publicly attack the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).  But it prevents the former president from making public statements about witnesses, other prosecutors, court staff and their family members "if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with" the case.  "The uncontested record reflecting the Defendant's prior extrajudicial statements establishes a sufficient risk to the administration of justice," Merchan wrote in his four-page ruling.

Judge Dismisses Elon Musk Lawsuit over Nonprofit's Coverage of X Speech Policies.  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit leveled by Elon Musk's X against the Center for Countering Digital Hate over its critical coverage of the alleged rise of content deemed hateful on the social-media platform.  "Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation," District Judge Charles Breyer wrote in the order.  "Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose.  This case represents the latter circumstance.  This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech."  The judge argued that the lawsuit unfairly targeted the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate following its reports on the rise in allegedly racist, antisemitic, and extremist material on X since Musk's acquisition.  The lawsuit had accused the organization of violating the company's terms of service when it documented these incidents.  X said the reports were misleading and were fueling negative attention that was costing the company significant advertising revenue, specifically tens of millions of dollars, according to the damages outlined in the lawsuit.

Tipping the Scales of Justice to the Left?  The Federal Judiciary's New 'Guidance' for Assigning Cases.  Chief Justice John Roberts has explained that Congress created the Judicial Conference just over a century ago to help ensure the "efficient administration of justice in the courts" and to create "managerial policy for the Judiciary."  But surely Congress never intended for the conference to engage in politics by trying to circumvent statutes that Congress itself drafted and that the president signed into law governing how the judiciary should operate.  Yet that's exactly what happened last week when the conference adopted and distributed its updated "Guidance for Civil Case Assignment in the District Courts."  This innocuous-sounding name masks the true intent behind the Judicial Conference's problematic political play.  Essentially, by adopting this new policy, the Judicial Conference has sought to silence criticism from those on the Left, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and in the process, has done Schumer's dirty work for him.  All of this stems from several recent decisions in high-profile cases where certain judges have ruled against the Biden administration.

Judge Tosses Challenge, Upholds Law Allowing 'Noncitizens' To Vote In DC.  A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit challenging a District of Columbia law allowing "noncitizen residents" to vote in local elections.  Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, found that a group of seven citizen plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the legislation.  Their lawsuit against the D.C. Board of Elections, filed on March 14, aimed to block the 2022 law passed by the Council of the District of Columbia.  They argued that "noncitizens" do not have a fundamental right to vote in the United States and that allowing them to cast ballots and hold office in the District of Columbia dilutes the votes of U.S. citizens.  "It follows from our national independence that United States citizens have a right to govern, and be governed by, themselves.  The constitutional right to citizen self-government, moreover, has been recognized in repeated holdings of the Supreme Court of the United States," their complaint reads.  "Nor does any noncitizen have a constitutional right to govern the United States," the complaint adds.  The group argued that the Supreme Court has recognized and protected these rights against infringement in "multiple precedents."

Ketanji Brown Jackson is a fascist who should be removed from the Court.  Ketanji Brown Jackson, is concerned the First Amendment is "hamstringing the government."  That's a 5-alarm fire of a pull-quote from a sitting Supreme Court justice, and she should absolutely be impeached and removed from the Court over it.  I'm as serious as a heart attack here.  Nearly every sentence of this single thought of hers adds up to textbook fascism, (a hybrid economic system in which the private economy exists but under strict state regulations, and must give way to the national interest, which is whatever the government says it is.) [...] Really?  Your biggest concern is how the First Amendment hamstrings... the federal government?  No, honey.  No.  Your biggest concern should be the federal government hamstringing the First Amendment.  You have it exactly backwards.  The "charter of negative liberties" is exactly that for a reason, intentionally crafted to restrict the government's ability to deprive the people of their essential liberties.  The entire point of the Bill of Rights is to "hamstring" the federal government; how does she not understand this down to her bones?

Sen. Kennedy Humiliates Another Biden Judicial Nominee.  United States District Judge Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois, who has been nominated by Joe Biden for a spot on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, had previously signed a brief supporting a ban on "assault weapons" in Illinois state courts in the 2010s, yet, when he asked her to define "assault weapons," she couldn't.  "You said, 'assault weapons may be banned because they're extraordinarily dangerous and are not appropriate for legitimate self-defense purposes,'" Kennedy said.  "Tell me what you meant by assault weapons."  "Just to clarify there, I was local counsel —" Maldonado said[.]  "But you wrote the brief, tell me what you meant by assault weapons," he pressed.  "Senator Kennedy, I actually I did not write the brief.  The brief was written by —"  "You signed the brief, though, didn't you?"  "Correct, I signed the brief," she conceded.  "When you sign a brief you're testifying to the court that everything in it is true, right?"  Maldonado also agreed with Kennedy's characterization that as far as the court is concerned, since she signed the brief, the words were hers.  "Tell me what you meant by assault weapons," Kennedy said.  "So, I am not a gun expert," Maldonado responded.

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Radical Judge Engoron Punishes Trump More, Orders Court to Oversee Organization's Finances for 3 Years.  Not content with slapping former President Donald Trump with almost half a billion dollars in fines for a "crime" in which there were no victims, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Thursday that the court will effectively take over the Trump Organization.  At least, that's how it reads, seeing as Trump will have to disclose his every financial move to his government overlords. [...] Who will be monitoring the operations of the multi-national real estate conglomerate?  An experienced businessperson?  A financial expert?  No, it will (continue to) be another judge: [...] That already sounds like enough, but there's even more.  The court has to be notified of just about every piece of paper shuffled during the workday: [...]

Texas immigration law blocked again, just hours after Supreme Court allowed state to arrest migrants.  Hours after the Supreme Court gave Texas officials permission to jail and prosecute migrants suspected of crossing the U.S. southern border without authorization, an appeals court late Tuesday blocked the state from enforcing its controversial immigration law known as SB4.  In a late-night order, a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel dissolved a pause that it issued in early March to suspend a lower court ruling that found SB4 to be unconstitutional.  The order reinstated a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra, who concluded in late February that SB4 conflicted with federal immigration laws and the Constitution.

Obama-Appointed Judge Rules Illegal Immigrants Can Carry Guns in the U.S..  U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, appointed by Barack Obama, ruled that an illegal immigrant has the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  This ruling came about in the case of Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who faced charges under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), a federal statute that prohibits noncitizens without legal status in the U.S. from "possess[ing] in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce."  Carbajal-Flores, who has been living in the United States illegally, was charged after he was found to be carrying a gun in Chicago during the civil unrest in the spring of 2020.

Illegal Immigrant Can Carry Guns:  Federal Judge.  An illegal immigrant was wrongly banned from possessing guns, according to a recent ruling.  A federal law, Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, bars illegal immigrants from carrying guns or ammunition.  Prosecutors charged Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, the illegal alien, in 2020 after he was found in Chicago carrying a semi-automatic pistol despite "knowing he was an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States."  U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman rejected two motions to dismiss, but the third motion, based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, triggered the dismissal of the case on March 8.

San Francisco man who stabbed Asian woman, 94, multiple times gets probation after soft-touch judge was told he'd suffered 'trauma'.  A San Francisco man who stabbed a 94-year-old in the street has avoided jail after being sentenced to probation and a 'behavioral and mental health treatment program.'  Daniel Cauich stabbed Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant Anh 'Peng' Taylor multiple times in San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill neighborhood in broad daylight in June 2021.  The senseless attack was caught on camera and sent shockwaves through the city during a period of increased attacks on Asian Americans.

Judge Scott McAfee Gives Option:  DA Fani Willis or Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade Gotta Go — But McAfee and His Wife Donated to Willis, So....  Judge Scott McAffee and his wife previously donated to the campaign of Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, so the decision today doesn't exactly come as a surprise.  Judge McAffee doesn't want to be the white guy who removes the black district attorney.  So, instead he outlined all of the malfeasance, impropriety, lack of judgement, corruption and poor conduct, then tells the DA either her office or the special prosecutor she appointed needs to be removed.  Heck, it's almost as if McAffee is auditioning to be the next House Speaker.  But seriously, what level of judicial cowardice is needed to decline to remove the DA yet recommend a host of regulatory agencies to review and do the dirty deed, so he doesn't have to?

Judge McAfee's Decision: 'Appearance of Impropriety' to Persist.  Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee found "that the evidence did not establish the District Attorney's receipt of a material financial benefit as a result of her decision to hire and engage in a romantic relationship with Wade.  This finding is by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney's testimony during the evidentiary hearing."  Further, Judge McAfee determined that "even after considering the proffered cellphone testimony from Defendant Trump," — implicating Willis and Wade in several late-night encounters during a period both Willis and Wade have denied any romantic involvement — "along with the entirety of the other evidence, neither side was able to conclusively establish by a preponderance of the evidence when the relationship evolved into a romantic one."  Still, "an odor of mendacity remains."  Judge McAfee acknowledged an estimated benefit of $12,000 to $15,000 to Willis, arising from financial exchanges with Wade.

McAfee Splits the Fani Baby?  Judge Scott McAfee has just released his much-anticipated ruling on the disqualification motion involving Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, and the prosecution of Donald Trump et al in Fulton County, Georgia.  Faced with an absurd set of explanations, courtroom deceit, and obvious political grandstanding from Wills and Wade, McAfee decided to ... leave the decision to her: [...] McAfee tries to eat his cake and have it too when it comes to Fani Willis.  On page 9 of his ruling, McAfee calls the relationship "a tremendous lapse in judgment" and Willis' courtroom behavior "unprofessional," before leaving it up to her whether she wants to keep the case: [...] And even more hilariously, McAfee then declares that Willis has created at least "an appearance of impropriety" that must be ameliorated, and that Wade clearly intended to deceive the divorce court about the nature of his relationship with Willis — presumably with Willis' help, since she refused a subpoena service and threatened to prosecute Joycelyn Wade for obstruction if she pursued the subpoena.  McAfee then goes on to declare Terrence Bradley a liar, and that he's not the only one: [...]

Georgia DA Fani Willis can remain on Trump election fraud case — if special prosecutor Nathan Wade steps aside, judge rules.  District Attorney Fani Willis can stay on and prosecute the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election — if special prosecutor Nathan Wade steps aside, a judge ruled Friday.  Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued the decision after deliberating for two weeks following testimony from Willis, Wade and others close to them.  Just hours later, Wade stepped off of the Trump case "in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible," according to his letter of resignation shows.  In the decision, McAfee noted that the defense had produced evidence of "a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team."

Fani Willis Judge:  Sure, There Was Lying, Conflict, 'Odor of Mendacity,' But Hey, It Could be Worse.  By now you've heard that Fani Willis has not been booted from what's left of the RICO election case against President Trump and more than a dozen other defendants. [...] Judge Scott McAfee, who stands for reelection in mere weeks, was right to have stopped everything to hear arguments on motions to dismiss and others because Fani Willis was having an affair with the arguably unqualified special prosecutor, her boyfriend, Nathan Wade.  The defendants alleged she derived some financial benefit from the arrangement and spoke out in public about her prejudices against the defendants to taint the jury pool and by all appearances suborned perjury, but no biggie.  On the way there was clearly suborned perjury, tales of lavish vacations, sudden spates of bad memories, lying to the court, no receipts for money swapping with Wade, and bizarre behavior by the imperious Willis.  Doesn't everyone keep $10,000 in cash in their homes and recompense lovers in cash without any proof?

Why [a] Georgia Judge Won't Disqualify Fani Willis.  Any rational person familiar with the behavior of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis during the prosecutorial misconduct hearings that finally ended last Friday has probably concluded that her conduct has created the "appearance of impropriety."  This, according to defense lawyers for former President Trump and several co-defendants, is sufficient to disqualify Willis and the Fulton County DA's office from prosecuting the RICO case they launched last August.  Indeed, defense attorney Harry MacDougald cited six examples of actual conflicts of interest, any one of which is sufficient to disqualify Willis and her office.  Yet it's unlikely that it will happen.  Why not?  The decision must be made by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said on Friday that he would rule on the motion to disqualify Willis and her office in about two weeks.  Unfortunately for the defendants, McAfee is a temporary appointee to the bench who must face Fulton County voters for the first time about 60 days after his ruling.

Federal Judge Blocks New Texas Law To Arrest Illegal Immigrants.  This entire thing will end up targeting the People of the united States more than it will anyone suspected of being here illegally.  Soon, and it's pretty close to that now, it will merely be "Show me your papers."  However, a new law in Texas that would allow for the arrest of someone suspected of entering the country illegally was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Federal Judge Blocks New Texas Law to Arrest Illegal Immigrants.  A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a Texas law that grants state police the capacity to arrest people who are suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.  The measure, called Senate Bill 4 and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in December, was slated to go into effect on March 5, but U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled that it violated the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy clause that grants the federal government sole authority over immigration matters.  The judge also rejected Texas's arguments that it was being invaded under the Constitution's Article IV.  In his order, Judge Ezra, a Reagan appointee, said the law would run afoul federal immigration laws and claimed Texas would then be able to "permanently supersede federal directives" and would "amount to nullification of federal law and authority."  According to the judge, that's a "notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War."  As a result, he argued, the federal government would "suffer grave irreparable harm" because other states would be inspired to pass similar measures.

Texas Law Allowing Police to Arrest, Deport Illegal Immigrants Blocked by Federal Judge.  A federal judge on Thursday blocked a Texas law that would have empowered local and state law enforcement to arrest and deport illegal immigrants who cross the Southern border into the U.S.  The legislation, signed by Governor Greg Abbott in December, was set to take effect March 5. However, U.S. district judge David Ezra ruled that Senate Bill 4 violated the Constitution and prior legal precedent that gives the federal government the sole authority to enforce immigration laws and policies.  Ezra also rejected Texas's claims that the record surge in immigration constitutes an "invasion," which Abbott declared in January under Article I of the Constitution.  "To allow Texas to permanently supersede federal directives on the basis of an invasion would amount to nullification of federal law and authority — a notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War," the judge wrote in his order.

Illinois Judge Kicks Trump Off The Ballot, Says Any Votes For Him Must Be 'Suppressed'.  While outlets like The Washington Post have tried to convince Americans that "Democracy Dies in Darkness," it actually dies in Illinois courthouses where judges whose expertise revolves around parking tickets kick former presidents off ballots.  In the left's latest attempt at election interference, Cook County Judge Tracie Porter kicked former President Donald Trump off the primary ballot on Wednesday — but put her own order on hold because she knows it won't stand.  Porter ruled Trump must be removed from the state's March 19 primary ballot but stayed her own order until Friday pending a likely appeal.  Porter said the quiet part out loud, ruling that the board of elections, which unanimously voted against removing Trump from the ballot, "shall remove Donald J. Trump from the ballot for the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024, or cause any votes for him to be suppressed."  The suit was brought by the left-wing group Free Speech For People, which argued Trump is ineligible based on the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause.  Trump has not been charged with nor convicted of inciting or partaking in insurrection.

Engoron's decision against Trump amounts to an unconstitutional bill of attainder.  Unless the people I'm talking to are lawyers or professional historians, I've discovered that mentioning the words "bill of attainder" receives, at best, blank looks and, at worst, an irritated request for more information, typically of the form "what [...] is that?"  Even lawyers often get a distant look as they struggle to remember the details of a concept that dates back to the 14th century.  Yet so common was the bill of attainder in British history in pre-modern times that it was a fairly normal way of dealing with the rebellious — or, indeed, just those whom the authorities found uncongenial.  And so much did the Founding Fathers dislike its use that they deemed it important enough to have its own mention in the Constitution, which expressly forbids it under Article I, Section 9, Clause 3: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."  But what is this strange creature?

Disturbing new details emerge on St. Louis black female judge who let "killer driver" go free on $20k bond.  By now, you might have heard the horrific news:  a mother and daughter were tragically killed in a crosswalk, leaving a Drake concert in St. Louis.  They were hit by a Jeep speeding at about 70 mph as they were exiting the venue.  The driver, identified as Monte Henderson, has shockingly been released on bond.  This has sparked a flood of questions about the judge who decided to let this alleged perpetrator walk free on just a $20,000 bond.  The revelations about this judge are likely to stir up anger and calls for her immediate removal from the bench.  The whole situation is deeply troubling. [...] The truth of the matter is that she represents the typical left-leaning "activist judge," who prioritized the Soros-backed "soft on crime" agenda over common-sense law enforcement and the safety of citizens from dangerous lunatics.

The Editor says...
The perpetrator is black, the judge is black, and the victims were white.  That's the story.  If the colors were reversed, there would be rioting in the streets.

Illinois judge expelled from bench for shocking reversal of teen sex assault conviction.  The Illinois judge who reversed a teen's sexual assault conviction in a shocking move that sparked nationwide outrage has been expelled from the bench.  Robert Adrian will no longer serve as a judge after the seven-member Illinois Court Commission removed him from the bench Friday for reversing the conviction of Drew Clinton, then 18, at his January 2022 sentencing hearing.  Adrian had found Clinton guilty of sexually assaulting Cameron Vaughan, then 16, while she was unconscious at a 2021 graduation party.  However, when it came time to sentence the convicted sexual predator, the judge had a sudden change of heart.  Adrian testified that he felt Clinton — having already served nearly five months in county jail while his case worked its way through the court system — already served his punishment.  But the judge was not following the law, which states that the conviction carries a mandatory sentence of at least four years and he would be required to impose the term.

New York's Trump Fraud Findings Refute Judge's Conclusions.  [Scroll down]  Notwithstanding that New York, for the above reasons, has no valid claim on behalf of itself or any of the lenders for common law fraud and misrepresentation, New York is claiming under a state statute that some immaterial mistakes or misrepresentations justify recovery, not for the banks, but for the benefit of the state of New York, of all gains or profits that the borrower may have made on each project where claimed illegality may have occurred.  All of this results, notwithstanding that the lenders suffered no financial or other loss, were not fraudulently induced to do anything, and were aware and comfortable with the notion that the banks are totally responsible for performing their own due diligence, securing of their own appraisals, and developing their own valuations.  In the Trump case, that approach has led to a claim that New York is entitled to recover for its own account (not for the account of any lender) the sum of at least $355 million, apparently just to teach Trump and others a lesson.

New York Judge Merchan in Upcoming NY Trump Criminal Case Is Rabid Leftist Who Donated to Democrats.  Leftist judge Juan Manuel Merchan, who will oversee President Trump's junk criminal case in New York City that is scheduled to start next month on March 25, made political contributions to a nonprofit fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and progressive groups.  This latest election interference case by the radical Democrats involves a payment Trump made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.  Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought by far left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.  Judge Merchan sent President Trump's former 75-year-old CFO to prison for five months last year in a made-up tax fraud scheme targeting President Trump, his family, and his business.  This is the latest case against Trump by New York Democrats, who are hoping their lawfare cases keep President Trump out of the White House.

Judge Overseeing Trump's Georgia Case Donated To Fani Willis Campaign Prior To Appointment.  Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case against former President Donald Trump, made a small donation of $150 to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' campaign prior to his appointment.  McAfee, who was sworn in on Feb. 1, 2023 after being appointed by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, made his donation in June 2020 while still working as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to financial disclosures.  He will soon have to decide whether Willis should be disqualified over allegations that she financially benefited from appointing her romantic partner, Nathan Wade, to work on the Trump case.  McAfee also formerly worked under Fani Willis when she led the complex trial division in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, according to the New York Times.

Private Equity Fund Manager Announces He "Will NOT Waste Time" Researching New Business Opportunities in New York After Engoron Ruling.  On Friday, far left Judge Arthur Engoron fleeced $355 million from President Trump for taking out loans in New York State and paying them back on time and with interest.  The charges were brought against Trump by crazed New York State Attorney General Letitia James.  There were no victims in the so-called crime.  The banks did their due diligence before they loaned Donald Trump the money and testified they would gladly do it again.  Judge Engoron called this a crime and ruled that President Donald Trump owed the state $355 million.  But that's not all.  As Volokh Conspiracy reported Engoron also put a Clinton-appointed judge in control of Trump business empire in New York State.

Judge Rules Trump Must Pay Over $350 Million In Civil Fraud Case.  Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Friday that former President Donald Trump must pay over $350 million in damages.  Engoron also barred Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years," according to the 92-page ruling.  His ruling follows an 11-week trial on the lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging Trump perpetuated years of financial fraud to gain benefits while building his business.

Criminals in Black Robes.  In Hawaii, a man named Christopher Wilson was charged with a felony for violating three gun laws, but the charges were dismissed by a Hawaii circuit court in 2022.  The court reasoned that the charges against Wilson violated his right to bear arms, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution.  Recently, however, the circuit court's ruling was reversed by the Hawaii Supreme Court. [...] Without a doubt, however, many other states will soon adopt the Aloha standard, and our law schools will incorporate the doctrine in their curricula, along with coursework on micro-aggressions, DEI transgender rights for toddlers, and climate-friendly cuisine.  To me, these Hawaii justices are no more than thugs, and should be treated as such.  Unfortunately, we see criminals in black robes every day and, were we to add in the many corrupt prosecutors who choose the cases heard by justices, we could probably fill a good-sized auditorium with them.

Obama Judge Denies Dr. Peter Navarro's Request to Stay Out of Prison Pending Appeal.  A federal judge on Thursday denied former Trump aide Dr. Peter Navarro's request to stay out of prison pending a decision from the appellate court.  US District Judge Amit Mehta said Peter Navarro must report to prison pending his appeal unless the DC Circuit Court of Appeals blocks his order.  "Defendant's cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a 'substantial' one," Mehta wrote in Thursday's order, according to The AP.

Initial 3-Judge Panel Within DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Rules Against Presidential Immunity.  Three judges from the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals have denied the immunity request from President Trump.  In a rather stark decision reached by the panel[,] "We have balanced former President Trump's asserted interests in executive immunity against the vital public interests that favor allowing this prosecution to proceed," the court wrote in its ruling Tuesday.  "We conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation."

Appeals Court Stacked with Biden Judges Denies Trump Immunity in Jack Smith's DC Case.  A federal appeals court stacked with Biden judges on Tuesday denied Trump immunity in Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6 DC case.  Trump is expected to speedily ask the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.  In the meantime, the March 4 trial date for Jack Smith's DC case has been postponed.  The three-judge panel for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Trump immunity claims:  Florence Pan (Biden appointee), Michelle Childs (Biden appointee), and Karen Henderson (George W. Bush appointee).

The Beltway Judge Hearing Trump Cases and Her Anti-Trump, Anti-Kavanaugh Husband.  [Scroll down]  Although the back and forth between Pan and Sauer was inconclusive as to the question about a president's criminal liability, many mainstream outlets misconstrued the exchange while lionizing Pan for posing a question that they then used to advance their description of Trump as a lawless menace.  The exchange, which Pan prompted when she posed the pre-arranged hypothetical at beginning of the hearing, has raised new questions about the impartiality of judges hearing politically charged cases.  For months progressives have been insisting that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any case that involves Trump because of his wife Ginni Thomas' political involvement and participation in the events of Jan. 6.  Those same interests have yet to express similar worries about Pan's objectivity, despite her husband's longtime political activism and current opposition to another Trump presidency.

Verdict Delayed in Trump Civil Fraud Trial as Judge Engoron Weighs Lifetime Business Ban.  The verdict in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in Manhattan that could see him banned for life from doing business in New York has been delayed until mid-February, according to a court spokesperson.  Justice Arthur Engoron said during the trial's closing arguments on Jan. 11 that he hoped to make his final decision by Jan. 31 in a much-anticipated verdict that could, in addition to hitting the former president with a lifetime business ban, see him fined $370 million.  After the tentative Jan. 31 deadline came and went without a verdict, a spokesperson for the New York State Office of Court Administration, Alfred Baker, said that the judge is now expected to deliver his decision in early to mid-February.

Bombshell Discovery Could Save Trump $83.3 Million in Carroll Case.  Let's recap:  It appears the judge in this case, Lewis A. Kaplan, worked with Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, and officiated at her wedding.  Carroll's other lawyer was also a law clerk for Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.  That Lewis Kaplan didn't reveal these conflicts of interest is enough for him to face major consequences, but clearly, he should have recused himself from the case.  Habba is calling on the judge to confirm or deny the associations.

Update:
UPDATE: Trump's Lawyer Walks Back Conflict-of-Interest Accusation in Carroll Case.  After pushback from E. Jean Carroll's lawyer, Trump lawyer Alina Habba walked back her earlier claim that the judge had a conflict of interest in the case.  [Tweet]

The Death of Citizenship.  [Scroll down]  The most egregious example is the disproportionally harsh treatment of the non-violent protestors on January 6, 2021 as compared to the lack of prosecution and leniency shown toward de facto allies of the Marxist-controlled Democrat Party.  A leniency exemplified by the lack of prosecution of those who throughout the spring and summer of 2020 sowed death, destruction, looting, and arson throughout the nation.  In today's America not all citizens are equal under the law.  Additionally, activist federal judges habitually overturn legislation they find contrary to their left-wing political beliefs, willfully impose their cultural beliefs on American society, and inject themselves in congressional redistricting to benefit the Democrat Party.  They do so in the unconcerned knowledge that they are cancelling the votes of untold millions of American citizens.

Alabama judge arrested, charged with spending public funds on sofa, alcohol, trips.  An Alabama state judge has been arrested and charged with using taxpayer money to fund personal purchases and vacation trips, the state's attorney general announced Monday.  Circuit Judge Gilbert Self, 61, of Florence, Ala., faces 16 counts of using his public office for the personal gain of himself or family members, as well as counts of making false representations to accountants and of perjury, according to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

The E. Jean Carroll case against Trump shows our morally corrupt legal system.  The headline is that a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in her defamation claim against Donald Trump.  What's behind the headline is infinitely more important, for it shows how America's leftist-run judicial system works.  I should explain that I come with a strong bias to this matter.  I worked as a litigator for almost thirty years in the San Francisco Bay Area.  That experience left me with an abiding hatred for leftist judges.  They routinely showed themselves to be disinterested in law and facts.  Instead, they used their powerful positions to dispense "justice" — only their idea of "justice" was whatever comported with leftist ideology.  That meant that landlords lost, banks lost, insurance companies lost, and anyone else whom the judges didn't like lost — and they lost for dishonest reasons.  I never minded losing a case I knew was weak; I resented losing a good case, and I became conservative for that reason.

Report: Judge Threatens Trump Lawyer With Jail Time During Trial.  The judge presiding over the defamation trial brought against former President Donald Trump reportedly threatened his attorney, Alina Habba, with jail time during closing arguments Friday.  U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Habba she is "on the verge" of spending time in jail if she continued to talk out of order, according to Politico legal reporter Erica Orden.  "You are on the verge of spending some time in the lockup.  Now, sit down," Kaplan said, according to Orden.  [Tweet]

California Crazy:  Woman Who Stabbed Date 108 Times, Killing Him, Gets Only 100 Hours of Community Service.  I live in California and frequently write about its crime problems stemming from disastrous progressive policies like Proposition 47 — which changed a slew of offenses from felonies to misdemeanors — and woke George Soros-backed district attorneys like LA's George Gascón.  But even my jaw dropped when I heard about this judge's decision in Ventura County.  Bryn Spejcher, now 33, got high on marijuana in 2018, stabbed her boyfriend over a hundred times, knifed her dog and then herself, and yet received no jail time because defense experts deemed that she experienced "cannabis-induced psychosis" — a conclusion which the judge amazingly agreed with.  To put it bluntly, this is absolute lunacy.

America in January of 2029.  Over the past half-century, the federal judiciary has increasingly assumed the role of being the last line of defense in upholding the Constitution and the delineated rights of every American.  Thus, the Democrats have been singularly focused on transforming the federal judiciary.  That resolve has culminated in both Obama and Biden appointing radical left-wing judges during their twelve years in office.  The unabashed lawfare directed at Donald Trump is a manifestation of their increasing success.  There are 667 District Court judges in 94 districts who resolve disputes and conduct trials.  Currently, there are 339 serving judges who were appointed by Democrat presidents.  There are currently 58 vacancies of which at least two-thirds or more will be filled by Biden and the Democrats before the end of the year.  Therefore, by January of 2025 there will be at least 380 serving judges (or 57%) appointed by the Democrats.

E. Jean Carroll Admits to Deleting Evidence Under Subpoena — Clinton Judge Kaplan Rushes to Her Defense!  President Trump appeared in court on Wednesday as E. Jean Carroll testified in a trial where the jury will decide how much Trump has to pay for his so-called 'defamatory' statements about her.  Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, previously ruled that Trump is liable for defamatory statements he made about E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape.  In 2019, E. Jean Carroll alleged Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.  Trump has denied the allegations and called E. Jean Carroll a "whack job" who's "not my type."  Under cross-examination by Trump's lawyer Alina Habba, E. Jean Carroll admitted she deleted emails under subpoena.  Judge Kaplan ran interference for Carroll.  [Tweet]

Obama Judge Rules Soros Prosecutor Refusing To Do His Job is "Protected First Amendment Activity".  During the COVID lockdowns, church and synagogue services, and political protests (against the lockdowns, but not BLM riots) were deemed not to be protected First Amendment activities.  Free speech on the internet?  Definitely, not a protected First Amendment activity when it involves "misinformation".  But Hamas supporters blocking bridges and airports is protected First Amendment activity.  What about a prosecutor announcing that he won't do his job?  You may remember the case of Gov. Ron DeSantis suspending Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren, a Soros DA, who pledged not to enforce the law and prosecute crimes involving abortion or transgender sexual mutilation.  Now Jill Pryor, an Obama judge, signed her name onto a ruling claiming that Warren was engaging in "protected First Amendment speech".

Judge blocks Trump from making his own closing statement in NYC civil fraud trial.  Donald Trump won't deliver his own closing statement at his New York civil fraud trial after all — after the judge said he needed to stick to "relevant, material facts."  Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron emailed Trump attorney Christopher Kise Wednesday saying he was assuming the 77-year-old former president wouldn't agree to the "lawful limits" and "therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow."  Kise first notified the judge in a January 4 email that after the lawyers give their arguments in the $370 million case on Thursday, "President Trump plans to present argument at closing as well," court records show. Andrew Amer, a lawyer with the New York Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting the case, opposed allowing Trump the chance to speak, warning that he "is prone to giving irrelevant speeches, lacks self-control, is evasive in responding to questions and has repeatedly violated court orders for which he has been sanctioned."

Leftist Judge Strikes Blow To Election Integrity In Wisconsin With Ballot 'Curing' Decision.  A far-left, Madison-based judge has struck another blow against election integrity in battleground Wisconsin, a swing state expected to play a pivotal role in deciding November's presidential election.  Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen, who previously served as Democrat Gov. Tony Evers' top attorney, sided with the leftist League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in a ruling that would allow local elections officials to correct — or "cure" — absentee ballots with missing or incorrect information.  The ruling, issued Tuesday, collides with the conservative Waukesha County Circuit Court opinion in 2022 that found Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) guidance allowing "curing" of absentee ballot envelopes defied state election law.  Judge Michael J. Aprahamian at the time prohibited WEC "from providing any advice or guidance that municipal clerks or other local election officials have the duty or ability to modify or add information to absentee ballot certifications."

America's judiciary is quietly receiving 'training' from leftwing climate group.  With Enlightenment came secularism, with secularism came relativism, with relativism came leftism, and with leftism comes judicial activism.  No longer are Western courts viewed as a place of arbitration based upon absolute Judeo-Christian morality and standards of justice, but a vehicle to enact revolutionary change, where fairness and righteousness are in the eye of the executor.  According to a new report published by Fox News today, America's judiciary has been quietly receiving climate change arbitration "training" from a "little-known judicial advocacy organization" financed by "left-wing nonprofits." [...] When you have a group of people who don't believe in the foundational values of America, this is what you get — a covert operation to transform what ought to be an unbiased and nonpartisan apparatus into a biased and partisan one.

'Under the United States'....  The Colorado Court claimed that the [14th] Amendment was "self-enforcing."  This means that they completely ignored the plain language of the Amendment.  Section 5 says, "The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."  One of the key principles of legal interpretation is, expressio unius est exclusio alterius (the expression of one thing means the exclusion of others).  In short, as Justice Antonin Scalia noted in his book A Matter of Interpretation (2018), this is the commonsense way to read the law.  Section 5 says Congress has to enforce Section 3.  It is not self-enforcing.  Scalia is in good company here.  Not one member of the Congress that wrote the 14th Amendment is on record to suggest that it was self-enforcing.  They were all agreed with the need for Congress to flesh things out by statute.  Strike one.  The second issue is insurrection.  Logically, Donald Trump, the sitting president, could not commit insurrection against himself.

Michigan Supreme Court rejects bid to take Trump off primary ballot.  The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt to remove former President Trump from the state's primary ballot under the 14th Amendment's insurrection ban.  A liberal-leaning group had appealed a state appeals court ruling that concluded, regardless of whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office, Michigan's secretary of state lacks the legal authority to remove him from the ballot.  The state's highest court, controlled by Democrats, let that lower ruling stand, saying in an unsigned order that it was "not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court."  The decision hands a legal victory for Trump as his lawyers seek to stave off 14th Amendment lawsuits filed across the country, aimed at preventing the former president's return to the White House.

Biden's DOJ instructs immigration judges to loosen restrictions on child migrants.  The Biden administration is instructing immigration judges to loosen restrictions on migrants under the age of 21 for not appearing in court, according to a recent federal memo.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) memo directs judges to handle cases involving migrants below the age of 21 with less scrutiny and give them second chances if they fail to show up to their court appearances as part of a new "juvenile docket" for such cases, according to the memo, which was issued Dec. 21.  The number of unaccompanied migrants crossing the southern border continues at record highs in recent years, according to the Congressional Research Service.  "This [Executive Office of Immigration Review] memo is just another way for the Biden administration to further their agenda of dismissing cases and avoiding removals for illegal aliens, instructing immigration judges to be more like counselors than an enforcer of the laws that Congress wrote," Ira Mehlman, who works for Federation for American Immigration Reform in America (FAIR), told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Colorado's partisan Supreme Court strikes again.  A high-stakes legal drama unfolded last week when the Colorado Supreme Court delivered an unprecedented, narrow 4-3 decision disqualifying Donald Trump from the presidential primary ballot.  But nothing will change:  Trump will still be on the ballot.  The Colorado justices undoubtedly know the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn their ruling — one seemingly rooted in politics, not the Constitution.  Thus, they stayed their own decision until the state's Jan. 4 ballot certification deadline.  The pause will extend indefinitely once the Trump campaign files its Supreme Court appeal.  Of course, if Trump secures the nomination, he won't win Colorado, where he lost by nearly 14 percentage points in 2020.  Let's be real:  Colorado's grandstanding display of judicial activism amounts to a symbolic gesture.  It's a suspenseful narrative, but one with a foregone conclusion.

Signs From the Far Left That the Colorado Supremes Stepped in It.  It has been a whirlwind few days since the Colorado Supreme Court took a plunge off of the progressive cliff and booted Donald Trump from the state's GOP primary ballot.  In the first 24 hours or so after the ruling, reaction predictably broke along party lines.  The rabid, Trump-hating Left was ecstatic, of course.  Even Republicans who aren't Trump fans thought the court had severely exceeded its authority.  Everyone immediately became a legal expert and opinions were flying like Frisbees at the beach. [...] I've said since January 6, 2021, that anyone who calls what happened that day an insurrection is an unhinged liar.  Trump couldn't have participated in an insurrection because there was no insurrection.

Four Fascist Colorado Judges Tell Voters Who to Vote For.  Let's remove the fact that this insurrection accusation against Trump is objectively laughable.  Former President Donald Trump has not been convicted of anything, much less insurrection.  Insurrection is a crime.  You cannot be guilty of insurrection until a jury finds you guilty.  Nevertheless, these four black-robed fascists ruled against a former American president as though he were a convicted criminal.  These fascists punished a man who, according to our sacred Constitution, is presumed innocent.  Whether we are talking about a former president or a convicted three-time felon who now stands accused of a fourth felony, before a jury rules, it is un-American for anyone to punish either as though they are guilty.  Four State Supreme Court judges blithely ignoring that basic Constitutional protection is nothing less than the stuff of banana republics.  What's more, in this particular case, Trump is not the only one suffering at the hands of four belligerents with no respect for the Constitution and Rule of Law.  We The People are being punished.

Here's What You Should Know About the Four Justices Who Deemed Trump Ineligible to Run for President.  Earlier this week, the Colorado State Supreme Court determined in a 4-3 ruling that Trump is ineligible under the 14th Amendment to appear on the ballot in the state.  This nonsensical ruling essentially declares that even though Trump has never been convicted of, much less tried with sedition or participating in an insurrection, he is nevertheless guilty of such.  The ruling is bound to be taken up by the Supreme Court, and experts on both sides of the aisle believe it will be promptly overturned.  But that doesn't change the fact that four justices in the highest court in the state of Colorado voted so egregiously.  But there's something that might explain why.  Of course, the obvious thing is that the justices who sided against Trump were all appointed by Democrats.  But even that doesn't fully explain everything because all seven of the justices were Democrat-appointed.  But, there is something that separately the 4 justices who voted to ban Trump from ballot and the three who didn't.  Three of the four justices who voted against Trump were Ivy League graduates.

Radical-Left Colorado Supreme Court Disqualifies Trump from 2024 Ballot.  As the Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump will not be on the ballot in Colorado in 2024 thanks to their far-left Supreme Court.  The Court dubiously cited Section 3 of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment which states public officials who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against" the US may be disqualified from public office.  Trump did not engage in an insurrection nor has been charged with one.  As TGP readers know, this ruling came in response to a suit brought by the George Soros-funded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW).  CBS News previously reported the group filed its lawsuit against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Trump in September, arguing the 45th president is disqualified from public office under Section 3.

The Colorado Supreme Court 4-3 Decision Is Pure Nonsense.  President Donald Trump was not charged with "insurrection," is not accused of "insurrection," does not fit the complaint under the definitions of "insurrection," and has never been found guilty of insurrection.  The complaint is moot before the court. [...] As long as President Trump appeals the decision to the Supreme Court, the appeals court stays their own ruling — essentially indefinitely.  The Colorado primary ballots printed, and the primary election will be over, before the Supreme Court puts this on their docket.  In addition to the virtual guarantee the high court will overrule this political nonsense, SCOTUS can make the entire issue moot before them by following their own normal schedule for submissions, arguments, deliberation and opinions delivered by the court.  The Colorado appellate court knows this, that's why they put this self-stay into their 4-3 ruling.

'Election Interference': Colorado Supreme Court Removes Trump From Ballot.  The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in an unprecedented 4-3 decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  This is a nakedly partisan, anti-democratic decision that ignores the law and prior precedent.  Under the text and history of the 14th Amendment, as well as court precedent, Trump is not disqualified from running for office for numerous reasons.  First, Section 3 of the 14 Amendment applies only to individuals who were previously a 'member of Congress,' an 'officer of the United States,' or a state official.  Individuals who are elected — such as the president and vice president — are not officers within the meaning of Section 3.  Second, no federal court has convicted Trump of engaging in 'insurrection or rebellion.'  In fact, the Senate acquitted Trump of that charge in his second impeachment.  Third, some scholars assert Section 3 doesn't even exist anymore as a constitutional matter after the Amnesty Acts of 1872 and 1898 — a matter completely ignored by the court today.  Fourth, prior court rulings have held that Section 3 is not self-executing and Congress has never passed any federal law providing for enforcement, meaning that courts such as the Colorado Supreme Court have no legal authority to enforce Section 3.

Why the January 6th Judge That Presided Over Rudy Giuliani's Trial Must Be Impeached.  Judge Beryl Howell had the time of her life presiding over the trial of Rudy Giuliani.  Sitting perched above Courtroom Number 26 of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington D.C., the Trump-hating Obama appointee looked on last week as an unhinged, bias and corrupted jury ordered Giuliani pay $148 million dollars to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shane Moss.  If this ridiculous judgement is not the final proof needed for lawmakers to understand that a D.C. jury is beyond rehabilitation and a D.C. judge is NOT fit to reasonably judge Conservatives or Trump supporters, I do not know what is.

The Editor says...
If the alleged misconduct occurred in Georgia, why was this trial held in the District of Columbia?

Republican Elise Stefanik demands ethics probe into D.C. judge who's ruled in Trump's January 6 case.  Top Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik filed a judiciary complaint accusing the judge in Donald Trump's January 6 case of engaging in 'highly inappropriate political speech.'  The staunch Trump ally and GOP conference chair requested an ethics investigation into D.C. Circuit Court Judge Beryl Howell over her November remarks at the Women's White Collar Defense Gala.  During the address Howell signaled the January 6 Capitol riot had been the result of 'big lies.'

WHAT "Lack of Standing?"  For 207 years, the government didn't block Citizen access to the courts on any "lack of standing" claim.  This practice started in 1992:  Scalia was correct in his opinion concerning that particular case.  But that opinion should never be applied everywhere it has been since.  Sadly, most Americans were never taught anything about the foundations of their freedom.  Twenty-eight years later, more than seventy cases filed across the country in an effort to present clear compelling evidence of blatant election fraud in 2020 were all denied the Right to present evidence in any federal court across the country.  In every case, the federal courts claimed a "lack of standing" on the part of petitioners who filed the cases, as if American voters and taxpayers "lack the legal standing" to present evidence of election fraud or anything else the government does unconstitutionally.

Fulton County judge gives $500 fine, no jail time for rioters who burned down Atlanta Wendy's during BLM riots.  Two of the three suspects accused of setting fire to a Wendy's in Atlanta, Georgia during an infamous Black Lives Matter riot in 2020 have accepted plea deals, according to Fox 5.  Chisom Kingston and Natalie White were both charged with conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree and two counts of first-degree arson.  The pair pleaded guilty to their crimes in a plea deal, according to court records.  Kingston and White have both been sentenced to five years probation, ordered to pay a $500 fine and must complete 150 hours of community service, 11alive reports.  Their trial is set for next week and it's unclear how the plea deals will impact the outcome.  In addition to Kingston and White, John Wesley Wade, 35, was indicted on the same charges earlier this year in January.  All three initially pleaded not guilty and waived their arraignments in March 2022, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

There Are Games Afoot In The Scheduling of Trump's Two Federal Cases.  First Commandment of federal criminal trial practice:  Thou shalt not take deliberate steps to disrupt a federal judge's calendar.  There is almost nothing that will bring a federal prosecutor or defense attorney grief and vituperation more quickly or in greater volume than to deliberately do something that forces a federal judge to alter his or her schedule to accommodate something an attorney has done.  At the top of that list for prosecutors there is probably a new entry now — indicting the highest profile defendant possible in two different courts and then seeking a schedule in the second case that makes it impossible for the earlier-indicted case to proceed as scheduled.  What's happening now with scheduling in the Florida and D.C. cases is that each Judge is playing a game of "chicken" with the other court's calendar.

Judge Chutkan Denies Trump Motion to Subpoena for Missing J6 Records.  Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Special Counsel Jack Smith's case against former President Donald Trump for 2020 election interference, this week denied a motion by the former president to seek materials he said the House Committee investigating January 6, 2021, had not turned over to the National Archives.  On Monday, Chutkan rejected Trump's motion, accusing him of going on a "fishing expedition."

Elise Stefanik Files Complaint Against Judge Overseeing Trump Civil Fraud Trial.  Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik filed a complaint against the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial, calling him out for "inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance," she announced on Twitter Friday.  Stefanik filed her complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, alleging that he is "not honoring [Trump's] rights to due process and a fair trial," according to her tweet.  She pointed to examples of Engoron's "clear judicial bias," including telling Trump's attorney last year that his client is "just a bad guy" who Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James "should go after."  His "bizarre and biased behavior is making New York's judicial system a laughingstock," Stefanik wrote.  "If Judge Engoron can railroad a billionaire New York businessman, a former President of the United States, and the leading presidential candidate, just imagine what he could do to all New Yorkers," she told the commission.

Unhinged Judge Engoron Under Scrutiny for Allegedly Posting Half-Naked Photos of Himself.  In a not-so-surprising twist in the presiding judge's life of the ongoing sham Trump trial in New York City, unhinged Judge Arthur Engoron has taken to an unconventional pastime — posting half-naked photos of himself on an alumni newsletter he oversees.  Research group Marco Polo first reported this revelation.  Engoron, a Wheatley alumnus from 1967, is responsible for curating the Wheatley Alumni Association Newsletter, which updates and connects past graduates with memories, news, and obituaries.  According to a post on Marco Polo's X account, Judge Engoron has used this platform to share more than just school spirit.

Wife of NY judge in civil case against Trump has been attacking ex-president on social media.  It has been revealed that the wife of the judge overseeing the civil case against Donald Trump in New York has been attacking the former president and his lawyer on social media.  Dawn Marie Engoron's posts came just days after her husband, Arthur, expanded a gag order against Trump and his legal team in order to prevent them from speaking publicly against anyone involved in the case.  [Tweet]  Screenshots obtained by investigative journalist Laura Loomer showed that Mrs. Engoron created, liked, and shared a number of anti-Trump posts, many of which were directly related to the trial.

Trump Lawyer Alina Habba:  NY Judge Was 'Definitely Assisting' Anti-Trump Lawyers.  Justice Arthur Engoron was "definitely assisting" the opposing attorneys in espousing anti-Trump sentiments on Monday, former President Donald Trump's lawyer and spokeswoman Alina Habba said during a Tuesday appearance on Breitbart News Daily, outlining the absurdities of the New York civil fraud case while discussing some of the drama around Trump's testimony.  Trump testified at the New York County Supreme Court on Monday and had a back-and-forth with Justice Arthur Engoron, which went viral after the judge reportedly asked Trump's counsel, "Can you control your client?  This is not a political rally."  Trump counsel Chris Kise reportedly responded, "You're in control of the courtroom, not me."  In another viral moment, Habba told Engoron he was there to "hear what he [Trump] has to say" after repeated interruptions.  "I'm not here to hear what he has to say.  He's here to answer questions," Engoron retorted.

7th Circuit:  AR-15s Not Protected by Second Amendment.  On Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned an injunction against Illinois' "assault weapons" ban, deciding that AR-15s are not protected by the Second Amendment.  The preliminary injunction was issued in Barnett v.  Raoul by U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn, a Donald Trump appointee.  McGlynn's decision was appealed to the Seventh Circuit, where a three-judge panel decided 2 to 1 against the injunction.  The three judges were Ronald Reagan appointee Frank Easterbook, Bill Clinton appointee Diane P. Wood, and Donald Trump appointee Michael P. Brennan.

The Editor says...
It's sad that the name of every federal judge must be accompanied by the name of the president who appointed him or her, so we can see if he or she is an activist or an impartial judge.

NY Judge Gags Trump Lawyers from Discussing 'Confidential Communications' of Activist Court Clerk.  New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday gagged former President Donald Trump's legal counsel from discussing his "confidential communications" with staff, including note-passing from clerk Allison Greenfield.  According to a copy of the order published by the Messenger, Engoron ordered, "All counsel are prohibited from making any public statements, in or out of court, that refer to any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me."  [Tweet]  "Serious sanctions" will be brought against the legal team if they violate the order, said Engoron, who is overseeing the civil lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James has brought against Trump and his eldest sons.

Complaint Calls for Trump New York Trial Judge's Clerk to Be Disbarred for Excessive Political Donations.  The top clerk for New York Justice Arthur Engoron, Allison Greenfield, appears to have violated judicial rules preventing officers of the court from making excessive political donations, Breitbart News has learned.  What's more, it appears Engoron was advised of Greenfield's violations in a 72-page complaint addressed to his court via email that was also filed with the New York State Bar Association the same day he decided to issue a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his case currently playing out in Engoron's Manhattan courtroom.  Engoron has subsequently fined Trump a total of $15,000 for two alleged violations of that gag order preventing the former president from criticizing his principal law clerk.

Denver judge overseeing Trump disqualification case won't recuse over political contribution.  On the first morning of a weeklong hearing to determine if Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to appear on Colorado's 2024 presidential primary ballot, the judge overseeing the case rejected Trump's request to recuse herself over a $100 political contribution she made prior to taking the bench.  Scott Gessler, an attorney for Trump, "reluctantly" filed a motion on Saturday seeking Denver District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace's recusal.  Gessler indicated he only learned on Oct. 27 that, prior to her appointment as a judge, Wallace made a $100 contribution to the Colorado Turnout Project.  "Its website proudly proclaims that the group was formed 'shortly after Colorado Republicans refused to condemn the political extremists who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,'" Gessler wrote.  "A contribution to the Colorado Turnout Project shows support for the view that January 6, 2021, constituted an 'insurrection.'"

President Trump Absolutely Destroys Lawless NYC Judge Engoron After Case Collapses.  President Trump used his Constitutional right to Free Speech on Friday to go off on the crooked Judge Arthur Engoron, New York State Attorney General Letitia James for continuing this lawfare suit against President Trump and his family after the star witness testified this week that there is zero evidence that President Trump misrepresented the value of his assets to gain business loans for his company.  There is no victim in this lawsuit.  President Trump paid off each loan and the banks admitted they would readily loan him money for future projects.  Engoron is the same bizarre and unhinged judge who opened the garbage trial against Donald Trump and his business empire by giggling to the cameras.

[A] Democrat-Appointed Colorado Judge [Enables an] Effort to Kick Trump Off [the] 2024 Ballot.  A Colorado judge Friday denied a motion by Donald Trump and the Colorado GOP to throw out a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from appearing on the ballot in Colorado.  The ruling was issued by Judge Sarah Wallace, a Colorado district court judge.  Wallace was appointed to the bench earlier this year by Democrat Gov. Jared Polis.  Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, faces challenges to appear on the ballot in multiple states based on his alleged role in events of January 6, 2021.  Those lawsuits cite the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, which bans those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding public office.  Trump has not been convicted of insurrection and was acquitted by the U.S. Senate of charges of engaging in insurrection.

Why is Alan Colie Still Behind Bars?  A Virginia judge has refused to set aside a bizarre and contradictory finding by a jury in Loudon County, and an armed citizen who was found to be acting in self-defense when he shot a YouTube "prankster" personality who was threatening him at a local mall is still behind bars as a result.  While the jury acquitted Alan Colie on a charge of aggravated malicious wounding last month, jurors also found Colie guilty of unlawfully firing a gun in an occupied building.  That's a felony with a potential five-year prison sentence in Virginia, but it's also an inexplicable decision on the part of jurors.  If Colie was acting in lawful self-defense when he shot Tanner Cook, then how was the discharge of a firearm unlawful?  After the jury's original verdict was returned, Colie's defense attorney asked the judge to strike the charge, but at a hearing late last week the judge refused to do so, meaning that Colie will remain in jail until his sentencing on December 21st.

NYC Activist Judge Fines President Donald Trump $5,000 For Visibility of Tweet Made Prior to Gag Order.  In the New York case against President Trump's business operations, far left Judge Arthur Engoron previously issued a gag order forbidding President Trump from criticism of any court employee.  Today, Judge Engoron levied a $5,000 fine against President Trump because a Truth Social media post made prior to the order was visible on the Trump campaign website.  This judge is nuts.  Literally, nuts.

Judge blocks California school district policy to notify parents if their child changes pronouns.  Parts of a controversial Southern California school district policy that require school staff to tell parents if their child asks to change their gender identification will remain halted after a judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday to block them until a final decision is made in the case.

The Trump gag order should be struck down.  The imposition of a gag order on former President Donald Trump was overwhelmingly applauded by pundits and press alike.  Journalists described the order from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan as "narrow" and "limited."  Most of them lionized Chutkan as an "unflinching" and "no-nonsense" judge who would not tolerate Trump's penchant for personal attacks and reckless rhetoric.  However, this order should concern everyone who values freedom of speech.  While the odds may favor Chutkan on appeal, this order should be overturned as overbroad and dangerous.  For years, many of us have been criticized Trump for his personal attacks on judges and opponents alike.  Undeterred, Trump has continued such inflammatory attacks on "deranged" Special Counsel Jack Smith and the "biased, Trump-hating Judge" Chutkan.  Smith has pushed aggressively for a gag order, even though one of the major issues in Trump's campaign is whether the Biden Administration has weaponized the criminal justice system against him and other Republicans. [...] These orders come at a great cost — limiting both parties and counsels in raising objections to alleged abuses of the government.

Judge Chutkan Releases Official Gag Order on Trump and It's Worse Than We Thought.  Judge Tanya Chutkan released the gag order on Trump and it is worse than we thought.  Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday imposed a gag order on Trump in the middle of a presidential election.  Last month Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to gag Trump.  "The need for the proposed order is further evidenced by a review of the defendant's prejudicial statements in the weeks since the Government initially filed its motion on September 15," Jack Smith's prosecutors wrote in the court filing reviewed by this reporter.

Obtuse, Thy Name is Chutkan.  In one of the most disingenuously undefined judicial rulings in recent memory, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan says President Trump may not "target" a member of the court or prosecution in his rebuke of their official offices against him.  [Exhibit]  Obviously, Judge Chutkan intends to give herself the most latitude possible when defining what terms of speech may end up being considered "targeting." However, criticism is not a possible definition in ordinary parlance.  So, we'll see.  Additionally, Chutkan did not outline what, if any, punishment would be levied in the event she considers any statement to be considered "targeting."

Hate Trump All You Like, The Gag Order Is Still Wrong.  This week, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan overseeing United States v. Donald Trump issued a gag order prohibiting a leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump, from engaging in speech aimed at "government staff," among others, during his trial.  Listen, I understand the disdain some conservatives feel for the former president.  I share the sentiment.  But if you're cheering on a judge who's inhibiting political speech on rickety grounds, you're no friend of the "democracy" or the Constitution. [...] Who is Chutkan to dictate the contours of a presidential candidate's political speech?  What if one of the "participating government staff" or a family member is compromised by partisanship?  Moreover, preemptively suggesting that without gagging, Trump will engage in a "smear campaign" is as prejudicial to the case as any of the inflammatory things Trump has thrown around.  It implies that any accusation now aimed at prosecutors is untrue.

Judge Prohibits Trump From Speaking Out Against Prosecutors, Others.  Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over the case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly interfering in the 2020 presidential election, ordered certain restrictions on what President Trump can say in relation to his case after hearing arguments on the morning of Oct. 16.  Judge Chutkan said she would not impose restrictions on statements he makes about Washington, D.C., or criticism of the government, including the Biden administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, President Trump will be prohibited from posting statements attacking special counsel Jack Smith, his staff, Judge Chutkan's staff and other court personnel, and the families of any of these people.  He is also limited in part about what he can say about potential witnesses; for example, he may make posts about former Vice President Mike Pence, but not in regard to underlying events connected to his case.

President Trump Responds to Obama Judge's Unconstitutional Gag Order.  Earlier today lawless Trump-hating DC Judge Tanya Chutkan hit President Trump with a gag order in his DOJ lawsuit by the Biden regime.  President Trump will be barred from speaking out against Special Counsel Jack Smith, court witnesses and more!  This is complete lawlessness and is meant to silence President Trump as Jack Smith continues to leak to the press on a weekly basis.  This was an unprecedented move by a Trump-hating DC judge who has openly spoken out against President Trump and his supporters.

Beyond Orwell — DC Judge Rules President Trump is Not Permitted to Criticize Trial, Judge, Witnesses or Prosecution.  Yes, DC Judge Tanya Chutkan can decree from her perch that President Donald Trump is not permitted to criticize his persecution, the court, the witnesses who will testify against him or the political prosecution that is targeting the leading 2024 presidential candidate, but executing that decree is another kettle of fish entirely.  It is one thing to decree your control over independent speech, it is another thing entirely to try and enforce that decree.  Thankfully, and standing firm in his position, President Trump said in response he is "willing to go to jail, if that's what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again."

Chutkan's Gag Order Is Pure Gold for Trump Campaign.  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has issued a so-called "limited gag order" restricting what former president Donald Trump can say about his ongoing election interference prosecution in the District of Columbia.  In granting the motion of Special Counsel Jack Smith to silence Trump, Chutkan stated from the bench, "This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses.  This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice."  Judge Chutkan claimed that she was balancing Trump's First Amendment right to free expression with prosecutors' concerns that his frequent social media attacks might intimidate witnesses or imperil the integrity of the court's proceedings. [...] In other words, we won't know exactly what speech Chutkan is forbidding until she files her written order.  But, regardless of its terms, there can be no dispute that her gagging of the leading Republican candidate for the presidency is unprecedented and an alarming milestone on this nation's descent into banana republic status.

Gagging Trump.  Another precedent-setting event related to the criminal prosecution of a former president is scheduled for Monday morning in the federal courtroom of Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington.  Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking Chutkan — an Obama appointee with a record of biased and often inaccurate statements about Donald Trump and the events of January 6 in general — to silence the leading GOP presidential contender on a key campaign issue through the heart of the 2024 primary season.

Biden-Appointed Judge Approves New Mexico Governor's Concealed Carry Ban.  President Joe Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge David Herrera Urias issued a decision Wednesday allowing New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's (D) ban on concealed carry in parks and playgrounds to remain in effect.  On September 13, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Urias granted a temporary injunction against Grisham's September 8, 2023, ban, which prohibited concealed and open carry in larger New Mexico cities like Albuquerque.  The ban applied to licensed concealed carriers, too.  On September 15, 2023, two days after the temporary injunction was granted, Grisham amended her ban on concealed and open carry, saying it applied only to carrying a gun in parks and playgrounds.

DOJ mysteriously pulls invite for Iran-backed Iraqi judge who issued warrant for Trump's arrest.  The DOJ was reportedly set to host an Iranian-backed Iraqi judge who had previously issued a warrant for former President Trump's arrest before backtracking concerning the meeting.  The confab was reportedly set to take place this month.  The warrant was issued against Trump because he ordered the assassination of global terrorist Iranian Qassem Soleimani who was responsible for the killing of over 600 American military personnel.  Fox News Digital reported that a source with first-hand knowledge of pro-Iran regime jurist Faiq Zidan's travel itinerary claims he was scheduled for a sit-down with the Biden Justice Department.  After Fox News Digital communicated with the DOJ, the agency mysteriously decided to withdraw its invitation to Zidan.  [Tweet]

In Her Jan. 6 Courtroom, Judge Who Will Hear Trump's Case Is the Pot Calling the Defendant Incendiary.  At her first appearance in the criminal case against Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan repeatedly warned the former president's lawyers that politics would not be tolerated in her courtroom.  But even as she warns Trump about his "inflammatory" language, Chutkan has routinely issued politically charged rulings and made incendiary statements of her own while presiding over some 30 cases involving Trump supporters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, melee at the U.S. Capitol.  These include her public assertions that the 2020 election was beyond reproach, that the Jan. 6 protests were orchestrated by Trump, and that the former president is guilty of crimes.  She has described Jan. 6 as a "mob attack" on "the very foundation of our democracy." Chutkan's strident language raises questions about her impartiality in handling the case against the presumptive GOP nominee for president in 2024.

Judge Engoron Bars Trump, Trump Family Members From Transferring Assets without Notifying Appointed Court Monitor — Former Clinton Judge Barbara Jones.  Far-left Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron barred Trump and Trump's family members from transferring assets or creating new entities without notifying an appointed court monitor on day 4 of Letitia James' Stalinist show trial.  The independent court monitor, Barbara Jones, is a former federal judge appointed by Bill Clinton. [...] Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last Tuesday that Trump and Trump Org. are liable for fraud.  The judge also ruled that Mar-a-Lago is worth $18 million — of course, no one in the real estate business is buying this.

Biden Judicial Nominee Dreams of a Day Supreme Court Justices Disclose Pronouns in Court.  President Joe Biden's nominee for the federal bench in Oregon dreams of a day when Supreme Court justices disclose their pronouns on legal rulings, a practice he says will show the federal judiciary's "authentic commitment to equity and inclusion."  Mustafa Kasubhai, who currently serves as a federal magistrate, laid out his vision for the usage of pronouns in the judiciary in a 2021 essay, "Pronouns and Privilege." Kasubhai describes his courtroom practice of encouraging attorneys, defendants, witnesses, and jurors to state their pronouns during legal proceedings.  He touts disclosure of his own pronouns (he/him) in the signature line of emails and legal opinions.  It's a practice he hopes will one day be embraced by higher courts.

Judge presiding over Trump's Manhattan civil trial exclusively donated to Democrats.  New York City Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial, has exclusively donated to Democrats, according to a report.  Engoron wields unique authority over Trump's civil fraud case.  It is a jury-free bench trial, with Engoron overseeing it and ultimately determining its outcome and penalties.  New York Attorney General Letitia James wants a $250 million penalty imposed on Trump's businesses after accusing him of fraudulent practices.  Engoron, meanwhile, has shown support for Democrats with his checkbook in the past.

President Trump Is Furious at Judicial Conduct and Activist Judge Arthur Engoron in New York City Civil Trial  There are no elements to this farce of a judicial proceeding which will survive appellate court review.  The entire motive and process is easily identified by any intellectually honest person as a complete sham and legal clown show, intended to advance extreme ideological Lawfare.  President Trump delivered remarks and held an impromptu press conference during the recess of the court.  President Trump is furious at the ridiculous nature of the proceedings and the judicial activism that is on display.  [Video clip]

That's not how it works.  I appeared this afternoon on Fox Live Now to talk about the civil trial of Donald Trump and numerous Trump organizations for allegedly inflating property valuations to deceive banks and insurance companies.  The backdrop to the interview was Trump's statement as he entered court earlier in the day:  [Video clip][...] The judge ordered New York business certificates for numerous Trump entities cancelled.  That alone could have a devastating impact on the businesses.  The current trial is just about the additional penalties sought, including hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and an order barring Trump and his organizations from doing business in New York State.  That would be, as Trump has said, a business death penalty.  This all is egregious.  There is no claim that consumers or banks and insurance companies lost money, or were defrauded out of money.  That may not be an element of the offenses, but if you are going to destroy a massive business built over decades over property valuations without any impact on the public, it's an overreach.  And obviously politically motivated.

Trump Receives Another Dose of Political Persecution from a Democrat Judge.  On 26 September, a partisan Democrat judge in Manhattan determined that Donald Trump and his family business fraudulently inflated the value of his properties and other assets to obtain business licenses over the years.  The decision paves the wave for Trump-hating New York State Attorney General Letitia James (who campaigned on a "get-Trump" by calling him a "con man" and "carnival barker") to determine damages as she has been reduced to prosecuting (suing) Trump and his family for what amounts to a victimless non-crime.  A secondary goal appears to be to destroy Trump's ability to do business in New York in the future because the judge ordered the cancellation of certificates that let some of Trump's businesses operate in New York, as well as the appointment of a receiver to manage the dissolution of those businesses.

Judges are not business experts.  A DNC-affiliated New York judge determined, in a highly irregular summary judgment, that former president Trump's detailed financial valuation statements used to finance or refinance certain real estate and related businesses were overstated, or inflated, and suddenly an area of judicial concern, despite these valuations having been unchallenged and in good standing, in some cases for decades.  Why suddenly now is a judge making such a determination against them, and more importantly, how?  In summary judgments, there can be no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and any such judgment must be made as a matter of law.  In Trump's case, facts were disputed, and no law was followed, while due process was apparently an inconvenience in the court's rush to serve its political masters.

The horrible NY ruling against Trump and the horrible judge who issued it.  It was a given when a judge ruled against Donald Trump on the suit that New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed, alleging that Trump defrauded banks to obtain loans.  The ruling revealed two interesting and important things about how leftists and their fellow travelers use the legal system and about the ideological corruption of leftist judges.  It goes without saying that the verdict was a joke.  The claim was that Trump lied to lenders to get better loan terms.  Interestingly, none of the lenders complained, and Trump paid back every penny.  More than that, commercial lenders have a due diligence responsibility, meaning they're supposed to do their own valuations before lending millions of dollars.  At Trump's level, lying is virtually impossible.  Still, it should have been a big story:  A judge claims Trump committed fraud and banned him from conducting business in New York, the state where most of the properties Trump developed exist.  You'd think that this would have been news fodder for days.

Of Course Judge Chutkan Won't Recuse Herself From Trump's J6 Case.  The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's trial relating to his First Amendment speech on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot refused to recuse herself from the case Wednesday.  But why would she?  An activist judge with an obvious animus against the former president and his supporters would hardly give up the opportunity to preside over the trial of a lifetime.  Trump was indicted by the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) last month for crimes ostensibly related to the Capitol turmoil.  Special Counsel Jack Smith charged the 2024 Republican frontrunner with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against rights, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding, all for raising electoral objections similar to those Democrats have made for decades.

Activist DC District Judge Tanya Chutkan Refuses to Step Down from Trump Case in Washington DC.  This was not unexpected.  For Chutkan to recuse herself she would have to admit "bias."  Judge Chutkan denies she carries bias, ergo she refuses to recuse herself from the Trump prosecution.  Please keep in mind all judges in the DC District expected this.  That's why they sat in the back of the courtroom during the Trump indictment proceedings.  While she worked for Boies Schiller, her firm represented Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS against Congress.  Additionally, Boies Schiller was representing Hunter Biden in his legal defense.  Chutkan is enmeshed in the original Russiagate storyline and the later developing Hunter Biden storyline, in addition to her activist work against the J6 defendants.

Trump Fraud Case:  Democrat Judge, Democrat Prosecutor, Democrat City.  Former President Donald Trump, two of his sons, and two of his employees were found liable for fraud Tuesday in a case brought by an elected Democrat prosecutor before an elected Democrat judge in a staunchly Democratic city.  Arthur Engoron, an elected civil Justice of the New York County Supreme Court, issued a rare summary judgment that concluded that New York Attorney General Letitia James proved her case before the defense mounted its own.  He went further, sanctioning Trump's attorneys and fining them $7500 each for filing repeated motions to dismiss that Judge Engoron decided were frivolous, disregarding the expert opinion of a former judge, filed with the court.

New York Judge Rules Without Trial, Jury or Verdict, That President Trump Must Dissolve All Business Interests in State.  This is John Galt level government targeting.  A New York State judge has arbitrarily ruled, no trial — no jury, that President Trump overvalued his real estate holdings in New York, which means he paid too much in taxes, in order to secure financing and loans.  All the banks and lenders did their own due diligence on the financing.  All operational loans and business loans were paid back.  There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted.  There are no victims of what the State calls "fraud," yet the judge is ruling the Trump organization must dissolve all business interests in the state and exit within 10 days.  New York Attorney General Latisha James campaigned for office with promises to target the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself.  This is malicious lawfare in the extreme.

Cashless bail:  Judge refuses to jail Chicago man accused of shooting dog, having 50-round ammo magazines.  A Cook County judge rejected a prosecutor's request to jail a Chicago man who allegedly shot a dog as a threat to public safety on Monday.  Instead, Judge Mary Marubio sent Darrick Bender, 19, home with a nighttime curfew and orders to stay away from the dog's owners, court records show.  Chicago police initially responded to a ShotSpotter gunfire detection alert in the 5000 block of South La Crosse late Sunday night.  Before they arrived, dispatchers radioed that a 911 caller reported that a man had just shot his dog one address away from where the ShotSpotter indicated a gun had been fired, according to a Bender's CPD arrest report.

In Denying The Meadows Motion To Remove The Atlanta RICO Case To Federal Court The Judge Made Up The Law As He Went.  In reading through the Opinion denying the motion by former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for removal to federal court of the RICO case filed by Fulton County DA Fani Willis, the issue that jumped off the pages of the opinion at me was the number of times the Judge who wrote the order made claims about the law on the removal process that had no citation to authority.  Federal criminal law and procedure is very much a creature of precedent and established practice.  This comes from two realities — replication promotes consistency and predictability, and there are thousands of cases across hundreds of courts that follow consistent and predicable rules and processes on a yearly basis.  Those cases produce a huge volume of reported decisional authority that is the basis upon which future cases are to be governed when the same or similar issues arise in new cases.  That's why federal court written opinions on substantive and procedural issues of law are normally packed with citations to prior cases where the same issues or questions were addressed and resolved.

A judge orders Texas to move a floating barrier that's used to deter migrants between US and Mexico.  Texas must move a large floating barrier that Gov. Greg Abbott placed on the river between the U.S. and Mexico this summer as part of the Republican's escalating attempts to stop migrants from crossing America's southern border, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.  U.S. District Judge David Ezra stopped short of ordering Texas to dismantle the wrecking-ball sized buoys on the Rio Grande but called them a threat to safety and relationships between the neighboring countries.

The Editor says...
Why does the judge want to barrier removed?  Because it works!

Trump suffers big loss in E. Jean Carroll defamation case, judge says he's liable.  A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Donald Trump is civilly liable for defamatory statements he made about writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when she went public with claims he had raped her decades earlier.  Judge Lewis Kaplan, as part of that ruling, said the upcoming trial for Carroll's lawsuit against Trump will only deal with the question of how much the former president should pay her in monetary damages for defaming her.  Normally, a jury would determine at trial whether a defendant is liable for civil damages claimed by a plaintiff.

[The] Judge Who Approved [a] Warrant Allowing Police to Raid [a] Kansas Newspaper [is now] Facing [a] Misconduct Complaint.  The unprecedented police raid on a local Kansas newspaper sparked a wave of criticism across the nation against the apparent attack on the First Amendment.  Members of law enforcement and the prosecutor's office have been facing scrutiny over the raid and the warrant that was signed allowing police to ransack the Marion County Record newspaper's office and that of one of its co-founders.  Judge Laura Viar, who signed off on the warrant, is now the subject of a misconduct complaint.

A judge orders Texas to move a floating barrier that's used to deter migrants between US and Mexico.  Texas must move a large floating barrier that Gov. Greg Abbott placed on the river between the U.S. and Mexico this summer as part of the Republican's escalating attempts to stop migrants from crossing America's southern border, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.  U.S. District Judge David Ezra stopped short of ordering Texas to dismantle the wrecking-ball sized buoys on the Rio Grande but called them a threat to safety and relationships between the neighboring countries.

Tennessee District Attorney Blocked From Enforcing State Law Shielding Kids From Explicit Performances.  A federal judge blocked a Tennessee district attorney from enforcing the state's law shielding children from sexually explicit performances ahead of a "Pride" event after he was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union.  The judge's ruling comes after the ACLU filed a lawsuit this week against Blount County DA Ryan Desmond, who sent a letter to Blount County Pride saying that any explicit performances in front of children would not be allowed at a "Pride" event on September 2 just south of Knoxville.  Video has emerged from "Pride" events across the country of explicit drag performances with children present and looking on.  "It is certainly possible that the event in question will not violate any of the criminal statutes," Desmond said.  "However if sufficient evidence is presented to this office that these referenced criminal statutes have been violated, our office will ethically and justly prosecute these cases in the interest of justice."

Law and Order:  The Post-Constitutional Episode.  When Donald Trump was inaugurated, the city erupted in flames, store windows were smashed, cars were hammered, and protestors attempted to tear down the fence around the White House.  When George Floyd, a man with serious health problems, a long criminal record, and a history of drug abuse, died in custody, Black Lives Matter protests roiled cities with massive destructive protests.  In D.C., without authorization, on her own, the mayor painted a major thoroughfare with a giant "Black Lives Matter" message.  One District Judge was offended by the disparate treatment given these rioters and the draconian measures against the J6 protestors, almost all of whom had only engaged in peacefully seeking contested election results be sent back to the respective states for investigation before the results were certified. [...] She is the judge in the pending case here against Donald Trump.  Julie Kelly, almost singularly, has been covering the preliminary proceedings in this case and it is evident that Judge Chutkan has no interest in conducting a fair trial.  The judge has set a March 4 trial date (the day before Super Tuesday).  This is a time frame that will be impossible for the defense to meet.  For one thing, they've just been handed 12.8 million discovery documents by the prosecution, an amount of material to review and prepare a response to in a time frame which is grossly inadequate.  "DOJ could not name a single case in DC District that went from indictment to trial in 5 months," In fact, numerous J6 defendants have been confined to the DC jail without trial for over two years.  "Chutkan keeps saying case won't go to trial in 2026 and grasping for reasons why.  She continues to hammer Trump's lawyer for not reviewing possible evidence related to an indictment that didn't even exist."

Fani Willis Threatens to Violate Rights of Defendants in Trump RICO Case Because She's Not Prepared For Trial.  Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is now threatening defendants in Trump's RICO case because she is not prepared for trial.  Earlier this month Fani Willis hit President Trump and 18 others with RICO and conspiracy charges for daring to challenge the 2020 election.  A Fulton County grand jury returned a 41-count indictment which included RICO and conspiracy charges against Trump.  There are 30 unidentified unindicted co-conspirators.

Federal Judge Blocks Red State Ban On Drag Shows In Front Of Children.  A federal judge blocked Texas' ban on public drag shows in front of children Thursday [8/31/2023].  U.S. District Judge David Hittner, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, said the law likely violates performers' freedom of speech, according to a court order.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the law on Aug. 2, claiming the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, according to the complaint.

Judge enters default judgment against Giuliani in defamation lawsuit from Georgia election workers.  A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, ruling that the former New York city mayor gave "only lip service" to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case.  U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea' ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.  The decision moves the case toward a trial in Washington that could result in Giuliani being ordered to pay significant damages to the women, in addition to the tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees he's already being directed to pay.

Corrupt Obama Judge Finds Rudy Giuliani Guilty Because He Didn't Turn Over Devices the FBI Confiscated from His Home.  Rudy Giuliani was found guilty by Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell in Washington DC because he didn't turn over devices that the FBI took from his home. [...] Clearly, she is biased beyond repair and unable to oversee any case based on her leanings.  Hidden in far-left Politico's report is the following:  ["]Giuliani has blamed several factors for his difficulties in searching his records for evidence relevant to the case.  Those factors include the FBI's seizure of his devices in 2021 as part of a foreign-influence investigation (which did not lead to any charges against him) and serious personal financial difficulties he has faced since Trump's defeat in 2020.["]

Trump [is the] Victim of a Radically Transformed Federal Judiciary.  The judicial persecution of Donald Trump has exposed the blatant political bias that animates many Federal District Court judges.  Packing the Federal Judiciary at all levels with left-wing judges is the cornerstone of the Marxist Democrat Party strategy to permanently transform America.  If they win the presidency in 2024, they will have succeeded in packing the Federal Judiciary by the end of the term on January 20, 2029.  This process began in earnest with Barack Obama.  He came into office determined to fill the judiciary with left-wing judges, and he succeeded, as virtually every one of his appointments has revealed their bias and leftist ideology while serving on the various courts.  Joe Biden has followed in Obama's footsteps by nominating equally if not more ideologically bound left-wing judges.  The following federal judges are not animated by upholding the law or the Constitution but instead are motivated by political considerations and their allegiance to statist ideology.

Judge Refuses to Define 'Woman,' Dismisses Lawsuit by Sorority Sisters Who Sought to Block Man from Joining.  A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by six University of Wyoming Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters seeking to block a trans-identifying male from joining.  The sorority sisters will now be forced to accommodate Artemis Langford (whose given name is Dallin), a 6'2", 260-pound man who believes he is a woman.  Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson, after hearing allegations of sexual deviancy on Langford's part, ultimately dismissed the case on Friday and stated that redefining "woman" to include males was "Kappa Kappa Gamma's bedrock right as a private, voluntary organization — and one this Court may not invade." Johnson notably used Langford's preferred she/her pronouns in his decision and repeatedly referred to Langford as a "transgender woman."

Report: Judge Chutkan Compares January 6 to 9/11 Attacks, Boston Marathon Bombing.  U.S. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan reportedly compared the January 6 Capitol riot to the 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday when she questioned the need for a long delay before former President Donald Trump's trial in Washington, D.C.  Chutkan's remarks were reported by Julie Kelly, who has covered the trials of defendants accused of participating in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol via her Substack publication, "Declassified with Julie Kelly."  [Tweet]

Judge Presiding Over Trump's Jan. 6 Trial Has Track Record Of Politically Charged J6 Rulings.  At her first appearance in the criminal case against Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan repeatedly warned the former president's lawyers that politics would not be tolerated in her courtroom.  "The fact that [Trump is] running a political campaign has to yield to the orderly administration of justice," Chutkan said during the Aug. 11 hearing.  "If that means he can't say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, that's how it has to be."  But even as she warns Trump about his "inflammatory" language, Chutkan has routinely issued politically charged rulings and made incendiary statements of her own while presiding over some 30 cases involving Trump supporters charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, melee at the U.S. Capitol.  A review of thousands of pages of hearing transcripts reveals that Chutkan has repeatedly expressed strong and settled opinions about the issues at the heart of United States v. Donald Trump — the criminal case she is now presiding over.

Biden-Appointed Judge Rules Maryland Parents Have No Right to Opt Their Children Out of Woke LGBTQ Curriculum.  A district judge appointed by Joe Biden has ruled that parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, have no right to opt their children out of the school's woke LGBTQ curriculum.  United States District Judge Deborah L. Boardman ruled against the Muslim-led group of parents who did not want their children exposed to far-left propaganda about sex and gender.  The parents sought an injunction before the first day of school on August 28 after the district changed its policies in March to no longer allow parents to opt their children out of being assigned books that advocate pride parades, gender transitioning, and pronoun preferences for kids as young as pre-kindergarten.  Becket, a non-profit law firm, represented multiple parents in the district in a lawsuit alleging that the policy violated their First Amendment religious rights to determine their children's educations.

Whitmer Kidnap Judge:  Defense Can't Cite FBI Entrapment Efforts.  During Tuesday's opening statements at the trial of three men accused of aiding the 2020 alleged militia plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, defense attorney Bill Barnett made accurate statements about an FBI informant involved in the case — describing how the informant, Dan Chappel, became the second in command of a militia, trained his fellow members and encouraged them to commit crimes.  State prosecutor Bill Rollstin objected to Barnett's factual statements, accusing him of trying to "poison the jury" by arguing that the FBI entrapped his client.  Barnett responded to Rollstin's claim by arguing that he's only presenting true facts to the jury.  "I was stating facts that are in the police reports.  Everything's a fact.  They don't want to hear facts in this case," he said.

Gaetz introduces resolution to censure Trump Judge Tanya Chutkan: 'Blatant political bias from the bench'.  U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has introduced a resolution to "censure and condemn" U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the indictment of former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.  In a statement posted to X on Friday, Gaetz accused the judge of exhibiting "blatant political bias from the bench" in her sentencing of "January 6th defendants."  "It is deeply concerning that a United States District Court judge would exhibit such blatant political bias from the bench.  Judge Tanya Chutkan's extreme sentencing of January 6th defendants, while openly supporting the violent Black Lives Matter riots of 2020, showcases a complete disregard for her duty of impartiality and the rule of law," Gaetz said.

New evidence shows just how biased Trump judge is in Jack Smith's case.  Judges are obligated to abide by rules of conduct and, no matter the jurisdiction, a primary is that the judge must be and appear to be impartial.  It destroys the legal system's integrity if people know that the judge trying cases has already decided the parties' innocence or guilt (or, in civil cases, their liability or lack thereof).  I know this for a fact because I spent my entire legal career in the San Francisco Bay Area.  One of the reasons I'm a conservative is because of that experience.  I started out as a Democrat but, after it became apparent that leftist judges were interested in neither facts nor law, but adjudicated cases using the filter of their political ideology (banks and landlords always lost, no matter the controlling facts or law), I became quite hostile to the Democrat party.

The Weaponization of Justice.  Jack Smith, with a long history of partisan conduct, is the prosecuting attorney in the case in the District of Columbia charging Trump with disinformation regarding the 2020 election, a confection of dubious legal basis.  This week, the parties argued before District Court judge Tanya Chutkin the prosecution's right to muzzle Trump during his campaign as he and his team poison public opinion and a potential jury pool with leaks and accusations of wrongdoing.  Judge Chutkin has a history of sentencing J6 defendants to longer sentences than even the prosecution requested.  She warned counsel for Trump that politics had no place in her courtroom, but in at least one transcribed exchange with one of those defendants she tipped her hand, expressing her view that it was wrong that Trump was not yet jailed:  [Transcript]

Obama-Appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan's Former Law Firm Represented Huma Abedin in Clinton Email Server Investigation.  Following the recent indictment against President Donald Trump, spearheaded by Joe Biden, Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, it has been revealed that the case was assigned to an Obama-appointee judge, Tanya S. Chutkan.  The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Trump had requested an immediate recusal of far-left and anti-Trump U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, to preside over his ongoing "January 6th" case in Washington D.C. Trump characterizes the judge as a "biased" judge.

Obama Judge Tanya Chutkan Signals She will Gag Trump in Middle of Presidential Campaign.  Judge Chutkan is going to gag Trump in the middle of a presidential campaign!  Trump's lawyer appeared before Obama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan Friday morning for a hearing on a proposed gag order.  Judge Chutkan gave Trump only ONE DAY to respond to a motion for protective order (gag order) filed by dirty Jack Smith rather than give him the standard 14 days.  Chutkan signaled she will gag Trump in the middle of a presidential campaign.

Kash Patel Reveals Stunning Background of DC Judge Chutkan in Cases Against President Trump.  Appearing with Sebastian Gorka, Kash Patel puts some excellent context on the issue of Dircuit Court Judge Chutkan presiding over the special counsel case against President Trump.  I was unaware of the detail where Judge Chutkan originally presided over the case when Fusion GPS tried to block Devin Nunes and Kash Patel from revealing the source of the payments for the Chriss Steele dossier.  This is a big datapoint.  [Video clip, transcript.]

The Trump Indictment and 2024.  Based on historical averages, if Biden or any Democrat wins the 2024 election, they will appoint between 150-170 District Court judges and between 30-40 Circuit Court of Appeals judges by 2028.  Resulting in upwards of 595 out of 667 District Court judges (89%) and 126 out of 179 Circuit Court of Appeals judges (70%) being appointed by a Marxist-controlled White House since 2008.  Thus, transforming the entire Federal Judiciary into a de facto enforcement arm of the Democrat Party.  Additionally, the two oldest and most conservative Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, will be 80 and 78 years old respectively by 2028, thus opening up the distinct possibility of the Democrats appointing their replacements, thus, swinging the Court to the radical Left and abetting the implementation of the American Marxist political and societal agenda.

Judge orders Catherine Herridge to reveal sources for stories on FBI, Chinese American scientist.  A federal judge ordered CBS News senior correspondent Catherine Herridge to reveal her sources for a series of stories about the FBI's investigation of a Chinese American scientist back when she worked for Fox News.  The order last week from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington D.C. comes after scientist Yanping Chen filed a lawsuit against the FBI, claiming that the agency violated the privacy act by improperly leaking information about her.  While working at Fox News in 2017, Herridge used a confidential source or sources to obtain material about the federal counterintelligence probe of Chen.

Trump plans to ask for recusal of federal judge overseeing 2020 election case and for venue change.  Former President Donald Trump says he plans on asking the judge overseeing his federal charges related to the 2020 election to recuse herself and he wants to have the venue moved out of Washington, D.C., in order to get a fair trial. [...] D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee assigned to oversee Trump's federal election case, donated thousands of dollars to elect Barack Obama as president.  Additionally, she ruled against Trump in another case related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.  Chutkan is well known for dealing out the toughest sentences on Jan. 6 defendants, giving longer prison sentences than requested by prosecutors in more than 60% of those cases before her.  Trump had said last week that he hoped to be tried in an "impartial" venue such as a court located in nearby West Virginia, rather than in Washington, D.C., where the district's citizens voted overwhelmingly against him.

MSNBC's Joy Reid savors the 'demographic reality' that Trump's J6 judges are women of color.  Joy Reid just can't help herself when it comes to inserting race into absolutely everything and the upcoming trial of former President Donald J. Trump in a Wahington, D.C. courtroom presided over by a hostile Obama-appointed judge is no exception.  During MSNBC's coverage of Trump's traveling to the nation's capital for his arraignment on Thursday, the "race lady" took great pleasure in pointing out that both of the judges who the former president faced would be women of color, seeming to suggest that their ethnicity could have an effect on how the trial will play out.  Reid was clearly savoring the "demographic reality" of the D.C. courts and suggested that the Trump team's desire for a change of venues was rooted in racism rather than the reality that there is no way that he will get a fair trial in an area where the overwhelming majority of the jury pool hates his guts.

Seriously Sketchy — Judge Boasberg Sits in Back of DC District Court During President Trump Appearance.  In March, when I wrote the outline about Judge Boasberg being the corrupt DC judge who broke the constitutional restrictions on executive privilege, which technically forced Mike Pence to turn over his notes and testify to James Smith and the DC grand jury, I said at the time, "The entire judicial system is corrupt, soup to nuts, all of it."  I was not using hyperbole.  For Judge Boasberg (who is on vacation) to show up in court and sit in the back row of the courtroom is a stunning visible display of judicial ideology and targeting.  In reality, Boasberg is bearing witness to the outcome he created by forcing a Vice President to give testimony against the Chief Executive, thereby establishing the basis for the fraudulent allegations Special Counsel Jack Smith was utilizing to target that same executive, President Donald Trump.  This is the same Judge Boasberg who sat as presiding judge on the FISA court.  The same Judge Boasberg who gave FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith a slap on the wrist for manufacturing evidence used in the Carter Page FISA application that defrauded the court.  The same Judge Boasberg who appointed former DOJ-NSD head Mary McCord as amicus curiae advisor to the court, after she knowingly and fraudulently submitted the FISA application to the court.

Judge threatens to hold Trump without bail if he violates strict conditions of release.  During his arraignment on Thursday, Donald Trump was warned by Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya that he could be "held pending trial" if he violated the strict conditions of his release.  The former president was allowed to return to his summer home in Bedminster, New Jersey, but only after agreeing to abide by the conditions agreed upon by prosecutors and the defense.  According to ABC News, Trump "must not violate federal or state laws; he must appear in court as required; he must sign an appearance bond; and he must not communicate about the facts of the case with anyone Trump knows to be a witness, except through counsel or in presence of counsel."  As NBC News reports, the judge made it very clear to Trump that he was not to engage in any conduct that could influence proceedings.

4 Things to Know About Obama-Appointed Judge Presiding Over New Trump Case.  The federal judge who will oversee former President Donald Trump's case in Washington related to challenging the 2020 election outcome has a reputation for being tough on Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants.  An appointee of Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has ruled against the Trump administration in the past, as well as against Trump as an individual.  After his third indictment on Tuesday, the 45th president will be arraigned in the District of Columbia on Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya.  However, if the case goes to trial, Chutkan would preside.

DC judge who will oversee Trump's criminal case is 'toughest punisher' of Jan 6 rioters.  The judge set to oversee former President Trump's latest criminal case is known for her sentencing of January 6 rioters and worked at a law firm associated with Hunter Biden.  DC federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was picked to oversee Trump's criminal case in the capital was declared 'the toughest punisher' of rioters charged with offenses relating to the 2021 riot.  In a profile by the Associated Press, written last year, they said:  'Chutkan has handed out tougher sentences than the [Justice Department] was seeking in seven cases, matched its requests in four others and sent all 11 riot defendants who have come before her behind bars.'

Trump Jan 6 Case [is] Assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama Appointee.  The DC grand jury indicted Trump in the January 6 investigation.  "Trump indicted in federal probe over effort to undo election loss and subvert transfer of power in run-up to Jan. 6 riot" AP reported.  Trump was hit with 4 counts:  Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The Judge Assigned to Trump's January 6th Indictment Is Going to Be a Nightmare.  Once again, the political world has been engulfed by another indictment of Donald Trump, this time surrounding his alleged actions involving January 6th.  The details include four different counts, including two counts of conspiracy and two counts of obstruction.  Those four counts break down specifically to Trump allegedly attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, which has to do with January 6th, while the conspiracy charges appear to center on the supposed alternate electors scheme.  Obviously, arguments about selective prosecution and weaponization of the DOJ will be at the forefront for political circles, but even on legal grounds, this indictment appears to be far weaker than the one charging that Trump mishandled classified documents and conspired to obstruct the investigation into the matter.  Specifically, counts two and three sure seem like "disinformation" is being criminalized.  Regardless, putting even the legal arguments aside, one thing is certain:  The judge assigned to this case is going to be a nightmare.

Is there a judge anywhere in the US with the courage to say that the Emperor has no Clothes?  [Scroll down]  Again, is there an AG or a judge or justice with the moral core and the principles to do what is right anywhere in this country, who remembers we don't have emperors?  We all know that all these legal actions that have been filed against Trump — the NY nonsensical stuff, the documents case, the absurd Jean Carroll case, the numerous cases accusing him of election interference or inciting the fedsusrrection of January 6, 2021 — are all, shall we say, trumped up.  There must be an AG in some state — Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan - states we know the Democrats cheated in 2020 — who is brave enough to stand up against this Stalinist offensive against the best President since Reagan?

Federal judge rules Oregon gun law doesn't violate Second Amendment.  A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Friday that a new state gun law does not violate the US Constitution, keeping one of the toughest gun laws in the country in place.  US District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled that Ballot Measure 114's restrictions on large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are constitutional because these magazines are "not commonly used for self-defense, and are therefore not protected by the Second Amendment."

New York Judge Releases Knife-Wielding Creeper Without Bail.  A man arrested for following a group of musicians through Times Square with a knife was released Friday without bail on prosecutors' recommendation.  Photos of 22-year-old Deqon Massiah show him sneaking up behind the performers with a six-inch knife and putting his hand on the shoulder of one of the performers.  Massiah was charged with menacing, harassment, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York Post.  None of the crimes are eligible for bail.  The stalker's release comes as Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has freed violent offenders.  Bragg freed a man without bail last year after he was charged with beating a 67-year-old man to death, despite the alleged attacker's long criminal record.  In two months, he also released two offenders before trial who were later charged with murder.

California Bill Would Let Judges 'Rectify Racial Bias' in Sentencing, for 'Reparations'.  The California state legislature is considering a bill that would allow judges to use sentencing in criminal cases to "rectify racial bias" in the criminal justice system as a whole.  The bill, AB 852, passed the State Assembly in May and is currently going through the committee process in the State Senate.  It notes that existing law already allows defendants to challenge their sentences as racially biased, but it would add that judges can consider race in sentencing.

The Press Slobber Over Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, but Inadvertently Expose She's Terrible at Her Job.  Another Supreme Court term has wrapped up, and it wasn't short on controversial landmark decisions. [...] Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her mark, and not in a good way.  In what is being heralded as a triumph of diversity, Jackson used more words in oral arguments than any other justice over the last year.  That's being spun as evidence of her immense qualification and ability.  [Tweet]  There's something to be said about humility and realizing you don't have all the answers, but that's a completely foreign concept to Jackson.  She attempted to bully her way through her first term, to the point that she ended up writing three solo dissents.  But while members of the press are heralding that as a show of strength, it's really an inadvertent admission that she's just a terrible justice. [...] Solo dissents, by their very nature, should be incredibly rare and reserved for only the most extenuating of circumstances.  Any justice making common use of them, much less writing three of them in a single first term, is advertising that their arguments are terrible and constitutionally illiterate, to the point that they weren't able to garner a single other justice's support.

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Florida's Election Law Banning Non-Citizens From Collecting Voter Registration Forms.  An Obama-appointed federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction against Florida's election law that imposed limitations on third-party voter registration organizations.  In May Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB 7020, a law that barred non-citizens from handling or collecting voter registration forms.  One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is an immigrant from El Salvador who works for "Mi Vecino," a third party voter registration organization.  US District Judge Mark Walker said the election law banning non-citizens from handling voter registration forms is unconstitutional.

Four Ways the Deep State Betrays Americans.  A federal judge ruled that a student's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were not violated when school administrators ordered him to remove a shirt with printed text saying, "There are only two genders."  The Obama judge concluded that "the shirt invades the rights of others."  The freethinking boy was later ordered to remove another t-shirt that read, "There are censored genders." [...] While the (in)justice system punished the young rebel for possessing a working brain, the seventh-grader pointed out that his school allows posters covered in rainbow flags and encouraging students to "rise up to protect" the trans agenda — messages that target his personal beliefs.  Sorry, son, free speech protections in America exist only for special people.

'Someone's got to go to prison'.  When will any of these low-down thugs who have a grip on our nation go to prison?  Probably never.  They lie with impunity and most of the Republicans in Congress are such squishes that the few that lobby for justice get nowhere when they try to make a Democrat pay for his or her crime.  We do have a two-tiered system of justice, and everyone knows it.  In this administration's view, patriots and good Samaritans must go to prison, not drug dealers, car-jackers, shoplifters, murderers or pedophiles.  To our now far, far Marxist left, those folks are victims of white supremacy and must be spared the inconveniences of abiding by the rule of law.  Sadly, there are too many Soros-seated judges who go along with the pro-criminal, anti-victim agenda of the left.

Halderman Report Released in Georgia.  Obama Judge Amy Totenberg sealed and covered up the results of an investigation of voting machines in Georgia.  This report has still not been released.  This week CISA released a report showing material discrepancies in these systems while attempting to downplay these material issues. [...] Obama Judge Amy Totenberg is the sister of NPR's far-left correspondent Nina Totenberg. [...] In 2021, Judge Totenberg committed her gravest offense as a judge.  She sealed and covered up the results of the Halderman report in Georgia.  Up until this week, we did not know what is in this report.  Halderman's investigation into the voting machines in Georgia started before the 2020 Election and was completed in July 2021.  Steve Bannon interviewed Kurt Olsen about cybersecurity analyst J. Alex Halderman, who found flaws in Dominion voting machines, and warned about the potential for future attacks.  Judge Totenberg sealed the report.  According to court documents, Halderman wrote his report after he was given 12 weeks of access to an unused Dominion ICX voting machine.

6 Reasons DOJ's 'Get Trump' Documents Case Is Seriously Flawed.  [#3] Walt Nauta and DOJ Misconduct:  Far and away the most troubling side story to emerge from this saga so far are the allegations made by Trump aide and co-defendant Walt Nauta's lawyer last week.  You may have missed it if you blinked.  Not surprisingly, the corporate media have mostly buried this one.  Nauta's lawyer, Stanley Woodward, alleged in a court filing that during a meeting with prosecutors about his client's case, the head of the Counterintelligence Section of DOJ's National Security Division Jay Bratt "suggested Woodward's judicial application [for a DC Superior Court judgeship] might be considered more favorably if he and his client cooperated against Trump."  If true, and I find it hard to believe that Woodward just made the whole thing up, this is wild misconduct.  Truly wild.  It could undermine the entire case against both Trump and Nauta.  It could end careers at DOJ if fairly investigated.  Woodward is a highly accomplished lawyer.  He spent a decade at Akin Gump, a top law firm, clerked on the D.C. Circuit, and has very substantial experience in government investigations.  This is not some fly-by-night TV lawyer.  He is a legal heavyweight, and he is leveling an extremely serious allegation of misconduct against a senior official at DOJ.

Judge rules that Seattle must not enforce law against graffiti.  A federal judge has created a preliminary injunction which prevents the city of Seattle from enforcing the law against graffiti and misdemeanor property destruction.  The SPD released a statement today. [...] Seattle saw a big surge of graffiti during the pandemic.  It was up 52% in 2021 compared to 2019 numbers.  Because this was a surging problem, Seattle's mayor Bruce Harrell announced a plan to combat the problem last year.

This Guy Stole a School Bus and Wrote of Shedding Blood for Allah, So a Leftist Judge Did Just What You'd Expect.  Bader Alzahrani, a Saudi national who stole a New Jersey school bus and wrote about jihad and "blood, destruction, Allah," has been found incompetent to stand trial. [...] Lehigh Valley Live reported Thursday that Alzahrani "is facing charges from incidents in January, including receipt of a stolen vehicle transportation of a stolen vehicle in federal court, and motor vehicle theft, burglary, theft of moveable property, criminal damage and criminal trespass in New Jersey court."  However, federal Judge Michael Hammer (wait, shouldn't that be Judge Michael Gavel?) said, "based on a psychiatric report sealed by the court, Alzahrani has a mental disease or defect that makes him unable to understand the court proceedings and properly participate in his defense."  This is perfectly reasonable once one understands that Judge Mike Hammer is part of an establishment that does not acknowledge the existence of Islamic jihad.  The Obama administration removed all mention of Islam and jihad from counterterror training back in 2010, and since then it has become settled dogma among the political elites that "Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism," as Hillary Clinton so memorably put it in November 2015.  When confronted with an actual Islamic jihad terrorist, these fantasists claim he is mentally ill.

It's time for Congress to rein in the federal judiciary.  [Scroll down]  Although the language may be broad, it's worthwhile remembering the generally limited nature of the judiciary in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  It was not concerned with questions going to the heart of societal values.  Back then, social questions went to houses of worship and the legislature (or Parliament), and even to juries.  Judges were limited to trying things such as criminal cases, business and financial disputes, probate cases, torts, contract disputes, maritime problems, and defamation cases.  Indeed, in England, if a public policy case was before the Court, the judge left it to the jury to decide the ultimate outcome, although he would explain to the jury the ramifications of their decision.  Now that judicial activists have gotten their claws into the system, though, the Supreme Court has taken upon itself the sole authority to determine issues that aren't constitutional at all but, instead, represent the values of the American people, something previously reserved to Congress.  As the Supreme Court has decided more and more public policy issues, we find ourselves in a dangerous kritocracy, i.e., a tyranny of unelected judges.

Clinton-Appointed Judge Says 'Gender Identity Is Real,' Blocks Florida Law Banning Minors' Transitions.  A federal judge sided Tuesday with families who sued over Florida's ban on gender transition procedures for minors, declaring that "gender identity is real."  A group of families, backed by several LGBT activist groups, sued Florida in March shortly after the rule restricting minors from accessing surgical sex change procedures, puberty blockers and hormone therapy took effect.  Northern District of Florida Judge Robert L. Hinkle, a Clinton appointee, granted a preliminary injunction against the law to prohibit it from being enforced against the plaintiffs, and proceeded to make the claim that "great weight of medical authority supports these treatments."  In much of the developed world, including many Scandinavian countries, sex change interventions for minors are seen as lacking evidence and as largely experimental treatments.  Additionally, pioneers in gender dysphoria treatment have come out against modern philosophies that emphasize immediately "affirming" gender-confused minors, while experts have repeatedly poked holes in much of the scholarship claiming child sex changes are medically necessary.

Projection: Disney's hand-picked judge reverses, recuses — and accuses.  And the New York Times offers its stenographic services as well.  Disney filed a lawsuit against the State of Florida earlier this year over the dismantling of the Reedy Creek tax district, even before the state legislature arguably mooted the issue with new statutory authority for the replacement district.  When they did so, they filed the suit in the Northern District rather than the Middle District, which covers Orlando and the tax district.  Florida countersued in the Middle District.  Why did Disney choose the Northern District?  Its chief judge, Mark E. Walker, has long expressed hostility to Ron DeSantis and sympathy for Disney — even on the record in court.  Disney clearly hoped Walker would use his authority to assign himself the case, which he did, and which prompted a motion for disqualification from the state.  Walker refused to recuse over the bias evident in comments made in other cases, but decided that a "third degree" connection to a relative that owns a whopping 30 shares of Disney stock required that he step aside.

Leftist Reporter Starts Swearing at Press Conference After Kari Lake Shoves the Truth in His Face.  Kari Lake held a press conference on Tuesday following her three-day Maricopa County Superior Court trial fighting Maricopa County's fraudulent mail-in ballot signature verification procedures.  As revealed at trial by Lake's attorneys and Maricopa County's own data, Maricopa County did not accurately verify tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of mail-in signatures; they couldn't possibly have.  Judge Peter A. Thompson again ruled in favor of Defendants late last night, claiming that "level one and level two signature review did take place in some fashion."  This is a complete lie and he knows it.  But it plays into the Democrat Party's integrity-free election plans.  Anything goes.  Everything will be counted.  This is the end of America.  But Democrats want power.

Judge Hands Kari Lake Another Loss in Arizona.  A Maricopa County judge on Monday night handed former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake another loss in her latest election lawsuit.  Lake, a Republican and former local news anchor, lost the battleground state governor's race to then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, by roughly 17,000 votes — less than one percentage point — in November.  However, Lake has refused to concede the election and filed a lawsuit over the results, alleging that irregularities in Maricopa County prevented her from winning the county, and disenfranchised Republican voters.  She faced her latest courtroom loss after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson rejected her claims that Maricopa election officials improperly verified the signatures on thousands of ballots, tilting the outcome in the state's largest county that is home to Phoenix against her.

Judge in Trump's 'hush money' trial engages in blatant dissimulation.  My assessment of the probability of Donald Trump receiving a fair trial on the highly questionable charges (falsifying business records) brought against him by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg just plummeted to subterranean levels.  The judge in the case [...] issued a gag order and specified that he was not issuing a gag order and violated Trump's First Amendment rights while claiming he didn't violate his First Amendment rights.  The technical name [...] is dissimulation. [...] I don't pretend to be an expert on the law, but Justice Merchan has destroyed my confidence in his ability to conduct a fair trial.

Judge Forces Sorority Girls To Disclose Identities To Stop Disturbing 'Trans' Male From Moving Into Their House.  A U.S. district court judge ordered University of Wyoming sorority sister plaintiffs to reveal their names in a lawsuit against Kappa Kappa Gamma's University of Wyoming chapter for allowing a transgender-identifying man to be inducted.  According to local news, "The six sorority sisters sued the Kappa Kappa Gamma's parent organization, its president and the school's first transgender sorority member late last month in a closely watched case.  They alleged that the sorority did not follow its bylaws and rules, failed to uphold its mission, breached its housing contract with members, and misled them by admitting a transgender student."  The plaintiffs filed the suit anonymously as "Jane Does" and assigned the pseudonym "Terry Smith" to the trans-identifying sorority member.

Cruz Reveals Why Democrats Are Trying To Remove Feinstein But Not 'Profoundly Mentally Diminished' Biden.  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed Democrats this week for trying to push Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) out of office, saying that he has never seen a party cannibalize their own this way. [...] Cruz then explained why Democrats are anxiously trying to push Feinstein out of office while she recovers.  "The Radical Left is [angry] because while Dianne is gone, the Democrats no longer have a majority on the Judiciary Committee," Cruz said.  "Because they don't have a majority, it means they can't ram through their most radical and extreme judicial nominees.  Now, most of their judicial nominees they can pass."  Cruz noted said that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) votes to advance "almost every" nominee that President Joe Biden has put forward.  "He votes to confirm most Biden judicial nominees," he said.  "I vote against almost all Biden judicial nominees.  But given that Lindsey votes for practically all of them, the Democrats can move almost the entirety of Biden's judicial slate.  The ones they can't move are the most radical or the nominees that are so extreme."

California judge orders church that defied COVID rules to pay $1.2M.  A California judge has ordered San Jose's Calvary Chapel church to pay $1.2 million in fines for defying COVID-19 pandemic restrictions by meeting for worship and not requiring masks.  In a ruling handed down last week, Superior Court Judge Evette D. Pennypacker said the church should pay fines for flagrantly violating Santa Clara County's mask mandate between November 2020 and June 2021.  The court found that the county's face covering requirement was "neutral and generally applicable" to all similarly situated entities in the county, rejecting the church's argument that the health orders violated their religious freedoms.

Federal judge backs firing of Indiana teacher who refused to use transgender students' names, pronouns.  An Indiana music theory teacher pushed out of his job for refusing to call transgender students their preferred names and pronouns took a hit from a federal judge Friday who upheld a lower court's ruling that the school district did not violate his rights.  Former Brownsburg High School teacher John Kluge sued the school district alleging religious discrimination after he cited his personal religious convictions for refusing to abide by the name and pronoun policy, opting to address transgender students by their last names instead.

Judge cancels Montana gas plant's permit over climate concerns.  A judge canceled the air quality permit for a natural gas power plant that's under construction along the Yellowstone River in Montana citing worries over climate change.  State District Judge Michael Moses ruled Thursday that Montana officials failed to adequately consider the 23 million tons of planet-warming greenhouse gases that the project would emit over several decades.  Many utilities across the U.S. have replaced coal power with less polluting natural gas plants in recent years.  But the industry remains under pressure to abandon fossil fuels altogether as climate change worsens.

The Editor says...
Grammatically speaking, for climate change to "worsen," it would first have to be "bad."  Climate change isn't bad.  It's a fact of life.  Climate change is gonna happen, with or without gasoline engines.  Deal with it.

Judge Juan Merchan's Donations to Democrats Could Be Grounds for Ethics Investigation.  Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump's case in Manhattan, violated New York's Code of Judicial Conduct by making three donations to Democrats in 2020, which could be grounds for an ethics investigation, according to several legal experts and former prosecutors.  Under Section 100.5 of the New York Code of Judicial Conduct, sitting judges cannot "directly or indirectly engage in any political activity."  Prohibited political activity includes "(h) soliciting funds for, paying an assessment to, or making a contribution to a political organization or candidate."

Daughter of judge overseeing Trump's Manhattan DA case is Democrat activist who worked to elect Biden.  The archived LinkedIn account of Judge Juan Merchan's daughter, who is overseeing former President Donald Trump's case, contains information that suggests her ties to the Democratic Party.  Her LinkedIn profile indicates that she is the president and partner of Authentic Campaigns, a company that specializes in digital campaigns for Democratic candidates.  Reports also suggest that she worked on the Biden-Harris campaign, where she was responsible for digital marketing and persuasive messaging for Kamala Harris.  These revelations have led to concerns about impartiality in the ongoing legal proceedings, USA Journal reported.

Leftist Judge Juan Merchan Who Oversees Trump's Sham Case in NYC Court Made Political Contributions to "Stop The Republicans".  Leftist judge Juan Manuel Merchan, who oversees President Trump's sham case on junk felony charges, made political contributions to a nonprofit fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and progressive groups.  According to FEC data, Judge Juan Merchan from New York donated to Act Blue earmarked "Stop The Republicans" and "Biden For President."  Democratic fundraiser Act Blue is the payment processor for the majority of Democrats' political contributions in the 2020 campaign cycle, DC Patriot reported.

The Judge Overseeing Trump's Case Might Have a Major Conflict of Interest.  Meet the judge presiding over President Donald Trump's criminal case: Acting New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Manuel Merchan, an apparent 2020 Biden donor whose daughter once worked for Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign.  According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Merchan donated three times to ActBlue in the summer of 2020, once on July 26, 2020, when the judge's donation was — according to the FEC — earmarked for President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.  The other two of Merchan's contributions were pledged to the Progressive Turnout Project (PTP), a left-wing PAC that rallies voter turnout for Democrat candidates, and Stop Republicans, a PTP sub-project that's dedicated to "resisting" Trump and the Republican Party.  [Tweet]

Daughter of Judge Overseeing Trump's Case Worked For 'Kamala Harris Campaign'.  The Gateway Pundit previously reported New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is presiding over President Trump's Stormy Daniels 'hush payment' case.  Judge Merchan previously oversaw the tax fraud cases of the Trump's Org and the Trump Org's former CFO Allen Weisselberg.  Trump is not a fan of Merchan and took to Truth Social last week and wrote "Juan Manuel Merchan, was hand picked by Bragg & the Prosecutors, & is the same person who "railroaded" my 75 year old former CFO, Allen Weisselberg."  Merchan has been described as a life long Democrat and a bombshell discovery of his daughter's LinkedIn account reveals his daughter is not just a Democrat but a Democrat who previously worked on Kamala Harris' Presidential campaign.

The Trump Indictment Accelerates America's National Divorce.  In the current phase of the cold civil war, states are consolidating.  One-party Democrat states like California and New York are becoming virtual dictatorships, immune to elections and bent on implementing the most extreme agendas of the furthest Left.  Some Republicans, like Gov. Abbot [sic] in Texas and Gov. DeSantis in Florida, have begun fighting back.  That means it's a bad time to be a Republican in New York or a Democrat in Florida.  As bad as the federal abuses of Russiagate were, none of the feds, whose fabled prosecutors can "indict a ham sandwich" actually went as far as DA Alvin Bragg in Manhattan did.  What that means is that blue states and cities are now more lawless, more biased and more ruthless than federal authorities are.  And that makes sense.  The feds occasionally have to answer to and interact with Republicans who play a role in the national government.  Republicans no longer play a role in New York City or New York State.  There are no brakes on someone like DA Bragg lynching political opponents.  It's the federal layer that will really protect Trump here.  DA Bragg has no case, but even if he manages to get this past a Manhattan jury and judge, this will ultimately fall apart, but not because New York's judiciary can be trusted to do the right thing.  It can't.

Time to End the Veil of Secrecy Inside D.C. Kangaroo Court.  Judge Beryl Howell [...], appointed to the D.C. District Court by Barack Obama in 2010 and elevated to the court's highest post in 2016 — just in time to oversee numerous criminal investigations into Donald Trump — finished up her seven-year stint as chief judge earlier this month.  Colleagues and staff assembled in her courtroom as the proverbial torch was passed to Judge James Boasberg, another Obama appointee.  But according to Politico, the retirement celebration turned into a "roast" of sorts as one judge after another chided Howell for her closed-doors dealings.  "Howell seemed to freeze in her seat as the most senior jurist on the court, Judge Paul Friedman, publicly described her still-secret rulings in grand jury-related matters," reporters Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney wrote on March 17.  "[Her] fellow judges made clear they were as tantalized as the rest of the political world by Howell's secret work presiding over grand juries that could lead to charges against former President Donald Trump."

Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Nom Let Off Domestic Abuser.  He Was Later Convicted of Attempted Murder.  Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz sentenced a serial violent felon to just six months in prison for breaking his estranged wife's face in a brutal beating.  Less than one year later, the man gunned down the same victim outside her home, nearly killing her, according to court records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.  The offender, Lazarick Spade, allegedly shot his ex-wife to "get even" with her for reporting the prior assault, according to court records.  The disturbing case could fuel concerns about Protasiewicz's sentencing record and professional judgment, after critics have accused her of handing down light sentences to domestic abusers and sexual predators during her time on the Milwaukee Circuit Court.  The high-stakes April 4 race between Protasiewicz and her conservative opponent, former state Supreme Court justice Dan Kelly, will decide the ideological breakdown of the swing state's top court and could have national implications for the 2024 presidential elections.

Another Biden judicial nominee exposed as a doofus.  Move over, Kato Kaelin.  Meet America's newest goofus in the legal system, Kato Crews. [...] What kind of judge would Kato-the-Unready be without this utterly basic judicial knowledge?  Does this explain the kinds of lunatic legal decisions we see coming from leftist judges who reflexively side with Joe Biden no matter how wrong he is?  Crews should have known that, and what's more, he should have known he would be asked about it.  What it shows is how unfit Joe Biden's team are for any job that requires an understanding of basic, ordinary, law.  Political loyalty and having the right skin color or sexual status are how these nominees get chosen, not merit, let alone anything resembling knowledge of the law.  This is how it's done in Caracas.

Biden judicial nominees are a joke.  Joe Biden has promised to reshape America's courts in order to make them more diverse.  In this, he is achieving some success.  Before Biden's efforts, Judicial appointees were expected to know something about the law, be able to answer basic questions about biology such as the definition of "woman," and have a passing understanding of the Constitution.  The legally illiterate weren't well represented in the judicial branch, but Biden is fixing to change that.  [Tweet]  Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has become a nightmare for Biden's nominees.  Not because he is an in-your-face critic.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  He is a southern gentleman and he savages these poor souls by asking them simple questions of law and gently watching them squirm.  He doesn't need to say a word after they flub their answers.  In a way, it is profoundly uncomfortable to watch.  People achieving their dreams of becoming federal judges have to reveal their basic ignorance of the law.  On national TV, or at least their mistakes will be.

U.S.D.C. Judge Strikes Down Missouri's 'Second Amendment Preservation Act' as Unconstitutional.  Missouri started this battle back in 2021 when Governor Mike Parsons signed the "Second Amendment Preservation Act" (SAPA) into law.  The Act's language is quite plain, allowing local law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with any federal law enforcement action that seeks to confiscate the guns of its citizens.  The law also penalizes any local LE agencies who refuse to adhere to the law.  Newton County, Missouri, was the first to kick things off, and other Missouri counties followed suit.

Court rules men may compete as women in powerlifting.  A Minnesota state court ruled that USA Powerlifting must permit men to compete as women in its industry.  [Tweet]  In 2019, powerlifter JayCee Cooper, a man who identifies as a woman, filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, stating that USA Powerlifting violated the state's Human Rights Act by prohibiting him and other athletes from competing in the female division.  Cooper then filed a lawsuit against the organization in 2021.

Why Judges Won't Rule There Was Voter Disenfranchisement When it Happens to Republicans.  As Arizona experiences a repeat of the 2020 election, where MAGA candidates allegedly lost to poor Democratic candidates like Katie Hobbs who refused to debate, some are turning on the MAGA candidates and blaming them instead of election fraud.  The candidates' lawsuits are predictably going nowhere, as judges throw them out for supposed "lack of evidence" or narrow technical reasons such as "lack of standing."  The judges pretend that witness testimony and affidavits don't constitute evidence, but every first year law school student learns that of the 11 sections of the traditional Rules of Evidence in law, an entire section, section 6, is devoted to witness testimony.  Witness testimony throughout history has been the smoking gun in many cases; defendants have gone to the death penalty based on witness testimony alone.  Jenna Ellis, former attorney for Donald Trump, tweeted on Friday about Kari Lake's election contest lawsuits, "She hasn't and won't win any of her lawsuits.  It's just fundraising at this point (ie grifting).  I was one of the first that endorsed her and supported her as a candidate, but this will set back the conservative movement for election integrity."

A Minnesota judge has issued an order that will destroy women's powerlifting.  One of the most disgusting things about so-called "transgender women" is their insistence that they should be able to have their cake and eat it too.  It should be enough that these disturbed men get people to go along with the pretense that they are women.  However, in today's environment, that's never enough.  In addition, they must destroy actual women.  And thanks to a Minnesota judge, USA Powerlifting, a national powerlifting organization, will soon be forced to enact policies that will effectively erase women's accomplishments.

A Partisan Judge's Parting Rampage.  Efforts to uncover election irregularities or lawfully object to the outcome are under criminal investigation resulting in the unprecedented weaponization of legal and judicial authority conducted by unaccountable prosecutors and judges.  Enabling this farce in the nation's capital is Beryl Howell, the chief judge of the D.C.  District Court.  A former Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill, Howell was appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in 2010 and elevated to chief judge in 2016.  Since then, Howell has steered the government's yearslong effort to put Trump in handcuffs.  She managed the grand jury proceedings for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and is currently overseeing the Justice Department's latest iteration of its "Get Trump" campaign — a sweeping investigation into alleged attempts to "overturn" the 2020 election.  Her latest broadside is aimed at Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.).  FBI agents, acting at the direction of the rogue Washington Field Office, stole Perry's cell phone on August 9, 2022, the day after the same office executed an armed raid at Mar-a-Lago.  Perry was traveling with his family in New Jersey at the time when agents seized his phone, copied its contents, and returned the device.

Profiles in Moonbattery: Maria Araujo Kahn.  Personnel is policy, not only in the Deep State bureaucracy but also throughout the judiciary.  Maria Araujo Kahn personifies the policy Democrats can be expected to inflict:  ["]Biden's nominee to fill a vacancy on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is a longtime diversity trainer criticized the "discriminatory effects" of First Amendment law and conducted training sessions that suggest "microaggressions" can "kill you." Now an associate justice on the Connecticut State Supreme Court, Maria Araujo Kahn lamented in a 2020 opinion that current legal precedents permit "verbal assaults" on "oppressed groups." Since 2013, she has also delivered at least a dozen diversity trainings and presentations to lawyers across the country, with titles like "Cultural Competence, Implicit Association and Racial Anxiety," according to her Senate Judiciary Questionnaire.["]  Free speech belongs to a benighted era.  Now that we are more enlightened, we know that it is racist.

Obama Judge Unleashes FBI On GOP Rep. Scott Perry's Phone Records For More J6 Hounding.  A federal judge opened the door for FBI bureaucrats under Attorney General Merrick Garland to comb through the protected communications of a sitting member of Congress as part of a politicized investigation.  On Friday [2/24/2023], U.S.  District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell unsealed a Dec. 28 decision, giving the go-ahead for the FBI to review more than 2,000 messages stored on the cell phone of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.  The device was confiscated as part of the FBI's partisan investigation into the 2020 election last summer while the conservative chairman of the House Freedom Caucus was traveling with his family.  Perry, a six-term lawmaker who voted to delay President Joe Biden's electoral certification in 2021, claimed his phone records are protected under the Constitution's speech and debate clause, which gives lawmakers immunity from executive intimidation by politicized investigations.  Perry argued his records were created by routine work of the legislative process to ensure election integrity related to the 2020 presidential contest.  Judge Howell, who was first appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2010, however, rejected Perry's claim as "astonishing."

Senate Approves Judicial Nominee Who Refused to Disavow Racial Quotas.  The U.S. Senate on Feb. 13 advanced two of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees, including one who refused to disavow racial quotas.  In another 50 [to] 44 vote, the Senate approved Cindy Chung's nomination to the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.  That includes Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Susan Collins (R-Maine).  In a 52 [to] 44 vote, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the nomination of Gina Mendez-Miro for the District Court of Puerto Rico.  Her confirmation is all but guaranteed with cloture invoked; the final vote to confirm Mendez-Miro will take place at a later time.

Senate Advances Judge Nominations of SPLC Attorney, Abortion Lawyer, Biden Pick Who Called Voter ID 'Grounded in White Supremacy'.  The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee advanced 24 of President Joe Biden's nominees for federal judgeships Thursday, in a move that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, described as an attempt to shield "the proverbial 'worst of the worst'" from "focused public scrutiny."  "The Biden Administration is attempting to cram through all their most partisan, controversial nominees at once — the proverbial 'worst of the worst' — to shield them from focused public scrutiny," Cruz told The Daily Signal in a statement Thursday.  "These people have no business being near the federal bench, let alone having life tenure."  Cruz highlighted six of Biden's nominees in particular:  Nancy Abudu, appointed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Julie Rikelman, appointed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Kenly Kato, appointed to the Central District of California; Natasha Merle, appointed to the Eastern District of New York; Dale Ho, appointed to the Southern District of New York; and Nusrat Choudhury, also appointed to the Eastern District of New York.

Judge Threatens J6 Defendant and Police Assault Victim Victoria White After She Spoke with GOP Lawmakers.  Victoria White was abused by Capitol Police in one of the most violent and disturbing police beatings on an innocent political protester in modern American history.  The police beat Victoria in the face with their fists and batons over 40 times after she was pushed into the Capitol Tunnel they were guarding.  After her beating the police dragged Victoria through the US Capitol.  Arrested her and then let her go in the freezing night with no shoes, phone or coat.

Federal judge: I think I found abortion in the Constitution.  We talk a lot about judicial activism.  Rarely have we seen it in as pure a form as in Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's courtroom.  In the middle of a criminal trial of ten people accused of conspiring to block access to abortion clinics, Kollar-Kotelly announced that she might have found the elusive reference to a right to an abortion in ... the Thirteenth Amendment.  Motherhood is slavery, right?

Democrat Judge Thinks She's Found a Way to Reinstate a "Right" to Abortion, Grossly Abuses Her Power.  A Democrat judge in Washington, DC believes she's found a way to reinstate a constitutional "right" to abortion that never actually existed.  According to Politico, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who you'll be shocked to learn looks like the ultimate Karen, is hoping to rule on the idea that the 13th Amendment enshrines abortion under the guise of "involuntary servitude."

Tucker calls out Biden's 'provable' race-based hiring of judges — only 5 out of 97 are white men.  No presidential administration in the nation's history appears to have been more openly obsessed with race than the Biden regime and that is especially the case when it comes to the nation's courts where identity has been prioritized over constitutional knowledge and mastery of jurisprudence.  Tucker Carlson addressed the proverbial elephant in the living room of President Joe Biden's brazen discrimination against white males in his judicial appointments, suggesting that diversity is merely another word for racism, using numbers to back it up.  On Monday's edition of his popular Fox News show "Tucker Carlson Tonight," the host expressed the now-controversial viewpoint that hiring should be based on merit rather than race.  "So the point of diversity, equity and inclusion as you've often heard is to wind up at the leadership class that 'looks like America,'" he began.  "Now we think you should hire on the basis of merit, but that's kind of an appealing idea, the people who run the country should look like the country."  "That's not what it's about at all, because no administration has ever looked less like America just by the numbers than the Biden Administration," he said.  "It's not about making the administration look like America, it's about discriminating against certain classes of people who don't vote for them.  Period."

The Origins of the Constitution.  Recently Senator John Kennedy stumped a Biden judicial nominee for a federal judgeship with some basic questions.  Senator Kennedy in his very Southern approach can be disarming and yet get to the heart of the matter.  He asked Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren if she could tell him what Article V of the Constitution does?  She replied that Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.  How about Article I, he asked?  Again she responded by saying neither is Article I.  These are very basic parts of the Constitution, which is not very long.  What is interesting is that Article V was added to the Constitution just before ratification as a means for the states to rein in an out-of-control national government and bureaucracy.  Not that we need that now!

Constitution? What's that?  Patty Murray gave a ringing endorsement for her, having urged President Biden to nominate Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Washington. [...] Unfortunately for all involved, Judge Bjelkengren doesn't know much about the Constitution of the United States, embarrassing herself and her supporters before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  It was a pathetic performance, although to be fair the judge had probably been told that the hearing was going to be pro forma, not a grilling.  The Democrats are in charge of the Senate, after all, and Murray didn't nominate Bjelkengren because she is a remarkable legal scholar.  She did it because she is Black and liberal.

John Kennedy Stumps Biden Judicial Nominee With Questions About the Constitution.  Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) stumped a Biden judicial nominee by asking her what is said in certain parts of the U.S. Constitution since she is being considered for a federal position.  Each of the three questions Kennedy posed, Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren did not have an answer.  She is being considered to be the United States District Judge For The Eastern District Of Washington.  She has been serving as a judge of the Spokane County Superior Court since 2019.  Bjelkengren got her Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University School of Law.  "Judge, tell me what Article V of the Constitution does?" Kennedy asked.  "Article V is not coming to mind at the moment," Bjelkengren replied after a long pause.  "How about Article II?" Kennedy followed up.  "Neither is Article II," said Bjelkengren.

Sen. Kennedy stumps Biden nominee with basic questions about the Constitution.  A Biden judicial nominee was unable to answer basic questions about the U.S. Constitution posed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.  Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, of Spokane County Superior Court in Washington State, was nominated by President Biden to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.  During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bjelkengren could not answer Kennedy's questions about what different parts of the U.S. Constitution do and how courts might interpret laws.

The Judge Goes Awry Analyzing Gov. DeSantis's Firing Of A Rogue Prosecutor.  "Progressive" prosecutors across the length and breadth of our nation are nullifying laws with which they disagree.  This goes to the very heart of our constitutional system.  The reason prosecutors act with this impunity is the Supreme Court's grant of absolute immunity for "prosecutorial discretion."  In Florida, Soros-supported State Attorney Andrew Warren was open about his disdain for Florida's laws.  He promised to "use discretion" as a vehicle for refusing to prosecute certain crimes, and he issued a flat-out promise not to prosecute any criminal laws governing abortions.  After being fired, Warren sued in federal court, alleging that DeSantis has violated both his First Amendment rights to free speech and his rights under the Florida Constitution.  In what should have been a one-page opinion finding that Warren was properly fired, Federal Northern District of Florida Judge Robert Hinkle, a Clinton appointee, issued a 59-page opinion that, while finding the DeSantis had cause to fire Warren, nevertheless held that this was only because Warren was foolish enough to state his blanket refusal to prosecute crimes regarding abortion.  Despite that holding, Hinkle spent the remainder of his opinion condemning DeSantis and endorsing Warren.

Clinton-appointed judge slaps Trump with nearly $1M penalty for 'frivolous' lawsuit against Hillary.  A federal judge has ordered former President Donald J. Trump and his lawyer to pay nearly $1 million in sanctions to cover legal costs for failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other defendants in a failed lawsuit against them for promoting the Russia collusion hoax.  On Thursday night, US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks tore into Trump and attorney Alina Habba in a blistering 46-page filing that, in addition to blasting them for abusing the courts, ordered that the $938,000 financial penalty be paid.  "This case should never have been brought," wrote the Bill Clinton appointee.

COVID Tyranny: Federal Judge Rules 'Public Safety' Overrides Personal Medical Autonomy.  A federal judge seated in Montana, The Honorable Donald W. Molloy, recently ruled that "public safety" trumps individual autonomy over what gets injected into your body.  [Video clip]  The vague, undefined "hardships" that Judge Molloy references presumably include heart inflammation (myocarditis) (previously derided as "conspiracy theory" in corporate media), neurological conditions such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and other serious health consequences.  [Tweet]  This judge's ruling is tantamount to medical terrorism for the sake of social engineering and Big Pharma profiteering — literally the most morally repugnant function that a government could serve.  The absurdity and immorality of Judge Molloy's ruling are compounded by the fact that, despite the Public Health lie in the early days of the rollout that the jab stops transmission, we know now that it does not.  In fact, Pfizer never even tested whether their shots stop transmission before introducing them to market.  [Video clip]

Bankman-Fried case reassigned to judge in Trump defamation suit.  The fraud and money laundering case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was reassigned to a new judge after the formerly appointed judge recused herself over a possible conflict of interest.  Judge Ronnie Abrams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York removed herself from the case last week because her husband is a law partner in a firm that worked with FTX previously.  In Abrams' place comes Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has presided over a number of high-profile cases in recent years, including a defamation lawsuit brought against former President Donald Trump by E. Jean Carroll.

Federal judge blocks San Francisco from clearing homeless camps.  I've written about the Boise decision before but it has been a while.  Back in 2018 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in a case called Martin v Boise.  The judges concluded that laws punishing homeless behavior, such as sleeping on sidewalks, was a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment unless the city could provide an alternative. [...] San Francisco has been trying to clean up its streets after years complaints from residents and businesses but the city was sued by the ACLU over the sweeps back in September.

The Dismissal of Kari Lake's Election Lawsuit Shows Voter Disenfranchisement No Longer Matters.  The trial court judge in Kari Lake's election lawsuit predictably threw out her case on Saturday, putting on a sham trial that on the surface looked fair to the general public that doesn't know any better, but to legal minds was a travesty of justice.  Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson only gave her two days for a trial and issued his ruling immediately afterwards, even though he could have taken several days, and it was one of the biggest, most important cases in the country.  Legal experts believe his decision was ghostwritten, they suspect top left-wing attorneys like Marc Elias emailed him what to say.  The standard should have been whether voters were disenfranchised, not all the additional hoops Thompson added.  If inner city blacks had been disenfranchised, Thompson would not have added all those extra requirements, he would have made the law fit.

Judge Peter Thompson Rules Elections with Broken Machines in 60% of Precincts and No Chain of Custody for Ballots Are Free, Fair and Certifiable.  A gutless Arizona judge on Saturday dismissed Kari Lake's election lawsuit against Democrat Katie Hobbs in the stolen 2022 midterm election.  Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found Kari Lake's lawyers had not proven Maricopa officials committed any kind of misconduct.  Kari Lake will appeal the ruling.

A federal judge essentially says parents have no rights over their children.  Lenin is reputed to have said, "Give me four years to teach the children, and the seeds I have planted will never be uprooted."  Every parent knows this is true: Children are sponges, learning things incredibly quickly.  These things then stick, for they are buried in the very deepest recesses of our brains.  Today's leftists are attempting to reinstitute this specific type of Leninism in America.  They want your children, and your efforts to protest will be unavailing.  A Massachusetts federal judge confirmed this last week, saying that it didn't "shock the conscience" that a school secretly indoctrinated two children into transgenderism. [...] The case revolves around the fact that the school deliberately made the decision to keep from the parents the demands that they be treated as members of the opposite sex in junior high school.

Federal Judge Says School Hiding Kids' Gender Transitions Doesn't 'Shock The Conscience,' Throws Out Parent Lawsuit.  A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit from Massachusetts parents who accused public school officials of hiding their children's gender transitions from them.  U.S. District Court Judge Mark Mastroianni, an Obama appointee, criticized Ludlow Public Schools officials for allegedly hiding the pair of siblings' gender transitions from their parents, but he said the officials' actions do not "shock the conscience."  "While the court is apprehensive about the alleged policy and actions of the Ludlow Public Schools with regard to parental notification, it cannot conclude the decision to withhold information" about the children from their parents meets the conscience-shocking legal standard in Massachusetts, the judge wrote in his December 14 ruling.

North Carolina supreme court strikes down voter ID law in absurd decision.  In 2018, the North Carolina legislature passed a law that would create a new amendment to the state constitution requiring voter ID at all polling places.  The law (Senate Bill 824) passed with significant support, primarily from Republicans who held a supermajority in the legislature and successfully overrode a veto by the governor.  But this week, in one of the most self-contradictory rulings I've seen in quite a while, the state supreme court struck down the law, claiming that it was unconstitutional.  Reading through the ruling is an exercise in confusion and nonsensical assumptions by the justices of the court.

NYC: Judge calls Muslim Leftist lawyer who firebombed police car 'a remarkable person'.  "While other lawyers condemned their conduct, some objected to the severity of the charges, arguing that the case was improperly handled as if it were an act of domestic terrorism."  By any rational definition, it was an act of domestic terrorism, but Biden's handlers, Judge Brian Cogan, and these unnamed "other lawyers" all agree with Urooj Rahman's political perspective, and so she will skate with a sentence so light that it is beyond all proportion to what she did.  Imagine Cogan telling a "right-wing insurrectionist" that he or she was a "remarkable person."  It's inconceivable.

Georgia judge hands Warnock, Georgia Democrats a victory on early voting rules.  Fulton County Judge Thomas A. Cox handed a legal victory to Georgia Democrats and Raphael Warnock's campaign on Friday.  The Georgia Secretary of State cannot prohibit counties from voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as is currently stated in Georgia election law.  The Democrat Party of Georgia sued Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office to allow early voting on Nov. 26, the only Saturday in the early voting period for the run-off race between incumbent Democrat Senator Warnock and Hershel Walker, his Republican challenger.  Georgia election law reforms put into effect by state legislation shortened early voting in a run-off election to a week.

Judge "Overturns" Georgia Abortion Ban Based on Constitutional Interpretation That No Longer Exists.  Even by the standards of resistance judicial activism, this one is really something.  ["]A Georgia judge on Tuesday found the state's six-week abortion ban to be "plainly unconstitutional" and has barred it from being enforced.["]  Which Constitution?  ["]The Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act in Georgia bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, generally around six weeks into a pregnancy.  The bill passed in 2019 but was found to violate the constitutional right to privacy.["]  There is no such right.  And any such right, even if it existed, certainly doesn't trump a ban on murder.

Portland Antifa can claim total victory against Andy Ngo.  Superman had to deal with Bizarro World, a place in which everything is backward and evil is ascendant, and Andy Ngo has to contend with Portland, which pretty much seems to be the same.  The latest travesty is that, after the judge heard Andy Ngo's case against an Antifa activist whom Ngo filmed throwing a liquid at him and grabbing his phone, the judge not only gave the activist a pass, but the judge also scolded Ngo for daring to report Antifa activities.  Most people who followed Antifa's activities in Portland, whether leftists or conservatives, are familiar with Andy Ngo.  At great risk to himself, he reported what the Antifa gang was doing, whether silencing conservative speech, going to war against the city, state, and federal government in Portland, or physically attacking conservatives, including Ngo himself.  In every case, Ngo has always had the video to prove that these attacks were real.

Texas Judge OKs Taking 10-Year-Old Boy to California to Be Castrated.  On September 21, 2022, Texas Judge Mary Brown decided that a woman could take a 10-year-old boy away from his father to be castrated.  The woman, who is the boy's surrogate (non-biological) mother, divorced the father when the boy was 3.  Since then, the woman has been treating the boy as a girl.  She gave him a girl's name and sends him to school in a dress.  The woman has announced that she intends to fully "transition" the boy to be a "transgender" girl.

Hillary Clinton Demands Trump Pay Her Legal Fees After Clinton Judge Tosses RICO Lawsuit Over Russia Collusion Hoax.  Hillary Clinton's lawyers on Monday filed a motion demanding Donald Trump pay Clinton's legal fees after a Bill Clinton judge tossed the RICO lawsuit over the Russian collusion canard.  President Trump filed a federal RICO suit in Miami, Florida in March against Hillary Clinton and others over the Russia collusion hoax orchestrated by the Clinton campaign in 2016 to undermine Trump's candidacy and derail his presidency.

Two leaders of True the Vote jailed by federal judge for contempt of court.  Federal marshals escorted the leaders of True the Vote out of a Houston courtroom on Monday morning and into a holding cell.  Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips have been held in contempt of court for refusing to release the name of a person of interest in the defamation and computer hacking case against them, who they claim, without proof, is a confidential FBI informant.  They will remain in jail until they release the name of the man.

2000 Mules Investigators Gregg Phillips and True the Vote Founder Arrested and Taken Into Custody One Week Before Mid-Term Election.  This morning, Federal Judge Kenneth Hoyt held True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht and True the Vote investigator Gregg Phillips were arrested and held in contempt of court over their refusal to identify a confidential informant who helped them obtain information that led to the discovery and later, evidence that the E. Lansing, MI based election software company Konnech was storing election-related data on servers in China. [...] Engelbrecht and Phillips were the duo behind the bombshell documentary 2000 Mules that used geofencing data to uncover an alleged massive ballot-harvesting operation in several key states across America in 2020.

Prospective juror jailed for 24 hrs after judge demanded he wear a mask when it wasn't mandatory.  A North Carolina judge went on a power trip when a father showed up for potential jury duty and decided not to wear a mask in a mask-optional courthouse, ruling the man was in contempt and throwing him in jail for 24 hours without bond.  "I never thought I would show up to jury duty and end up behind bars.  So it happened," Gregory Hahn told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."  [Video clip] [...] Hahn is a Navy veteran and has served as a member of the President's Honor Guard at Arlington National Cemetery.  He stated that there were 98 potential jurors to choose from and the judge could have simply dismissed him when he declined to wear a mask.  Clerks told the jury pool that Gilchrist personally required masks in his courtroom.

Is Montana's Defiance of 'Illegal' Court Order a Model That Other Conservative States Should Follow?  As radical federal judges across America continue to undo conservative programs and initiatives, including much of the work of the Trump administration, the state of Montana has defied a court order on transgender birth certificates.  Could this be a model for other conservative states?  Maybe so.  The left is fond of its "Resist" slogan.  It's past time for conservatives to resist, as well — in earnest.  Just hours after a Montana judge blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, as reported by AP, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order.

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Bars Arizona Officials From Enforcing New Law To Remove Dead Voters, Nonresidents, And Non-Citizens From Voter Rolls.  A Clinton-appointed federal Judge blocked a new Arizona election integrity law from being enforced in the upcoming 2022 General Election.  HB2247 is meant to clean the voter rolls and remove registrants who are registered in another state and no longer live in Arizona.  The new law would add a statement on voter registration forms, specifying that if a registrant permanently moves to another state after registering in this state, their registration will be canceled.  It would also direct the county recorder to cancel a voter registration when they confirm that the registered person is dead, that the person is not an Arizona resident or resident of that County, or that they are not a citizen of the United States.

Clinton-Appointed Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton and FBI Crooks Who Manufactured Russia Collusion Hoax.  In April President Trump requested the Clinton-appointed judge overseeing his Russiagate case against Hillary Clinton and others be removed from the case due to obvious conflicts of interest.  President Trump earlier had sued a number of individuals and former officials for their actions related to the Russiagate hoax and attempted coup of his administration.  Somehow this case was assigned to Clinton-appointed Judge Donald Middlebrooks and Judge Ryon McCabe.  Judge Donald Middlebrooks was appointed by Bill Clinton to the Southern District of Florida in May 1997.  President Trump urged the courts to replace the Clinton judge with someone who is not biased in the case.  Judge Ryon McCabe later recused himself from the case.

California judge from a powerful Democratic family declares mistrial for sleepy robbery defendant.  A California judge, the scion of a powerful Democratic family, granted an ex-con a mistrial for an alleged violent McDonald's robbery because he was sleepy in court and couldn't take proper notes, Fox News Digital has learned.  Los Angeles Superior Court Jurist Daniel Lowenthal, whose Democratic congressman father endorsed the city's embattled top prosecutor George Gascón, made the ruling Wednesday.  Vamazae Elgin Banks, 24, was on trial for allegedly pointing a gun at the head of a McDonald's cashier and threatening to kill her if she didn't hand over cash quickly enough.  "Hurry up or I'll blow your brains out!" Banks allegedly told the victim, court records show.

What's Up With Non-Judges Issuing Search Warrants?  As I said in the immediate aftermath of the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid, this outrage raises all sorts of legal and constitutional issues.  Sooner rather than later, real experts would weigh in.  That process has begun, and today the redoubtable Philip Hamburger — expert in Administrative Law and the regime that sponsors its abuses — has weighed in on the constitutionally dubious phenomenon of non-judges in our federal system — "magistrates", or "commissioners" as they were formerly known — issuing warrants.

Can Magistrate Judges Constitutionally Issue Search Warrants Against Trump (Or Anyone Else)?  The Mar-a-Lago search warrant is interesting not only because of the high office of the individual whose papers were seized but also because of the low office of the person who signed it.  The warrant illustrates the long-standing constitutional anomaly of letting magistrate judges sign search warrants.  Leave aside how you feel about the former president.  Leave aside what you think of January 6, 2021.  Leave aside whether there was a good reason to issue the warrant.  A more basic question is whether the Hon. Bruce Reinhart could constitutionally issue it. [...] The Constitution's vesting of the judicial power in the courts is important for search warrants.  It ensures that at least for federal search warrants, the "probable cause" required by the Fourth Amendment will be ascertained by a judge, not anyone else.  Indeed, search warrants from magistrate judges violate not only the vesting of judicial power in the courts but also the Fourth Amendment.  In guaranteeing that search warrants must rest on probable cause, that amendment assumes that probable cause will be found by a judge.

North Carolina Supreme Court Enacts a Full-Scale Judicial Coup.  North Carolina's Supreme Court has made one of the most insane judicial decisions in the nation's history, and that's absolutely not hyperbole.  In what can only be described as a full-scale judicial coup, the Democrat-controlled body has ruled that the North Carolina General Assembly is illegitimate and can not enact amendments to the state's constitution.

Judge Who Signed Trump Warrant Repped Dem Lawmaker Accused of Putting Mistress on Payroll.  The federal magistrate judge who signed the warrant authorizing the FBI raid on former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is a former criminal defense attorney who represented a former Democratic congressman investigated by the bureau for putting his mistress on his congressional payroll.  Government records indicate that Judge Bruce E. Reinhart, one of three federal magistrates in West Palm Beach, signed the unprecedented warrant targeting Trump, who denounced the "unannounced raid" on his property as "an assault [that] could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries."  As a criminal defense attorney, Reinhart represented Democratic congressman Tim Mahoney, a Florida lawmaker who ran on a platform of "faith, family, and personal responsibility" while carrying on a series of extramarital affairs.  Mahoney subsequently came under FBI investigation for hiring one of his mistresses to work in his congressional office before putting her on his campaign payroll.

Facebook Posts Reveal Epstein-Linked Magistrate Bruce Reinhart's Woke, Anti-Trump Attitudes.  Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who signed off on the FBI's raid on Donald Trump's Florida home at Mar-a-Lago, has a history of endorsing woke and anti-Trump viewpoints on his Facebook page, according to reports.  Images that appear to be of Reinhart's Facebook page seen by Breitbart News show Reinhart praising leftist Robert Reich for his criticism of Donald Trump, accusing the former President of lacking "moral stature," and sharing a woke video about "white privilege."

Alarm Bells:  Judge Who OK'd Trump Raid Recused Himself in Trump-Clinton Lawsuit.  We previously reported how Judge Bruce Reinhart — the man who signed off on the search warrant to raid Mar-a-Lago — had previously worked for Jeffrey Epstein's employees.  He helped them secure immunity deals from the government after he left the U.S. Attorney's office where they had been prosecuting Epstein.  But it gets more concerning than that.  Turns out the judge had recused himself from the Trump-Clinton lawsuit on June 22, citing a statute as to impartiality. [...] The judge doesn't further specify his reason for recusal in the order.  That naturally raises questions then about his signing of the search warrant for the raid on Trump's home.  What was his personal bias or knowledge?  Or did he work for the Clinton team in any way?  If he was recusing himself from the Trump-Clinton matter, is there a continuing issue that would be problematic in signing off on the Trump warrant?

Judge who green-lit raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home donated thousands to Obama.  The federal judge who reportedly signed off on the raid at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence donated thousands of dollars to former President Barack Obama's presidential campaign and victory fund in 2008.  Bruce Reinhart, a Florida federal magistrate judge, donated $1,000 to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and added $1,000 more to the Obama Victory Fund that same cycle, according to federal filings.  Reinhart later contributed $500 to Jeb Bush's failed 2016 presidential campaign, federal filings show.  Reinhart did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry on his donations.

Judge who signed off the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion represented Jeffrey Epstein's Lolita Express pilots.  The Florida judge who signed off the FBI raid on Donald Trump's mansion represented Jeffrey Epstein's workers, it has been revealed.  Bruce Reinhart acted for several employees of the billionaire pedophile before he sanctioned the 'unannounced' search on Mar-a-Lago yesterday.  He left the local US Attorney's office over a decade ago to set up a private practice and help staff members including his Lolita Express pilots and his scheduler.  He was accused in a lawsuit of breaking the Justice Department's policies by using information from his previous job to benefit in the private sector, which he denied.  Meanwhile Reinhart was also revealed to have donated to Barack Obama's campaign in 2008 and Jeb Bush's when he ran against Trump in 2015.

This man is the new poster child for politicized activist judges:
Here's What the Judge Who Approved Raid on Mar-A-Lago Said About Trump on Facebook.  Judge Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate who reportedly approved the FBI's search warrant to raid Mar-A-Lago, had already been noted for his previous "work" to help employees of Jeffrey Epstein secure immunity deals from the government...after leaving his post in the U.S. attorney's office where he was supposedly helping the government prosecute Epstein and his employees for alleged sex trafficking.  What a guy.  But now another nugget of information has illuminated Reinhart's opinions about President Trump.  Thanks to some sleuthing by Florida's Voice, a Facebook account created in 2008 with the same name, linking to Reinhart's previous private law firm, and listing West Palm Beach as his home address was uncovered along with some interesting posts by Reinhart.  Thanks to an apparent failure to understand how Facebook works, or simply not caring about who saw his previous posts, most of Reinhart's status updates are public and visible to anyone who finds his profile — including one posted days before President Trump took office in January 2021.

About The Magistrate Judge Who Issued The Mar-a-Lago Warrant.  I saw references to Bruce Reinhart last night, and the fact that he had previously defended Jeffrey Epstein (who didn't kill himself).  Commenter ML has also drawn attention to the matter.  Technically, that's not legally relevant — everyone is entitled to legal representation.  The ethics of a defense lawyer should be judged by the quality of his representation, rather than the identity of his client.  However ... "Emerging details" paint a disturbing picture.  I had originally assumed that Reinhart is a District Court judge.  But he's not.  That's a problem in a case like this.  Here are two tweets that I got via Red State that paint a fuller picture:  [Tweet]  My take is simply this.  I would have expected DoJ to take their application to a "real judge" just to give a greater appearance of legitimacy to the whole proceeding — to give the impression of going the extra mile to be fair.  They didn't bother, and that's "troubling."

History of Judge Who Signed Off on Trump Raid Raises All Kinds of Red Flags.  While most of the allegations of corruption surrounding the FBI's raid of Donald Trump's estate in Florida have been pointed at the bureau itself, details about the judge who signed off on the warrant are raising eyebrows.  The warrant was rubber-stamped by Magistrate Judge named Bruce Reinhart.  As Ron Coleman points out, that's highly suspect given the profile of the situation.  [Tweet]  Why did a low-level, unconfirmed, unappointed magistrate judge sign off on the most consequential FBI warrant in decades?  If any warrant application demanded the eyes of a real judge, it would be one targeting the former President of the United States.  Yet, this judge was happy to give the FBI what they wanted while the FBI was happy to accept.

Judge Who Reportedly Signed Off On Mar-a-Lago Raid Has Anti-Trump Social Media Posts And They Are Not Looking Good.  The Florida magistrate judge who reportedly signed off on the FBI's raid of former President Donald Trump's home allegedly disparaged the former president and shared "woke" content on what appears to be his personal Facebook page.  Josiah Lippincott, a Hillsdale College Van Adel Graduate School of Statesmanship Ph.D. candidate and writer, first reported that Bruce Reinhart — the suspected judge who approved the raid of Mar-a-Lago — apparently denigrated then-president-elect Trump in 2017 via Facebook.  In a Facebook post screenshotted by Lippincott and reviewed by Defiant America Reinhart wrote, "I generally ignore the President-elect's tweets, but not this one.  John Lewis arguably has done more to 'make America great' than any living citizen."

US federal judge rules against Navy in Growler jet greenhouse emissions lawsuit.  A federal judge has ruled that the Navy violated the National Environmental Policy Act during its environmental review process for the expansion of the Growler jet fleet at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.  The ruling said the Navy failed to disclose the basis for greenhouse gas emissions calculations, failed to quantify the impact on classroom learning, failed to take a hard look at species-specific impacts on birds, and failed to give detailed consideration to the Navy base in El Centro, California, as an alternative for Growler expansion, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.

NYC Chief Judge Janet DiFiore [was] under [an] ethics probe at time of [her] resignation announcement: report.  New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore had been facing a state ethics probe when she made her Monday [7/11/2022] announcement that she was leaving her post at the end of August, according to a report.  The investigation, conducted by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, is examining whether DiFiore wrongly interfered in the disciplinarily hearing of the president of the state's court officers association, Law 360 reported, citing documents and a person familiar with the matter.  Dennis Quirk, the court officers union leader and critic of DiFiore, faced punishment for threatening to post copies of an old newspaper story about an alleged affair DiFiore had on court buildings statewide.

GOP Lawmakers Demand Answers From Merrick Garland Over Removal of Trump-era Immigration Judges.  In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, 12 House Republicans are demanding to know why Trump-appointed immigration judges are being dismissed even as the border crisis rages.  "Your department is unfairly terminating Trump-appointed immigration judges amid a historic border crisis and rapidly growing immigration case backlog," wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ).  According to a recent report from The Washington Times, at least six Trump-era judges have been removed from their posts.  "It's an attempt to weaponize the courts along ideological lines," Matthew J. O'Brien, one of the ousted judges told the Times.  "It's court packing on steroids.  It's court packing by deletion and then addition, because they're getting rid of judges and they're replacing them with people who meet their ideological framework."

Watergate and the Corruption of the DC Judiciary.  [Scroll down]  Judge John Sirica (Time's "Man of the Year," 1973) was an often-reversed, publicity-seeking, political hack.  He manipulated the District Court's procedure so that he could have assigned to himself the juicy Watergate cases.  He saw his role not as an impartial judge, but as an investigator and prosecutor.  That is just how he conducted his proceedings.  He refused to allow a change of venue despite the media feeding frenzy in Washington.  Why change the venue when you can be favorably portrayed in the Washington Post every day?  He conducted cursory and even ridiculous "voir dire" of potential jurors that guaranteed biased juries.  (Could there be any other kind in DC when Republicans are charged?)  He made prejudicial comments in front of the jury.  He sought to bolster John Dean's credibility by giving him a long prison sentence following his guilty plea.  He did so knowing that Dean would never serve a day, and that he would commute or cancel this sentence once Dean testified as Sirica wanted.

Michigan Judge Orders GOP Candidate for Governor to Surrender Guns.  Michigan Republican candidate for governor Ryan Kelley will have to surrender his guns while he awaits trial on misdemeanor criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach, a judge ruled on June 16.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather made the ruling even as Kelley's attorney argued he needs to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense as he makes campaign appearances in Michigan, local media reported.  The judge also said Kelley can't leave the state while awaiting trial and must surrender his passport.  Kelley is "a bit of a high-profile candidate in Michigan" as recent polls showed that he was the front-runner among GOP gubernatorial candidates, his lawyer, Gary Springstead, said.  Kelley, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, "asked that he be permitted to carry his firearm for his own self-defense, during the campaign," Springstead added.

Skirt Requirement for Schoolgirls Violates Constitution, Appeals Court Rules.  A North Carolina charter school with a female principal and vice principal is violating the Constitution because it requires girls to wear skirts, a federal appeals court has declared.  The full Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that mandated the removal of war memorial crosses in five states, said Tuesday that the Charter Day School's skirt requirement for girls is rooted in unconstitutional gender stereotypes.  It is the first time a federal appeals court has said charter schools may be sued for civil rights claims, and will almost assuredly be followed by lawsuits involving sports, bathroom access, and transgender rights.  "The skirts requirement blatantly perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes as part of the public education provided to North Carolina's young residents," the majority opinion said.

The Editor says...
If you don't like the dress code, go to school somewhere else.

Wisconsin 2020 election special counsel office held in contempt as sparks fly in court.  A Wisconsin judge held the Office of Special Counsel, which is tasked with investigating possible malfeasance during the 2020 election, in contempt of court on Friday [6/10/2022].  Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who helms the special counsel office, declined to answer questions about his approach to public records requests and scorned Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington during a fiery court appearance Friday.  "You don't have a right to act as an advocate for one party over the other.  I want personal counsel.  If you are putting jail on the table, I want a personal attorney to represent me.  I will not answer any more questions," a defiant Gableman proclaimed, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  "You want to put me in jail, Judge Remington. ... I'm not going to be railroaded."

Transgender Pedophile Avoids Prison After Judge Says It Would be Too Difficult to 'Cope' With.  A biological male British pedophile who identifies as a transgender woman has avoided punishment after the judge overseeing his case ruled that sending him to prison would make it too difficult to "cope" with the "anxiety" surrounding his transgenderism.  68-year-old convicted pedophile Peter Selby, of the UK, was found with over 125,000 images and videos of child sex abuse stored on various electronic devices, some depicting children as young as 3-years-old.  Among the child pornography found in the home of transgender pedophile Peter Selby was 2,400 images and videos of children classified by UK authorities as "Category A," meaning they depicted "penetrative sexual activity, bestiality, and/or sexual sadism."  According to local media reports, Selby confessed his guilt to police immediately upon their search of his home for the materials, claiming that his addiction to adult pornography had "morphed" into pedophilia.

[The] Obama Judge in [the] Sussmann Case [is] Totally Conflicted and His Actions Now Show It.  The judge overseeing the case concerning Hillary's attorney Michael Sussmann is totally conflicted.  His actions already show this.  Obama appointed Judge Christopher Cooper to oversee the Michael Sussmann case.  He is totally conflicted.  He shouldn't be within miles of a court in DC and his actions, in this case, show us why. [...] Judge Cooper is why we have laws about conflicts of interest.

Judge in Sussmann Trial is Married to Lisa Page's Lawyer.  Just a brief reminder as you review the decisions in the pre-trial motions for the case against Clinton Lawyer Michael Sussmann.  It is worth remembering that Judge Christopher Cooper is married to Amy Jeffries, Lisa Page's lawyer.  Additionally, Judge Cooper and Michael Sussmann both worked in the DOJ together.  When he was selected as judge in the Sussmann trial, Cooper revealed the potential conflict of interest in the event the Durham prosecution wanted him to recuse himself from the case.  Special Prosecutor John Durham did not ask Judge Cooper to recuse himself.

Judge Amit Mehta's Kangaroo Court.  Judge Amit Mehta sounded perturbed, to say the least.  The D.C. District Court judge handling numerous January 6 legal matters, including the Justice Department's high-profile prosecution of the Oath Keepers, flatly dismissed concerns by defense attorneys that the first trial in the case will coincide with public hearings held by the January 6 Select Committee later this year.  "Even if Congress is on the steps of the courthouse reading the [final] report, I am not moving the September trial," Mehta warned during a status hearing last week for nine Oath Keepers accused of seditious conspiracy among other charges.  Mehta's outburst was telling.  In any other jurisdiction in the country, a political stunt by a handful of partisan lawmakers would be widely criticized as an unfair hurdle for defendants facing trial on the same issue at the same time — especially for an exceedingly rare crime, akin to treason, for which the government is seeking life in prison.  Further, any frustration would be directed at the politicians interfering in such a serious prosecution, not at defense attorneys protecting the best interest of their clients.

Spygate Judge Tries To Protect Hillary Clinton In Latest Pre-Trial Rulings.  The Obama-appointed judge presiding over the criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann let politics trump the law when he declared in a weekend opinion he would not rule on whether the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee conspired with others to peddle the Russia collusion hoax.  Special Counsel John Durham charged Sussmann last September in a one-count indictment with making a false statement to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker when Sussmann provided Baker data and "whitepapers" purporting to show a secret communication network between Donald Trump and the Russian-based Alfa Bank.  According to the indictment, Sussmann told Baker he was sharing the information on his own, when, in fact, Sussmann represented both tech executive Rodney Joffe and the Clinton campaign.  With trial set to begin in one week, the last month has seen a flurry of pretrial motions — called "motions in limine" — seeking pretrial rulings on the admissibility of evidence.

Ron DeSantis and the Constitution Score a Big Win Over the Activist Left and Rule by Random Judge.  Friday [5/6/2022], the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a huge victory in the struggle to return sanity and the rule of law to Florida's elections.  To set the stage, in May 2021, the Florida legislature, as is its right under the US Constitution, passed a sweeping overhaul of Florida's election laws.  The purpose of the new law was to stamp out abuses that had grown up over time and quash new types of abuses invented during the 2020 let's-crap-our-drawers response to the Wuhan virus.  The Democrats and their allies, which find it extremely hard to win elections without resorting to fraud, cheating, and abuse of the legal process, filed suit to stop the law from going into effect.  Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker heard the case of the Northern District of Florida.  Walker is an Obama judge.  The significance of that soon became apparent as immediately played the "racism card."

Judge refuses to allow Hillary Clinton's tweets claiming Trump colluded with Russia to be admitted as evidence.  A U.S. District Court judge said Hillary Clinton's tweets claiming former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia will not be admitted as evidence in the trial against her 2016 campaign lawyer.  Judge Christopher Cooper on Wednesday denied Special Counsel John Durham's request to allow the tweets in the Michael Sussmann upcoming trial for lying to the FBI.  He ruled that Clinton's tweets would be excluded as hearsay and that it would be 'duplicative of other evidence,' the Washington Examiner reported.

Conn. Superior Court Judge Alice Bruno hasn't been to work in two years but still banked $400,000.  Where else could you be a judge, never set foot in your courtroom, never hear a case nor decide a fate yet pull in more than $400,000?  Unfortunately, it's no joke and the citizens of Connecticut, where Alice Bruno supposedly holds a job as a Superior Court judge, deserve a little justice by way of an explanation and possibly Bruno's removal or suspension.

Judge Declines Jail for Two Men Who Impersonated DC Federal Agents.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey (Obama appointee in 2015) declined to hold the two men in jail who are accused of impersonating federal agents in Washington DC. "There's been no showing that national security information has been compromised," Harvey said in his decision.  If the DOJ does not appeal the decision, both men, Arian Taherzadeh, (40) and Haider Ali (35), who are also in the United States with expired visas, will be allowed bond.

Chicago judges keep sending felony suspects home and they keep trying to kill people.  Judge Charles Beach handed down a little wisdom to 20-year-old Keyon Hayes at the end of his November bail hearing on felony gun charges.  Consider it unheeded. [...] Hayes is the 12th person charged with killing or shooting someone, or attempting to, in Chicago this year while awaiting trial on at least one felony charge.  The alleged crimes have involved at least 21 victims, five of whom have died, authorities said.  The saga began in early November, when Chicago police allegedly saw Hayes carrying a black satchel with an extended magazine sticking out of it and arrested him.  So far, so good.  But then bond court Judge Beach ruled Hayes could go home on a 7 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew by posting a deposit of $300 on a $3,000 bail, which Hayes could not raise.  Two months later, Judge Peggy Chiampas released Hayes on his own recognizance with a 24-hour curfew, according to court records.

Federal Judge's Opinion on Trump Reveals Judiciary's Reliance on Media Propaganda.  It's difficult to have much faith in the judicial system when individual judges appear to be gullible consumers of fake news, swallowing media accounts of events that have been widely questioned and, at least in some cases, debunked completely.  Just how gullible and uninformed even top jurists can be was seen in January at the U.S. Supreme Court, during oral arguments over the government's COVID-19 vaccine mandate affecting nearly 100 million workers.  During the arguments, the justices revealed an ignorance of the basic facts surrounding COVID that shocked onlookers — and showed that many relied upon unreliable media sources for their information.

Clinton-Appointed Judge Rules Trump "More Likely Than Not" Committed Crimes When He 'Attempted to Obstruct' Congress on January 6.  A federal judge on Monday ruled former president Trump likely committed crimes when he 'attempted to obstruct' Congress on January 6, 2021.  US District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee ruled that Trump "more likely than not" committed felony obstruction.  "Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," the judge wrote, according to ABC News.  Earlier this month the January 6 Committee said Trump may have engaged in criminal conduct to overturn the 2020 election.

Huh?  Was Trump on trial?  I must have missed it.  This sure sounds like a verdict.
Trump likely committed felony obstruction, federal judge rules.  A federal judge ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump "more likely than not" attempted to illegally obstruct Congress as part of a criminal conspiracy when he tried to subvert the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.  "Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," U.S. District Court Judge David Carter wrote.

First Openly 'Transgender' Judge Appointed to California Bench.  California has appointed its first openly 'transgender' judge, announced Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday [3/25/2022].  Judge Andi Mudryk, 58, who "transitioned" four years ago, is one of eight new appointees to serve on the Sacramento County Superior Court. [...] Social justice advocates throughout the state lauded the move as a victory for "diversity and equity."

The problem with federal judges.  The nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court has only partly brought a spotlight on the abuse of our legal system and the Constitution by federal judges.  I have observed a fair number of judges in the forty-plus years I've practiced law, and I have observed what federal judges do with the power their "lifetime" appointments grant them.  My conclusion is that too many federal judges consider God to be just another person subject to the judge's jurisdiction.  The level of unbounded arrogance is truly astounding.  It is unbounded because impeachment is the only method of removing a judge who abuses his power.  The only federal judge impeached in recent history was Alcee Hastings, a U.S. District Judge in Florida who was impeached (with 17 counts including bribery, perjury, and obstruction of justice) and then removed from office in 1989 by the U.S. Senate.  Four years later he was elected to U.S. House of Representatives and re-elected many times thereafter.

Texas Judge Issues Injunction against Investigations of Parents of Transgender Children.  A Texas judge on Friday [3/11/2022] blocked the state's Department of Family and Protective Services from conducting investigations of parents of transgender children for potential child abuse.  District judge Amy Clark Meachum wrote in her ruling that a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal against the DFPS holds a "substantial likelihood" of success.

Massachusetts Judge Could Face Prosecution for Allegedly Blocking ICE Arrest.  A Massachusetts judge might face prosecution after a federal appeals court on Feb. 28 declined to dismiss a case in which she's accused of blocking the arrest of an illegal immigrant.  In a criminal case filed during the Trump administration, Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph is accused of impeding a federal immigration arrest of a defendant in her courtroom in 2018.  Court papers say the judge blocked a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent from detaining a man who fled the court through a rear door.  Her lawyers sought to argue that she should have immunity as a judge to allow the illegal immigrant to leave the courtroom, and that the prosecution was unconstitutional.  However, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected an appeal to dismiss the case, saying it was "premature."  The three-judge panel said that absent an explicit statutory or constitutional right to avoid trial, she and her courtroom deputy, Wesley MacGregor, would need to face a jury first.

Biden's Supreme Court Pick Shielded Top Clinton Aide Amid Email Scandal.  President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee shielded one of Hillary Clinton's top State Department aides from scrutiny about his use of a personal email account to conduct official business.  Then-U.S. district judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2015 denied Gawker's request for details about press aide Philippe Reines's stewardship of the account in the context of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which sought emails Reines traded with 34 different media outlets.  Jackson blocked Gawker's request, calling it "extraordinary" and claiming there was no proof that Reines had acted in "bad faith" by using a personal email address.

Chicago courts finally find an accused perp to deny bail to.  The courts in Cook County, Illinois that serve Chicago are notorious for allowing dangerous suspects out in low or no bail.  Part of the problem lies with the office of State's Attorney Kim Foxx, which often does not seek high bail or fully present the risks to a judge.  Part of the problem is Illinois's bail reform law.  And part of the problem is that some (not all) judges err on the side of letting the accused go, even those with long rap sheets.

Judge rejects effort by Trump to toss Jan. 6 lawsuits.  A federal judge on Friday [2/18/2022] rejected efforts by former President Donald Trump to toss out conspiracy lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers, saying in his ruling that the former president's words "plausibly" led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.  U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said in his ruling that Trump's words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely "words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment."

Trump must testify in New York investigation, judge rules.  Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state's civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday [2/17/2022].  Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.  Trump and his two children must sit for depositions within 21 days, Engoron said following a two-hour hearing with lawyers for the Trumps and James' office.

Jury in Sarah Palin Defamation Suit Against NYT Learned of Judge's Decision to Dismiss Case Before Verdict.  Jurors in the recent defamation lawsuit by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) against the New York Times learned of the judge's decision to dismiss the case even though they were deliberating at the time and were not supposed to find out.  As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, U.S. Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York announced that he believed Palin had not met the evidentiary burden of showing "actual malice," necessary in the case of a public figure.

Judge rules in favor of NY Times while jury is still deliberating.  [Scroll down]  [Erik] Wemple says this kind of decision is pretty common in cases like this, though he's not sure about issuing the decision while the jury is deliberating.  [Tweets]  The judge expects an appeal which is why he's allowing the jury to continue to deliberate[.]

Judge to toss Sarah Palin's defamation suit against the New York Times.  A Manhattan judge on Monday said he will toss out Sarah Palin's libel lawsuit against the New York Times over an editorial that falsely linked her to a mass shooting — but he didn't exactly side with the Gray Lady.  Manhattan federal court Judge Jed Rakoff said that even though the Times' 2017 piece, headlined "America's Lethal Politics," was the product of "unfortunate editorializing," Palin's lawyers failed to provide evidence that the paper and former editorial page editor James Bennet acted with actual malice.  "I'm not altogether happy to have to make this decision on behalf of the defendant," Rakoff said as jurors continued deliberating the case.

Judge rules in favor of NY Times while jury is still deliberating.  The judge overseeing Sarah Palin's libel trial against the NY Times has announced that he is dismissing her case even as the jury is now deliberating. [...] Since Palin's attorneys didn't prove Bennet knew the statements were false there's no proof he "recklessly disregarded" those facts.  But the only reason Bennet didn't know the facts is because when people repeatedly sent him links about the case he refused to look at them.  He could have done a 2 minute Google search on his own but by choosing to remain blissfully ignorant for six years between the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson and the publication of the 2017 editorial, he's not showing reckless disregard for the truth.

Judge throws out Palin libel case against New York Times because her attorneys failed to prove 'actual malice'.  A New York judge has tossed Sarah Palin's libel lawsuit against The New York Times because her lawyers failed to produce evidence the newspaper had actual malice against her.  US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff made the ruling on Monday afternoon as the jury deliberated whether the Times defamed her by linking her to a 2011 shooting spree in Arizona.  Rakoff said he will order the dismissal of Palin's lawsuit, but enter his order after her jury finishes its own deliberations.  He added that he expected Palin to appeal, and that the appeals court 'would greatly benefit from knowing how the jury would decide it.'

County judge's behavior during funeral of fallen officer called "disruptive and disgraceful".  Corporal Charles Galloway was brutally murdered during a traffic stop in Harris County (Houston) on January 23.  This week the behavior of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo at Galloway's memorial service is being called "disruptive and disgraceful."  Sgt. Roy Guinn's account of her behavior has been made into a YouTube video by a local radio show host.

Virginia judge grants temporary restraining order allowing mask mandates to remain in schools.  Students in northern Virginia schools will have to continue wearing face masks after an Arlington judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing Gov. Glenn Youngkin's mask-optional order from taking effect.  The decision comes after seven school boards requested a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit to block Youngkin's order which allows parents to decide what's best for their children. [...] Following the judge's decision, Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Youngkin, released a statement and vowed to appeal the ruling, saying the ability for parents to decide what is best for their children in school is something Youngkin will continue to fight for.

Court Says Judge Overstepped with Ruling, May Be In 'Wrong Line of Work'.  A Michigan judge known for giving criminals higher sentences than what guidelines recommend and making controversial comments from the bench was told by a higher court Tuesday that remaining a judge may not be the job for him.  Jackson County Judge John McBain was reprimanded by the Michigan Court of Appeals' ruling on the case of Dawn Marie Dixon-Bey, a 49-year-old woman convicted of fatally stabbing her boyfriend on Valentine's Day in 2015.  Dixon-Bey said she acted in self-defense.

Whoopi Goldberg for SCOTUS.  [Scroll down]  And lurking beneath the court's standing with the American people is its role as the last remaining vestige of monarchy.  Judges don't propose — they rule, which is why they have courts.  The real significance of Roe v. Wade is not the empowerment of women, but the blatant dictatorial nature of judicial fiat.  Legislators have to be elected.  First, they campaign among their constituents and then they have to twist arms in their respective chambers to get their bills passed.  Judges just have to make up their minds.

Federal judge throws out Gulf of Mexico offshore oil lease sale.  A plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore drilling was denied by a federal judge Thursday [1/27/2022].  U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras for the District of Columbia rejected the lease sale, which was held by the Interior Department in November for 80 million acres to be used for offshore oil drilling, saying it did not do a good job of estimating the effects on greenhouse gas emissions in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, according to the ruling.

Federal judge throws out oil lease sale in Gulf of Mexico.  A federal court has rejected a plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil drilling, saying the Biden administration did not adequately take into account the lease sale's effect on planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, violating a bedrock environmental law.  The decision by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington on Thursday sends the proposed lease sale back to the Interior Department to decide next steps.  The judge said it was up to Interior to decide whether to go forward with the sale after a revised review, scrap it or take other steps.

Texas judge rules apprehension of illegal immigrant by soldiers along Rio Grande was Unconstitutional.  A county judge in Texas dealt a blow to Governor Greg Abbott's controversial 'Operation Lone Star' after ruling his national guard's apprehension of an illegal immigrant unconstitutional Thursday.  Operation Lone Star was created by Abbott amidst a wave of illegal immigrants from Central America crossing the US-Mexico border.  It deploys law enforcement in areas human and drug smugglers are known to use.  The ruling could see the initiative stifled with attorneys saying that it could open a path for other immigrants to challenge their detention.

Judge fines cancer patient, 72, for overgrown lawn: 'I'd give jail time if I could'.  A hardline judge has fined and ridiculed a 72-year-old Michigan man with lymphoma, ruling that he "should be ashamed" of being too weak to mow his overgrown lawn.  Burhan Chowdhury of Hamtramck, a community about six miles north of Detroit, admittedly fell behind in yard maintenance after he was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes in 2019.  His overgrown property prompted local officials to subpoena Chowdhury.  In now-viral footage of the Zoom court hearing on Jan. 10, Chowdhury's breathing appeared labored as Judge Alexis G. Krot of the 31st District Court berated him.  "You should be ashamed of yourself," says Krot, in a video shared Jan. 12 on social media, and viewed more than 37,500 times as of Thursday morning.  "If I could give you jail time on this, I would."

Man who tried to run over firefighter released on zero bail by Judge Chu.  A Minneapolis man who attempted to run over a firefighter with his vehicle was released from custody Monday with zero bail required by Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu.  According to a criminal complaint, 52-year-old Shawn Coates was following a woman in his pickup truck when she approached a Minneapolis fire station for help.  One of the firefighters on duty directed the woman to "go into the fire station for safety" and told Coates to "move on."  Coates didn't take this well. [...] He got out of his crashed vehicle, entered the fire station, and "squared up" to fight a fire captain.  It was at this point that he was tackled to the ground by one of the first responders.

The Supreme Court and Congress Humiliate Themselves.  Article III, Section II of the Constitution establishes the jurisdiction (legal ability to hear a case) of the Supreme Court.  The Court has original jurisdiction (a case is tried before the Court) over certain cases, e.g., suits between two or more states and/or cases involving ambassadors and other public ministers.  What this means in simple terms is that with rare exceptions when the court has original jurisdiction as detailed in Section II above, the court sits as an appellate court.  That means that it is not a trier of fact.  It must decide the legal issues based solely on the factual record.  Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of civics knows this, but apparently three justices do not, and in going beyond the scope of the trial court record, they not only exceed their constitutional role, but showed why this limitation is important.  They cited purported facts which are in substantial error in a forum where there is no opportunity to really contest them as would be the case in a trial court.

Federal Judge Tosses Lawsuit Challenging Biden's Authority To Block Keystone Pipeline.  A federal district court judge granted the Biden administration's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 20 Republican attorneys general challenging the Keystone XL Pipeline's permit revocation.  Judge Jeffrey Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, ruled that he couldn't determine the constitutionality of President Joe Biden's action because TC Energy, the pipeline's developer, had abandoned the project.  On June 9, TC Energy announced its intention to permanently halt construction of the pipeline, saying it would focus on other projects.  Biden canceled the pipeline's federal permit immediately after taking office on Jan. 20 in an executive order.  The order said the U.S. "must prioritize the development of a clean energy economy" and that the Keystone project would undermine the nation's role as a climate leader on the world stage.

Chief Justice John Roberts says federal judiciary needs to ensure judges don't have conflicts of interest when presiding over financial cases.  Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the federal judiciary needs to do more to ensure judges don't participate in cases where they have financial conflicts of interest.  Roberts made the comments as part of his annual report on the federal judiciary released Friday evening [12/31/2021].  Roberts pointed to a series of stories recently in The Wall Street Journal that found that 'between 2010 and 2018, 131 federal judges participated in a total of 685 matters involving companies in which they or their families owned shares of stock.'

Liberal Judge Rules Ousting Illegal Aliens Who Reenter the Country 'Racist' and 'Unconstitutional'.  It may surprise you to learn that the most common type of case federal prosecutors bring is not for drugs or fraud, as many think.  As reported by The Washington Times, that honor goes to cases against illegal aliens who try to reenter the country after having been deported.  And almost all those charged are Hispanic, of course.  Now, according to The Times, federal courts are facing the ridiculous question of whether the "imbalance" in deportations means U.S. immigration law is [...] racist.  Ridiculous?  One court in Nevada has ruled it means exactly that.  Judge Miranda Du, an Obama appointee [no kidding?], said the section of immigration law that makes it a felony for an illegal alien previously ousted to sneak back into the country "has racist antecedents dating to the 1920s."  This is insane.  Though the law has been updated since then, noted The Times, Congress has never "confronted the racist, nativist roots" of the law, Du ruled.  She said that fact — coupled with the overwhelmingly Hispanic targets for prosecution — makes the law unconstitutional.  This is beyond insane.

Federal judge rules immigration law provision unconstitutional for 'disparate impact on Latinx persons'.  Federal courts are now wrestling with the underpinnings of an immigration law provision and whether or not it is racist.  A federal judge in Nevada ruled that Section 1326, a law making it a felony to reenter the United States after being deported, is unconstitutional.  The Department of Justice has appealed the case, now sending it to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  Judge Miranda Du, an Obama appointee, issued the original order in August saying the law was passed with racist antecedents and discriminatory intent against Latinos, violating the Equal Protection Clause.

The Editor says...
Hmmm.  I wonder why nobody in the Congress noticed the law was unconstitutional while they were voting on it.

Over 110 Defendants Charged with Capital Murder are Let Loose in Houston, Thanks to Democrat Judges.  In Harris County, Tex., where the city of Houston is located, at least 113 defendants charged with capital murder have been freed and let loose on the streets thanks to criminal justice reform.  Fox 26 Houston reported the shocking news, which they claim is part of "more than 50,000 accused felons [benefiting] from the "catch and release" philosophy of "criminal justice" perpetrated by the current crop of democratic "reform" judges."

Alabama judge removed for calling another judge 'Uncle Tom,' numerous other ethics violations.  An Alabama judge was removed from the bench for committing several substantial ethics violations, including referring to another judge as an "Uncle Tom," a derogatory term meant to describe a Black person who is overly allegiant to White people.  Jefferson County Judge Nakita Blocton, who is herself Black, "engaged in a pattern and practice of making inappropriate comments — for example, calling one judge 'Uncle Tom" and another judge a 'fat [...]' and calling an employee a heifer," according to the findings of a commission that filed a complaint against the judge for various ethics violations.  The commission also found that Blocton engaged in a pattern of abuse of staff, attorneys and litigants that included referring to one employee as a "heifer" and verbally abusing and belittling another employee.

A game of three-judge-panels is no route to actual justice.  There used to at least be a myth and presumption that the courts were independent, unbiased, and free from politicization.  Today, however, few even seem to bother to bow before this presumption.  Rather now, the presumption is that a court ruling is dependent on the political affiliation of the panel's or court's make-up versus dependent solely on the rule of law.  It's gotten so much so that it has become common practice for the political affiliation of each judge or justice to be reported in each news story.  The clear presupposition now is that Democrat-appointed judges will find in favor of the DNC position, and GOP-appointed ones will find in favor of the RNC position.  The DNC, as is its usual tendency, took judge-shopping to the extreme, and the back-and-forth appeal ping-pong rulings witnessed during the Trump administration revealed to just what dizzying heights Democrats are willing to take their judicial cynicism.

Sen. Kennedy Takes Apart Another 'Embarrassing' Biden Nominee.  There was a hearing this week for another Biden nominee, Anne Traum, for United States District Court Judge for the District of Nevada.  Once again, it was Sen. Kennedy probing to see just how radical the nominee was.  But she kept refusing to answer his one simple question: do you think we should forgive a criminal act in the name of social justice?  Now, it would seem the obvious answer to that would be no, but she just couldn't bring herself to say it, likely because the answer for her wouldn't be a no.  Kennedy asked her the question nine times — and she kept ducking it.

John Kennedy Asks Biden Nominee Anne Traum The Same Question 9 Times In A Row.  Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy grilled one of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees with the same question nine times in a row over the course of five minutes.  Anne Traum was nominated by Biden to be the United States District Judge for the District of Nevada.  During Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Kennedy questioned Traum's beliefs on criminal justice.  "Do you think we should forgive criminal misbehavior in the name of social justice?" Kennedy asked.  "Senator, thank you for that question.  I recognize that all issues of crime and all responses to crime are fundamentally policy issues.  So, those are important issues, they are important for our community and our nation, but I leave those policy issues to the policymakers if confirmed as a judge I would not be a policy maker," Traum said, before Kennedy cut her off.  "I'm not asking your opinion as a judge.  I'm asking your opinion as a person, as a law professor.  I'll stipulate, with all of you, that you're all going to be fair and unbiased.  Now, do you think misbehavior and illegal acts should be forgiven in the name of social justice?" Kennedy pressed.

Nakita Blocton, judge accused of mental instability and forcing staff to take diet pills, removed from bench.  Nakita Blocton on Friday [12/10/2021] was removed from her position as Jefferson County domestic relations judge by Alabama's Judicial Inquiry Commission.  Blocton had been temporarily removed from the bench after a 37-page report accused her of mental instability and drug use, abuse of staff, attorneys and litigants and failure to promptly dispose of cases.  The JIC on Friday made the removal permanent and ordered Blocton to pay for the cost of the proceedings.

How Judicial Misbehavior Skates in America.  We have a serious problem within the federal Judiciary in how it protects itself from malfeasance issues when people file judicial misconduct complaints against judges.  The Judicial Conduct and Disability Act allows "[a]ny person alleging that a judge has engaged in conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts" to file a complaint against the judge.  And then when a complaint is filed, everything simply goes out the window in terms of transparency and accountability — and yes, even the ultimate goal of justice, due to built-in rules designed to muzzle the public and prevent an actual meaningful proceeding.  First, there is a law dictating that with a few exceptions, all papers, documents, and records of proceedings relating to judicial misconduct complaints shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed by any person in any proceeding.  In other words, when a person has information about judicial corruption done by a federal judge, once that person files a complaint against that judge, that person cannot make any public statements about the judicial malfeasance.

The Curious DC Judicial Moves Continue — Page v Comey Case Reassigned, With Even Sketchier FISA Court Background.  Yesterday [11/16/2021], we noted the curiously random set of coincidences taking place amid an internecine DC judicial system.  The network of DC relationships, specifically judges, connected to prior Main Justice DOJ, FBI and FISA Court activity could not be as random as the process defenders would claim.  The latest revelation came from the "random" civil case assignment of Carter Page v. James Comey. The case was reassigned to Judge James Boasberg, who held a major conflict of interest in the specifics of the Carter Page lawsuit against James Comey.  Today, perhaps partly in response to the sunlight provided by the extensive background; or perhaps related to the reality that Boasberg could not possibly sit as the judge in the lawsuit; the Carter Page case was again reassigned.  However, this time it is not the reassignment that draws attention, it is the reassigner, the Chairman of the Case Calendar and Case Management Committee, Rudolph Contreras.

A Curiously Random Coincidence Keeps Repeating.  [Scroll down]  Not only was Judge James Boasberg the judge that signed off on the third extension of the search warrant that contained the fraudulent Steele dossier as its primary evidence to support it.  James Boasberg was also the "randomly selected" presiding judge in the criminal case against Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI lawyer who doctored emails to deny that Carter Page was a CIA asset in order to justify the warrant.  Judge James Boasberg was also the presiding judge in the media lawsuit seeking the James Comey memos the FBI and DOJ refused to release.  It was Judge Boasberg who ruled the DOJ could keep the Comey memos hidden from the public (link) to protect the integrity of the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation.  Robert Mueller was also put in place to cover up the illegal political surveillance (ie.  "Spygate") that was also the primary purpose of the fraudulent search warrant.  But wait, it gets worse:  Robert Mueller filed the final renewal of the fraudulent warrant (June 29, 2017), and it was Judge James Boasberg signed it.

2 federal judges are poised to quietly begin unlocking reams of Jan. 6 secrets for Congress.  Most Americans haven't heard of Beryl Howell and Tanya Chutkan.  Yet these two federal judges are poised to help deliver troves of hidden information to congressional investigators over the next few weeks that could dramatically reshape the public's understanding of the Jan. 6 insurrection.  On Thursday [11/4/2021], Chutkan, a 2014 appointee of President Barack Obama, will weigh former President Donald Trump's effort to shield his White House records from the Jan. 6 select committee.  Her ruling there could help lawmakers obtain call records, visitor logs and highly sensitive files from Trump's senior aides.

Meet the new Chicago bail court judge that frees perps on recognizance and restrains victims.  In the race among blue cities toward dystopia, Chicago is a contender for the lead.  Its streets are dangerous, and when accused street crime perps are arrested, they often get out of jail on recognizance, with no cash bail.  CWB Chicago, the invaluable chronicler of Chicago's descent, profiles a new bail court judge who goes beyond freeing very sketchy accused perps on recognizance.

Judge Bars Biden Administration from Firing Unvaccinated Employees with Pending Religious Exemptions.  A Washington, D.C., district court judge barred the Biden administration from firing unvaccinated federal employees Thursday [10/28/2021], siding with plaintiffs who claimed that their employer's refusal to allow a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate would result in irreparable harm.  District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting the firing of both civilian and active-duty military federal employees while their religious exemption pleas are pending.

Biden flips 2nd Circuit to majority Democratic with confirmation of lesbian judge.  The Senate confirmed the first openly lesbian judge to a federal circuit court on Monday, flipping the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit to a majority of Democrat-appointed judges.  Judge Beth Robinson, who previously served on the Vermont Supreme Court, was confirmed by a 51-45 vote.  Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke with their party and supported her confirmation.  The makeup of the 2nd Circuit now has seven Democrat-appointed and six Republican-appointed judges following Judge Robinson's confirmation.  She is President Biden's third judicial appointment to the 2nd Circuit.

Going Full Soviet:  Judge releases Jan. 6 defendant on bond after he renounces Trump.  The jailing of the Jan. 6 riot defendants is not just an obvious miscarriage of justice, given the length of time they've spent in detention without trial.  It's also turning into something that's full Soviet.  Here's the latest from one Judge Amy B. Jackson, who, after denying release at least once to one guy, went ahead and let him out.  He's a Buffalo, New York-based defendant named Thomas Sibnick, who's recanted: [...] The reason he got out while the others stayed in?  His groveling letter denouncing President Trump, which was so self-abasing that it would make Nikolai Bukharin blush: [...] That didn't seem to be his point of view back on Jan. 6, when he was allegedly assaulting a police officer and stealing his badge, according to the charges.  He certainly was some kind of nut and probably had more legal problems than the other defendants, who were simply in the wrong place or who were pushed into the Capitol, possibly by the FBI's paid agents provocateurs, or who were invited in by Capitol cops and waved the flag.  He probably ought to be punished.

Judge says Chicago police union not allowed to discourage members from getting vaccinated for covid.  Cook County Circuit Judge Cecilia A. Horan has ordered Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara to stop discouraging the city's police force from taking the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) "vaccine."  In Horan's opinion, Catanzara does not have any First Amendment rights when it comes to telling his police officers that getting injected might not be in their best interests.  On Oct. 15 following a lengthy emergency hearing on a request for injunctive relief that was filed by the city early in the day, Horan proclaimed that Catanzara must immediately stop trying to help police officers avoid the deadly clot shot, which stands a good chance of killing them.  Last week, Catanzara urged Chicago police officers to not comply with the city's mandate requiring them to tell the government whether or not they got injected with one of Donald "father of the vaccine" Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" injections.

America's leftist judges are out of control.  Thirty years of litigation work in the San Francisco Bay Area, which some might consider Ground Zero for activist judges, left me with a deep and abiding disrespect for leftist judges who are more concerned with their prejudices and feelings, than with facts and law.  Two recent stories perfectly exemplify this.  The first story involves an Obama appointee who is reaming people arrested because they dared to do what leftists always do:  Enter government property, including the Capitol, to protest.  The second involves a father who is being barred access to his son until he gets a totally unnecessary vaccine.

Bush-appointed federal judge declares no such thing as natural immunity.  On October 8, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled against a plaintiff who requested an exemption from having to get "vaccinated" for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), denying the existence of her immune system.  Jeanna Norris, an employee at Michigan State University (MSU), sued her employer for trying to force herself and others to get injected with "Operation Warp Speed" poisons.  Norris argued that she already tested "positive" for the alleged virus in the past and now has natural immunity to it.  Reports indicate that Norris was further able to present two antibody tests showing that she had, in fact, previously been infected with Chinese Germs.  Norris' doctors also confirmed that she does not need to get injected with any Fauci Flu shots because she is already protected against covid due to her own immune system.

People Notice When the Elites Lie.  [Scroll down]  Ordinary Americans, who aren't emotionally invested in keeping up the illusion that all is well on the banks of the Potomac, saw something different.  They saw John Roberts telling a lie and Donald Trump telling the truth.  Everybody knows that most of what the upper level of the judicial system does is politics by another name.  They know that most of the time, Obama judges, Trump judges, Bush judges, and Clinton judges rule differently on politically charged questions.  And a large portion of the American people decide whom to vote for in presidential elections based mainly on what kinds of judges they want the next president to appoint.  John Roberts has the audacity to tell these people that none of this is true and that all judges are really just doing their best to enforce the same laws in an impartial way.

Federal judge puts Texas abortion law on hold.  A federal judge has temporarily blocked the enforcement of Texas's strict new abortion law that prohibits the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected.  The ruling on Wednesday [10/6/2021] by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, a Barack Obama-appointed judge, means Texas abortion providers can once again operate after about six weeks' pregnancy without fear of being sued.  S.B. 8 outlawed abortions after approximately six weeks when a heartbeat is detected, which is before a lot of women know they are pregnant.  The new law has led some pregnant women to go across state lines for abortions instead.

District court judge blocks landmark Texas 'fetal heartbeat' abortion law.  A district court judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order blocking Texas S.B. 8 abortion law on Wednesday, finding in favor of the U.S. Department of Justice, which had sought the order to block the law from going into effect.  "A person's right under the Constitution to choose to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability is well established.  Fully aware that depriving its citizens of this right by direct state action would be flagrantly unconstitutional, the State contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme to do just that," U.S. District Judge Robert Pittman, of the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, wrote in a 113-page ruling.

Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Caught Presiding Over Stunning Number of Cases in Which He Had Financial Interests.  A federal district court judge in Texas who was appointed by former President Barack Obama has repeatedly violated ethics standards, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.  Judge Rodney Gilstrap of Marshall, Texas, in the Eastern District of Texas, failed to disqualify himself in 138 cases over eight years in which he or a family member had a financial interest in a company involved in the case before him, according to the Journal.  The Journal recently published the results of an investigation into judicial flouting of a 1974 federal law that bans judges from ruling in cases where they or a family member have an interest, even when assets are held in a trust.

131 federal judges failed to recuse themselves from cases in which they had financial interest: report.  One hundred and thirty-one federal judges oversaw court cases involving companies in which they or their family members owned stock, according to a new investigation.  Those judges violated U.S. law and judicial ethics as they failed to recuse themselves from a total of 685 court cases in which they may have had a conflict of interest, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal found.  In those cases, about two-thirds of the rulings were in favor of the financial interests of the judge, the Journal reported.  The cases took place between 2010 and 2020, and of the two-thirds of federal district judges who disclosed individual stock holdings, about 20 percent of them heard at least one case that involved their stock, according to the Journal.

Federal judges:  NYC can impose vaccine mandate on teachers.  The nation's largest school district can immediately impose a vaccine mandate on its teachers and other workers, after all, a federal appeals panel decided Monday [9/27/2021], leading lawyers for teachers to say they'll ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.  The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a brief order late in the day that lifted a block of the mandate that a single appeals judge had put in place on Friday.  After an adverse ruling from a Brooklyn judge, a group of teachers had brought the case to the appeals court, which assigned a three-judge panel to hear oral arguments Wednesday.  But the appeals panel issued its order Monday after written arguments were submitted by both sides.

Obama-Appointed Judge:  Florida's 'Discriminatory' Ban on Sanctuary Cities Is Unconstitutional.  A judge has ruled that Florida's ban on sanctuary cities, which shield criminal illegal aliens from arrest and deportation, is unconstitutional because it is discriminatory.  Judge Beth Bloom, appointed by former President Obama, permanently enjoined the law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in June 2019 that banned Florida cities and counties from protecting criminal illegal aliens from federal immigration law carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

They Intend to Destroy America.  What leftists have never been able to do is legislate a radical transformation of the United States.  Their strategy has been to infiltrate the legal/judicial system and to seat as many anti-American activist jurists in the judicial branch of our government.  These activist judges, once in place, legislate from the bench to support America's radical transformation, enabling the government to intercede where the Constitution draws specific limits, stripping citizens of their constitutional rights, and granting rights unknown in centuries of Anglo-American legal precedent.  These activist judges will be sure any legal challenge to the constitutionality of their agenda will fail.  Their attempts to "pack the court" are an attempt to legislatively re-structure the court system in a manner that enables them to install new judges or replace active judges with those who support their leftist transformation of America.  Resist.

Judge in case of anti-Trump mudslinger is married to attorney for ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page.  Last week, the special counsel appointed to oversee the probe into the FBI's investigation of former president Donald Trump indicted Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.  Republicans and Trump allies are optimistic about the latest development in John Durham's investigation but are still concerned that Attorney General Merrick Garland might halt the investigation to protect allies and even the president himself.  FBI notes appear to suggest that as vice president, Joe Biden played a role in the Democratic Party project to smear Trump as a Russian asset by raising the obscure, disused, 18th century statute the Logan Act as a possible vehicle for prosecuting Michael Flynn for speaking with the Russian ambassador to Washington — even after FBI case agents had cleared Trump's incoming national security adviser of wrongdoing.  And now Republicans are raising concerns that the judge appointed to the Sussmann case has too many conflicts of interest to preside over it fairly.

Republican Senators Slam Biden Court Pick for 'Hostility' to Religious Liberty.  Several Republican senators sharply criticized federal court nominee Beth Robinson this week for her alleged hostility toward religious liberty.  On August 5, President Joe Biden announced his appointment of Robinson as a judge on the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the White House underscored that she would be the first openly lesbian woman to serve on any federal circuit court.  During Robinson's confirmation hearings this week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Robinson's use of bigoted language toward pro-life Catholics sued by a client of hers in the 1990s.  Robinson had represented a woman in a suit against a Vermont print shop for not printing a pro-abortion group's business cards because of the owners' Catholic faith.

North Carolina Judges Strike Down Voter ID Law, Claiming It's Racist.  Two North Carolina judges on Sept. 17 struck down a law that required photo identification to vote, saying the measure "was enacted with the unconstitutional intent to discriminate against African American voters."  The law was enacted in violation of the equal protection clause in North Carolina's Constitution, the majority of the panel said.  The clause says that "no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be subjected to discrimination by the State because of race, color, religion, or national origin."  Defendants in a lawsuit, including North Carolina House Speaker Timothy Moore, failed to show that racial discrimination wasn't a substantial or motivating factor behind the enactment of the law, Superior Court Judges Michael O'Foghludha and Vince Rozier Jr., both Democrats, wrote in a 102-page ruling permanently blocking the measure.

North Carolina judges strike down state's voter ID law.  North Carolina judges struck down the state's latest photo voter identification law on Friday [9/17/2021], agreeing with minority voters that Republicans rammed through rules tainted by racial bias as a way to remain in power.  Two of the three trial judges at Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh declared the December 2018 law is unconstitutional, even though it was designed to implement a photo voter ID mandate added to the North Carolina Constitution in a referendum just weeks earlier.  They said the law was rushed and intentionally discriminates against black voters, violating their equal protections.

DC Judge Emmett Sullivan Blocks Trump-Era Rule Banning Illegal Alien Families from Crossing US Border.  Corrupt DC Judge Emmett Sullivan blocked a Trump-era expulsion of migrant illegal alien families caught crossing the border into the United States.  Democrats and crooked DC Judge Emmett Sullivan believe in open borders.  Last month over 200,000 illegal aliens from all over the world were apprehended at the open US southern border.

The Left seeks to remove any and all controls on asylum.  One might assume that even the most radical fringes of the American Left would be fairly content about the state of things in this country today, particularly on immigration.  After all, the Biden administration has given them pretty much everything they wanted to erode our borders and the rule of law.  Any such assumption would be incorrect, as anti-borders forces are pushing like never before for even more extremist policies to transform this country into a place most people would not recognize or desire to live.  The most recent example of this is took place in the U.S. District Court of Southern California.  An Obama-appointed judge ruled that the government's "metering" policy of turning back asylum-seekers to points of entry in Mexico to be unconstitutional.  While this may sound like another garden-variety immigration case in federal court, it represents a sharp detour from both policy and the government's approach to immigration.

Federal judge sides with gay teacher suing Catholic school over firing.  A federal judge has ruled in favor of a gay substitute teacher this month in a lawsuit over his being fired from a Catholic school because of his marriage to another man.  U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr., an Obama appointee, sided with Lonnie Billard, who sued Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina after he was removed from substitute teaching because he chose to marry a man.  According to the federal lawsuit, Mr. Billard argued that the school discriminated against him in violation of the Civil Rights Act and removed him from its substitute teaching list after he announced on social media that he would be marrying his partner.

Democrat Texas state judge blocks new abortion law that SCOTUS refused to stop.  Democrats already are organizing and fundraising over the Supreme Court's procedural ruling allowing implementation of Texas's new law outlawing abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually at 6 weeks.  In the process, they are implying that Armageddon is at hand for those who want to kill their babies before they are born. Roe v Wade will be overturned!  That's nonsense, according to most of the people who have studied the matter.  The Supreme Court is likely to throw out the law once it considers the substantive issues, based on existing precedent.  And now, a Democrat state judge in Travis County (Austin), has issued a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the law, meaning that no babies will be saved.

Planned Parenthood Temporarily Blocks Texas Right to Life Heartbeat Law.  Planned Parenthood has secured a rare emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) in a suit against Texas Right to Life, fresh off the heels of the 5-4 Supreme Court decision not to block the new bill prohibiting abortion after six weeks.  Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of the District Court in Travis County, Texas, approved Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health's application for a TRO in the wake of the Supreme Court decision this week.  Judge Gamble insists in the document that the plaintiffs, including doctors and staff, would face imminent lawsuits without the protection of the TRO while waiting to file a preliminary injunction.

Federal judge strikes down Obama policy of making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico.  U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California ruled against a policy of turning away asylum-seeking migrants at ports of entry due to overcapacity.  Judge Bashant called the practice, known as "metering", unconstitutional on Thursday [9/2/2021].  Bashant is an Obama appointee, for those keeping track at home.  Her appointment was confirmed in 2014, on a vote of 94-0 in the Senate.  Interestingly enough, the practice of metering began with Barack Obama.  The Obama administration began metering in response to a surge in Haitian immigrants arriving at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego.  Other ports of entry began using the metering process, too.  The Trump administration continued the practice and expanded it in 2018.  Then, in March 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic, border officials denied entry to almost all asylum seekers.  Under Title 42, migrants were immediately turned away to avoid the spread of the virus at the border and into the United States.

Democrats Are Remaking the Federal Courts at a Record-Breaking Pace.  With the narrowest of Senate majorities, President Biden is remaking the federal courts at a record-breaking rate.  Biden has successfully confirmed twice as many federal Circuit and District Court judges as any modern president had at this point in their presidencies.  The record pace isn't because Biden is making nominations more quickly, but because the Senate, with the help of Lindsay Graham, are confirming them more quickly.  By the end of his administration, Trump had confirmed 54 Circuit Court judges, but was only able to bring the courts into rough political balance, with Republicans controlling seven of the Circuit courts and Democrats controlling the other six.  Remember when Chief Justice John Roberts castigated President Trump for referring to a District Court judge as an "Obama judge"?  Roberts contradicted Trump in an extraordinary statement:  "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."  On any contentious issue, one can predict how judges will vote based solely on their political affiliation.

Chicago Judge Strips Mother Of Parental Rights Because She Is Unvaccianted!  A Chicago mother says a Cook County judge has taken away her parental rights after learning that she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.  In what all parties agree is a very unusual and perhaps unprecedented step, a judge at Chicago's Daley Center has stripped Rebecca Firlit of custody because she refuses to get a vaccination shot.  [Video clip]

Cook County judge strips mother of parental rights over vaccination status.  A Chicago mother says a Cook County judge has taken away her parental rights after learning that she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.  In what all parties agree is a very unusual and perhaps unprecedented step, a judge at Chicago's Daley Center has stripped Rebecca Firlit of custody because she refuses to get a vaccination shot.

A federal judge just destroyed American energy independence with this one devastating ruling.  Just forty years ago, the vast majority of Americans were totally onboard with the idea of America seeking its own sources of scarce energy resources like oil and other fossil fuels.  But the modern so-called "progressive" Left has waged a war against American energy independence all behind the guise of concern for "climate change" and the environment — even though modern extraction technology leaves almost no footprint on the local environment at all.  The Left has — with some success — beat Americans into submission to fall in line with their "green" agenda.  The latest American to conform to the radical Left's wishes is none other than Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason who has thrown out federal approval of an oil project in Alaska.  The kicker is that it was disapproved because the project didn't account for the effects it would have on polar bears.

Legal experts slam New York judges for 'troubling' and 'dangerous' decision to order defendants to get COVID-19 shots.  Legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized a pair of New York judges for ordering defendants to get vaccinated if they want to make bail or be granted a plea deal.  The ACLU slammed the decisions as 'troubling' and one lawyer even called the rulings 'nonsensical' and abuse of power that could be seen as grounds for the judges to be censured or suspended.  The criticism comes after Manhattan judge Jed Rakoff granted the release of Elouisa Pimental, a woman accused of drug dealing, on the condition she get vaccinated.

Judge Orders Man to Get COVID Vaccine or Face Up to 18 Months in Prison.  An Ohio judge has ordered a man to get a COVID vaccine or face up to 18 months in prison.  Judge Christopher Wagner issued the order to Brandon Rutherford, 21, at a sentencing hearing in a Hamilton County court on Wednesday [8/11/2021].  Wagner said that he must get vaccinated within 60 days as a condition of his probation for possession of fentanyl.  "I'm just a judge, not a doctor, but I think the vaccine's a lot safer than fentanyl, which is what you had in your pocket," Wagner said at the hearing.  "You're going to maintain employment.  You're not going to be around a firearm.  I'm going to order you, within the next two months, to get a vaccine and show that to the probation office."

Family Court Corruption Scandal Explodes in Hollywood.  [Scroll down]  How long can this injustice continue to be completely ignored by the elected bodies whose job it is to check the overreaching power of the judiciary?  Instead of a system of checks and balances, the legislatures have abdicated their checking power to panels of other judges and lawyers, who are all members of the same club of bar associations, and tasked them with the vital job of balancing our government.  It's the definition of the fox guarding the henhouse.

Activist Judge Throws the Fugitive Texas Democrats a Lifeline.  Gov. Greg Abbott has officially called another special session, forcing the Texas Democrats who fled to block a voter integrity bill to continue their foolhardy charade.  But now, an activist judge has stepped in to throw them a lifeline.  The Democrat has signed an order to block enforcement of the arrest warrants put out for the Texas Democrats.  Those arrests are allowed under the Texas Constitution as a way to force the appearance of lawmakers who refuse to show up to do their jobs.

Senators Launch Effort to Expand Federal Bench by 77 Judges.  Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced a bill last month that would expand the federal judiciary by 77 judges, starting in 2025, after the current presidential term.  Democrats have been expressing a wish to expand the number of Supreme Court justices, so that President Joe Biden can appoint four new justices to override the current 6-3 majority of Republican appointees.  Some have advocated a milder approach, expanding the lower courts first.

Federal judge blocks Texas governor's get-tough policy to block migrants from leaving border.  A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Texas on Tuesday, blocking Gov. Greg Abbott's latest get-tough border policy aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from dispersing throughout his state.  Judge Kathleen Cardone, a Bush appointee to the bench, said Texas was interfering with the way the federal government wanted to carry out its immigration policy.  The two-page ruling is a victory for President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, giving them a continued free hand in catching and releasing tens of thousands of illegal immigrants each month.  Mr. Abbott had said he feared the migrants were spurring a COVID surge, and he flexed state powers to order troopers to block any non-law enforcement vehicle believed to be carrying migrants away from the border area.

Judge blocks West Virginia law banning transgender students from girls sports.  A federal judge blocked a West Virginia law banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports, saying the legislation likely runs afoul of the Constitution.  Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, said if West Virginia wants to treat people differently, there must be a compelling reason to do so.  "I have been provided with scant evidence that this law addresses any problem at all, let alone an important problem," the judge wrote in a 15-page opinion.

Judge says churches haven't shown Virginia will punish them for violating new LGBTQ law.  Christian ministries failed to convince a Virginia judge last week that they are suffering ongoing harm from a new state law banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  "Is there an actual controversy here?" Loudoun County Circuit Judge James Plowman asked the lawyer for Calvary Road Baptist Church, Community Fellowship Church, Community Christian Academy and pro-life ministry Care Net at the Friday hearing.  They had made "speculative claims" about how the Virginia Values Act (SB 868), which took effect about a year ago, would be enforced, the judge said.  "There are not reasonably foreseeable actions to be taken against these [religious] institutions" from the language of the law itself.  The ministries had engaged in "undisputed" self-censorship and chilled speech, past and ongoing, in response to the crippling financial penalties available under the law, argued Denise Harle, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Texas Judge Says Muslim Woman Can't Get Divorce According to U.S. Law, Has to Abide by Islamic Law.  Everything is bigger in Texas, including the egregious miscarriages of justice.  The Blaze reported Wednesday that Collin County, Texas, District Judge Andrea Thompson "effectively denied a U.S. citizen," a Muslim woman named Mariam Ayad, "her constitutionally protected due process rights, choosing instead to order her to appear before an Islamic tribunal where her testimony is considered inferior.  And when her lawyers sounded the alarm — the judge doubled down."  Islamic law, Sharia, taking precedence over U.S. law — in Texas?  Celebrate diversity!

Ohio Judge Is Requiring Criminals To Vaccinate As A Term Of Probation.  An Ohio judge will require some criminals to get a coronavirus vaccination as a condition of probation, local reports said.  "It occurred to me that at least some of these folks need to be encouraged not to procrastinate," Richard Frye, a judge in Franklin County, told the Columbus Dispatch.  [Video clip]

Obama-appointed federal judge dismisses case against Bronx shooting suspect over lack of jury diversity.  A U.S. district judge nominated by former President Barack Obama has dismissed a case against a shooting suspect from the Bronx in New York City over a lack of "diversity" in the jury.  In her ruling, Judge Analisa Torres agreed with William Scott, the defendant, after he argued that there were not enough black and Hispanic people in the jury pool after an indictment was returned against him a year ago this month.  Charged in the White Plains division of the Southern District of New York, Scott was allegedly in possession of ammunition linked to a shooting in the Bronx, the New York Post reported.

Federal judge tosses Bronx gun case over racial makeup of grand jury.  A Manhattan federal judge dismissed a case against a reputed gang member in a shooting last year — because the suburban grand jury that indicted him wasn't diverse enough.  In a 36-page ruling, Judge Analisa Torres said defendant William "Ill Will" Scott "produced clear statistical evidence" that he was indicted by members of a grand jury pool in White Plains with an "underrepresentation of Black and Latinx individuals."  Torres, who was nominated to the bench in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama, also said Scott had shown that the grand jury selection process "was susceptible to abuse."

Trump pays Obama back.  Does the name Derrick Watson ring a bell?  It should.  He is the infamous Hawaiian judge who exceeded his authority and blocked President Donald John Trump's temporary moratorium on travel to 6 nations at war and Iran.  Not only did Obama appoint Watson, but he was friends with him, having been in the same class at Harvard Law School.  Indeed, Obama was in Hawaii on the day his friend and judge issued his order.  It was a political hit job, because Obama had placed moratoriums on some of the same countries without Watson or anyone else complaining.  The Supreme Court later reversed Watson, because the law specifically allows presidents to impose such moratoriums.  Now it is Obama's vice president's turn to feel the burn.  Trump-appointed judges are stopping Josef Biden from bending the law to his will.

Man with ten prior arrests is Freed by NYC judge after he started a stampede by brandishing a knife and taser in Washington Square Park.  An alleged serial criminal who started a stampede at a crime-ridden Manhattan park when he wielded a Taser and a knife was freed without bail by a judge on Sunday [6/20/2021].  Jason McDermott, 42, appeared before a judge in Manhattan Criminal Court on menacing, reckless endangerment and weapons charges as his lawyer argued that he acted in self defense.  McDermott, who lives in the Bronx, has been arrested at least 10 times between 2010 and 2014, sources told DailyMail.com.  He had his latest brush with the law in Washington Square Park on Friday night.

Judge Charges 3 U.S. Marshals After Deputy Marshal Refused To Say If She Was Vaccinated.  A federal judge in South Dakota brought criminal charges of contempt of court and conspiracy to obstruct justice against three U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) officials on Monday in connection with a deputy marshal's refusal to reveal her vaccination status to his court.  In March, U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann tried to require all courthouse employees to be vaccinated, the Associated Press reported.  But U.S. Marshal Daniel Mosteller, who heads up the agency in South Dakota, told Kornmann that wouldn't work because USMS was not requiring its marshals to be vaccinated.

Fury as New York prosecutors DROP looting charges against hundreds arrested during riots last summer, with Manhattan DA 'too busy building his case against Trump'.  Business owners and residents in New York City are expressing fury at the revelation that prosecutors have dropped looing and rioting charges against hundreds arrested during chaos that swept the city last summer.  After 603 were arrested in Manhattan and the Bronx during the most intense days of looting last June, 295 of the cases have been dropped completely, according to NYPD data reported by WNBC-TV on Friday [6/18/2021].  Now Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr and Bronx DA Darcel D. Clark are facing tough questions about why hundreds walked free after the looting rampage caused an estimated tens of millions in damages.

Senate confirms D.C. Circuit nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson who is seen as possible Biden Supreme Court pick.  The Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday [6/14/2021] to the influential federal appeals court in Washington, elevating a trial court judge who is considered a contender for a potential opening on the Supreme Court.  Three Republicans joined Democrats in approving Jackson's nomination in a 53-to-44 vote.  Jackson, 50, was nominated in March as part of Biden's first slate of judicial picks from diverse personal and professional backgrounds.  She fills the vacancy left on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who served on the bench for 24 years.  A former law clerk to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Jackson is often mentioned as someone who could fulfill President Biden's pledge to put the first Black woman on the high court.

Judge rules in favor of Houston hospital requiring employees to be vaccinated.  A lawsuit opposing the Houston Methodist Hospital network's mandate that employees must get the COVID-19 vaccine has been shot down at the federal level.  A U.S. District judge on Saturday [6/12/2021] tossed the lawsuit from employees of the Texas hospital system who argue they shouldn't be required to get vaccinated.  The dismissal comes after 178 staffers who declined to get the vaccine were suspended by Houston Methodist, which had instituted a June 7 deadline for employees to receive the shots.  A claim made by the lawsuit's lead plaintiff, Jennifer Bridges, describing the vaccines as "experimental and dangerous" was refuted by the judge.

How a lenient NYC judge left a reputed gangbanger free to allegedly kill an innocent dad.  A reputed teenage gang member with three gun busts in four months had his bail reduced by a Bronx judge — allowing him to get out of jail and allegedly fire a random shot that killed an innocent father of two, The [New York] Post has learned.  Alberto Ramirez, 16, was arrested Monday in the slaying of Eric Velasquez, 34, who was struck by a stray bullet that the teen allegedly shot blindly into a crowd while on a rival gang's turf, law enforcement sources said.  He has pleaded not guilty.  Ramirez was locked up on $75,000 bail when acting Supreme Court Justice Denis Boyle lowered the amount to $10,000 cash or $25,000 bond over prosecution objections on March 2, the Bronx District Attorney's Office said Wednesday [6/9/2021].  His family bailed him out a few weeks later, a spokeswoman for DA Darcel Clark said — putting him back on the streets.

Judge rejects bid for July 4 fireworks at Mount Rushmore.  Fireworks won't fly at Mount Rushmore July 4 weekend despite a lawsuit against the Biden administration from Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota.  Judge Roberto A. Lange called the idea of an Independence Day celebration at the iconic national monument "appealing."  "However this Court is not called upon to determine whether such a fireworks display is a good idea," he said in his 36-page ruling, posted on yourbasin.com.  Lange said the country could "use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of the law" after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol and the political divide in the country.

The Editor says...
Fireworks shows on July 4 are not about COVID-19, Jan. 6, or politics.  They are about celebrating American Independence Day and commemorating the country's founding in 1776.

The New Secession Crisis: The Democrats have already left the Union.  The Democrats have already seceded from America's historic conception of nationhood in many respects: [...] THEY have engaged in bureaucratic and judicial nullification of our laws, particularly on immigration — perhaps the most important element in determining who makes up the American polity.  Donald Trump ran on the platform of toughening up immigration policy.  It was his defining issue.  Yet the Left made a mockery of the rule of law, using the bureaucracy to throw up procedural roadblock after procedural roadblock to Trump's agenda, while left-wing judges issued blatantly absurd rulings using invented doctrines to block Trump's rescission of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order and accuse the administration of a "Muslim ban" that, in fact, was based heavily on an earlier Obama Administration effort.

Federal Judge Sides With Biden, Rules Christian College Must Allow Biological Men To Share Showers With Women.  A federal judge ruled Wednesday [5/19/2021] that students of the opposite biological sex must be allowed to share shower spaces and dorms at a Christian college in Missouri.  Judge Roseann Ketchmark of the District Court of Western Missouri ruled against the College of the Ozarks, a Christian college which had sued President Joe Biden's administration over its transgender discrimination policies, lawyers representing the school said Wednesday evening.  The college had challenged Biden over his Jan. 20 executive order, which prevented schools from denying children access to bathrooms of their choosing.  "Women shouldn't be forced to share private spaces, including showers and dorm rooms with males, and religious schools shouldn't be punished simply because of their beliefs about biological sex," Julie Marie Blake, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told reporters following the ruling Wednesday evening.

Judge tosses case against BLM protester who blocked I-25, citing free speech.  A judge has tossed the case against one of 18 people cited in Colorado Springs after a Black Lives Matter protest on Interstate 25, calling it a violation of her free-speech rights.  El Paso County Court Senior Judge Stephen Sletta on Wednesday [5/12/2021] dismissed the lone misdemeanor filed against 21-year-old Molly Avion.  In a two-page ruling, he found that the state statute used against her — which makes it illegal to obstruct highways — was overly broad in a way that could chill the exercise of the First Amendment and invite "arbitrary" enforcement.

Michigan Judge Dismisses Antrim County Election Case.  A Michigan judge on Tuesday [5/18/2021] threw out a case challenging the 2020 election in Antrim County.  13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer, a Republican nominee, ruled that plaintiff William Bailey, a resident of Antrim County, had received the relief he sought after he filed the lawsuit last year following the election.  Bailey was seeking an independent audit of Antrim County's election but Elsenheimer decided that the February risk-limiting audit conducted by county clerks, who reviewed a random sample of some 18,000 ballots, was sufficient under state law.  "There is no right either in the constitutional section or the statue for the independent audit that Mr. Bailey seeks," Elsenheimer told the court.

Bronx judge releases man, 29, who 'smashed windows of four synagogues' hours after another judge defied NYC's bail reform laws to keep him behind bars.  A New York judge has released a man suspected of vandalizing synagogues across the Bronx, just hours after another judge defied the state's bail reform laws and ordered him locked up.  Jordan Burnette, 29, faces 42 charges over a string of attacks on Jewish places of worship.  He appeared in court Sunday [5/2/2021], and was expected to be freed because New York State's bail reform laws say a suspect with his charges cannot be held on bail.

Clinton Judge Declares Himself Supreme Ruler of Los Angeles.  It's inevitable that as conservative judges minimize their authority lefty judges maximize it.  As the Left tosses aside the Constitution and checks and balances, not to mention the minor matter of the rule of law, we end up with the rule of officials asserting their absolute power because of the moral authority of their politics.  The moral arc of the universe bends towards tyranny, after all.  And social justice.  Two ways of saying the same thing.  California is the capital of the new judicial ruling class where lefty judges assert absolute power over everything.  One of the more disgusting examples is Clinton federal judge, David Carter, who has been issuing decrees about the crazed junkie vagrant population that lefties call the homeless or more recently, the unhoused.

Federal Judge:  L.A. Must House Every Homeless Person on Skid Row by Oct. 18.  U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday [4/20/2021] ordering the city and county of Los Angeles to ensure that every homeless person living in the notorious Skid Row district has housing by October 18 this year. [...] Elsewhere in the decision, the Judge Carter — a Bill Clinton appointee — cited claims of "systemic racism," and argued that homelessness is partly a result of historical racial discrimination.  In an unusually complex set of instructions, Judge Carter also ordered $1 billion earmarked by the city for spending on the homeless, announced Monday evening as part of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's "Justice Budget," to be placed in an escrow account.  He also ordered a 90-day audit of city and county spending on the homeless, and a 30-day "audit of any funds committed to mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment."

Policing American judges.  We have a serious problem in our country with judicial malfeasance issues and it is high time that we finally address it.  The data show thousands of judges have been charged with breaking laws or violating oaths without any consequences.  Instead, in secret proceedings that see their peers sit in judgment, too many get nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist for egregious misconducts that would seem to warrant disbarment or even jail time.  It would be naïve to think that case fixing is not going on in the state and federal courts across the country. [...] One of the most famous examples of judicial corruption was Operation Greylord, a federal sting operation in the 1980s that investigated the Chicago courts.  Ultimately, 17 judges were indicted and 15 were convicted.  Unfortunately, since Greylord, federal sting operations have been few and far between, and judicial corruption continues.

Biden's list of judicial nominees leans heavily toward checking one identity box in particular.  Identity politics looms large in the list of judicial nominees released by the Biden White House today.  Can you guess which identity box is focused on like a laser beam on this list?  It's black women.  It is as though a call was sent out that only black women will be considered for judicial nominations, with a particular focus on one who may be Biden's Supreme Court nominee, should the opportunity arise.  Anytime a Democrat begins talking about diversity and the historic nature of decisions, you know what is coming.  The Biden administration doesn't even bother to finesse its blatant sop to a demographic that is responsible for Sleepy Joe's election.  Joe Biden won the presidential election thanks to black Democrat women voters.  It began in South Carolina with Biden scoring the endorsement of Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat powerhouse in that state, and went from there.  Black women organized support for Biden and got out the vote for him across the country.  Now it's payback time.

California judge sentences two killers of a 13-year-old to ... anger management therapy.  In a case that's drawing a lot of attention based on the insane level of leniency shown, two 14-year-olds who bullied, murdered, danced on the body of, and filmed a helpless 13-year-old, have been let off with the mother-of-all-slaps-on-the-wrist by a Riverside County Superior Court Justice. [...] The helpless 13-year-old orphan had been bullied, brutalized, begged for help from the teachers' unionized school officials whose fat-salaried job was to protect him, and got nothing.  They let him get murdered.  And early on, they callously blamed the kid's family for his killing, instead of themselves.  The case makes one's blood boil.  How can a 13-year-old's life be worth absolutely nothing?  The kid was an orphan, living with his aunt and uncle, who are now suing the school district for its lazy indifference.

Boys Who Fatally Beat MoVal Schoolmate Avoid Juvenile Detention.  Two boys who fatally beat a Moreno Valley youth during a schoolyard bullying episode were on probation Friday, following a judge's decision not to sentence either offender to juvenile detention.  The defendants, whose names have not been disclosed, each admitted an involuntary manslaughter charge in November for the 2019 killing of 13-year-old Diego Stolz.  Riverside County Superior Court Judge Roger Luebs on Thursday [3/25/2021] imposed probation terms of unspecified duration.

Judge Arrested for Child Pornography Once Headed Organization Funding Drag Queen Story Hours.  A gay Milwaukee judge arrested on child pornography charges formerly served as president of an organization that funded a local Drag Queen Story Hour club.  Police arrested Judge Brett Blomme, 38, on Tuesday [3/16/2021] and held him overnight in Dane County Jail, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Blomme was charged Wednesday with seven counts of possession of child pornography showing abuse of young boys, the Journal Sentinel reported, noting that each count carries a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum sentence of 15, plus 10 years of supervised release.

Former President of Drag Queen Story Hour Foundation and Children's Court Judge Arrested on Seven Counts of Child Porn.  A Milwaukee County Children's Court judge and former president and CEO of the Cream City Foundation, which runs the city's drag queen story hour program, has been arrested on seven counts of child pornography.  Brett Blomme, 38, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly uploading 27 images and videos of children being sexually abused on the messaging app Kik.

Everybody on the left was okay with a homosexual transvestite judge in a children's court, until he got arrested.
Children's Court Judge Who Led Drag Queen Story Hour Foundation Arrested on Child Porn Charges.  A Milwaukee County children's court judge who served as CEO of a foundation promoting Drag Queen Story Hours has been arrested on tentative charges of possession of child pornography.  The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that Brett Blomme, 38, was charged with seven counts of possession of child pornography.

Democratic Wisconsin Judge Arrested With Seven Child Pornography Counts.  A 38-year-old Democratic judge was arrested on Tuesday [3/16/2021] in Wisconsin for seven felony counts of possessing child pornography, according to the state's Justice Department.  Brett Blomme, Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, is facing class D felonies after a thorough investigation was performed by authorities in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Blomme used the Kik messenger app to store the content, which authorities tracked between the months of October and November.  The judge was apprehended in Dane County.  On Friday [3/12/2021], a Division of Criminal Investigation unit filed a 44-page search warrant.  Investigators learned that Blomme uploaded 27 total child pornographic videos and images to Kik, using the pseudonym "dommasterbb" to conceal his identity.  Two of these files were being stored in a government building in Milwaukee County.

Former President Of The Drag Queen Story Hour, LGBT Advocate And Chidren's Court Judge Busted For Child Porn.  Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Brett Blomme was arrested Tuesday on tentative charges of possession of child pornography, the state Department of Justice announced.  Blomme, 38, was taken into custody by special agents with the state Division of Criminal Investigation "following an investigation into multiple uploads of child pornography through a Kik messaging application account in October and November 2020," according to a statement.  Criminal charges are expected to be filed against Blomme on Wednesday.  He was arrested in Dane County.

A NYC judge pulls custody of a child from a mom for refusing to wear a mask?  In a story that's provoking outrage across parts of the conservative Internet, a New York City judge has ordered a child removed from the custody of her mother, over what the mother says is her refusal to wear a mask on a city street in broad daylight in front of her daughter's tony private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. [...] [Dr. Micheline] Epstein is involved in a contentious divorce over child custody with her ex-husband, and apparently the school sent a note to the mom to not drop off the kid anymore given her failure to wear a mask, the ex got a copy of the note, and he took it to the judge, who made his ruling to yank custody and give it all to the ex.

Circuit Court Judge Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography.  Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Brett Blomme was arrested Tuesday on tentative charges of possession of child pornography, the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced.  Blomme, 38, allegedly made multiple uploads of child pornography through a Kik messaging account in October and November 2020, the statement said.

Varieties of Legal Corruption.  PJ Media's Megan Fox has a very disturbing six-part series on alleged judicial corruption in St.  Louis, Missouri.  The first five detail how family court guardians and psychologists are misusing their positions to siphon off money from parents in custody disputes while the St.  Louis judges ignore the fraud and collude with them, by, for example, ordering children's visits with sexual molesters and/or otherwise abusive parents in order to compel the other parent to keep paying lawyers to appeal the decisions and change the arrangements.  One might expect that bar examiners, judicial conduct boards, the state attorney general, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the IRS would register some interest in what appears to be appalling legal violations by officers of the court and the judges , but I don't see anything happening yet to check these outrages.  In many ways this alleged corruption is as bad if not worse than the case a few years ago of two Pennsylvania judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan, who routinely sent poor kids who had committed minor offenses to private detention centers in return for kickbacks from the owners of those jails.  They were finally sentenced for their kids for cash scheme.

Judge blocks bills limiting Beshear's emergency powers.  Gov. Andy Beshear won a court order Wednesday [3/3/2021] temporarily blocking bills passed by the Kentucky General Assembly that threatened to invalidate a series of his executive orders aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.  The Democratic governor's administration made a "strong case" that the Republican-backed bills are likely to "undermine, or even cripple," public health measures needed to protect Kentuckians from the pandemic, Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said in his ruling.

The Editor says...
The judge appears to be in favor of concentrating all power in the hands of the Governor, rather than the elected legislature.  That's a move in the wrong direction.

Judge drops case against homeless woman who stole USPS truck in Brooklyn.  A Brooklyn judge dismissed the charges against the homeless woman who took a stolen US Postal Service truck on a joyride Friday and left "vehicular mayhem" in her wake, borough prosecutors said Sunday — as they vowed to push to reverse the decision.  Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Hilary Gingold ordered Martha Thaxton, 21, committed to a psychiatric facility for theft of the mail truck in Bedford-Stuyvesant after her rampage — and the criminal case against her dropped.  The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office is now pushing to reverse the decision, a spokesman for the office said Sunday [1/17/2021].  "We believe the dismissal was in error and are working with the court to correct it," DA spokesman Oren Yaniv said in a statement.

NYC government's 'Black Lives Matter' pavement paint job doesn't give pro-Trump group right to paint its own message, says judge.  Mayor de Blasio's decision to paint "Black Lives Matter" on public streets doesn't mean a pro-Donald Trump group can post its own message on the pavement, a judge ruled Thursday [2/18/2021].  Manhattan Federal Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that "Black Lives Matter" painted on Fifth Ave. outside Trump Tower and other streets over the summer constituted speech by government — and that the city's decision to paint those words did not give others the right to paint messages of their own.

A Layman's Guide to Penumbral Reasoning.  In legal terms, when a justice says they're using penumbral reasoning, they're admitting that the next thing they say is not actually written in the Constitution.  They're using it as an interpretive instrument to claim that if the Founders were alive today, "They would put what I'm about to rule in the Constitution."  Penumbras have been debated in legal papers for many years.  But in 1965, Justice William O. Douglas used penumbral reasoning in the majority opinion of Griswold v.  Connecticut to declare that a right to privacy exists in the Constitution — even though it's not written anywhere.  He then used this newly discovered "right" to find that a ban on contraceptives was therefore unconstitutional.  A right to privacy seems like a logical inclusion in the constitution.  But rather than five justices declaring it a right, why didn't we add it to the Constitution with an amendment?  It couldn't have been that difficult to get 3/4 of the population to agree that they wanted privacy.  With an amendment, we could have avoided all the resulting controversy.  Instead, justices have been exploring the limits of penumbral logic ever since.  That's how they "discovered" that a right to abortion is included in the Constitution.

Judge Boasberg: The Clinesmith Lies Don't Matter.  The sentencing hearing of Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering a CIA e-mail to further the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant renewal on Carter Page, took place on the morning of Friday, January 21 before Judge Boasberg in Washington, D.C.  This hearing was the culmination of an investigation by those within the Department of Justice who actually sought to do justice in exposing the FBI's misconduct in opening Crossfire Hurricane, and the FBI's abuse of their power to spy on Carter Page and those associated with the Trump campaign.  While the process continues with Special Counsel John Durham's investigation, this was one loose end that was ready to be tied.  Those demanding Clinesmith to be incarcerated weren't being unreasonable, though they were ultimately disappointed when Judge Boasberg sentenced Clinesmith to 12 months probation and no prison time.  In fact, they have every right to be angry.

Banana Republic Update:  ObamaGate Operative Clinesmith Given Probation.  Honestly, this is exactly the sort of judicial farce I expected would happen once I saw that Obama appointee Judge James Boasberg had been assigned the case.  Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, the one and only ObamaGate figure to have been indicted for any crime by hoax-prosecutor John Durham and the entirety of the U.S. Department of [No]Justice, was given the softest tap on the wrist possible Friday by the despicable Judge Boasberg. [...] The corrupt news media will claim that Boasberg's absurdly minimalist sentence of 12 months probation, 400 days community service and a $100 fee was due to Clinesmith's decision to plead guilty in the case.  Yeah, tell that to General Mike Flynn.

Federal Judge Releases BLM Capitol Rioter Without Bail.  John Earle Sullivan, a far-left agitator who was present at the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 and recorded a woman's death at the hands of police, was released from jail on Friday [1/15/2021] without bail, according to Fox News.  According to Utah District Magistrate Judge Daphne Oberg, the motion for Sullivan's detention was denied because it didn't meet the court's threshold for a hearing.  Prosecutors had asked for Sullivan to be retained in jail at least until inauguration day.  Democrats including President-elect Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have called the rioters "domestic terrorists" engaged in "sedition," crimes that can carry the death penalty.  Based on these claims, the U.S. capitol has been infused with some 20,000 U.S. troops in advance of Biden's inauguration Tuesday.  Federal judges have denied bail to others who took part in the Jan. 6 chaos.  Not Oberg.

Reckless Courts Codify Chaos.  Flagrant election cheating in several swing states, it seems, is of no interest to the self-appointed watchdogs of American democracy or even to those specifically tasked with investigating such unlawfulness.  The U.S. Department of Justice, despite its preachy corporate motto, is thus far blind to it.  Journalists and professional pundits on both sides of the aisle downplay talk of what has happened as "baseless conspiracy theories" pushed by cult-like Trump loyalists.  Most Senate Republicans are eager to move on while ignoring provable instances of voting fraud in their own states and urging the president to concede "for the good of the country."  Even with a potentially power-shifting Senate election on January 5, no one seems particularly motivated to quickly remedy how absentee ballots have been mishandled, manipulated, and doctored in the 2020 presidential election.  And the entity usually considered the final and most impartial arbiter of injustice in the country — the court system — now, too, is in on the election fix.

We Were Laughed Out of Court because the Courts Have Become Ridiculous.  Conservatives who object to election fraud have found that liberals' favorite retort is "your claims have been laughed out of court."  This argument is authoritarian in its reasoning.  It defers to a juridical priesthood and allows one guild, the attorneys, to override what average people can see in front of them.  Such an argument should not stagger wise conservatives. [...] People who have been granted juridical authority can indeed err en masse by an enormous margin, for long periods of time, on matters that should be obvious. [...] It was bad enough that the United States courts rejected civil rights cases from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century out of hand.  By the twenty-first century, American courts were on course to affirm some of the most preposterous claims about sex and gender ever asserted in all human history.  The erosion of commonsense language that arguably began with Roe v. Wade moved quickly in forty-two years to the insanity of Obergefell v. Hodges and even to the madness of the supposedly conservative-dominated Supreme Court in 2020's Bostock and Henderson v. Box.

"A Criminal Like Trump": Federal Judge Tosses Aside Judicial Restraint In Public Interview.  President Donald Trump has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for his recent spate of pardons, including corrupt ex-congressmen and the father of Jared Kushner.  I was one of those who immediately criticized those pardons as manifestly unjustified and inimical to our legal system.  However, none of that makes the comments of senior U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa any less troubling.  Judge Pratt gave an interview slamming the pardons in a departure from judicial ethics rules barring jurists from engaging in such political commentary.  I have previously criticized Judge Emmet Sullivan for using his courtroom to air grievances against President Trump.  Platt however dispensed with any pretense of judicial function in airing his grievances over the pardons.  He told the Associated Press that "It's not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals.  But apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey."

You're It.  As it stands, patriots know that if they fight back against BLM or Antifa, they will be the ones arrested, even if those groups are busily destroying property or harming people at the same time, in the same place.  That when they go to trial, they are likely to get an antagonistic judge who will heartlessly, vindictively sentence them to the maximum of the law.  That acting to save the republic will be seen as the actions of a right-wing extremist terrorist, where BLM and Antifa are considered peaceful protestors.  That the admonition to "vote for someone else" means accept your role as a non-person, without rights, without voice, but full of assets to be taxed or confiscated.  The only thing left is to throw off a tyrannical government and institute new government more likely to restore these rights and respect freedom.

Stacey Abrams' Federal Judge Sister Blocks Purge of Inaccurate Voter Rolls in Georgia.  A federal judge, who is the sister of Democratic Party operative Stacey Abrams, has issued an order blocking local election officials in Georgia from purging inaccurate information from the voter rolls.  U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner ordered officials to allow voting by more than 4,000 people whose records show incorrect addresses.  The eligibility of the votes was being challenged ahead of next week's runoff elections for the U.S. Senate.  Judge Abrams Gardner blocked election boards in Ben Hill County and Muscogee County, which includes Columbus, from requiring large numbers of voters to prove their residency before casting ballots in the runoffs.

Stacey Abrams' Federal Judge Sister Blocks Voter Purge in Two Georgia Counties.  U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, Stacey Abrams' sister, ruled against a voter purge in two Georgia counties before the January 5th runoff.  Here is some background in order to fully understand the ruling.  Muscogee County wanted to remove 4,000 voters.  Ben Hill County wanted to purge 150 voters.  The two counties sought to remove the voters "because their registrations appeared to match U.S. Postal Service change-of-address records." [...] City Council member Tommy Roberts in Fitzgerald, GA, challenged the 150 voters in Ben Hill County.  He "relied on change-of-address data." The board in that county voted 2-1 in favor of Roberts.  Politico reported that "the board backed him despite evidence that the data could not be verified and would be inadmissible in court."

Judge, Who Is Stacey Abrams' Sister, Orders Georgia Counties To Keep Voter Rolls Dirty.  Stealing an election the old fashioned way.  The classics never go out of style[.]  "A federal judge in Georgia on Monday [12/28/2020] ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate.  The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner — the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a prominent ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has led voter registration efforts across the state — concluded that the counties appeared to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address data to invalidate registrations in the two counties."  I like the use of 'concluded' to pretend that there was some sort of process here, as if Judge Stacey's Sister had to think long and hard about whether she would allow the election to proceed free of interference... or help her sister take over the state.

NJ AG Gurbir Grewal:  More Persecution against S&W, First and Second Amendment.  New Jersey's tyrannical Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, is adding to his dubious list of anti-Second Amendment activism.  On 15 December, 2020, Smith & Wesson sued Grewal, asking for relief, for using his office to violate the First Amendment, Second Amendment, as well as the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment protections of the U.S. Constitution.  Defense Distributed won a significant victory in September of 2020, with the Fifth Circuit agreeing Defense Distributed could sue AG Grewal in Texas.  The case is ongoing, and alleges Grewal violated Defense Distributed's First Amendment rights.  The Smith & Wesson lawsuit is about a subpoena issued on October 13, 2020, by Grewal, alleging fraud on the part of Smith & Wesson, for advertising with claims such as Smith & Wesson products are safe, or they enhance a person's lifestyle.

California Judge Orders Video Journalists to Pay $13.6 M to Planned Parenthood.  A federal judge in California ordered the video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood's practices in the harvesting and sales of aborted baby body parts to pay the abortion giant $13.6 million to cover its legal costs in its case against them.  On Tuesday [12/22/2020], U.S. District Judge William Orrick III ordered David Daleiden and his associates at Center for Medical Progress (CMP) to pay $13.6 million over the $2 million in damages they were ordered to pay last year for recording the abortion vendor's officials while they discussed how they harvest the fetal tissue for sale.  Daleiden and his advocates have now appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Georgia Judge Denies GOP Lawsuit on Drop Boxes, Says State Has Immunity.  A judge from Fulton County which includes Atlanta has dismissed a lawsuit by the Republican Party seeking to limit the use of voter drop boxes for Georgia's two U.S. Senate runoff races saying the state has immunity from being sued, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday [12/24/2020].  Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams ruled she doesn't have jurisdiction because of sovereign immunity that protects governments from lawsuits, the Journal-Constitution said.  Republicans had argued that drop boxes should be limited to the same hours as county election offices, which typically close at 5 p.m. on weekdays.  But an attorney for the Georgia secretary of state's office said the state election board approved the boxes to be used at all hours.

Judge dismisses Nunes's defamation suit against Washington Post.  A federal judge dismissed Rep. Devin Nunes's (R-Calif.) defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post this week.  The dismissal is the latest development in a string of lawsuits Nunes has filed against major news outlets.  Nunes filed the lawsuit in March over a story published in the Post about a conversation Nunes had with President Trump about an intelligence briefing. [...] The article claimed that when Trump learned of the analysis, he grew angry at then-acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.  D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta sided with the Post on Thursday [12/24/2020], writing in his ruling that the newspaper did not act "with 'actual malice,' that is, with 'knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.'"

The Editor says...
Judge Mehta was appointed by Barack H. Obama.  His Wikipedia page says he was born in India, but it doesn't mention anything about naturalization or U.S. citizenship.  Neither does this page.

Arizona Judge Dismisses Lawsuit to Enforce Subpoenas for Election Record, Opens Opportunity for Refile.  A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Wednesday [12/23/2020] dismissed a lawsuit by Arizona Senate's Republican leadership seeking to get access to the county's voting equipment and materials before Congress counts electoral votes.  The lawsuit was filed Monday by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth.  It demanded Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner force the county to comply with two subpoenas regarding election data no later than Dec. 29, citing complaints from citizens with concerns that their votes weren't properly counted.  In the Wednesday decision Warner dismissed the case, saying that a writ of mandamus — a court order to force government officials to properly fulfill their official duties — is not a "proper remedy" for the enforcement of legislative subpoenas.

Judge Rules Wisconsin Transgender Prisoner Who Raped His Own Daughter Should Undergo Taxpayer-funded Sex Reassignment Surgery.  A federal judge has ruled a Wisconsin man who is imprisoned for raping his own daughter is entitled to receive a sex change operation at the taxpayer's expense.  U.S. District Judge James Peterson ruled Mark Allen Campbell is entitled to sex change surgery and should be moved to a women's prison while he awaits his transition.  Campbell was sentenced to 34 years in jail in 2007 after he pled guilty to first-degree sexual assault against his daughter; he now identifies as a transgender woman under the name Nicole Rose Campbell.  Campbell began requesting sex reassignment surgery in 2013, the Daily Wire reports, and has been receiving female hormones and transgender counseling, paid for by Wisconsin taxpayers, while at Racine Correctional Institute, a men's prison.  To accommodate Campbell's gender dysphoria, Racine has allowed Campbell to dress in women's clothing and wear makeup.

Judge won't try Black man in courtroom with white portraits.  A Black defendant's right to a fair trial would be harmed if the jury heard the case in a courtroom lined with portraits of white jurists, a northern Virginia judge has ruled.  The upcoming trial of Terrance Shipp on charges of eluding police will be held in a courtroom that has no portraits on the wall, said Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard.

Federal Court Strikes Down Ohio Prohibition on Birth Certificate Changes for Transgender People.  Until today [12/16/2020], Ohio had the ignominious distinction of being one of only two states that prohibited transgender people from changing their genders on their birth certificates.  (Tennessee is the other.)  But with a ruling today by the U.S. District Court in Southern Ohio, that prohibition is no more.  The ruling in the Ray v. McCloud lawsuit, originally filed more than two years ago on behalf of plaintiffs Stacie Ray, Basil Argento, Ashley Breda and Jane Doe, means that Ohio's blanket prohibition on trans people correcting their birth certificates is unconstitutional.

Now we know for sure that our judges and justices are abject cowards.  The vote fraud that took place in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada was monstrous and long planned.  Election laws were surreptitiously weakened by secret consent decrees (GA), mass mail-in ballots, Dominion vote machines programmed to flip votes, the creation of tens of thousands of fake ballots, illegal alien voting, illegal drop boxes, get-out-the-vote campaigns in Democrat-heavy districts paid for by the execrable Zuckerberg of Facebook infamy, the refusal to allow GOP observers, ballots trucked from one state to another.  The judges dismissed lawsuits in every court where one was filed by the Trump campaign or other plaintiffs, seemingly without even considering the details.  The Supreme Court justices surely all know what took place; they can't have missed all the hearings at which witnesses to fraud testified and signed affidavits as to the truth of what they observed.  But the judges and justices were afraid.  Now that the left seems to have successfully stolen the election, they will certainly do it again.  They have the permission of the SCOTUS.

Trump appointee tosses president's Wisconsin election lawsuit.  A Trump appointee batted down one of the president's election challenges in Wisconsin on Saturday, as President Trump's lawyers were also arguing a case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court during a Saturday [12/12/2020] session.  U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig tossed the president's lawsuit in federal court concerning tens of thousands of absentee ballots the Trump campaign said were unlawfully cast.  The lawsuit sought to have the court find constitutional violations in how election officials conducted the November elections, and then send the dispute to the state legislature to award Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes to Mr. Trump instead of presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden.

Courts to Voters:  Democrat Election Fraud Is 'Too Big to Fail'.  The courts have spoken, one after another.  Some 74 million Americans have been denied our day in court.  The Democrats' crime of stealing a presidential election is too big to fail.  Our play-it-safe judges don't want to venture into these enormous seas, full of sharks, without precedent.  They want to say in the safe spaces of the familiar.  Stealing an election for city council is familiar enough to be overturned by law.  Stealing a presidential election by wholesale fraud is above the law.  One might think that somehow our laws are written too narrowly to catch the whale of Democrat fraud in the election, but for one thing:  the declarations from the bench that it is unthinkable to "upend an election."  Our judges tell us that ruling fraudulent ballots invalid would "disenfranchise" millions of voters.  These are political statements.  They are pusillanimous statements.  They are not legal statements.

Why did a Michigan judge issue order to conceal results of a forensic audit of Dominion voting machines?  Nobody disputes that election results first reported for Antrim County, Michigan were horribly wrong, falsely handing the county to Joe Biden when in fact it had actually gone heavily for Donald Trump.  Six thousand Trump votes were handed to Biden.  The very important question of why this error took place is hotly disputed.  Republican county clerk Sheryl Guy claims that she was responsible via a human error in updating ballot information and is supported by Michigan's Democrat secretary of state Jocelyn Benson.  A canvass of votes corrected the error the day after the election.  But Attorney Matthew DePerno, who represents plaintiff William Bailey who sued over election tabulation errors, thinks otherwise, and got access to forensic imaging of the 22 Dominion voting machines thanks to a ruling by Judge Kevin Elsenheimer.

Judge to California's 3rd Largest County:  On Account of COVID, Release Half Your Convicts.  How do you empty a large county's jail system by half?  That's a question currently demanding an answer, as a West Coast judge has ordered that very thing.  As reported by The Daily Wire, on Friday, Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson dictated Sheriff Don Barnes must liquidate Orange County's jail system by 50%.  The decision comes following the American Civil Liberties Union's April lawsuit demanding the release of disabled and vulnerable inmates in light of the pandemic.

The Texas lawsuit in the Supreme Court is huge.  As I noted [elsew]here, partisan judges are issuing what I will politely call "garbage" decisions.  Judges are refusing to consider the evidence, with only one Nevada court attempting to do so.  Instead, they make variations of the argument that, if courts were to consider Trump's claims, they would run the risk of "disenfranchising" Biden voters.  That is a singularly dishonest argument.  Disenfranchisement occurs when people are deprived of the right to vote.  No one was deprived here.  What Trump is doing, with his request that every legal vote count, is asking that courts invalidate illegal votes.  You cannot disenfranchise an illegal voter, whether that "voter" is dead, a computer algorithm, or a form filled out in a Chinese print shop.

Judge who tossed Michigan case a stereotypical activist judge.  News broke on Monday [12/7/2020] that a federal district court judge in Detroit — an Obama nominee — dismissed Sidney Powell's Michigan lawsuit.  Her ruling was what one would expect from an activist judge, in that it was entirely partisan. [...] Contrary to what naïve people believe, most progressive judges are not dedicated to applying the law impartially in the search for justice.  They are partisan hacks who decide in advance which side should win and then retrofit legal principles to make their decisions appear valid.  Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the paradigm of the modern judge.  One of Ginsburg's intellectual heirs sits on the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.  Here's what you need to know about Judge Linda v. [sic] Parker:  She spent only five years in private practice and the rest of her career working for the government.  She worked in the District of Columbia Superior Court, the EPA, the U.S. Attorney's office for Michigan, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and as a judge.  Obama nominated her to the Federal District Court in 2013.  Parker is a Swamp creature whose fealty is to the government and leftism.  She's also clearly an activist, not a scholar.

If vote fraud wins in 2020, prepare for life to get ugly.  In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, we have heard about massive voter fraud in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.  It appears that the fraud, if reversed, would change the winner in these states from Joe Biden to Donald Trump.  The electoral votes in question add to 79.  This would give Trump a total of 311, easily making him the winner.  Trump has tried suing to right the situation, but unfortunately, almost all of the judges hearing the cases dismiss them without even giving Trump's lawyers the right of discovery.  These judges are ignoring several smoking guns.

Nevada Judge Rules Against Election Contest Brought on Behalf of Trump Electors.  On Friday afternoon [12/4/2020] a Nevada state court judge in Carson City ruled in favor of the State of Nevada and against the six GOP Electors named for President Trump, holding that the Plaintiffs had not proven that fraudulent ballots were cast in a number sufficient to change the outcome of the election.  The Judge's opinion is a good example of the problems that confront plaintiffs in an election challenge such as the one the Trump Campaign and surrogates have been waging over the validity of mail-in ballots — all the evidence rests in the hands of the opposition.

Wisconsin Supreme Court deals Trump election challenges 3rd defeat in 30 hours.  For the third time in less than 30 hours, four justices on the state Supreme Court dealt President Donald Trump a setback Friday, saying they wouldn't accept a lawsuit by Trump allies who wanted to let Republican lawmakers instead of voters decide how to cast the state's electoral votes.  As with two decisions Thursday, Friday's ruling was 4-3, with conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn joining the court's liberals to rebuff the president as he seeks to take away Democrat Joe Biden's narrow win of the state.  "The relief being sought by the petitioners is the most dramatic invocation of judicial power I have ever seen," Hagedorn wrote.

Federal Judge in New York restores DACA, at least for now.  The DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) saga continues its long and winding road through all branches of government, as a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Friday that these undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children can once again apply to remain in this country legally.  This goes back to the Obama administration, who said repeatedly that "I am president, I am not king.  I can't do these things just by myself.  We have a system of government that requires the Congress to work with the executive branch to make it happen," and words to that effect.  But finally he gave up on Congress and in June of 2012, he signed DACA into law as an executive directive and said that it was "a temporary stopgap measure."

Biden Supporters Should Stop Celebrating.  While the nation waits for the rightful winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election to emerge, President Trump continues to make progress on policy goals that sent him to the White House four years ago.  Since Election Day, the U.S. Senate has confirmed seven new federal judges nominated by the president, and with 15 more days in session this year, could yet add to that total.  The reshaping of the federal judiciary is one of the president's greatest achievements; to date he has seen the confirmation of 227 federal judges.  Decisions made by the federal district courts, circuit courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court will reverberate for decades to come.  Trump's judges all have one thing in common:  They know the difference between interpreting the U.S. Constitution and rewriting it.

Democrats face accusations of fraud in House race after 28K vote election night lead erased by judge and mail-in ballots.  A New York congressional race came down to a judge personally reviewing individual spoiled ballots, resulting in the Democratic incumbent erasing his nearly 30,000-vote deficit to take a 13-vote lead and declaring victory.  "In NY-22, the Democrat incumbent was trailing by almost 30K on election night," said Hot Air editor Jazz Shaw on Twitter.  "The mail-in ballots got him close.  Then a Democrat judge from Syracuse ruled he would personally 'review' all of the spoiled ballots that had been rejected.  Guess what happened next."  "The judge miraculously 'found' enough ballots that he felt were okay and the incumbent now 'leads' by 13 votes," Shaw continued.

Pennsylvania Justices Accused of Playing Politics After Dismissing Challenge Over Absentee Ballots.  Democrats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision on Saturday night, dismissing a suit brought by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PN) and a handful of other GOP candidates challenging what they consider to be unlawful changes made to absentee ballot requirements stipulated by the state constitution.  The ruling overturns a lower court's order preventing Pennsylvania from certifying election results following the Nov. 3 election.  On Wednesday, judge Patricia McCullough ordered the state to halt certification of election results a day after Joe Biden was certified the winner in the Keystone State.

Keep Fighting in the Courts, and Start Fighting the Libertarian Party.  It is remarkable watching the Democrats — the party of litigation and trial lawyers — attacking the Trump team for challenging election results and filing court challenges.  Through four years of the Trump presidency's first term, the Left ran to the courts to challenge virtually every presidential initiative, every executive order, every policy.  They ran to the courts to protect illegal immigration, to protect the illegal violations of Sanctuary Cities, to attack, attack, attack.  They knew and know where to find their Clinton-Obama judges, in federal districts in the Ninth Circuit and elsewhere, and they played the courts like a fiddle to get rulings they wanted.  They ended up with progressive judges who always found a way to stretch and interpret the law to fit the Left agenda.  These judges did not look for the target bull's-eye at which to aim their arrows but instead looked at the Left's arrows and just painted bull's-eyes around them.

'American Hustle': Party Insiders Tell The True Story Of How Philadelphia Elections Work.  Most Americans might not know the name Ozzie Myers, although a part of his tale was told in the hit 2013 movie "American Hustle" about the FBI sting that sent four congressmen to prison in the 1970s.  If you're from Philadelphia, though, you know his name, and knew it well before 2013.  He's important to the country now because he's currently under indictment for bribing a state elections judge to stuff ballots for Democratic candidates.  Among the candidates he was paid to get elected are three as-yet-unnamed judges sitting on the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.  That's where President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has to go when local election officials refuse to let campaign monitors oversee ballot integrity, as has been the case these past few days throughout Pennsylvania.

Philly's long history of corruption includes judge convicted of bribery to cast fraudulent ballots.  Even as members of the mainstream media largely dismiss concerns about possible voter fraud, they are ignoring Philadelphia's long history of endemic political corruption.  Less than six months ago, for example, a former Philadelphia Judge of Elections pled guilty and was convicted for his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certify false voting results during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections.  Domenick J. Demuro, 73, Judge of Elections for Philadelphia's 39th Ward, 36th Division, pled guilty during a sealed proceeding on March 16 before U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond to conspiring to deprive persons of civil rights, and using interstate facilities in aid of bribery.

Judges dismiss Trump claims in Georgia, Michigan.  Judges in Georgia and Michigan quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits Thursday, undercutting a campaign legal strategy to attack the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean President Donald Trump's defeat.  The rulings came as Democrat Joe Biden inched closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.  In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the Trump campaign won an appellate ruling to get party and campaign observers closer to election workers who are processing mail-in ballots in Philadelphia.  But the order did not affect the counting of ballots that is proceeding in Pennsylvania.

Federal judge tosses Trump's 'public charge' immigration rule.  A federal judge in Chicago issued a nationwide halt Monday [11/2/2020] to President Trump's attempt to make more immigrants have to prove self-sufficiency in order to win a path to citizenship.  Judge Gary Feinerman ruled the government cut too many procedural corners in issuing what was known as the "public charge" rule.  Homeland Security had asked him to confine his ruling to a limited geography and to delay its effectiveness while it was appealed.  The Obama appointee rejected both requests, announcing a nationwide policy.

The Editor says...
It is not "Trump's rule."  It has been a matter of federal law for some time.  And what happened on January 27 at the Supreme Court?

Judge orders South Carolina to accept ballots with signature mismatch.  A federal judge ruled Tuesday [10/27/2020] that South Carolina must count mail ballots even if voters' signatures don't match those on file, as long as officials are otherwise satisfied with the ballot.  Judge Richard Gergel, an Obama appointee, said some counties in the state are engaged in "unauthorized" signature-matching, and he ordered them to stop.  He called them a "hodgepodge" of rules, with some not even giving voters a chance to fix any errors before their ballots were tossed.

Debunking the Fourth Circuit's Insane Transgender Ruling in Grimm v. Gloucester.  On August 26, 2020 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its decision in the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board.  The decision declared that rights of the plaintiff Gavin Grimm, a female student who considers herself male, were violated because the school board denied Grimm the right to access the boys' restroom and refused to amend school records to call her "male" after a court had ordered the state of Virginia to issue a new birth certificate indicating Grimm as a male.  In justifying its opinion, the Court made many findings of fact (whether self-determined or sourced from friends of the court or the lower court) that not only defy common sense, but also are patently false or materially inaccurate.

Democrats' Emoluments Clause Lawsuit Against President Trump Is Dead.  The Supreme Court has refused to take up an emoluments case filed by Democrats back in 2017.  That means the lower court ruling that Democrats do not have standing to bring the case will stand.  This little corner of the resistance is dead: [...] One more little tidbit worth noting here.  Guess which judge was all for letting this case go forward initially: [...]

Federal judge upholds Minnesota's extended ballot counting.  A federal judge has upheld a state court agreement that extends Minnesota's deadline for counting absentee ballots by seven days.  Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon agreed to in state court after a citizens' rights group cited concerns about voter safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  But Brasel ruled late Sunday night that the plaintiffs in the case — a pair of Republicans serving as electors in the presidential election — don't have standing and denied their motion for a preliminary injunction.

Judge throws out Trump campaign's Pennsylvania lawsuit.  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.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Rewrite of State Election Law by District Court Judge.  Late Monday afternoon [10/5/2020] the Supreme Court issued a "Stay" with regard to an order from a South Carolina federal district court judge who rewrote a provision of South Carolina election law due to the impact of COVID 19.  Judge Julianna Michelle Childs, an appointee of President Obama, granted an injunction for Plaintiffs preventing the South Carolina election officials from enforcing a provision of South Carolina election law requiring a witness signature on an absentee ballot envelope.

Judge blocks large parts of temporary work visa ban.  A judge on Thursday temporarily lifted a visa ban on a large number of work permits, undercutting a measure that the Trump administration says protects American jobs in a pandemic-wracked economy.

Federal judge stops AG Barr's law enforcement panel from issuing report, citing lack of diversity.  A federal judge Thursday halted a Justice Department commission studying issues plaguing the law enforcement community from releasing its report because the panel excluded civil rights leaders.  U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled the much-ballyhooed Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires government committees to receive input from "fairly balanced" viewpoints.  Judge Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in his 45-page opinion that the commission was full of law enforcement officials, but none of the members have "a criminal defense, civil rights, or community organization background."

Are Democrat judges foolishly expanding mail-in voting rules in their states?  For months, Democrats have been planning to win the election through mail-in voting.  This is because mail-in voting easily allows fraud.  Democrat judges have done what they can to help by riding roughshod over state voting statutes to increase opportunities to mail ballots after the election.  Doug Ross, however, argues that, if you look at the Constitution, these judges may be encouraging their state's citizens to cast votes that cannot be counted in federal elections.  One of the most egregious examples of judges running amok came out of Pennsylvania. [...] In other words, after the polls close, if Trump has won (as I believe he will), Democrats can then figure out how many more votes they need to change the outcome and simply deliver the ballots without even bothering with the pretense of mailing.  In theory, that's how you win an election, every single time.  Lazy voters don't have to bother with polling places or deadlines.  They just wait until called upon to act.

Are Democrat House and Senate Candidates Trapped in a No-Win Situation?  As if Democrats weren't already fomenting enough chaos with their brownshirts — Antifa, BLM and the like — the Supreme Courts of several battleground states have decided to pile on.  In Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Democrat activists dressed in black robes have fundamentally rewritten state election laws.  Among their various revisions to these crucial laws:
  •   Mail-in ballots can be received up to seven (7) days after the election and still be counted
  •   These ballots can be missing postmarks and still be counted
  •   The signature on the ballot doesn't even have to match with that of the registered voter
  •   And, as a bonus, they have banned the Green Party from the ballot to prevent erosion of the Biden vote
All of these illegal proclamations directly contravene state law and are simply naked, partisan attempts to swing the election.  More importantly, they are in clear violation of the Constitution.

The Canonization of Saint Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  [Scroll down]  After the memorials in her honor are complete, Ginsburg doubtless will be accorded hagiographies.  What is perhaps more troubling than the accordance of sainthood on the former justice by the left are the obsequies of Christians and others who have almost fought one another in conferring honors on a person who was unalterably and ferociously opposed to everything Christianity once stood for without apology:  the sacredness of every human life, the sanctity of marriage, the biological distinctions of the sexes, and the integrity of the Church. [...] Continuing in a similar vein, Ginsburg called for the "sex-integration of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts" because they "perpetuate stereotyped sex roles."  College fraternities and sororities were to be replaced with "college social societies."  In the interest of equality, Mother's Day and Father's Day were not to be celebrated separately[.]  Worse, "Ginsburg called for reducing the age of consent for sexual acts to people who are 'less than 12 years old.'  She wrote that laws against 'bigamists, persons cohabiting with more than one woman, and women cohabiting with a bigamist' are unconstitutional.

There's one case that really highlights Ginsburg's toxic judicial activism.  With the fight brewing over a new Supreme Court justice, it's helpful to understand the danger America faces because of Ginsburgian judicial activism.  One of the best examples of Ginsburg's philosophy is Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), in which Ginsburg wrote the dissent, not the opinion.  The facts of the case are simple, which highlights the difference between judicial restraint and judicial activism.

There are no Obama judges or Trump judges, except when there are.  In November 2018, in response to another of the usual leftist rulings from the Ninth Circuit Court out of San Francisco, President Trump referred to the judge making the determination as an "Obama Judge."  Responding to a query regarding this event made by the Associated Press, the Supreme Court chief justice, John Roberts, is quoted as saying, "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."  To name just a few of many examples, the past Democrat persecution of Judges Bork and Clarence Thomas, and the vicious attack by the Democrats on now-justice Kavanaugh, makes the chief justice's words incomprehensible.  If the Supreme Court justices are to act as umpires, assessing facts from a common set of rules, then why are so many decisions so clearly split along perceived party lines?  The world Chief Justice Roberts lives in is imaginary.  Has the chief justice missed the immediate vows of lawfare, political obstruction, and even violence expressed by the Democrats upon the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg?  In his fantasy world, does he not comprehend the importance the Democrats have placed on activist "judges" to put in place their agenda that cannot be passed by the legislative process?

In Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Democrats Plan to Cheat.  We would do well to not lose sight of all the cheating that the Left is planning to do with the aim of stealing the election.  They are not even being shy about their plans, just attempting to put a thin veneer of "legality" on all of it so as to make the poison go down a little smoother.  Take, for example, what took place recently in Michigan.  In a case regarding mail-in ballots and deadlines (supported by none other than Marc Elias of Perkins Coie/Fusion GPS infamy, and who, we should add, is working for the Biden campaign), Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens decided unilaterally and arbitrarily to turn Election Day into "Election Weeks."  That's right:  the "Honorable" Judge Stephens decided that any ballot postmarked by 5 p.m. on November 2 could be counted for up to two weeks after Election Day.  In essence, what she did was legislate from the bench that ballot harvesting in Michigan is now legal.

Wisconsin Ruling Allows Mail-in Ballots to Be Counted Without 'Definitive' Postmarks.  A ruling Monday [9/21/2020] by a federal judge in Wisconsin that would extend the counting of mail-in ballots six days beyond Election Day would also allow those ballots to be counted even if there is no "definitive" sign of a postmark.  U.S. District Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin — an appointee of President Barack Obama — ruled that absentee ballots in the state can be counted until Nov. 9 as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3.  He cited the state's difficult experience in the recent primary election, as well as projected difficulties with the U.S. Post Office as it handles an unprecedented number of mailed-in ballots.

Left Now Will Pay Price for Turning Courts into Political Battlefield.  [Scroll down]  Marxists of all sorts never viewed the courts as anything but tools of oppression, that had to be manipulated to advance the revolution.  Alas, modern liberals also abandoned fidelity to the rule of law in reality if not rhetoric.  Their commitment to a "living constitution" — the evolving meaning of which depended upon any number of factors, including, it sometimes seemed, sunspots and the phase of the moon — turned them into politicians and the courts into continuing constitutional conventions.  Indeed, the game was hopelessly rigged.  Liberal jurists would make a dramatic advance toward presumed human utopia.  Then they would insist that judicial conservatives respect precedent and make the ruling permanent, immune from reconsideration.  In this way the legal ratchet worked only one way.  The problem was reinforced by the Left's control of the legal academy, which produced the jurisprudential gibberish which aided and augmented the march of the judicial left.

Michigan Judge Extends Deadline 2 Weeks for Mail-In Ballots Postmarked by November 2.  Mail-in ballots postmarked by November 2 must be counted up to two weeks after the presidential election, a Michigan judge ruled this week.  The ruling also authorizes the temporary use of ballot harvesting.  Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens essentially extended the deadline for mail-in ballots to be counted, even if they arrive after the polls close on Election Day, which stood as the previous deadline.  Stephens attributed her ruling to the impact of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Floyd Judge:  Jury Can't Hear Evidence Of Floyd's Drug Addiction, Violent Crime.  The district court judge in the George Floyd murder case has ruled that the four cops accused of killing the violent drug addict cannot introduce evidence of George Floyd's prior drug problems and brutal criminal past.  ABC affiliate KSTP in Minneaspolis reported Friday that Judge Peter Cahill denied two motions, and ruled that the Hennepin county attorney and some of his aides cannot try the case because they are possible witnesses.  The four defendants in the case are Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng, and Tou Thoa.  On May 25, Chauvin restrained Floyd with a knee to the neck for nearly nine minutes.  Chauvin faces second-degree murder and other charges.  The others are charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin.

Judge Grants Injunction Barring Grace Community Church From Constitutional Right To Worship.  Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction Thursday [9/10/2020] that prohibits Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church from "conducting, participating in, or attending any indoor worship services."  The ban also extends to services held outside "unless onerous restrictions are followed."  Since the church first began meeting in-person and defying local lockdown orders in July, Los Angeles County officials have threatened fines, arrest, and even terminated the lease held between the church and the county for parking lot space claiming health and safety concerns.

Trump Barred From Omitting Undocumented Immigrants in Census.  President Donald Trump's policy excluding undocumented immigrants from census data violates the law, a panel of federal judges ruled, blocking it from taking effect.  Three judges in Manhattan on Thursday ruled that Congress hadn't given the president authority for the policy.  The case, brought by several states including New York and advocacy groups, is notable because census results are used to determine representation in the House of Representatives and to allocate federal funds.  "Throughout the nation's history, the figures used to determine the apportionment of Congress — in the language of the current statutes, the 'total population' and the 'whole number of persons' in each state — have included every person residing in the United States at the time of the census, whether citizen or non-citizen and whether living here with legal status or without," the judges said in an 86-page opinion.

America's Reign Of Judges Has Left Us With An Unrecognizable Constitution.  "Kritarchy" is a Greek neologism that means "rule of judges."  Strictly speaking, we don't live under a regime in which judges rule alone.  It's more precise to say that modern American judges are a vital node of the neoliberal oligarchy who exercise far more power than they ought to have, in ways the founders never intended.  According to the parchment, judges are supposed to rule on individual cases and — in extraordinary circumstances — may invalidate laws that clearly flout the plain text and meaning of the Constitution.  This is not what our judges actually do.  They profess themselves loyal to the Constitution, in part as a diversionary tactic but also in part out of genuine sincerity.  The problem with their sincerity is that their loyalty is not to the actual Constitution but to a rival constitution of the left's own devising.  That constitution is not written in the same manner as the formal Constitution, but neither is it completely unwritten.  Its tenets are explained in various books and journal articles, in certain laws, and in administrative rules.

In the Name of Safety, a Detroit Judge Bans Cops From Using Weapons That Are More Safe.  In politics and government, you routinely see people saying and doing things that make no sense, often with the declared reason at odds with the action.  This would be one of those.  In Detroit this past week, a judge banned the police department from using non-lethal implements to fight rioters for at least the next couple weeks.  That would be, so far as I understand, to protect people.  As noted by The Daily Wire, activists "are looking to make the ban permanent." [...] As per the Detroit Free Press, the plaintiffs assert, "Police used those objects to fracture bones, inflict baseball-sized lumps and concussions, collapse lungs and cause other injuries that left Black Lives Matter protestors hospitalized and disoriented during marches in Detroit that started on May 29."  To hear their attorney tell it, it seems those in the streets are just being constitutionalists.

Judge Bans Police From Using Tear Gas, Batons On BLM Protesters Even If Demonstrations Escalate.  A Detroit judge ruled late last week that the Detroit Police Department cannot use non-lethal means to handle anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests that descend into chaos — at least for the next two weeks — and Detroit's anti-police activists are looking to make the ban permanent. [...] The protesters claim, according to the Detroit Free Press, that "police used those objects to fracture bones, inflict baseball-sized lumps and concussions, collapse lungs and cause other injuries that left Black Lives Matter protesters hospitalized and disoriented during marches in Detroit that started on May 29."

Judge Orders Detroit Police Not to Use Batons, Tear Gas Against Protesters for Two Weeks.  A federal judge in Detroit has ordered the city's police not to use batons, tear gas, shields, chokeholds, rubber bullets, sound cannons, or any other type of non-lethal force against protesters for the next two weeks.  The late Friday [9/4/2020] ruling granted a temporary restraining order to the activist group Detroit Will Breathe, which sued the city on Monday, claiming that excessive police force infringed upon their protesters' First Amendment rights, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Judge Blocks Idaho Law That Prevents Transgender Women From Participating In Female Athletics.  U.S. District Judge David Nye of Idaho ordered a preliminary injunction on Monday temporarily halting a state law that prohibits transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics, The Idaho Statesman reported.  Nye's ruling will allow transgender girls and women to participate in women's sports this upcoming fall at colleges and in secondary schools as the lawsuit proceeds, the Statesman reported.

Barbers Hill ISD's dress code policy against dreadlocks is discriminatory, federal judge rules.  Barbers Hill ISD's dress code policy that forbids long dreadlocks has been ruled discriminatory by a federal judge, a month after the district's board of trustees voted to keep the policy.  The district, which is located about an hour east of Houston in Mont Belvieu, made national headlines earlier this year when two students, cousins Kaden Bradford and De'Andre Arnold, spoke out against its dreadlock policy after both were faced with in-school suspension unless they cut their locks.  Arnold was also banned from walking in his graduation ceremony and Bradford was prohibited from participating in school activities.

One story from the night of looting in Chicago that doesn't fit the approved narrative.  [Scroll down]  [Demisck] Lomax, 25, was charged with aggravated battery of a police officer.  Prosecutors say he has previous narcotics convictions.  You might expect him to sit in jail until trial.  And you'd be right, in that Chicago of old. [...] Cook County Judge Mary Marubio set his bail at $5,000.  Lomax only had to come up with $500.  I first read about this fascinating story on the Twitter feed of CWB Chicago, which covers a lot of crime news.  Chicago Ald.  Brendan Reilly, who represents much of the looted area, was furious with the bond for Lomax.  So I confirmed the CWB account with law enforcement, then called Reilly.  "It has to change and change fast," said Reilly.  "What we're seeing here with all the violence in Chicago is the result of a series of bad policy decisions, including the push for low bond and the criminal justice revolving door.["]  "I don't want people in jail for nonviolent crimes, but now, there aren't any consequences for committing any crime.  Police catch a lot of the bad guys, but bond court is a joke, with prosecutors and judges releasing violent offenders.["]

Judge orders DACA restart, including new applications, indirect pathway to citizenship.  A federal judge on Friday ordered the government to revive the DACA program as it existed before President Trump tried to phase it out in 2017, which means opening it up to brand new applications.  That's a key issue that had remained in limbo after last month's Supreme Court ruling, which found the Trump phaseout cut too many corners.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm, sitting in Maryland, issued an order restoring all parts of the program back to where they were, which means not only protecting current recipients but also approving new ones.

A New Record?  Tennesee's Abortion Ban Blocked By Judge MINUTES After Being Signed into Law.  Less than an hour after Tennesee Governor Bill Lee signed a new law restricting abortion in his state, The apex predator of the baby-killing world, Planned Parenthood, filed an injunction and successfully had a Judge approve it, blocking the law from being implemented.

Let's Talk about Black Privilege.  During the recent George Floyd — related terrorist looting and riots, retired St.  Louis, Mo. police captain David Dorn was shot and killed; he was 77. His death was recorded on a phone for the world to see, in a grotesquely grim The Truman Show moment for the nation.  Dorn's alleged murderer, a 24-year-old ex-felon named Stephan Cannon, was convicted at 18 for violent felony robbery and was supposed to serve a seven-year sentence.  But he never served a day thanks to leniency from the presiding judge.  The violent ex-felon subsequently twice violated his probation but, alas, never went to prison.  Cannon is black; his two accomplices were also black. [...] As a free black ex-felon after committing a violent crime and then violating his probation:  black privilege — yes or no?

Judge's Son Admits to 35 Counts of Trafficking Child Porn Involving Infants, Gets NO JAIL.  In the land of the free, there are two sets of justice systems — one for all those connected to that system, and one for everyone else.  Time after time, we've seen police officers and politicians alike accused of terrible crimes and they escape with little to no jail.  As the following case illustrates, even family members of the connected class are extended this privilege and escape accountability for even the most heinous of crimes.

Judge orders ICE to release migrant children held with their families, citing coronavirus.  Citing new coronavirus cases at detention facilities for migrant families, the federal judge overseeing litigation surrounding protections for undocumented minors in U.S. custody on Friday ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release children the agency is holding with their parents or legal guardians.  U.S. Judge Dolly Gee of the federal district court in Los Angeles gave ICE a July 17 deadline to release all minors who have been in the agency's custody for more than 20 days.  Gee, who oversees the government's compliance with the Flores Settlement Agreement, which governs the care of minors in U.S. immigration custody, cited the first coronavirus cases among the migrant families ICE holds at its three Family Residential Centers, or FRCs.

In Re:  Michael T. Flynn, Petitioner.  [Scroll down]  Now we have been told by Chief Justice John Roberts that there are no such things as "Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.  What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."  Maybe that's what it looks like from on high, but I can assure the Chief Justice that, down here in the trenches, the view is altogether different.  When a case is assigned to any given federal judge, us lowly grunt trial lawyers want to know which president appointed the judge.  Why?  Because that's a fairly reliable indicator of the assigned judge's legal philosophy and predisposition.

Judge Sullivan's Resistance Theater Comes to a Pathetic End, Ordered to Dismiss Flynn Charges.  I'm sure this saga isn't really over, because it never seems to be really over, but for now, it appears that Judge Sullivan's resistance theater is coming to an end.  The D.C. Circuit ruled on Sullivan's ridiculous, farmed out argument that he should be allowed to continue sentencing Michael Flynn, even after exculpatory evidence was revealed.

Appeals Court Rebukes Imperious Judge Over Absurd Absentee Ballot Ruling.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has taken federal District Judge Fred Biery to the proverbial woodshed over an outlandish order he issued in late May.  In that order, Biery required Texas to allow all voters to vote by mail even if they didn't otherwise meet the state's eligibility requirement for an absentee ballot.  In a stunning June 4 rebuke written by Judge Jerry Smith, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit said that Biery's order will be "remembered more for [its] audacity than legal reasoning."  The appeals court panel said that although Biery wanted "to take matters into his own hands," the spread of COVID-19 has not given unelected federal judges "a roving commission to rewrite state election codes" and intervene just weeks before an election.

Judge bans Seattle police from using tear gas, pepper spray amidst ongoing protests.  A judge ruled in favor of a Black Lives Matter group on Friday [6/12/2020], banning Seattle police from using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang devices to disperse crowds at protests.  The ruling comes after a tense few weeks between law enforcement and protesters and legally reinforces a similar temporary ban by the city's Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seatle Police Department Chief Carmen Best.

Manhattan judge frees alleged looter busted in bloody attack on NYPD cop.  A Manhattan judge set free an alleged looter charged with bashing a cop's head open with a glass bong swiped amid violent protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, The [New York] Post has learned.  The move marked at least the second time that Judge Laurie Peterson has overruled prosecutors and released a defendant without bail — which in the earlier case allegedly led to a pair of unprovoked slashings by the psycho who got sprung.  "What could she possibly be thinking?  Is she living under a rock?  Did she see the looting going on in the city?" said a cop who worked in Manhattan every night of the recent riots.  "I guess they really want to do away with cops and let the criminals run wild."

Clinton-Appointed Judge: 'Illegal' to Arrest Criminal Illegal Aliens at New York Courthouses.  A federal judge, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, says federal immigration agents arresting criminal illegal aliens at New York state courthouses is "illegal."  United States District Court Judge Jed Rakoff ruled on Wednesday [6/10/2020] that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must not arrest criminal illegal aliens as they are leaving court in New York.

Federal Judges Help Free Over 230 Illegal Aliens in Last Month, Including Rapists, Murderers, Sex Offenders.  In the last month, federal judges have ordered the release of more than 230 illegal aliens in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody — over 65 percent of which have either criminal convictions or are accused of crimes.  Since the beginning of the Chinese coronavirus crisis, federal judges have ordered the release of 429 illegal aliens — 327 of which have been convicted or accused of crimes.

Obama, Clinton 9th Circuit Judges Suspend Bill of Rights Until Coronavirus is Cured.  Perhaps these two lefty scholars can point us to where the First Amendment states, "except in an emergency".  [They are] proposing the suspension of the Bill of Rights until there's a cure.  Which may never happen.  Bizarrely, the Democrat judges are quoting a minority dissent arguing that speech could be censored if it was inflammatory.  Jackson was arguing that the authorities should have the right to stop Nazi supporters from saying racist things in public because it would lead to disorder and then America would go the way of Nazi Germany.  Jackson was a great man, but wrong in this case.  That he's being quoted by the majority in this ruling is troubling at best considering the original implications.  The Democrat judges did not address the fact that Newsom is discriminating against religious observance.

Judges Aren't Kings.  This One Didn't Get the Memo.  In the United States, we don't have kings or queens of any variety.  Still, some judges apparently think they are philosopher-kings, and an order released last Tuesday [5/19/2020] by a federal district court judge in Texas shows he may be in that group.  Judge Fred Biery's order that state officials allow mail-in voting for all eligible voters in upcoming elections seems totally disconnected from the law and reads like a manifesto from a wannabe philosopher-king, complete with rhetorical flourishes, endnotes, and appendices.

Far-left Obama-appointed judge launches political attack on conservative Federalist Society.  U.S. District Judge John McConnell is an unabashed liberal, big donor to the Democratic Party, and a longtime friend of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a far-left Democrat from the judge's home state of Rhode Island.  McConnell owes his job to Whitehouse, who asked President Barack Obama to nominate him to become a federal judge.  A recent CQ Roll Call investigation showed that McConnell gave about $500,000 to Democratic political committees before becoming a judge — more than any other judge nominated by Presidents Obama or Trump.  Why should you care?  Because McConnell sits on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the U.S. Judicial Conference.  The committee sets ethical guidelines for federal judges and recently proposed barring these judges from membership in the Federalist Society, a network of conservative and libertarian law students and lawyers.

Judge Emmett Sullivan [...] Arranged Speaking Gig for James Comey at Howard University for $100,000.  The confused judge who has unconstitutionally inserted himself into the Justice Department's case against General Flynn made some actions behind the scene that are just as troubling.  Judge Sullivan helped Jim Comey get his speaking gig at Howard University for $100,000.  How much more corruption can America take[?]  The corrupt judge who inserted himself into the General Flynn case, who insinuated the General was a traitor, has a lifestyle that matches his actions in court.  He's not only famous for his unethical standards and actions in the Flynn trial, he also ordered that deported asylum seekers must be returned to the US.

Flynn attorney files emergency appeal to shut down Judge Sullivan's orders, boot him from case.  Michael Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell on Tuesday filed an emergency writ of mandamus to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking the immediate removal of Judge Emmet Sulivan from the case — and saying that under appellate precedent set by the "Fokker Services" case, Sullivan or his replacement must dismiss the prosecution, as the Justice Department has requested.  Writs of mandamus are extraordinary remedies, which are appropriate when there has been a "usurpation of judicial power" that is "clear and indisputable" — and, Powell argued, Sullivan's behavior fits the bill.  Powell pointed in particular to Sullivan's bizarre suggestion in December 2018 that Flynn had "sold out his country" and could have been prosecuted for "treason," as well as Sullivan's misstatements on the facts of the case.

In Michael Flynn case, Judge Sullivan's gross overreach turns justice into mob rule.  The case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn is rapidly moving from the dubious to the preposterous.  U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is being widely applauded for resisting the dismissal of a case that the Department of Justice insists cannot be ethically maintained.  Faced with no dispute between the parties, Sullivan decided to create a contested case by inviting in third parties to create a conflict and now is suggesting that he may substitute his own criminal charge rather than let Flynn walk free.  In the past, I have publicly praised Sullivan.  However, this is fast becoming a case of gross judicial overreach as the court appears to assume both judicial and executive powers.  Sullivan can disagree with the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, but he cannot substitute his own judgment for it.

Rogue Judge Sullivan.  mmet Sullivan, the U.S. District Court judge presiding over the Michael Flynn criminal trial, has delayed ruling on the Justice Department's motion to dismiss all charges against Flynn in order to get a third party's views.  Sullivan's action is unconstitutional, cruel, and an enormous abuse of his judicial power. [...] Sullivan has appointed former U.S. district court judge John Gleeson to oppose the Justice Department's motion to dismiss and, reportedly, to argue that Sullivan should hold Flynn guilty of perjury for falsely confessing to crimes he didn't commit.  That is unconstitutional under the controlling precedents because it violates the Separation of Powers doctrine of constitutional law which mandates that the power of one branch of government cannot be seized and used by another branch.

Flynn Judge Ignores Supreme Court and the Constitution.  Which part of United States v.  Michael Flynn does Judge Emmet Sullivan not understand?  There is no third party in the case title — only the names of the accuser and the accused.  There is no understudy prosecutor to be employed when one party says he's innocent and the other admits they have no case.  Game over.  The defendant is a free man unless you are in Judge Sullivan's court where the signpost up ahead says "The Twilight Zone."  On our planet, when there is no prosecutor to prosecute, there is no prosecution.  Case is dismissed.  Not on Judge Sullivan's planet.  For Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn it must have seen like a ruling from a parallel universe when, in an Alice-In-Wonderland meets Groundhog Day moment, for Judge Sullivan's appointed former Judge John Gleeson to argue against AG Barr and defendant Flynn, and even invent a new charge of perjury for withdrawing his guilty plea entered under severe coercion and duress.

On shutting down Sullivan's circus.  In light of Judge Sullivan's bizarre orders in the Flynn prosecution, there is talk about the possibility of filing a petition with the court of appeals seeking to have it pull the plug on the Flynn proceedings.  However, I don't think the D.C. Circuit would grant such a petition, and I question whether, at this stage, it should.  The problem is that Sullivan hasn't ruled one way or the other on the government's motion to dismiss the case against Gen. Flynn.  Technically, all he has done is ask for briefing from outside parties on the question of whether he should grant the motion.  Sullivan shouldn't have asked for outside help.  He should have done his own research, if necessary, and granted the motion without further ado.

Judicial, Media, and Agency Activism:  Scourge of the 21st Century.  One only has to look at the actions of Judge Emmet Sullivan in his handling of Gen. Michael Flynn's case to see the American judicial system at its worst.  Judge Sullivan has evidently decided that he will be prosecuting attorney, judge, jury and arbiter of jurisprudence, in essence reopening a case where the charges have been dropped by the prosecution, charges that were obviously bogus to begin with.  Or Dallas County Judge Eric Moye, who took it upon himself to sentence a woman to seven days in jail for violating a reopen order, when, if any penalty at all, a small fine would have been more in keeping with the actions of a lady who just wanted to feed her family.  Yet, just because he could and because of his personal feelings, Judge Moye decided it would be better to incarcerate her in a jail where actual criminals, who had committed seriously harmful crimes, had been turned back out on the street for fear of a coronavirus spread in the jail.

Judge Sullivan's "perjury" gambit.  Judge Sullivan's decision to have a former federal judge argue against the DOJ's motion to dismiss the Michael Flynn prosecution is bizarre enough.  In addition, though, Sullivan asked the same judge to consider whether Flynn should face a perjury charge based statements he made to the court in connection with his guilty plea.  I assume Sullivan recognizes that the DOJ's motion to dismiss the charge of false statements to the FBI makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for Sullivan to sentence Flynn on that charge.  The judge is looking for an alternative way of nailing Flynn — one that doesn't require Justice Department participation or approval.

Judge Sullivan Ignores Shocking Record of False Guilty Pleas.  We may be slow, we often say, but then again, too, we didn't just fall off the turnip truck.  So in respect of Judge Emmet Sullivan's outrage over General Michael Flynn's desire to withdraw his guilty plea, let us just say our eyes are dry.  The judge has gone so far as to appoint an ex-judge to recommend whether to charge the general for lying when he pled guilty.  As if such pleading guilty to a crime one didn't commit is all that unusual.  The fact is that it's by no means rare for persons to plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit.  Some are scared.  Others confused.  Some lack the intestinal fortitude or financial wherewithal to stand up against the warnings or threats from the prosecutors.  What's so unusual in the Flynn case is that the Democrats and liberals are siding against the poor schlepper caught in the prosecutorial vice.

Instead Of Dismissing, Michael Flynn Judge Opens His Court To Litigate Russiagate.  Late on May 12, the federal judge presiding over the Michael Flynn criminal case entered a short order announcing to the world his intent to accept outside briefing on the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn with prejudice.  Absent reconsideration or reversal of that order, Judge Emmet Sullivan has just ensured that the Russia collusion hoax will be relitigated on the federal docket.  While Flynn's connection to the broader Russia conspiracy theory was tangential, he was caught up in the plot to take down the president when FBI agents discovered he had spoken with the Russian ambassador in late December 2016. Realizing they could use the Russia collusion investigation as a pretext to quiz Flynn on this conversation, FBI Agent Peter Strzok intercepted the documents closing the investigation into Flynn, then led a casual chat with Flynn, designed to trip up the newly named Trump national security advisor.

Recent Decisions of the Court of Appeals for DC Circuit Show Sullivan Must Dismiss Flynn Case.  I'm seeing a lot of online "lawyering" on the legal question(s) before Judge Sullivan, with many focusing on the orders today with regard to accepting amicus curiae briefs, and later appointing retired federal Judge John Gleeson to serve as a "Friend of the Court" and offer a brief against the DOJ motion to dismiss the Flynn case.  Notwithstanding all the online punditry, the issue before the Court as posed by the DOJ motion is very simple.  The fact that Judge Sullivan is accepting amicus briefs and claims he needs a "Friend of the Court" to brief the opposing view on a minor point of procedural law is a transparent revelation of his duplicitous motives.  To suggest that he needs "advice" on whether Gen. Flynn should be held in contempt of court for perjury simply ignores his own 33 years experience as a federal judge — signaling that in all that time he's never figured out what misconduct would be considered sufficient to cite a party before his court for contempt.

Sol Wisenberg says Flynn case judge may be trying to force pardon out of Trump with unusual orders.  Former Whitewater deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg joined "The Ingraham Angle" Wednesday to discuss U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan's order allowing a third party to present arguments opposing the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.  That third party is retired federal judge John Gleeson, who openly criticized the Trump administration's handling of Flynn's case in a recent Washington Post Op-Ed.  That has raised concerns that he was selected to improperly bolster Sullivan's efforts to keep the Flynn case alive.

The Constitution Requires Judge Emmet Sullivan's Lawless Amicus Order Against Michael Flynn Be Overturned.  On May 13, Judge Emmet Sullivan issued a blatantly biased and unconstitutional order in the long-lasting Michael Flynn criminal case.  To preserve the rule of law and our constitutional separation of powers, the Department of Justice has no choice now but to seek a writ of mandamus from the D.C. Circuit Court ordering the criminal charge against Flynn dismissed and reassigning the case to another judge.  On Tuesday [5/12/2020], Judge Sullivan shocked court watchers when he entered an order stating that, "at the appropriate time," he intended to enter a scheduling order permitting "amicus curiae" or friend of the court briefs to be filed in Flynn case.  Flynn, who more than a year ago pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, was seeking to withdraw his guilty plea when the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn.

Judge Sullivan's Appointed 'Stand-in' Judge Gleeson Represented Crooked Sally Yates and Worked with Mueller's Pitbull Andrew Weissmann.  The Barr Justice Department dropped its case against General Mike Flynn last Thursday after bombshell documents were released that proved he was framed by Comey's FBI.  This was a major win for justice in America after General Flynn was targeted and destroyed by the Obama deep state for daring to speak out against the former failed president.

Judge Sullivan Draws The Line — Seeks To Stop Coup Inquiry.  Let's review.  In the American system of justice, only the government can bring criminal charges against an individual.  You may file a complaint with the police claiming you have been assaulted or your neighbor stole your property, but only the representatives of the people as a whole can then actually prosecute the case.  If a case is prosecuted it will be handled according to a very clearly delineated set of rules.  The people will be represented by a prosecutor.  The accused will be represented by defense counsel.  Presiding over it all, neutral and unbiased, will be a judge, whose sole objective will be to ensure justice is done.  That system, handed down to us via English common law, has been the backbone of our nation since its inception.  Until yesterday.

Federal Judge Orders Arguments on Whether Michael Flynn Should Be Jailed for Perjury.  Federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan late Wednesday [5/13/2020] issued a stunning ruling in the prosecution of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor.  The two-pronged order (1) appoints a former federal judge to argue against dismissing the case; and (2) considers holding Flynn in criminal contempt for perjury. [...] Judging by the order, Sullivan is not pleased that Flynn took up the court's time by pleading guilty, firing his lawyers, hiring new lawyers, and moving to withdraw his guilty plea.  As if that wasn't enough, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss its case against Flynn.

The Politicized Order Inviting Amicus Briefs against the Flynn Case's Dismissal.  Late Tuesday [5/12/2020], federal district judge Emmet Sullivan issued a bizarre order, inviting third-party groups with no legal interests in the case to file amicus briefs addressing the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the false-statements charge against Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national-security adviser.  The cantankerous jurist is stoking opposition to the dismissal.  He knows the law calls for him to accede to attorney general Bill Barr's decision.  But Barr can't stop Sullivan from turning the dismissal into anti-Trump group therapy — and who knows, maybe the grieving Legal Left will figure out some way for the judge to convict Flynn despite DOJ's retreat.

January 5, 2017: A Day that Should Live in Infamy.  [Scroll down]  Rebellions against the stringent gubernatorial flu orders are growing and spreading from state to state.  This week's heroine was Shelley Luther, a Dallas, Texas hairdresser who reopened her shop following the CDC guidelines.  After her arrest, Judge Eric Moyé accused her of selfishness and demanded she apologize and shutter the salon.  She explained that she was not being selfish, that she had to reopen so she could feed her kids and her staff could feed theirs.  The judge, who seems to have studied at the feet of Anatole France ("In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.") gave her a stiff fine and jail sentence.  Texas's attorney general and governor said she should be released, and the Texas Supreme Court so ordered.  In a telling mark of how sick we all are of this nonsense, the last time I saw it, a Go Fund Me site set up for her raised within days $500,000 for her defense.

A Look At The Democrat Dallas Judge Who Jailed A Salon Owner.  A Dallas salon owner was thrown in jail this week by a local judge after defying state restrictions ordering her business remain closed.  Shelly Luther was fined $7,000 and ordered to seven days in jail by District Court Judge Eric Moye on Tuesday whose ruling has since become a nationwide controversy highlighting the growing tensions under lockdowns where government-mandated closings are throwing millions out of work. [...] The episode has become a rallying cry for opening up, where many on the Left supporting the lockdowns have flocked to Moye's defense, while conservatives characterize the ruling as an authoritarian power-grab from the Democratic judge and prop up Luther as a heroine fighting to preserve civil liberties under stress from the pandemic. [...] Luther's case is not the only controversial case Moye has presided over.  A Harvard-educated judge who has served on the bench for more than 25 years, Moye, a lifelong Democrat, also tossed a lawsuit that would have disqualified more than 100 Democrats from being listed on the ballot in 2018 because the local party chairwoman failed to sign candidate applications.  In 1992, Moye was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and almost secured a federal judgeship under the Clinton administration.  Since then, Moye has still worked on "numerous" Democratic campaigns throughout his career.

The Editor says...
As a public service, I would like to introduce you to Judge Moye's opponent on the November ballot:  Jessica Lewis.  Whether you live in Dallas County or not, I'm sure she would appreciate your support.

Radical Democrat Judge Calls on Texans to Snitch on Restaurants if They Have Too Many People.  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called on Texans this week to snitch on restaurants if they have a good crowd.  The young Houston area politician is a committed socialist.  Last year she defended her withholding of funds from flood victims based on the color of their skin.  In April Hidalgo threatened 180 days in jail for those who opposed her stay at home orders.

Also posted under Snitch on your neighbor.

California Judges Block Trump Rule that Immigrants Must Have Health Insurance.  A three-judge panel in California has blocked President Donald Trump's October 2019 immigration reform that requires that would-be legal immigrants be able to pay for their own healthcare costs.  The nationwide legal block — a "stay" — will allow the continued entry of legal immigrants who cannot cover the cost of treatment during the coronavirus epidemic.  One million legal immigrants are admitted each year, regardless of the economic impact on taxpayers, home buyers, and unemployed Americans.

U.S. district judge rules Pritzker's stay-at-home order constitutional.  A U.S. district judge issued a ruling Sunday upholding Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order for Illinois as constitutional.  The Beloved Church of Lena, an Evangelical church located about 50 miles west of Rockford, had filed a complaint Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction in order to resume worship services with its 80 congregants.  The church and its pastor, Stephen Cassell, still held in-person service Sunday without intervention from police, though the temporary restraining order was denied.

Why is the Trump admin allowing judges to illegally release criminal aliens?  Attorney General Barr threatened to file lawsuits against governors overstepping their power to infringe upon civil liberties, yet the only lawsuits that are succeeding are the ones from illegal aliens.  Suddenly, when it comes to those with no right to be in our communities, the courts are all-powerful and the executives are weak.  In fact, the president really has the power to deport illegal aliens and prevent them from being released into our communities.  Late on Thursday [4/30/2020], U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in Miami became the latest federal judge to illegally mandate that ICE release "vulnerable" populations in detention facilities.  She charged that ICE acted with "deliberate indifference" and engaged in what amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment" against illegal aliens by not releasing them during the coronavirus epidemic.  Therefore, Cooke ordered ICE to submit twice-weekly reports on the status of the detainees and who is being released.

Liberal judges invent constitutional 'right' to literacy.  In what may end up being the final word on the matter — at least in its jurisdiction — a pair of judges declared Thursday that Americans have a constitutional right to literacy.  Almost four years ago, a group of Detroit public school students, backed by the Los Angeles-based firm Public Counsel, filed suit against the state of Michigan claiming the "right" is based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.  The complaint said "students who attend poorly-performing schools have been denied their basic rights, and references the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs.  Board of Education, which called education 'the very foundation of good citizenship.'"

They're all minority women.  At least two of them are lesbians.  That's diversity?
Washington State Now Has the Most Diverse Supreme Court In History.  On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, elevated Grace Helen Whitener to the state Supreme Court.  Whitener is a disabled black lesbian who immigrated from Trinidad.  She joins Inslee's two other appointees:  Raquel Montoya-Lewis, a Jewish Native American who previously served on tribal courts, and Mary Yu, an Asian-American Latina lesbian who officiated the first same-sex marriages in the state.

Dallas County Judge Who Abused His Unilateral Emergency Power Has Them Limited by Commissioner's Unanimous Vote.  Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been overstepping his bounds during the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic and it would appear that the Dallas County Commissioners have had enough.  On Tuesday, they voted unanimously to limit his power, and he must now pass most decisions through them first.  Jenkins, a Democrat, had announced on Twitter that he was going to prolong the stay-at-home order until April 30.  Recently, he had gotten into a public squabble with Governor Greg Abbott over the use of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center to house the overflow of hospitals by putting patients suffering from COVID-19 inside.  Jenkins was not using it but demanded it be made available with the help of the federal government.

ACLU Helps Illegal Alien Child Molester and Immigrant Child Abuser Back Out on the Streets.  Thanks to a California federal judge's action, six illegal aliens and legal immigrants convicted of child molestation, child abuse, drunk driving, and drug trafficking were released from prison.  United States District Court for the Central District of California Judge Terry Hatter Jr, a former President Jimmy Carter appointee, mandated the release of these prisoners.  The majority of these prisoners have been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after receiving felony convictions.

When the judge orders an ankle monitor so you don't break quarantine.  Returning to our continuing series on the limits of executive authority during times of declared emergencies, there is yet another potentially disturbing story coming to us from the state of Kentucky.  A Circuit Court judge there by the name of Angela Bisig has begun issuing orders for ankle monitors to be attached to persons who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus and subsequently refused to observe self-quarantine measures.  One person, in particular, a man only being referred to by the initials D.L. lives with an individual who has tested positive for the virus and another who is presumed to be positive.  But despite that fact, D.L. has reportedly been leaving home "often."  This resulted in the order for him to wear the tracking device for two weeks. [...] But once again, stupidity still isn't a crime.  Or at least it wasn't until we ran into a national crisis like this and governors began trampling on any number of constitutional rights, including restricting the free movement of citizens.

Child rapist ordered released to keep him safe from coronavirus.  A Massachusetts man convicted of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old boy was ordered released from jail Friday — because he suffers from health conditions that can make him vulnerable to coronavirus, according to new reports.  Glenn Christie, 54, who uses a wheelchair, was ordered released from the Massachusetts Treatment Center by Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger, WBUR reported.  One of the conditions is that Christie tests negative for COVID-19, the station reported.  Christie was convicted of child rape and indecent assault on a child under 14 and was being held for violating his probation conditions, according to the report.

Federal Judge OKs California Gun Store Shutdowns.  One of the more common battles being fought on behalf of the Second Amendment involves protecting gun stores from closure.  While many states, even anti-gun states, have opted to allow them to remain open, not all of them have.  One prominent example is California.  Perhaps the most anti-gun state in the nation, California thought nothing of closing gun stores left and right.  While some sheriffs are allowing them to remain open, others aren't.

Federal Judge Rules Killing Babies is an "Essential Service".  Earlier today [3/30/2020] in Tampa, Florida, the county sheriff let the criminal inmates out of his jail, and then went to arrest a pastor for delivering Sunday church services and put him in the same jail.  Now a federal judge rules that getting a hip replacement should be delayed to help offset medical supply needs; but killing babies is an "essential service" that needs to continue.

NYC judge frees alleged murderer out of concern he'll catch coronavirus.  A Manhattan judge on Thursday [3/26/2020] ordered the release of a career criminal charged with stabbing his girlfriend to death out of concern he could contract coronavirus at Rikers, the [New York] Post has learned.  State Supreme Court Justice Mark Dwyer freed Pedro Vinent-Barcia, 63, and 15 other inmates after the Legal Aid Society filed a petition arguing that their detention exposed them to serious medical harm in the midst of a pandemic sweeping through city jails.  Prosecutors objected, citing the brutality of the crime and the defendant's criminal record.

NJ Releases up to 1,000 Prisoners From Jail, Threatens Residents For Disobeying Lockdown Orders.  Democrats hate ordinary citizens, and it is during times like now, where it becomes really apparent.  In New Jersey the state's Chief Justice, Stuart Rabner, has ordered up to 1,000 prisoners in the state be released due to the threat posed by the coronavirus.  The Chief Justice released two classes of prisoners, those imprisoned for low level crimes and those in prison for probation violations.

The Death of Irony:  How A Judge's Attack On Judicial Bias Backfired.  In a controversial law review article, District Court Judge Lynn Adelman denounced what he sees as raw ideological bias on the Supreme Court.  Unfortunately, Adelman makes a better case of bias against himself than he does Chief Justice John Roberts.  He unloads on Roberts as, essentially, a dishonest partisan hack. [...] His article takes irony to a level of virtual satire.  While Adelman chastises the Supreme Court for being "anything but passive," he has been anything but passive in expressing political and ideological views.

Judge accused of harboring fugitive ex-boyfriend defends herself before N.J. Supreme Court.  New Jersey's first Filipino-American Superior Court judge defended herself before the state's top court Tuesday, arguing that she had not concealed her fugitive boyfriend from police years ago.  A judicial ethics panel previously recommended Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Carlia Brady be fired.

Obama-Appointed Judge:  Ken Cuccinelli 'Not Lawfully' Named USCIS Director.  A federal judge, appointed by former President Obama, has ruled that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli was not previously "lawfully appointed" to his job as Acting Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  In a federal ruling on Sunday [3/1/2020], U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss sided with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services — an open borders lobbying group — by stating that Cuccinelli had not been lawfully named to head USCIS in an acting role and thus his policies implemented during his tenure are void.

The Editor says...
Since the U.S. Congress is full of lawyers, one would think that someone in Congress would have noticed this illegality before now.  Instead, we have lobbyists and an activist Obama judge making the claim.

Cuccinelli unlawfully appointed to head Citizenship and Immigration Services, judge rules.  A federal judge ruled Sunday [3/1/2020] that one of the Trump administration's top immigration officials, Ken Cuccinelli, was unlawfully appointed to his post because of a decades-old law on federal vacancies.  U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that Cuccinelli's appointment as the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) circumvented a law that said a senior government position could be filled only if the Senate first approved the individual.  It was not immediately clear what impact this would have on Cuccinelli's tenure, if any.

Ninth Circuit Court:  Trump administration must stop returning asylum seekers to Mexico.  It's probably one of the most successful policies to reduce the number of migrants showing up at the southern US border.  Today a 3-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the remain in Mexico policy is illegal.

Appeals court temporarily blocks Trump administration's 'Remain-in-Mexico' policy.  A federal appeals court on Friday slapped a temporary halt on the Remain-in-Mexico policy — one of the most effective Trump administration policies in halting last year's migrant crisis — dealing a significant blow to the administration's efforts to control the flow of migrants claiming asylum at the southern border.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in a 2-1 vote to put a hold on the policy — formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).  In a separate ruling Friday [2/28/2020], the same court also blocked an administration policy that prevents immigrants who crossed the border illegally from then claiming asylum in the U.S.

Highlights of the News.  ITEM 10:  Politico reported, "A federal judge swung back at Donald Trump on Tuesday [2/25/2020] over his heated criticism of the Roger Stone case, warning that the president's commentary about his longtime associate's conviction had helped fuel threats to the jury.  "[Obama] Judge Amy Berman Jackson cited Trump's public comments and Twitter posts, as well as an accompanying campaign from the president's conservative media allies to identify and critique the jury, as one of the reasons for her decision to clamp down on public access to a hearing on Stone's request for a new trial."  Liar.  The Obama judge is lying.  With the exception of the Democrat congressional candidate who outed herself as the jury forewoman, no one knows who they are.  They always say death threats when caught doing something crooked.  Witness Adam Schiff saying the whistle blower's life was threatened, even as Schiff claimed to not know who the whistle blower is.  A formal complaint about the judge's partisan hackery could lead to her removal from an office she does not deserve.

The Resistance Starts To Infect Our Courts.  [Scroll down]  District courts issuing national injunctions against the president have recently drawn warnings from at least two Supreme Court members, Justices Thomas and Gorsuch.  "This is not normal," Justice Gorsuch wrote.  Then, after the Justice Department moved to reduce a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, USAToday reported that the Federal Judges Association was calling an emergency meeting.  Its president, District Judge Cynthia Rufe, said the idea was to address concerns about how Justice officials and the President were intervening in sensitive cases.  That shocked a number of federal judges, and Judge Rufe later tried to play it all down.  Not, though, before one of the towering figures on the Second Circuit, Jose Cabranes, fired off to Judge Rufe a now widely circulated email.  It expressed concern that the emergency meeting would "purport to speak for the federal judiciary on a pending political question."

"Veteran" Ninth Circuit Judges Complain to L.A. Times About New Ninth Circuit Judges.  Last September, "sources familiar with the private Supreme Court deliberations" talked to CNN about the Census Case.  It was not clear who spoke to the media.  Was it one or more Justices?  Law clerks?  Court staff?  People who were in touch with the Justices or law clerks?  These leaks were troubling.  Confidential deliberations should remain confidential — especially when press reports paint some members of the Court in an unfavorable light.  These disclosures corrode collegiality.  Indeed, there have been new rounds of rumors about leaks in the Title VII SOGI cases.  This problem, regrettably, is not limited to the Supreme Court.  On Saturday, Maura Dolan of the L.A. Times interviewed "several judges on the 9th Circuit" about the impact of President Trump's new nominees.  Dolan noted that "some" of the judges "declined to discuss their colleagues or inner deliberations."  That "some" should have been "all."  Why would any judges discuss their "colleagues" or opine on "internal deliberations"?

How Trump Made the Federal Courts Blink.  After lying to Attorney General Barr about seeking a minimum sentence, the prosecutors in the Roger Stone case (including two from the Mueller Crew) entered a harsh sentencing recommendation that he serve a decade behind bars for lying to Congress.  President Trump rightly criticized the prosecutors for their double standard in persecuting one of his political allies while leaving Hillary, Huma, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe, and countless others free to lie, destroy evidence, and obstruct investigations with impunity.  The president lit into Judge Amy Berman Jackson while Twitter-jousting by noting that she had not only presided over this political prosecution, gagging Roger Stone in the process, but also allowed the malicious prosecution of the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, denying him bail and leaving him in solitary confinement during his trial.  Well, the Deep State collectively fainted.  The four lying prosecutors resigned (as if they had planned this theatric episode beforehand).  The press called President Trump a dictator.  And the leadership of the 1,100-member Federal Judges Association called for an "emergency meeting" that simply "could not wait."

Judges' [catering] to the NIMBY mob puts even existing NYC buildings at risk.  Upper West Side mob rule scuttled a 52-story condo tower — not one in the planning or wish-list stages, but one nearly finished.  State Supreme Court Judge W. Franc Perry caved last week to obstructionists who didn't like the project at 200 Amsterdam Ave. on typical NIMBY grounds.  They feared the shadows and Times Square-like crowds that its 112 apartments would have brought to the sidewalks.  Plus, it's "grossly out of scale with the neighborhood," said Olive Freud, president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development.  Ahem — the Empire State Building was grossly out of scale with its neighborhood in 1930 and remains so today.  Another local bafflingly whined on NY1 that 200 Amsterdam was "right behind a school."  Perry ruled last week that 200 Amsterdam must be chopped from its current 668 feet to an unspecified lower height because it violates zoning rules.  He decided that using air-rights transfers from "partial" adjoining lots, as the developer had, is illegal, even though no such prohibition exists and the Department of Buildings has allowed them since 1978.

The Editor says...
There is plenty of time to determine if a building violates zoning rules before any construction begins.

Time to End the Tyranny of District Court Judges' Nationwide Injunctions.  On Feb. 6, U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs of North Carolina issued an injunction barring the Trump administration from implementing a new policy that changes how the government calculates the duration of an illegal immigrant's unlawful presence in the country.  Although an injunction is the correct legal tool to stop someone from doing something, Biggs had a choice in how broad that injunction should be.  She could use an injunction that prevented the government from using the new calculation on the plaintiffs who sued, or she could use a so-called nationwide injunction that barred the government from using the new calculation against anyone, anywhere.

Clinton-appointed federal judge resigns, for behaving in office like Bill Clinton.  President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have one more judicial vacancy to fill, if they can act in time.  A federal judge in Kansas who was appointed by Bill Clinton has tendered his resignation, effective April 1, for sexual misconduct in office, and for habitual lateness — both of them characteristics of the man who appointed him.

Deep State Revolt:  Federal Judges to Hold Emergency Meeting Over Barr and Trump.  Just weeks after President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate of bogus partisan impeachment charges by the House of Representatives, a group of federal judges will hold an 'emergency meeting' on Tuesday regarding the intervention by Attorney General William Barr against the abusive proposed sentence for Roger Stone and the criticism by President Trump of the proposed sentence and the federal judge overseeing the case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, as well as other actions by Barr and Trump regarding 'politically sensitive' cases before the judiciary.

New York skyscraper must remove top 20 floors, judge rules.  In an extraordinary ruling, a state supreme court judge has ordered the developers of a nearly completed 668-foot block of flats in New York to remove as many as 20 or more floors from the top of the building.  The decision is a major victory for community groups who opposed the project on the grounds that the developers used a zoning loophole to create the tallest building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  A lawyer representing the project said the developers would appeal the decision.

Obama judge orders Iraqi interpreters to be brought to US; interpreters have included rapist and ISIS member.  The federal judicial coup against America continues.  And, as usual, it's Obama and Clinton judges at the center of it.  And there are some of the usual judicial suspects pulling this same coup over and over again.  Some are more obnoxious about it than others.  At the head of the class is Judge Chutkan, an Obama appointee whom some conservatives remember for her role in the Awan case, but really she's been a standout on immigration issues.  Especially with her contention that taxpayers must pay for the abortion of an illegal alien.  That one had to go to the Supreme Court.

New Scalia Rising?  Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch warns judicial activists he's coming for them.  Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch, in a ruling about denying green cards to migrants who come here to be "public charges," something that's plainly laid out in U.S. law as illegal, threw in a special warning to activist judges, all leftists, who have been beavering away to rule from the bench, warning them that he's tired of their shenanigans.  It's a spectacle to behold — a big lion on the Supreme Court who not only cares about rule of law, but is now warning the leftists out there that he's coming for them.

Neil Gorsuch Issues Savage Rebuke to Activist Judges and Nationwide Injunctions.  On Monday [1/27/2020], the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration's public charge rule to go into effect, striking down a nationwide injunction from a New York judge.  The rule allows the government to deny green cards to immigrants who receive public assistance and are therefore considered a "public charge."  In addition to the 5-4 decision allowing the rule to go into effect, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch issued a concurring opinion rebuking activist judges and their rush to apply "nationwide injunctions" against Trump administration policies.

Obama judge nixes ID law, erases will of voters.  A constitutional amendment mandating voter ID in the Tar Heel State was struck down on the last day of 2019.  Even though North Carolina voters approved the measure by a ten-point margin in 2018, Federal District Judge Loretta Copeland Biggs unilaterally struck it down, ruling that it constitutes voter suppression and reflects the state's "sordid history of racial discrimination."

Judge blocks Trump's attempt to let governors refuse refugees.  A federal judge ordered a halt Wednesday [1/15/2020] to the Trump administration's plan to give states and localities a veto over refugees being sent into their territory, saying the law doesn't allow them a say.  The ruling is a major victory for immigrant rights groups, who had feared some communities would shut their doors thanks to President Trump's executive order last year establishing the veto policy.  Judge Peter J. Messitte, an appointee of President Clinton to the U.S. District Court in Maryland, issued an injunction stopping the policy just days before it was to kick in.

FISA Court judge signals cover-up underway with outrageous appointment of lefty Lawfare blogger to oversee 'reform'.  If you are 100% certain that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, then you will be delighted by the appointment of David Kris to oversee a review of the FBI's practices in seeking FISA Court approval of its applications to spy on American citizens.  The rest of us must conclude that the fix, once again, as so often with the Deep State, is in.  David Kris is the last person in the world to fairly investigate mis- and malfeasance in the safeguarding of the rights of citizens when secret courts are asked to approve secret spying on them.  Mollie Hemingway calls him a "FISA abuse denier." [...] So what kind of federal judge would appoint such a partisan hack to "spit in the face" of President Trump?  You might well guess that the judge in question is an Obama appointee.

Over 2 Million Voters Approved North Carolina's Voter ID Amendment — One Unelected Democratic Judge Just Threw it Out.  It's a cornerstone of our democracy:  Government is to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, deriving its authority from the consent of the governed.  These fundamental principles are at stake in North Carolina, due to a ruling from an activist federal judge on voter ID.

Another Rogue Judge Is Slapped Down Hard Over Blocking the Border Wall.  If you've been [following] the fight over securing the border, several district court judges have gone rogue and have had to be slapped down by the appeals courts, or in some cases, the Supreme Court.  One specific case involved a judge in Texas, which I wrote on here.  Despite the highest court already green lighting Trump's use of certain military funds to secure the border, this judge decided to give standing to pro-immigration groups and claim they would be "damaged" by such a move. [...] In short, it was a tortured decision that the judge massaged to meet his personal political goals, not to actually follow the law.

Trump administration cannot enforce 'public charge' rule.  In a brief ruling, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an October ruling from Manhattan federal court Judge George Daniels, who blocked the enforcement of the so-called "public charge" rule in a scathing opinion that called the policy "repugnant to the American Dream."  The "public charge" rule, unveiled last year, would make it easier for the government to deny proper paperwork to immigrants who may require government assistance such as Medicaid or food stamps.  The Wednesday [1/8/2020] decision also upheld a nationwide injunction — meaning the policy cannot be enforced anywhere.

The Editor says...
"The American Dream" is a lofty and abstract goal, not an inalienable right.  It is a matter of folklore, not law.

Socialists Infiltrate Texas Judiciary.  American Marxists are seriously targeting judicial positions in key states — Texas among them.  The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has already elected some comrades to key positions in the Lone Star State and is targeting several more positions in upcoming races.  The Marxists understand that it's not always who makes the laws but who interprets the laws that counts.  Influencing the legal process in favor of the left is a revolutionary act.

Judicial Watch Claims FISA Judge Was Just A 'Rubber Stamp'; Her Sudden Retirement Leaves Unanswered Questions.  Justice Collyer, head of the FISA Court gave the FBI hell over the Carter Page file, but are her own hands in this scandal really so very clean themselves?  Was that judge truly doing the job she was sent there to do?  Or was she merely 'phoning in' one of the most critical jobs in protecting the rights of citizens against abuses by their own government?  We have some serious questions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo cites Trump in vetoing bill that would have allowed federal judges to officiate weddings.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cited Donald Trump in announcing his veto last week of a bill that would have allowed more federal judges to officiate weddings in the state because some were nominated by the President.  The bill, which passed the New York state senate and assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support, would have expanded officiating authority to all federal judges.  New York law currently only permits state judges to solemnize weddings, along with certain federal judges like those sitting on the second circuit court of appeals and some federal judges from particular districts.  "I cannot in good conscience support legislation that would authorize such actions by federal judges who are appointed by this federal administration," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in his veto message on Friday [12/20/2019].

Lies Law Professors Tell.  [A] whole generation of law students has been trained to think that the 19th Century courts were heartless tools of malicious capitalists, and that enlightened reform came only with the virtuous 20th Century "progressives."  Does this kind of indoctrination have real world consequences?  You bet it does.  Law school is the only time when most attorneys undertake full-time education.  Many carry their law school experiences with them throughout their professional careers.  Law school affects how they serve clients and argue to judges and juries.  It probably affects how they vote.  If they become judges, it may affect how they decide cases.  Fortunately, some lawyers overcome the damage, but many never do.

How Democrats Could Undo Trump's Lasting Legacy in the Courts.  Aside from the well-known power to impeach judges, Congress can also pack the Supreme Court.  Yet it apparently has still another power, one little known:  to abolish entire federal courts.  The only federal court mandated by the Constitution is the SCOTUS; as to "inferior courts," Article III states that Congress "may from time to time ordain and establish" them, which it has often done.  But implied is that what Congress can make, it can unmake; or, as the Legal Information Institute puts it, the Houses can both "expand and contract the units of the system" (emphasis added).

What About the FISA Court?  Possibly the saddest fact about the intelligence deep state's conspiracy against Trump is that at least some of the federal judges who sit on the FISA court apparently have been and continue to be part of it.  Since the quality of judges' judgments so depends on what is presented to them being "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," judges are notoriously jealous guardians of their court's integrity.  But since early 2017, first a trickle, then a flood of evidence has become public that at least four of the FISA court's approvals of surveillance warrants were based essentially on political lies.  And yet, no judge has hauled in any bureaucrat to face sanctions for contempt of court.  Nor have there been complaints from the judiciary to the Justice Department.

1 Minor Judge Shouldn't Be Able to Block Trump's Agenda.  When a federal district judge issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Trump administration from blocking funds for sanctuary cities, conservatives protested and liberals cheered.  Liberals were similarly thrilled by a district court ruling that halted the president's order blocking travel to the U.S. from certain Middle Eastern nations.  Yet when several red states sued to block Obamacare, law professors writing in The Atlantic asked, "Can one judge really impose his ruling from one coast to the other?"  District courts — whose reach should be limited to the area within their geographic jurisdictions except in certain narrowly-defined circumstances — have inappropriately claimed authority to block presidential and congressional actions throughout the entire nation.

Judge blocks Trump's border wall emergency.  A federal judge in Texas issued a permanent injunction Tuesday blocking President Trump from using billions of dollars Congress earmarked for the Defense Department to instead build his border wall.  Judge David Briones, a Clinton appointee to the bench, had previously ruled Mr. Trump's move illegal, but had given both sides a chance to argue over what the remedy should be.  "Because defendants' actions are unlawful and the people's representatives — Congress — declined to augment the border wall budget as defendants attempt, the public interest would be served by halting them," the judge wrote.

Federal judge blocks billions in Pentagon funding from paying for border wall.  Judge David Briones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued the block in response to a lawsuit by El Paso County, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights.  "The President's emergency proclamation was a blatant attempt to grab power from Congress.  Today's order affirms that the President is not a king and that our courts are willing to check him when he oversteps his bounds," Kristy Parker, an attorney for the litigants, said in a statement.  Secretary of Defense Mark Esper approved $3.6 billion in Pentagon funds to be diverted from other military projects toward construction of the border wall in September.  Half the money allotted came from overseas projects and the other half from projects in the U.S.

Michelle Malkin:  Impeach pro-illegal immigration judges.  Outspoken illegal immigration opponent and author Michelle Malkin is stepping up her war on sanctuary states and federal judges opposed to President Trump's crackdown at the border.  In a small gathering in Boston to address the issue after a larger venue canceled her appearance, Malkin called for the impeachment of pro-illegal immigration judges and warned against the spreading sanctuary movement that is led by California.  Malkin, in the session hosted by the group SafeBoston, was interviewed by Center for Immigration Studies Policy Director Jessica Vaughan and asked about court decisions against the president.  She labeled the judges "sanctuary anarchists," adding, "These are every bit as damaging anarchists in our society, the ones that issue these local injunctions in their small jurisdictions and then blow it out nationwide."

Judge blocks Trump's health insurance rule for immigrants.  A U.S. judge in Oregon on Tuesday [11/26/2019] granted a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration proclamation that would require immigrants to show proof of health insurance to get a visa.

Department of Justice Threatens to Arrest Oregon Judges Who Try to Keep Immigration Agents From Enforcing the Law.  As we've seen for the past three years, vast swaths of the nation's judiciary are in opposition to the rule of law.  In the federal courts, we are seeing judges interject themselves into mundane and banal executive branch actions simply to obstruct the ability of the Trump administration to govern because those judges oppose the policy decisions by the administration.  These decisions are routinely overturned on appeal but the net effect is depriving the administration of months or years of potential actions.  At the state level, we're seeing state judges in lockstep with progressive state governments in trying to hamstring the ability of federal agencies to perform their duties.  The chief target is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which has the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws within the interior of the United States.

'It Was Clearly Criminal': How A Massachusetts Judge Allegedly Helped An Illegal Alien Escape ICE.  A Massachusetts judge, indicted for allegedly helping sneak an illegal alien out of a courtroom in order to avoid an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is opting to fight the charges instead of accepting a plea deal.  Federal prosecutors charged Shelley Joseph, a Newton District Court judge, with obstruction of justice in April for allegedly helping an illegal alien sneak through the backdoor of a courthouse, allowing him to evade an ICE officer who was waiting to apprehend him.  Instead of taking a plea deal that would allow her to avoid prosecution, Joseph is preparing to go to trial.

Jury Forces David Daleiden to Pay Planned Parenthood $870,000 for Exposing Its Aborted Baby Part Sales.  A California jury has decided that pro-life advocate David Daleiden, and his pro-life colleagues, has caused substantial harm to the Planned Parenthood abortion business as a result of his organization's undercover reporting and exposing of its potentially illegal sales of aborted baby parts nationwide.  Attorneys for Daleiden, Sandra Merritt and board members of Center for Medical Progress, the group that oversaw the undercover investigation, are expected to appeal the verdict.

Judge Orders Jury to Find Against David Daleiden in Planned Parenthood Exposee Case.  Planned Parenthood could not sue for defamation, for the simple reason that what Dale Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress was all true.  Instead, they sued on the theory that he had "trespassed" on their property — he was permitted to be there, but the permission was granted to his undercover alias, and they're claiming that nullifies the permission — in order to do "harm" to their reputation.  Obviously, if this ruling were to be taken as a real ruling, it would mean that undercover investigations are now illegal in the US.  But this judge does not mean the ruling to mean that.  He means it to be a Conservatives-Only ruling.  Liberal undercover journalists will of course continue to be immune (on First Amendment grounds) from lawsuit based on the theory that they were "trespassing" on property by securing permission to be there by using a false name and fictitious purpose for the visit.

Three Indiana Judges Suspended After Drunken Violent Brawl at White Castle.  The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Judges Andrew Adams, Sabrina Bell, and Bradley Jacobs after a drunken incident at a White Castle in May.

Judge bans uniformed state troopers from courtroom.  In a case that tore apart a family in Worcester, Massachusetts, a verdict was just handed down in the March 16, 2016 death of Thomas Clardy.  Thomas Clardy was a Massachusetts State Trooper who was stopped in the breakdown lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Charlton while performing a traffic stop.  Despite full lights being displayed during the entirety of the traffic stop, driver David Njuguna crashed into the rear of the trooper's vehicle at 80 mph, killing Clardy. [...] During the reading of the verdict, dozens of uniformed state troopers lined up outside the courtroom to pay homage to their fellow, fallen trooper.  Judge Kenton-Walker barred any uniformed troopers from entering the courtroom as she delivered her split verdict for the man charged in trooper Thomas Clardy's death.

Judge tosses Trump's lawsuit aimed at blocking Congress from his tax returns.  Earlier this year, New York passed a law mandating state tax officials release certain federal officials' tax returns if the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, or Joint Committee on Taxation ask for them.  The House committee hadn't moved to demand Trump's taxes, and yet the president still brought a lawsuit against the committee, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and the New York Department of Taxation ahead of time.  But Trump didn't establish "personal jurisdiction over either of the New York defendants," nor did he allege a "conspiracy" that would've allowed him to sue the House, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols wrote in his ruling, so he opted to throw out the case.

Tucker Carlson Exposes Obama Judge Who Is [Dealing Unfairly with] Roger Stone.  Two things are patently obvious in the federal government's case against long-time GOP operative Roger Stone:  [#1] He's going to be convicted of "lying to Congress," and [#2] he'll spend the rest of his life in jail, without a pardon from President Trump.  Tucker Carlson make that very clear without really saying those words during his Wednesday evening [11/6/2019] program, as he ticked off one example after another about how the system is so stacked against Stone there's no way he's going to get a fair trial.  The biggest reason why is the federal judge overseeing the case:  Obama appointee Amy Berman Jackson, who is blatantly biased against Stone and against President Trump to the point where she doesn't even try to hide it.

Clinton Fed Judge Launches Partisan Attack on President Trump.  The partisan behavior of Clinton and Obama judges has become a serious problem.  They've normalized blatant violations of the legal rights of defendants, including attorney-client privilege, in their campaign to destroy President Trump.  And they've illegally and unconstitutionally blocked nearly every Trump administration move that they disagreed with for partisan political reasons.  But they've pretended that they were doing this for legal reasons.  But here's a Clinton judge throwing a public tantrum.

Bizarre federal court ruling halts Indiana efforts to clean up voter rolls.  A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals went to extraordinary lengths to come up with excuses for why a voter might need to be registered in more than one state.  For example, "someone might move to Kansas from Indiana to take a new job, and upon arrival in Kansas immediately register to vote in Kansas.  But if her personal circumstances change before Election Day — she flunks a probationary period on the job, a family member becomes sick, a better opportunity arises in Indiana — the person might decide to return to her former residence in Indiana."  But don't worry, said Judge Diane Wood, the Clinton appointee who wrote the opinion.  Those voters who are registered in more than one state "will vote in only one place, even if they have open registrations in two."  Really?

KY Judge Drops Covington Kids' Libel Lawsuit Against Elizabeth Warren on Grounds of 'Sovereign Immunity'.  A Kentucky judge on Thursday [11/7/2019] dismissed a defamation lawsuit against presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on grounds of sovereign immunity, a doctrine that states "the U.S. government or those acting on its behalf may not be sued without its consent." [...] The lawsuit was filed by eight Covington Catholic High School students after the 2020 presidential contender smeared them on Twitter.

Judge Strikes Down HHS Rule Made to Protect Medical Workers Who Oppose Abortion, Euthanasia.  A federal judge on Wednesday [11/6/2019] struck down a new regulation from the Trump administration's Health and Human Services Department (HHS) that would have protected medical workers and facilities that objected to abortion or euthanasia, and other procedures, on religious or moral grounds.  The rule was scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 22.  It would have protected those workers — doctors, nurses, pharmacists — and medical facilities from discrimination.  It also would allow for federal funds to those facilities to be severed, if they did not comply with the conscience protections detailed in the regulation.

New York Judge Orders Trump To Pay $2 Million For Misusing Charity.  New York Judge Saliann Scarpulla ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to various charities Thursday for misusing his own charity organization, according to court documents.  Scarpulla accused the president of breaching his obligation to the Donald J. Trump Foundation nonprofit by allowing his campaign staff to plan a fundraiser for veterans ahead of the 2016 Iowa caucuses, thus giving his actions political motive, The Associated Press reported citing the judge's declaration.

Obama-appointed judge strikes down HHS rule protecting medical providers objecting to abortion.  A federal judge Wednesday [11/6/2019] blocked the Trump administration's rule allowing health care workers to refuse to provide abortions and other procedures that violate their religious beliefs.  The administration's rule was set to take effect this July, but the Health and Human Services Department delayed the effective date to Nov. 22 after the "conscience" rule, which is aimed at protecting religious or moral objections to various medical procedures, was challenged in court by more than a dozen states.  Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, sided against the Trump administration.  "Contrary to HHS's depiction of it as mere housekeeping, the rule relocates the metes and bounds — the who, what, when, where, and how — of conscience protection under federal law," the judge wrote in his 147-page opinion.

Depoliticize and disinfect federal judges.  The chief justice of the Supreme Court, the ever leftist-oriented John Roberts, many months ago strongly criticized President Trump for speaking plainly about the biases and political inclinations of federal judges.  The president's criticism came in response to a ruling by the Honorable Jon Tigar, an Obama appointee on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, perhaps the most openly leftist of all district courts in the United States — and that says a lot given the makeup of most lower federal courts, particularly in the District of Columbia.  Judge Tigar, who is the son of far-left activist attorney Michael Tigar, who not coincidentally intervened in the 9th Circuit case involving my client Sheriff Joe Arpaio, arguing that the sheriff's pardon should be nullified, had just issued injunctive relief thwarting the administration's asylum policy to limit rampant illegal immigration.

A judge just blocked a new Trump rule forcing immigrants to prove they have health insurance before they can get visas.  A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday [11/2/2019] put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas.

Crime and no punishment:
Maryland driver gets probation for Delaware crash that killed 5 NJ family members.  A horrific crash in Delaware last year left a New Jersey man and his four daughters dead — but the Maryland driver whose pickup truck crossed a highway median, according to authorities, won't be going to prison.  Instead, defendant Alvin Hubbard III, 46, of Cambridge received one year of probation from Judge Calvin L. Scott Jr.  The sentence came Friday [11/1/2019] in a Delaware courtroom.

Please treat me like an illegal immigrant.  If I ever get jammed up with the law, I ask for no special treatment.  Just treat me like an illegal immigrant.  Forget the 14th Amendment.  I don't want no stinkin' "equal protection under the law." What I fervently desire is some illegal-immigrant protection under the law — which basically means no laws.  Seriously, that's what the woke community is now espousing for the fentanyl-dealing, drunken-driving, gangbanging, identity-stealing MS-13 community livin' high on the dole here, compliments of Tio Sap.  If you doubt me, peruse the friend-of-the-court briefs filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of indicted Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph.  Joseph is a former member of the Democratic State Committee from Brookline who was appointed by fake Republican Governor "Tall Deval" Baker.  How much more do you need to know?  You may recall the basics of this crooked judge's case — she and a door-opener in her courtroom are charged with cutting loose a twice-deported Dominican arrested with drugs after stonewalling a federal ICE agent waiting in the lobby.

Federal judge blocks Alabama's tough abortion law.  A federal judge on Tuesday [10/29/2019] blocked Alabama's near-total abortion ban from taking effect next month and called the law — part of a wave of new abortion restrictions by conservative states — clearly unconstitutional.

Judge Blocks Alabama's Abortion Ban That Would Make State First Making Abortion Illegal.  On Tuesday [10/29/2019], a federal judge blocked Alabama's abortion ban, which was scheduled to be implemented on November 15 and would make Alabama the first state in the United States to make abortion illegal.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates had filed suit claiming the legislation, which was signed into law last May, was unconstitutional.

Here are seven warning signs, present today, that we ignore at great peril..  [#5] One-Judge Tyrants Deny Justice:  Most courts are presided over by one judge.  This has led to the outrageous situation in which a single federal judge can overturn a law and apply that injunction to the entire nation.  It is true that such rulings can be overturned by appellate courts, but this can be time-consuming and expensive, and if the Executive Branch is unwilling to challenge the ruling, great damage can be done.  In state courts, a judge can improperly rule to exclude evidence, thus all but dictating the verdict.  Again, the verdict can be appealed, but doing so can be expensive and can impoverish an innocent defendant.  [[#6] Jury Nullification Can Be Improperly Forbidden:  Juries can legally disobey the instructions of a judge to the jury.  If they sense that a case is being made unfairly, they can find a defendant not guilty, despite the orders of the presiding judge.  Judges can, however, withhold from the jury the fact that they can exercise jury nullification and even remove a juror from a case when the juror voices concerns that suggest he will exercise it.

There Are 11 FISA Judges, Guess How Many Obama Appointed.  Obama is as crooked as Hillary!  Of the 11 FISA court appointed judges, 10 of them were appointed by Obama, including the corrupt Rudolph Contreras that granted the FISA warrant after another judge rejected it.  He is also the same judge who had to recuse himself days after the Michael Flynn plea.

Was the judge that held Betsy DeVos in contempt of court politically-motivated?  It's not every day that a prominent Cabinet official is held in contempt of court.  However, that's what happened on Friday [10/23/2019], when federal judge Sallie Kim found Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in civil contempt of court, slapping her department with a $100,000 fine.  Frankly, this decision is puzzling to the point of suggesting possible impropriety.  First, this same judge, Kim, callously and haphazardly touted the prospect of jailing Secretary DeVos at an earlier court date, despite the fact that it's almost inconceivable that something like that would ever happen.

Federal Judge Beryl Howell Grants House Judiciary Committee Access to Mueller Grand Jury Material.  There's a clear set of battle lines now evident amid the ongoing political and legal dynamic:  Nadler, Pelosi, Lawfare and the Deep State media [versus] Durham, Barr, Trump and the MAGA movement.  Playing directly into this dynamic today [10/25/2019] Obama appointed Judge Beryl Howell has ruled an impeachment by unilateral decree is constitutionally valid; and as an outcome House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler can have access to some of the Mueller grand jury material that was used as evidence in the "Mueller-Weissmann Report".  It's important to note Judge Howell granted access to only that grand jury material that was used in the Mueller Report, not a blanket authority to gain all witness testimony or grand jury material writ large.

Who's Afraid of Roundup?  In May 2019, a California jury awarded $2 billion to a husband and wife who claimed that the weed-killer Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  The defendant in the suit was Bayer AG, which had recently acquired Monsanto, Roundup's manufacturer.  Crucial in determining the judgment was Alameda County Superior Court judge Winifred Smith's denial of a request by Bayer's lawyers to share with the jury the US Environmental Protection Agency's recent determination that the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is not carcinogenic and poses no risk to public health when used as directed.  "What is the relevance?" the judge is reported to have asked.  Instead, the judge allowed the plaintiffs' lawyers to base their case on the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) 2015 determination that glyphosate is a "probable carcinogen."  Deprived of the opportunity to hear any countervailing evidence, the jury found for the plaintiffs.

The Real Coup.  Starting in the 1930s, politicians began stealthily transferring power from themselves, the elected representatives of we the people, to unelected bureaucrats and judges.  We the people can't get rid of bureaucrats or judges via elections, so they can operate without our consent with impunity.  To get rid of them requires a significant majority of honest politicians in Congress, which hasn't been manifest for quite some time.  The politicians say the depredations of the administrators and the dishonest judges are not their, the politicians', fault, so they mislead voters into re-electing the very politicians who refuse to punish administrators and judges who violate their oath of office.  Much has been written about the rise of the administrative state, but the simple reality is that most of the rules and edicts from Washington that we the people have to follow aren't voted on or approved by the people we elect.  Rather, they're ushered in by nameless and faceless government employees.

Democrats' 'Immigrants First' Policy.  President Donald Trump's key immigration rule change, to discourage immigrants from relying on public health programs, food stamps, housing assistance and other welfare, got derailed on Friday [10/18/2019] by three federal judges.  Their decisions, blocking Trump's rule from going into effect, are wins for Democrats and immigration lobbyists.  America's poor are the losers.  Our country needs to take care of its own needy first.  Trump's proposed rule would make it harder for immigrants who use welfare to qualify for green cards and permanent residence, and it would give preference to immigrants who fend for themselves.  The rule would also require visa applicants to show they won't use welfare if they're let in the country.  Manhattan federal Judge George Daniels blasted Trump's proposed rule as an "exclusion in search of a justification," implying it was a racist ploy to keep out foreigners.

Federal judge rules Florida can't stop ex-felons from voting because of money owed to state for restitution.  A federal judge has ruled against a Florida law saying ex-felons can only vote if they are up to date on money owed to the state.  U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle declared the rule as unconstitutional in his 55-page opinion.  Hinkle acknowledged in his Friday ruling that the law will still likely go through the Florida Supreme Court or a federal trial.

Trump Stands between America and Tyranny.  Trump is wresting one of those key institutions out of their hands, which is almost a necessity before effectively opposing the others.  Where Trump has inflicted the greatest damage to the Left, and why he may yet save America, is in the reshaping of the Judiciary.  The importance of this cannot be overstated.  He has already placed 152 judges on the court with more than a hundred vacancies still waiting to be filled, undoing the tremendous damage that had been done in the eight years prior.  This incredible achievement does not get the attention it deserves.  Anyone who shrugs at what he has accomplished here does not understand the significance.  If Clinton had won, she would have appointed three young liberal Supreme Court judges by now, even as Ruth Bader Ginsburg had moved into retirement.  Liberals would have a 6-3 majority on that critical court, and it would have been nearly impossible to save constitutional governance.  Every court in American would be firmly in the Left's hands.

Another Federal Judge Spits in the Face of the Supreme Court.  Another federal judge has decided that Trump building a border wall through his emergency declaration is illegal.  This came from Judge David Briones, a Clinton appointee.  His reasoning is as specious as the first judge that tried this.

Trump violated the law by declaring emergency to divert funds to border wall, judge rules.  President Trump acted unlawfully when he declared a national emergency in order to fund his long-promised border wall, a federal judge ruled Friday [10/11/2019].  Texas federal Judge David Briones' order left open the option he could also temporarily bar construction of the wall at the southern border.  The County of El Paso and an organization called Border Network for Human Rights sued Trump and the administration earlier this year, claiming the president violated the law when he declared a national emergency in order to divert funds from the Department of Defense to bankroll the project.

Judge blocks Trump policy that makes green cards harder to get.  A Manhattan federal court judge has issued a nationwide order blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a new regulation that would make it easier to deny green cards and visas to immigrants who might need public assistance in the future.  Judge George Daniels' Friday [10/11/2019] ruling came just days before the so-called "public charge" rule was set to go into effect on Oct. 18.  The new rule would have made it possible to brand any immigrant with the potential to end up on public assistance as a burden, and consider that in deciding to issue green cards or visas.

ICE chief bashes judge who curtailed use of detainers to arrest illegal immigrants.  The government's top deportation official unloaded on a federal judge Thursday, accusing him of endangering American communities with a ruling late last month that curtailed ICE's ability to ask local authorities to hold illegal immigrants for pickup.  Matt Albence, acting director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the judge, an Obama appointee to the bench, was ignoring the way law enforcement operates in the 21st century by ruling ICE's databases aren't reliable enough to sustain detainer requests.  "This decision will threaten public safety as it will lead to the release of criminal aliens back onto the street," Mr. Albence said.  He cast Judge André Birotte Jr.'s ruling as not only overreach by a runaway federal judiciary, but as part of an anti-ICE sentiment sweeping the country and making it tougher for his deportation officers to enforce the laws.

President Trump Files Emergency Appeal and Wins Delay in NY Court Fight For His Tax Returns.  A Clinton-appointed federal judge tossed President Donald Trump's lawsuit on Monday [10/7/2019] to keep his tax returns concealed.  The President filed an emergency appeal and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday handed Trump a win granted him a stay to delay the release of 8 years of his tax returns.  The lawsuit was filed last week by crooked Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.  The Clinton-appointed judge wrote a 75-page order and called Trump's presidential immunity argument "unqualified and boundless."

Corrupt Obama Judge Amy Berman Jackson Orders White House to Preserve Records of Trump's Dealings with Foreign Leaders.  In an unusual move, Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday [10/3/2019] ordered the White House to preserve records of President Trump's dealings with foreign leaders.  Jackson, an Obama appointee, issued the order on Thursday and demanded the White House not destroy records of "meetings, phone calls, and other communications with foreign leaders."  Jackson's order is in response to a lawsuit brought by radical left-wing watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Federal Judge To Harvard:  Racial Discrimination Is Bad, Except Against Whites And Asians.  Federal Judge Allison Burroughs ruled this week that Harvard University's affirmative action approach to college admissions does not discriminate against Asian American applicants.  The nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) brought this case, which alleged the president and fellows of Harvard College violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by limiting the number of Asian American applicants accepted.  Harvard acknowledges that its undergraduate admissions policies consider race as one factor among many, but insists that its use of race is consistent with the law.  Judge Burroughs sided with Harvard.  After a close review of her opinion, I found it problematic in several areas.

3 Obama Judges Deliver String of Losses to Trump's Agenda on Illegal Immigration.  Three Obama-appointed judges ruled in one day against immigration initiatives by the Trump administration, dealing blows to the president's effort to contain the border crisis.  In a span of several hours Friday, a judge in California ruled against the administration's plan to detain migrant families indefinitely, another California judge blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from relying solely on databases when issuing detainer requests, and shortly before midnight, a D.C. judge barred fast-track removals of illegal aliens.

Judge hugs Amber Guyger, gives her a Bible after murder conviction, causing stir.  The judge in the murder trial of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer sentenced to 10 years for fatally shooting her neighbor, caused a stir Wednesday [10/2/2019] when she hugged the convicted killer after the sentencing.  While some praised the move as a demonstration of religious faith, others — including former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill — criticized the judge's action as "unacceptable."

US judge:  Injection sites don't violate federal drug laws.  A federal judge ruled Wednesday [10/2/2019] that supervised injection sites designed to prevent overdoses do not violate federal drug laws, giving advocates in Philadelphia and perhaps elsewhere a boost in their efforts to open them.

Federal Judge Blocks Georgia 'Heartbeat' Law.  A federal judge temporarily blocked Georgia's abortion law that bans the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected at about six or seven weeks of pregnancy.  Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed the legislation, called the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act (HB481), into law in May.  It allows for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger.

Michigan Anti-Christian Adoption Policy Shot Down.  U.S. District Judge Robert J. Yonker has halted implementation of a new policy in Michigan that forces faith-based adoption agencies to choose between violating their beliefs on same-sex marriage or closing their doors.  In his written opinion, Yonker says that the original policy in place for years already "ensures non-discrimination in child placements," but the new policy "would replace this with a State-orthodoxy test that prevents Catholic believers from participating."  As readers learned last April, this new policy was the work of Michigan's renegade attorney general Dana Nessel, who used her authority to settle a pretextual discrimination lawsuit, Dumont v. Gordon, filed by the ACLU on behalf of two lesbian couples targeting Christian agencies.

Dem judge makes fun of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's disability then tries to apologize for her 'joke'.  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been in a wheelchair most of his adult life after being paralyzed by a tree that fell on him when he was 26 years old during a jog.  He's managed pretty well since:  A rising start in GOP politics in the Lone Star State, Abbott managed to win the top job in 2016 and remains popular.  Under his leadership, the Texas economy has grown, opportunities abound, and his state is becoming a go-to destination (with no state taxes) for businesses.

Democratic judge apologizes for saying disabled Texas governor 'hates trees because one fell on him'.  A Democratic judge in Texas apologized for saying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott "hates trees because one fell on him."  Abbott, 61, was paralyzed when he was 26 years old after an oak tree fell on him while he was jogging in Houston in July 1984.  The incident paralyzed him from the waist down, and he has since used a wheelchair.  The crowd reportedly laughed at Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt's comment made Friday [9/27/2019] at the Texas Tribune Festival.  The remark was made in the context of the Texas Legislature overriding local ordinances like Austin's tree ordinance.  In her apology later Friday, Eckhardt said her remark was "flippant," "inappropriate," and there was "no excuse" for it.

The Editor says...
[#1] Okay, now let's hear the apologies from everyone in the hateful crowd who laughed along with her.  [#2] If you get beaten up by an AIDS-infested tree-hugging hippie because you were wearing a red MAGA hat, would you have any expectation of justice in front of this obviously biased judge?

Obama judge blocks Trump attempt to close illegal immigrant family 'loophole'.  A federal judge in California ruled Friday [9/27/2019] against the Trump administration's plan to detain illegal immigrant families longer than 20 days, undercutting the president's attempt to close the chief "loophole" that caused this year's border surge.  Judge Dolly M. Gee, an Obama appointee, has long been a stumbling block for Homeland Security and its immigration plans, and the ruling was expected.  The administration is likely to quickly appeal.  Homeland Security had asked Judge Gee to cancel the Flores agreement, a 1990s-era court settlement that sets out strict rules for how illegal immigrant children who arrive at the border without parents are treated.  Judge Gee in 2015 expanded the agreement to children who arrive with parents.

Federal judge bars Trump administration's plan to open Alaskan forest for development.  The Trump administration's plan to allow logging in more than 40,000 acres of an Alaskan national forest was put on hold by a federal judge Monday [9/23/2019].  The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska issued a preliminary injunction blocking the development of 42,500 acres of the Tongass National Forest for logging.  The court said:  "Plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are very likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary injunctive relief."  The rulings come the day before the Trump administration would have begun reviewing logging bids and offering contracts to clear out parts of the nation's largest temperate rainforest.

Appeals court rules southern Minnesota sheriff cannot arrest and detain people on behalf of ICE.  A sheriff in southern Minnesota cannot detain people on behalf of the federal government for immigration violations until a lawsuit challenging the legality of such practices is resolved, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday [9/23/2019].  Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening had asked the court to overturn a previously granted, temporary restraining order that barred him from detaining undocumented immigrants for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, even after they posted bond or served their jail time.

Leftist NY judge orders Trump to give video deposition in protesters' lawsuit.  On Friday [9/20/2019], a progressive New York Supreme Court judge presiding over a lawsuit ordered President Trump to give a videotaped deposition, saying Trump's testimony is "indispensable."  State Supreme Court Judge Doris Gonzalez of the Bronx denied Trump attorneys' efforts to halt the subpoena requiring him to videotape a deposition for the trial before jury selection begins September 26.  The suit was filed by protesters "involved in an incident" outside Trump Tower in September 2015, claiming they were assaulted by security staff.

No Justice But What We Make.  After a drawn-out legal battle, [Jose Inez] Garcia-Zarate was acquitted on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and assault with a firearm.  The only thing Steinle's vindicators managed to stick to this slimy foreigner was a felony conviction for unlawful possession of a gun.  That conviction, however, was recently overturned by a California state appeals court.  According to NPR, the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled in late August that the conviction should be overturned because the judge did not give the jury proper instructions on the possession charge.  The judge made a "prejudicial" error when he failed to provide the jury with "the momentary possession instruction."  If this makes no sense to you, then rejoice, for you are among the sane.

Congress may rein in rogue judges.  Obama appointed, and a Democrat Senate confirmed, 260 district judges.  Another five were confirmed under Republicans.  Many Obama judges abuse their authority by playing anti-administration politics with ruling that are overturned on appeal.  As Chief Justice, John Roberts heads the judiciary, but he is too afraid to rein these rogue judges in. [...] If Roberts won't get his house in order, Congress will.  These rulings are political and therefore unethical.  When Republicans regain the House, they should impeach Obama judges who exceed their authority.  Let the Senate then put them on trial.

Grievously Injured Rand Paul Gets a Second Chance at Justice.  The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the ridiculously lenient sentence received by Rene Boucher for assaulting Senator Rand Paul, a sentence that fell well below the sentencing range of 21 to 27 months in jail that he should have received.  Boucher was sentenced by Clinton-appointed judge, Marianne Battani, to one month in jail and a $10,000 fine for what was almost surely a hate-inspired crime.  He got less than 5% of what is recommended as the bare minimum sentence when all factors were taken into account.

US judge:  Terror watchlist violates constitutional rights.  The government's watchlist of more than 1 million people identified as "known or suspected terrorists" violates the constitutional rights of those placed on it, a federal judge ruled Wednesday [9/4/2019].

Judge finds Toni Preckwinkle's son not guilty of assault.  Congratulations are in order for Kyle Preckwinkle, the 38-year-old son of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.  Yesterday [9/4/2019], he was acquitted of misdemeanor assault in a bench trial.  It's the second time a judge has found the younger Preckwinkle not guilty of a criminal charge since 2013.  On May 3, a 65-year-old man who lives in the same building as Kyle Preckwinkle called police and reported that Preckwinkle had assaulted him.

CAIR Declares 'Complete Victory' After Judge Rules Terror Watch List Violates Constitutional Rights.  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has hailed as a "complete victory" a federal judge's ruling that the U.S. government's watchlist of "known or suspected terrorists" violates the constitutional rights of Americans named on it.  Judge Anthony Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled Wednesday [9/4/2019] that the FBI-administered watchlist, formally known as the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), "fails to provide constitutionally sufficient procedural due process."  He has yet to order any remedies, but called for additional legal briefs from the parties within 30 days on "the outstanding issues to be resolved in this matter."

The Editor says...
The terror watch list is a lot like the Red Flag laws now being proposed by many on the Left, with the main difference being the amount of tangible evidence available to support one's suspicions of persons added to the list.  Even so, the terror watch list has its flaws.

Judge Orders White House to Reinstate Reporter's Pass.  U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued the injunction Tuesday night [9/3/2019] in a 24-page opinion, saying the White House did not clearly outline the circumstances under which a reporter might lose his press badge.  This left Playboy reporter Brian Karem unaware that his press pass would be suspended when he got involved in a shouting match with former Trump assistant Sebastian Gorka after a Rose Garden press conference in July, Contreras found.  "As the court will explain below, Karem has, at this early stage of the proceedings, shown that he is likely to succeed on this due process claim, because the present record indicates that Stephanie Grisham failed to provide fair notice of the fact that a hard pass could be suspended under these circumstances," Contreras wrote.

Obama appointed Federal appeals court judge overturns ISIS conviction of Muslim convert guilty in plot to BEHEAD Pamela Geller.  Daoud Wright was a Boston ISIS operative who plotted to behead me.  He was found guilty on five counts in the Islamic State terrorist plot.  Muslim convert Wright was the ringleader of the beheading plot.  Late this afternoon, one of those convictions was overturned when Federal Appeals Justice David J. Barron said Wright "could have been simply been 'role-playing' with respect to following ISIS's direction."

The Editor says...
This tells you at least one thing about our criminal justice system:  You and eleven other people can spend all day on jury duty, and send a terrorist to prison, thinking you've done your duty, and all it takes is one activist judge to overturn the jury's decision.  If you find this objectionable, you need to start writing letters and making phone calls to get this judge impeached and removed.

Court Rules Idaho Must Pay for Trans Sex Offender's Transition Surgery.  A federal appeals court has ruled that the state of Idaho must pay for a transgender inmates' sex reassignment surgery.  Inmate Adree Edmo, a convicted sex offender, was diagnosed with gender dysmorphia in 2012.  His attorney, Deborah Ferguson, argued in January that the state was placing him at risk of suicide if they refused to fund his surgery.

The Editor says...
Someone who can't decide if he's a man or a woman is so fundamentally confused and miserable that he's likely to be a suicide risk no matter what.

Idaho Governor Criticizes 'Activist Court' for Ordering Gender Surgery for Convicted Child Molester.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Idaho taxpayers must pay for a 31-year-old prison inmate to undergo "gender confirmation surgery" — the opinion does not call it sex reassignment — allowing the inmate to remove the bits that show the inmate was born a male.  Mason Dean Edmo, now called Adree Edmo, pleaded guilty in 2012 to sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy at a party.  Idaho Gov. Brad Little, frustrated by the "activist court," said his state plans to appeal once again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court:  [Video clip]

Obama Judge:  Medicaid Must Pay for "Sex Change".  If you're on Medicaid, the program won't cover your root canal or a nose job that could make you feel better about yourself.  But if you want the body alteration known as "gender-reassignment surgery" so you can feel better about yourself, taxpayers must now foot the bill — according to an Obama-appointed judge.

This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism — August 24.  1995 — The citizen-suit provision of the Endangered Species Act authorizes "any person" to sue for violations of the ESA.  Demonstrating why liberal judicial activists should be an endangered species, Ninth Circuit judge Stephen Reinhardt, joined by two other Jimmy Carter appointees (Harry Pregerson and William C. Canby, Jr.), rules in Bennett v. Plenert that the so-called "zone of interests test" that courts have developed (beyond Article III's constitutional requirements) as a prudential limitation on standing overrides the broad language of the citizen-suit provision.  Therefore, the court concludes, "plaintiffs who assert no interest in preserving endangered species" — in this case, ranch operators and irrigation districts who alleged that they would be harmed by reservoir levels designed to protect two species of sucker fish — cannot challenge violations of the ESA.

Judge Accused of Helping Immigrant Escape ICE Through Court Back Door Sees Pay and Benefits Restored.  A Massachusetts judge who was suspended in April over allegations she helped an immigrant escape immigration authorities by sneaking him out a courthouse back door is set to have her pay restored, as her own case continues to play out in court.  On Tuesday, the Supreme Judicial Court said it had revised an April order stripping Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph of her pay and benefits, allowing the judge to return to the payroll while her case continues.

Virginia Federal Judge Rules For Transgender Students In Bathroom Case — Says Ban Was Discriminatory.  On Friday [8/9/2019], a federal judge in Virginia rejected a school's policy regarding transgender students and bathroom use.  The ruling was seen as a victory for transgender students seeking access to the bathrooms of their choosing.  According to Fox News, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen's opinion was:  "There is no question that the board's policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender nonconformity."

The Justice Department Is Gearing Up For A Big Fight With Immigration Judges' Union.  The Trump administration asked a federal panel to revoke the exclusive right of a public sector union to represent immigration judges in collective bargaining Friday [8/9/2019].  The union, the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), has been at odds with the administration over substantive policy directives and the independence of the immigration courts.  Federal law defines management officials as "any individual employed by an agency in a position the duties and responsibilities of which require or authorize the individual to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the agency." The Department of Justice told the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) that immigration judges qualify as management officials and therefore cannot be members of a bargaining unit.

Is The White House Serious About Slapping Down Rogue Judges Or Is This Just Failure Theater.  [Scroll down]  The judge, Obama appointee Jon Tigar, has been the Trump administration's bête noire.  He ruled against an order by Trump that said asylum applications would only be accepted at established ports of entry, this effectively made asylum claims impossible for illegals and we can't have that, can we?  And then became famous when President Trump called him an "Obama judge" and Chief Justice John Roberts and Lido Deck conservatives had a cow over the insinuation that judges picked by Obama might want to protect his political legacy of lax enforcement of immigration laws.

Former Democrat judge ordered to jail, dragged out of courtroom in Cincinnati.  A former juvenile court judge, a Democrat who took the bench after being declared the winner of a disputed 2010 election, was jailed Monday [7/22/2019], and had to be taken out of the courtroom in Cincinnati, according to reports.  A deputy with her arms under the defendant's shoulders pulled Tracie Hunter across the courtroom after she went limp.  Supporters stood and yelled in anger, and deputies intercepted a woman who tried to rush to her.  There were more demonstrations outside the Hamilton County Courthouse, and civil rights activists said there will be boycotts or other actions in protest.

Judicial Tyranny:  Federal courts now have "judicial veto" and limitless power over presidents and Congress.  Titled "The Judiciary Department" and published on May 28, 1788, the purpose of [Federalist No. 78] was to explain the function, scope, and power of the federal judiciary.  In it, [Alexander] Hamilton argued [the Judicial] branch was the weakest because it did not have any "influence over either the sword or the purse... It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment."  That may have been the founders' intent for the Judicial Branch, but that's not how things turned out.  Today, some 230 years later, the federal judiciary still does not possess any actual enforcement mechanism regarding its rulings, but those rulings are often treated as though they have the force of law.  And what's more, presidents and successive congresses have become accustomed to allowing the Judicial Branch to be utilized as a political tool against them, as we've seen time and again over the past few decades.

Judge refuses to allow DOJ to change lawyers in census case.  A federal judge in New York refused the Justice Department's effort to change its legal team in a fight over President Trump's push to add a question about citizenship status onto the 2020 census because they did not provide a sufficient explanation.  "Defendants provide no reasons, let alone 'satisfactory reasons,' for the substitution of counsel," wrote U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who is presiding over one of three lawsuits that aim to keep to the citizenship question off the census.  Furman said any future motions to withdraw would need to be supported by a signed and sworn affidavit.

The right to Trump tweets.  The Second Circuit has affirmed a district court decision holding that President Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter.  Plaintiffs wanted to get Trump's tweets directly and contended that their inability to view, retweet, and reply to Trump's tweets limited their ability to participate with other members of the public in the comment threads that appear below the President's tweets.  The court agreed in a 29-page opinion [...]

From the redcoats to the black robes.  King George couldn't hold a candle to the judicial despotism we are governed by some 12 score and three years after the colonists rebelled against what they thought were "intolerable acts."  Sure, there was some taxation without representation going on in the 1770s, but I think the colonists would have taken that any day if they were to see in their crystal ball the severity of today's social transformation without representation.

9th Circuit refuses Trump request to block judge's ruling to stop military funds for border wall.  An appeals court denied the Trump administration's emergency request to block a federal judge's ruling that prevents President Trump from using $2.5 billion in military funds to build a wall along the southern border. [...] The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, who is an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled to permanently block the $2.5 billion after issuing a temporary injunction in May to stop the administration's use of the funds.  The ruling stymied several construction projects in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Federal judge blocks Trump policy keeping asylum seekers locked up.  A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday [7/2/2019] blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum-seekers locked up while they pursue their cases, saying the Constitution demands that such migrants have a chance to be released from custody.

Teenager Accused of Rape Deserves Leniency Because He's From a 'Good Family,' Judge Says.  The 16-year-old girl was visibly intoxicated, her speech slurred, when a drunk 16-year-old boy sexually assaulted her in a dark basement during an alcohol-fueled pajama party in New Jersey, prosecutors said. [...] But a family court judge said it wasn't rape.  Instead, he wondered aloud if it was sexual assault, defining rape as something reserved for an attack at gunpoint by strangers.  He also said the young man came from a good family, attended an excellent school, had terrific grades and was an Eagle scout.  Prosecutors, the judge said, should have explained to the girl and her family that pressing charges would destroy the boy's life.

Judge blocks Trump from using billions in military funds for border wall.  A federal judge on Friday [6/28/2019] issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration from tapping billions of dollars in military funds to construct a wall on the United States's southern border.  U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam issued the permanent injunction in a California federal court, after initially ruling last month to temporarily halt the administration's use of military funds for the border wall.  President Trump declared a national emergency earlier this year in order to divert roughly $6 billion in Defense Department funds toward border wall construction.  Friday's ruling blocks the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for a border wall.

373,610 illegal aliens have received DACA renewal just since January 2018.  New data posted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, posted by the California attorney general's office, confirms that 373,610 applications for Obama's illegal amnesty were renewed between January 10, 2018, and March 31, 2019.  Why January 10?  January 9, 2018, was the date a single California judge, William Alsup of the Northern District of California, issued an unprecedented injunction on Trump's order merely countermanding Obama's illegal amnesty, thereby forcing the president to violate numerous immigration laws.  Now, as a result of the notion that any judge has that kind of power, over 373,000 people who came here illegally have access to Social Security cards, refundable tax credits, and a wealth of state benefits in certain states.  Plus, 49,510 additional applications are still pending.  Just 2,640 applications, or .007 percent, have been denied.

The Dems' 2020 Election Strategy.  [Scroll down]  Open borders.  Racing to California-Hawaii-Washington-Oregon so that one single Obama lifetime ally in one discrete judicial district in one room in one nook of San Francisco where climate-altering air conditioning can filter out from one courtroom the stench of the sidewalk feces and urine of The Homeless just outside, can issue a nationwide injunction imposing whatever the ACLU or the Democrats propose that one Obama Judge impose on 300 million unsupposing Americans, thus tying up one Presidential initiative after another.

Massachusetts federal judge blocks ICE from making civil immigration arrests inside state's courthouses.  A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday [6/20/2019] blocked federal authorities from making civil immigration arrests inside the state's courthouses.  US District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction that blocks US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security "from civilly arresting parties, witnesses, and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending, or leaving the courthouse," according to the court order.

Judge in MA Blocks ICE from Arresting Alien Criminals in Courthouses.  This is absurd.  Anyone can come into the country without vetting and ICE can't arrest criminal illegal aliens in courthouses.  These Democrats are destroying the country.

Make America Even Greater.  Now's the time for the Trump White House to release an updated list of potential Supreme Court nominees, to remind voters of the 2020 stakes.  And speaking of the judiciary, it's overdue for an overhaul.  The Judicial Conference for years has flagged the many districts overwhelmed by cases.  And congressional commissions have long advocated restructuring the insanely large Ninth Circuit, which has a staggering backlog.  It's time for new judgeships, and a split in that circuit.

Ohio to review over 2,700 court cases after allegations of judge showing up to work drunk.  More than 2,700 cases overseen by a former common pleas judge could be reexamined after allegations that the judge came to work drunk and was possibly involved in a local sex trafficking ring in Portsmouth.  The Ohio Public Defender's office is launching an effort to review any case overseen by retired Scioto County Common Pleas Court Judge William T. Marshall that involved prison time or other court supervision.  That's 2,707 cases in the 15 years Marshall served, said Ohio Public Defender Tim Young.  He said there are at least 1,200 cases since 2013, when Marshall was first hospitalized for alcoholism, according to court documents.

Taxpayers paid $127G in legal bills for judge accused of helping illegal immigrant avoid ICE: report.  A Massachusetts judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade ICE has had $127,000 in legal fees paid by taxpayers, according to a report.  In addition, a court officer who was indicted along with the judge has benefitted from $2,500 in legal fees paid by the public, the report said.  Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph, 51, pleaded not guilty in April when she was arraigned in a Boston courtroom on obstruction-of-justice charges stemming from an incident that allegedly took place April 2, 2018.

Judge says Missouri's lone abortion clinic must remain open for now.  Missouri's only abortion clinic will remain open for now after a judge on Monday [6/10/2019] blocked state officials from closing it because of an ongoing licensing dispute.

Requiring People To Work To Get Medicaid Went Really Well In Arkansas Until A Judge Stopped It.  Since 2000, the number of able-bodied adults using Medicaid quadrupled nationwide.  The program is one of the chief costs for state governments, squeezing other priorities.  When last summer Arkansas became the first state to require Medicaid recipients to work in exchange for taxpayer-provided health care, welfare advocates would have had you believing the world was ending:  health coverage for the needy was being slashed, the reporting process was too complex, and those who lost coverage didn't even know about the requirement.  On and on the hysteria went.  But those apoplectic claims were far from reality.  Arkansas' work requirement was a big step towards restoring the state Medicaid program to its objective.  It was saving taxpayers money, freeing up resources for the truly needy, and — notably — changing people's lives for the better.

Ending privileges for illegal aliens.  Fun time is over for illegal aliens in custody.  The Washington Post reported, "The Trump administration is canceling English classes, recreational programs, and legal aid for unaccompanied minors staying in federal migrant shelters nationwide."  This nonsense began when Carlos Holguín, a lawyer who represents illegal aliens (more on that later), sued the Clinton administration.  It was a sue-and-settle suit in which Democrats gave liberals what they wanted, which a judge approved.  Holguín is upset. [...] I expect an Obama judge will enjoin the government, and an appellate court will overrule.  That has been the pattern so far.

The Beatings Will Continue Until The Stupidity Ends.  [Scroll down]  Indulge me in an example near and dear to my heart.  Assume Republicans retake the House and expand their majority in the Senate.  They also grow spines.  They send up a budget not merely stripped of Planned Parenthood funding, but that instructs that no Medicaid funds may go to any abortion provider.  States may use their own funds as they will, but Federal funding is right out.  Trump, because he's not smart but he knows marketing, signs this.  Raise your hand if you honestly believe a venue-shopped District Judge won't void that part of the budget because reasons.  Keep it up if you think the Ninth or Fourth or Second Circuits, where venue will probably be, won't affirm.  If the Trump years have taught us anything — an open question — it is that the total absence of a Constitutional basis for this behavior is irrelevant.

Hawley, Cruz urge Trump to nix judicial nominee who compared Catholic beliefs to KKK views.  Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz — both Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — are calling on President Trump to withdraw the nomination of a lawyer for a lifetime federal court appointment, accusing the nominee of opposing religious freedom and expressing anti-Catholic views.  The nomination of Michael S. Bogren, a Michigan lawyer who was nominated to be a district judge for the District Court for the Western District of Michigan, has been met with fierce conservative resistance for the candidate's likening of religious beliefs to the racist views of the Ku Klux Klan.

Activist judges are the new fascist dictators, obliterating our system of checks and balances.  The concept of "judicial activism" certainly is not new and predates the Trump administration by at least a few decades, but since Donald Trump ascended to the Oval Office, Leftist judges who have often been accused of such behavior are doubling and tripling down on it.  In fact, there have been precious few major policy decisions made by POTUS Trump that have yet to go unchallenged in federal court, where Left-wing groups who have cherry-picked federal courts in search of 'friendly' judges (usually those appointed by Barack Obama or Bill Clinton) they know will 'side' with them, despite what the law or the Constitution says.

Utah judge suspended for bashing Trump online and in court.  The Utah Supreme Court suspended a judge for six months without pay this week over disparaging remarks he made about President Trump both online and in his courtroom.  The court ruling points to several instances where Judge Michael Kwan, who has sat on the justice court bench for the City of Taylorsville for two decades, violated Utah's judicial code of conduct.  Kwan made a biting remark about Trump's polices during an exchange with a defendant in January 2017.

Judge Who Helped Illegal Alien Escape Turns Down Plea Deal.  Hillary Clinton was spotted walking in the Newcastle Memorial Day parade in Chappaqua looking like an old grandma in a blue muumuu with black leggings.  We really dodged a bullet.

The Judge Who Temporarily Blocked Border Funds For Wall Donated 30K To Obama & Democrats!.  If you haven't heard about the federal judge that partially blocked the Pentagon funds diverted for the border wall between U.S.-Mexico, the word on the street today is that he also donated nearly $30,000 to Barack Obama and other Democrats.  U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam made the border about him instead of the American people, and he and his connections got caught in the crosshairs.

How National Injunctions Create Constitutional Chaos.  Nationwide injunctions — when a single district court judge can halt the enforcement of a law or policy across the country — have been stymying President Trump's agenda from the get-go.  And Attorney General William Barr is getting fed up.  In a speech on Tuesday [5/21/2019] to the American Law Institute, Barr railed against national injunctions, noting that 37 of them have been issued against President Trump — more than one a month — compared to just two that were issued against President Obama during his first two years in office.  According to Justice Department statistics cited by Barr, only 27 national injunctions were issued in all of the 20th century.

Federal judge blocks Trump from using Defense funds for parts of border wall.  A federal judge on Friday night [5/24/2019] blocked President Donald Trump from tapping into Defense Department funds to build parts of his US-Mexico border wall.  In a 56-page ruling, Judge Haywood Gilliam of the Northern District of California blocked the administration from moving forward with specific projects in Texas and Arizona, saying Trump couldn't disburse the funds without congressional approval.  The lawsuit that prompted the ruling was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the plaintiffs, the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition.  Although Friday's ruling does not prevent the Trump administration from using funds from other sources to build the projects, it's a setback for the President on a signature agenda item that has consistently been thwarted by Democrats in Congress.

Rein in politicized judges and their injunctions.  Federal district judges aren't emperors for the whole United States.  Congress and the Supreme Court should both remind them of that reality.  By issuing putatively national injunctions, Attorney General William Barr said in a May 21 speech to the American Law Institute:  "One judge can, in effect, cancel the policy with the stroke of the pen.  No official in the United States government [rightly] can exercise that kind of nationwide power, with the sole exception of the president.  And the Constitution subjects him to nationwide election, among other constitutional checks, as a prerequisite to wielding that power."  The subject arises because, on issue after issue, liberal district judges have blocked President Trump's executive orders or rules promulgated by his administration.

AG Barr Joins VP Pence, Also Says 'Nationwide Injunctions' Are Unconstitutional.  This week, Attorney General William Barr joined Vice President Mike Pence in condemning the harrowing recent rise of "nationwide injunctions" as anti-constitutional judicial power grabs that disturb the carefully calibrated separation of powers system that the Constitution's Framers so sagaciously devised. [...] As a factual and historical matter, Barr is completely correct about the anti-constitutional remedy having only recently increased so dramatically in its judicial deployment.

What happened to a Utah judge who criticized Donald Trump online and in court?  The Utah Supreme Court has suspended a city judge for making "shirty and politically charged" comments from the bench and posting "indelicate" criticism online about President Donald Trump.  Judge Michael Kwan will serve a six-month suspension without pay for repeatedly violating the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct.  In his 21 years as a Taylorsville Justice Court judge, the Judicial Conduct Commission has issued Kwan two letters of education and the Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded him twice for various violations.

Judge who ruled Trump accountants must comply with subpoena is not only an Obama appointee — he is an Obama donor.  A federal judge ruled Monday [5/20/2019] that President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, must comply with a subpoena by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee requesting financial documents related to Trump and his businesses.  But new information highlighted Monday revealed the ruling judge may have some political bias.

Obama Judge:  Congress Can Subpoena Trump's Personal Finances.  House Democrats are pursuing members of the president's family and private family-owned businesses, demanding banking records and financial statements.  As part of this partisan attack strategy, two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives controlled by Democrats — the Financial Services Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence — issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capitol One Bank for at least ten years of records involving President Trump's children, the children's spouses, and various family businesses including the Trump Organization.

Obama Judges Kill Americans' Privacy to Help Democratic House Harass Trump.  Two Obama appointees just [permitted] two of the most invasive Congressional subpoenas for private financial information in American history.  The two subpoenas from the House often came without House approval, but instead with written memorandums by self-serving chairmen.  They compelled invasive disclosure of intimate information from accountants and banks concerning the private records of private people from a time period Trump was neither a candidate nor the President.  Their orders eviscerate and endanger privacy for all Americans.

Trump's agenda hampered by troubling number of lower court injunctions, Barr says.  Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday said he has noticed a troubling trend of nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts that have taken their toll on President Trump's agenda and threaten the political process for future administrations.  Barr, who has been accused by Democrats of protecting Trump after the release of the Mueller report, told the American Law Institute that there is a new trend of judicial "willingness" to review executive action, which injects courts into the political process.  He pointed to the district court in California that in January 2018 issued a temporary injunction to block the Trump administration from ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Judge upholds Dem subpoena for Trump financial records.  A federal judge on Monday [5/20/2019] upheld a congressional subpoena seeking President Donald Trump's financial records from an accounting firm, arguing that Congress is well within its rights to investigate potential illegal behavior by a president — even without launching a formal impeachment inquiry.  U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta's ruling delivers a striking blow to the president's efforts to resist Democratic investigations, and is certain to give Democrats further legal basis to investigate Trump, his finances, and his presidential campaign.

A federal judge's 'tell' in his order forcing Trump to turn over financial records to House committee.  The remedy for potential political bias in a federal judge's ruling consists of the appeals process, with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and ultimately the Supreme Court able to reverse such a decision.  But Judge Mehta's order forbids this. [...] A stay of a ruling with irreversible consequences is standard operating procedure.  In this case, once the records would be turned over before the appeals process could play out, any appeals reversal would be moot, since the records, once disclosed, cannot be made private and confidential once again.  In effect, Judge Mehta has made himself the Supreme Court of the United States as far as litigant Donald Trump is concerned.

'That's Just Insane': Australia's Secret Deal to Take In Rwandan Guerrillas.  For more than a decade, the United States had a problem:  three Rwandan men, sitting in jail in Virginia, who had stood accused of brutally murdering tourists in Africa — but now had a chance of winning release onto American streets.  The three had been rounded up after a bloody 1999 attack that made headlines across three continents, in which two Americans and six other Western tourists on a gorilla-watching visit to the Ugandan rainforest were killed with machetes and axes.  The crime was so horrific that U.S. prosecutors charged the men under terrorism statutes, extracted them from Rwanda and then took the rare step of demanding the federal death penalty.  But in 2006, the prosecution went off the rails:  A judge in Washington ruled the men's confessions were obtained through torture in Rwandan detention centers, and the case was dropped.

Reigning In the Activist Federal Judiciary.  Vice President Pence announced recently that the Trump administration is finally pushing back against activist judges in Federal District Courts who issue nationwide injunctions against lawful executive policies on issues like immigration.  This blatant usurpation of the executive branch's powers has been another weapon in the progressives' attack on the Constitution and its divided powers, which was primarily designed to protect the freedom and rights of citizens and their elected representatives who must answer to the people.  Reining in unelected, unaccountable district court judges is long overdue and necessary for restoring our right to hold accountable those who make decisions affecting our lives.

Judge blocks Kentucky law that would ended abortions after 15 weeks.  A federal judge on Friday [5/10/2019] struck down a Kentucky abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies.  The state's anti-abortion governor immediately vowed to appeal.

Trump admin set to combat overreaching district courts: 'Era of judicial activism must come to an end'.  President Trump is moving forward with a plan that would limit the power of judges to dictate national policy.  The administration is looking for ways to challenge the judicial tyranny of lower level federal judges in deciding on national injunctions, with Vice President Pence addressing the issue on Wednesday.

Trump [is] About to Flip Another Appeals Court To Conservatives.  President Trump, who already has had a mammoth impact on America's judicial system by appointing over 100 judges and flipping the Pennsylvania-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals to majority Republican appointees, is posed to flip another Circuit Court of Appeals:  The Second Circuit.  There are 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals in the U.S.

Federal Judge Blocks Oil and Gas Leases, Development on Federal Lands in Wyoming.  U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras blocked oil and natural gas lease sales proposed by the Obama administration in 2016 for nearly 500 square miles of federal land in Wyoming.  U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras blocked oil and natural gas lease sales proposed by the Obama administration in 2016 for nearly 500 square miles of federal land in Wyoming, requiring a radical change in how the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) considers potential effects on climate change.

Republicans need to wake up to Democrats' nationwide judicial power grab.  Former President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder won't tell the truth when it comes to their redistricting strategy, but here it is:  Pick a state, any state, and sue until it's blue.  They have spent years and millions of dollars selling the false narrative that Democrats draw "fair maps" while any and all Republican-drawn maps are "partisan gerrymanders."  While rhetorically cute, their primary goal has nothing to do with fighting gerrymandering as they repeatedly claim, but to put redistricting in the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and lifetime-appointed judges.  Their strategy makes sense.  There are plenty of unelected federal judges presiding over these redistricting cases who will enthusiastically toss out constitutionally drawn maps to help elect more Democrats.  That's exactly what happened recently in both Michigan and Ohio, despite the entirely dubious and suspect arguments from the left.  It will also not be a surprise if liberal federal panels do the same thing in other states in the coming weeks.

A Seattle Judge Sent A Homeless Man With 72 Convictions To Jail, The City Attorney Was Furious.  A 55-year-old homeless man named Francisco Calderon punched a complete stranger in the mouth one day in November, giving him a bloody lip.  The victim called 911 and Calderon was arrested and charged with assault.  He pleaded guilty to the crime.  That turned out to be his 72nd time being convicted of a crime, fourteen of those convictions were felonies.  And yet, City Attorney Pete Holmes worked out a plea deal with Calderon's public defender which would keep him out of jail.  Instead, he would get probation and drug treatment.  Enter Municipal Court Judge Ed McKenna whose job it was to sentence Calderon.  McKenna wasn't convinced no jail time was appropriate in the case and questioned the plea deal.

Revealed: Judge 'helped twice-deported illegal immigrant avoid ICE agents'.  A Massachusetts judge, who is accused of helping a twice-deported illegal alien evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement, used a back door to help the man slip away, court documents have revealed.

Charges against Massachusetts judge shows 'immigration laws aren't optional:' ICE agent.  A former ICE special agent told Fox News that he hopes the case of the Massachusetts judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant flee federal authorities will "send a message to other activist judges that immigration laws aren't optional."  Jim Hayes made the comments Friday on 'Fox & Friends' a day after Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were indicted by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and three other counts.  The pair allegedly helped Jose Medina-Perez get out of the Massachusetts courthouse in 2018 through a back door in order to elude the ICE agent who sought him.

The Kansas Supreme Court Steps in to Protect Abortion from Pro-Life State Lawmakers.  Blocking the efforts of Kansas state lawmakers to protect babies still living in their mother's womb, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that a woman's right to an abortion is protected by the state's constitution. [...] What makes this ruling ominous for pro-life advocates (not to mention detrimental to the safety and well-being of pre-born humans) is that it protects the right to abortion even if SCOTUS one day overturns Roe v Wade.

Finally, accountability in the courtroom.  This is huge — a lunatic hack state judge is indicted and charged with cutting loose a twice-deported Dominican illegal immigrant arrested with drugs after throwing an ICE agent out of her courtroom so that the criminal could escape.  For what appears to be the first time, someone in a "sanctuary" jurisdiction has to answer for the coddling of these illegal immigrants who are perpetrating this a massive tidal wave of crime on the law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of the United States.

Massachusetts judge who helped illegal immigrant escape ICE arrest [has been] indicted, federal authorities say.  A Massachusetts judge and court officer accused of helping an illegal immigrant flee an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting to take him into custody were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and three other counts, officials said.  Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and the court officer, identified in court documents as Wesley MacGregor, face several charges stemming from an April 2, 2018 incident in which the pair allegedly helped Jose Medina-Perez get out of the courthouse via a back door in order to elude the ICE agent who sought Medina-Perez.

Seattle's top prosecutor and public defender accuse presiding judge of improper conduct.  Seattle's top prosecutor and public defender have jointly accused the city's presiding municipal court judge of improper conduct, arguing his calls for harsher sentences and his handling of a case involving a prolific offender have undermined public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.  In a letter Wednesday [4/24/2019] to Seattle Municipal Court Presiding Judge Ed McKenna, City Attorney Pete Holmes and Department of Public Defense Director Anita Khandelwal asked McKenna to step away from his leadership post and to change his behavior or recuse himself from all criminal matters.

Obama-Era Judge Slams the Brakes on Trump Order to Open Fed Lands to Coal Mining.  A federal judge in Montana delayed a Trump administration attempt to open up more federal lands to coal mining Friday [4/19/2019], The New York Times reported.  U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris ruled that the Trump administration illegally overturned a moratorium placed on coal mining on federal lands by former President Barack Obama.  Obama instated the policy in 2016 as part of his administration's environmental agenda to cut coal usage.

Trump has power to end judicial amnesty TODAY under CURRENT law.  How much longer are we going to allow lawless acts of past administrations and lower courts to flip immigration law on its head and act as if the laws themselves are the problems?  Our immigration laws aren't broken, it's just that carefully selected lower courts violate those laws as well as Supreme Court precedent, plus the executive branch has refused to enforce many laws that haven't even been tampered with yet by the judges.  The American people never voted for the system in place to today.  In fact, the people's representatives voted for the opposite.

Attorney General Barr Blocks Catch and Release by Migration Judges.  Immigration judges cannot release migrants who are caught sneaking into the United States, even if the migrants ask for asylum, says a binding legal decision by Attorney General William Barr.  The decision will dramatically shift the migration-caused civic and housing crises from the nation's blue-collar communities over to the Congress and the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget and detention centers only have enough resources to house about 50,000 people year-round.

Obama Judge Compares Trump to KKK.  When Chief Justice John Roberts pompously admonished President Trump last year, making the preposterous claim that we "do not have Obama or Trump judges," Carlton W. Reeves evidently failed to get the memo.  This Obama appointee to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi is a textbook example of a partisan jurist who ignores the law and the will of voters as expressed through their elected representatives.  Indeed, Judge Reeves has now escalated his activism by attacking the President and comparing him to a long line of white supremacist Democrats and their partners in the KKK.

Federal Judge Shows Why CJ John Roberts Was Dead Wrong About There Being No Obama Judges.  One of the dumbest things that Chief Justice John Roberts has done, and there have been a number of things that fall into this category, was to declare back in November of 2018 that President Trump was wrong in characterizing a judge, appointed by Barack Obama, who had overturned an administration policy as an "Obama judge." [...] This was lunacy, though The Bulwarkians slobbered over Roberts's comment as though he'd revealed the real world to Trump rather than engaging in a shallow attempt to gaslight the nation.  Of course there are Obama judges.  If you need proof, you need look no further than this.  [Video clip]

Court temporarily blocks halt to Trump policy forcing asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico.  A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a ruling that would have stopped the Trump administration from forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as they wait for immigration courts to hear their cases.  The decision by the three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a lower ruling from taking effect and gave civil liberties groups until Tuesday to submit arguments on why the asylum policy should be put on hold.  The government has until Wednesday [4/17/2019] to argue why it should remain in place.

Where does the Constitution say that California judges control our border policy?  How much longer will we allow the inmates to run the asylum?  The Supreme Court only heard 60 cases last year.  Meanwhile, the lower courts heard tens of thousands of cases, and their dockets are full of every political issue under the sun.  If we are going to agree as a society that the judiciary now controls every political issue, including issues fundamental to our sovereignty, foreign policy, and national security, that essentially means that foreign invaders and smugglers and cartels control our destiny, regardless of who we elect as president or to Congress.  Why?  Because of California judges.

Transgender Rights:  Judge Warns Girls Have No Right to 'Visual Bodily Privacy'.  A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit against transgender facilities in a school district to proceed, but warned the student-plaintiffs that, if the government allows boys who claim to be female to use the girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, then the girls have no right to "visual bodily privacy."  Judge Jorge Alonso of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against the school district that adopted the Obama-era transgender policy permitting boys claiming to be female to use the girls' bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms.

Activist judge rules to let all unvetted migrant asylum-seekers in.  In an astonishing instance of judicial activism, a federal judge has ruled that unvetted Central American caravan migrants seeking U.S. asylum no longer have to wait it out in Mexico.

Obama judge blocks Trump from keeping illegals in Mexico.  Democrat obstruction of the presidency continues as Obama-appointee Judge Richard Seeborg sided with a liberal group in stopping President Donald John Trump from executing his constitutional duty as commander in chief.  Seeborg is the same obstructionist judge who earlier blocked the Trump administration from restoring the citizenship question on the census that Obama had unilaterally removed in the 2010 Census.  That unconstitutional decision is on appeal.

Judge blocks Trump's wait-in-Mexico asylum policy.  A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop its new policy of sending asylum-seekers who jumped the border back to Mexico to wait while their cases proceed, ruling Monday [4/8/2019] that the plan was likely illegal.  Known informally as the "wait-in-Mexico policy," and officially as the Migrant Protection Protocols, the plan was a major part of the administration's moves to try to stem the flow of immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally.  Judge Richard Seeborg, an Obama appointee to the bench, said not only does the policy violate immigration law, but Mexico is so dangerous that making asylum-seekers wait there — even if they're not from Mexico — is untenable.

The Editor says...
Migrants from countries other than Mexico are entirely responsible for their presence in Mexico and for any inconvenience incurred.  They were willing to travel through Mexico to reach the U.S. — the Land of Food Stamps and the Minimum Wage.  Let them sit and wait.  Or turn around and go home.

Obama Judge Decrees That Obama's Decisions Are Permanent and President Trump Can't Change Them.  In the late December 2016, just a few weeks before his term of maladministration and race-baiting ended, Barack Obama decided to take one more shot at the country he despised above all others.  By executive order, he banned drilling in large swaths of the Arctic.  This had been done by past presidents, but always with a time lime.  Obama, being the Lightworker, desired his decisions to have immortality and he banned drilling in perpetuity.  Shortly after he was sworn in, President Trump issued an executive order overturning Obama's executive order an opening the Arctic to exploration and drilling.  The enviro-nazis sued and yesterday an Obama-appointed judge in Alaska handed down a surprising, yet unsurprising, decision that because Obama had intended for his ban to last forever, it could not be changed by any other president, but only by act of Congress.

Judge tosses Trump executive order, restores Obama drilling ban.  President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he reversed bans on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a U.S. judge said in a ruling that restored the Obama-era restrictions.

Judge scraps Trump order for Arctic, Atlantic oil leasing.  A federal judge in Alaska has overturned U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to open vast areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to oil and gas leasing.  [3/29/2019]

Making Constitutional Law Great Again.  Tellingly, [Edward] Erler has nothing whatever to say about Obergefell, and lamely asserts — without explanation — that abortion rights fall outside the amorphous "ambit of the rights of conscience" that he believes lurk invisibly within the Constitution.  The problem with pretending to discern such unwritten rights is that they are totally subjective, indeterminate, and susceptible to infinite manipulation and distortion — as we have frequently experienced at the hands of activist judges in recent decades.  The Framers, practical men skeptical of human nature, put no stock in such dubious notions.

Wisconsin Democratic Judge Says Duly Elected Republicans Can't Pass Laws.  Recently, Democrats have come out in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court (gotta get that social justice agenda passed somehow), and allowing non-citizens to vote.  It's almost like they don't like living in the United States very much, although you'd hurt their feelings if you gently suggest that if they don't like where they're living, they should depart for friendlier climes.  Now a judge in Wisconsin has issued an injunction against laws legally passed by the legislature by legally elected representatives of the people.  How did he do that?  By declaring that the legally passed laws by the legally elected representatives of the people weren't "legal" at all.

Judge rules against Trump drilling plans because they ignore climate change.  A federal judge ruled that the Interior Department violated federal law by failing to take into account the climate impact of its oil and gas leasing in the West.  The decision late Tuesday [3/19/2019] by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in the District of Columbia marks the first time the Trump administration has been held to account for the climate impact of its energy agenda, and it could have sweeping implications for the president's plan to boost fossil fuel production across the country.

Democrats blame Obama mistake on Trump.  John Podesta tweeted:  "Good news for the planet:  Federal judge demands Trump administration reveal how its drilling plans will fuel climate change."  According to Reuters, "Tuesday's [3/19/2019] ruling only pertains to 282 leases issued in Wyoming after five sales held in 2015 and 2016."

Where's the congressional outrage over judicial power grabs?  It's understandable why members of Congress would be upset with a general trend of presidents legislating from the White House, whether through emergency or non-emergency powers.  What is not understandable is why these same members who complain about abuse of executive power don't utter a word, much less take action, against more severe, systemic, harmful, and irrevocable power grabs by the unelected and completely unaccountable judiciary branch of government.  Today's debate over disapproving Trump's reprogramming of $2.6 billion in DOD funding for construction of a border fence under the declaration of an emergency is a sideshow.  As I've noted before, with the courts ruling that the Constitution applies to 7.8 billion people, mostly outside our country, we no longer have a border, so a border wall is moot until that is fixed.

While everyone sleeps, the courts are abolishing all immigration enforcement.  Congress could never get away with creating constitutional rights for illegal aliens to remain here, yet a single lower court just did so on Thursday [3/7/2019].  And where Congress would face deep reprisal in the next election, faceless judges will never feel the heat.  Conservatives fear that extreme Democrats might actually abolish ICE and all immigration enforcement, but the lower courts are already systematically abolishing ICE's authority, nullifying immigration enforcement statutes, violating separation of powers, and constantly increasing the wave of bogus asylum-seekers that they originally spawned with other radical rulings.  The latest ruling from the Ninth Circuit demonstrates that unless Republicans and the president begin pushing back against these radical judges and delegitimizing their rulings, Democrats will get everything they want without ever facing electoral backlash or even the need to win elections.

Judge orders Trump admin to reunite more migrant families.  A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reunite more families that were separated at the border.  US District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled the government must bring parents and children who were separated as early as July 1, 2017 back together, in an updated ruling on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU.  Previously, he ruled that about 2,700 children in government custody as of June 26, 2018, the date of his initial decision in the case, should be reunited with their parents.

Court gives illegal immigrants new right of appeal before deportation.  Some illegal immigrants gained a new right of appeal Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled that Congress cannot prevent them from challenging their deportations in federal courts.  The American Civil Liberties Union, which had argued the case, called it a "sweeping" decision that will give asylum-seekers the chance to make their case in a regular U.S. court, rather than being limited to bureaucrats and judges in the immigration court system.  The ruling was issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and only applies to cases within that region — including the border states of California and Arizona.

Ninth Circuit Has Just Made Deportation Of Illegals Nearly Impossible.  On RedState, we've posted repeatedly on how a small number of hyper-partisan judges are using the cover of a legal decision to impose their preferred policy goals on the nation by way of nationwide injunctions and are working actively to stymie any effort by the Trump administration to create its own policies.  While malicious decisions have affected all manner of programs, they are most pronounced and frequent in those areas most cherished by progressives, in particular, immigration.  In its very first days, the Trump administration was forbidden to place any limits on travel to the US from failed states or state sponsors of terrorism.  It took several trips to the Supreme Court before the Resistance was overcome.  One of the most egregious was the decision to forbid the Trump administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  This program, patently illegal and created by a simple memorandum signed by Janet Napolitano, should have been easily quashed, but it wasn't.  Now at least three federal judges have taken the position that a memo written four Homeland Security secretaries ago cannot be rescinded.

Second federal judge blocks Trump administration's citizenship question.  A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from including a citizenship question on the 2020 census, ruling the decision to add the question is unconstitutional.  U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the district court in San Francisco is the second federal judge to reject the Trump administration's bid to include the citizenship question on the upcoming census questionnaire.  It's a fraught political issue, with Democrats calling the citizenship question a thinly-veiled effort to supress counting of minorities — a charge Republicans roundly reject.

Another judicial travesty on the 2020 Census citizenship question.  [Scroll down]  Here's the reality:  motive is irrelevant.  What [Wilbur] Ross said he wanted is one thing; he probably should have been more direct.  But the right to know isn't irrelevant.  And all that's being asked for in that Census questionnaire is information — information that every resident is legally bound to answer.  The argument presented from the Left is that illegal aliens won't answer the Census if a citizenship question is on it, and they must be accommodated.  Yet not answering is exactly what's breaking the law, not the question.  Illegals have already broken immigration law by entering the U.S. illegally, setting up shop, having citizen children, and taking jobs.  Many have stolen Americans' identification either to steal money or to pursue work.  The fact that illegals are likely to display the same lawless attitude on the matter of answering the Census just illustrates the chain of lawlessness surrounding illegal immigration.  In squelching the citizenship question, the judge is ruling that the Census should actually accommodate them, not the rest of us, and not the right to know.

Court Rules Father Cannot Halt Daughter's Transgender Hormones, or Even Call Her a Girl.  Last Wednesday [2/27/2019], the Supreme Court of British Columbia (B.C.) ruled that a 14-year-old girl may undergo transgender hormone "treatments" to support her transgender identity as a boy — without her father's consent.  The court went so far as to threaten to penalize the father's speech.  If he calls his daughter a girl, that would constitute "family violence," which would be punishable by law.  The B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the girl (referred to as A.B.) "is exclusively entitled to consent to medical treatment for gender dysphoria and to take any necessary legal proceedings in relation to such medical treatment," and that "attempting to persuade A.B. to abandon treatment for gender dysphoria; addressing A.B. by his birth name; referring to A.B. as a girl or with female pronouns whether to him directly or to third parties; shall be considered to be family violence under s. 38 of the Family Law Act."

Judge calls citizenship question on Census a threat to democracy.  A federal court on Wednesday banned the Trump administration from asking about citizenship on the 2020 census, saying even including the question at this point would threaten the foundations of American democracy.  Judge Richard Seeborg's ruling is the second to ding the administration over the citizenship question.  But where a court in New York gave the Census Bureau a chance at a do-over, Judge Seeborg said there can't be "another bite at the apple."  He issued an outright ban on including the citizenship question in the 2020 count.

Clinton Judge Orders Texas to Stop Removing Non-Citizens from Voter Rolls.  Judge Fred Biery, a Clinton nominee, lives up to his nominator's reputation as an embarrassment to the bench. [...] Using DMV data is a perfectly legitimate starting point.  The second step in the process is actually contacting the persons in questions and asking them to verify whether they're naturalized citizens or not.  Without that second step, it becomes quite difficult to determine someone's citizenship status conclusively under current parameters.

You can vote all you want, but a single activist judge may decide he has better ideas.
NC judge strikes down voter ID amendment.  A controversial voter ID amendment in North Carolina is no more.  The measure was one of two constitutional amendments passed in the last election that a superior court judge in North Carolina threw out on Friday [2/22/2019].  Wake County Judge Bryan Collins ruled that a new voter ID amendment and a cap on state income tax, both passed by North Carolina residents in the 2018 midterm elections, violated the state constitution.

Texas Dad Court-Ordered To Not Call 6-Yr-Old Son 'He' As Ex-Wife Transitions Him But Not His Twin Brother.  You think your ex-spouse issues are bad?  Well, they're probably not as intense as Jeffrey Younger's.  The Texas father's embroiled in a ferocious custody battle as his former wife attempts to raise their son — James — as their daughter, Luna.

Obama-Appointed Judge Halts Trump's Effort to Advance Domestic Energy Production During Shutdown.  Judge Richard Gergel, U.S. District Court in South Carolina, has halted the Trump administration's effort to continue processing permits to allow seismic testing off the Atlantic coast during the partial government shutdown.  Gergel, appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled last week in a case left-wing environmental groups, some coastal cities, and businesses brought against the Department of Interior "opposed to the administration's efforts to expand U.S. offshore drilling," Offshore Engineer Digital reported.

Judge creates right for illegal alien to block deportation, so she can sue law enforcement.  It's bad enough that illegal immigrants get to break into our country, steal American citizenship from us for their kids ([Roxana Orellana] Santos has three American-born kids, erroneously regarded as Americans), and sue law enforcement for following our sovereignty laws.  But at least she can now be deported, right?  Well, ICE did apprehend her, but Judge Catherine Blake issued a temporary restraining order against her deportation.  The rationale?  Santos is now entitled to finish out her lawsuit against our own sheriff's deputies, thereby blocking her deportation.  As a Maryland resident, I must say it's an outrage that someone can break into my state, sue those who protect us for following all the immigration and criminal justice statutes, and then use that lawsuit to nullify the most foundational federal immigration law to remain here illegally!

Judge Blocks Trump Admin from Adding Citizenship Question to 2020 Census.  A federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration Tuesday from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 United States Census.  U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said that while a citizenship question is constitutional, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross failed to follow the correct procedure to include it in the forthcoming census.

Judge Blocks Trump Admin from Adding Citizenship Question to 2020 Census.  A federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration Tuesday from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 United States Census.  U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said that while a citizenship question is constitutional, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross failed to follow the correct procedure to include it in the forthcoming census. [...] The question which Ross sought to add reads:  "Is this person a citizen of the United States?"  A question of such nature has not appeared on the census since 1950.

The Editor says...
Judge Jesse Furman was appointed by Barack H. Obama.

Obama Judge Strikes!  Admin Can't Ask on Census If One's a Citizen!  An Obama federal judge in the southern district of New York has ruled against the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.  The Trump administration can't ask if someone is a citizen, even though it was done in 1950.  U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the administration to stop its plans to include the question on forms for the upcoming national head count "without curing the legal defects", the judge identified in his opinion released on Tuesday [1/15/2019].  The Trump administration announced last year that the 2020 census would include a question about U.S. citizenship status.  The left likes to call the question "controversial" because they disagree with it.

Federal judge blocks citizenship question on 2020 census.  A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from asking about citizenship on the 2020 census, ruling that the government cut too many corners in its decision-making on adding the question.  The ruling is a serious blow to President Trump, whose campaign has repeatedly bragged about the controversial question's inclusion.  Judge Jesse M. Furman, an Obama appointee to the bench, rejected immigrant-rights groups' claims that the question was motivated by racism or other nefarious motives, saying those claims went unproven.

Judge blocks Trump rules letting more employers opt out of birth control coverage.  A federal judge on Sunday [1/13/2019] partially blocked President Trump's push to let a wide range of employers ignore an Obamacare-related rule requiring them to insure birth control in their health plans.  The preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam applies to 13 states, plus D.C.  Judge Gilliam, presiding in California, noted strong arguments on both sides of the debate over former President Barack Obama's mandate, which devout business owners and religiously affiliated nonprofit employers have blasted as a violation of their faith or moral beliefs.

Obama-appointed judge rules against Rick Scott's suspension of Florida's 'serial election rigger' Brenda Snipes.  Thanks to a ruling Wednesday by a federal judge appointed to his post nine years ago by President Barack Hussein Obama, disgraced former Broward County supervisor of elections Brenda Snipes may soon be back at her job muddling up more elections.  U.S. District Judge Mark Walker specifically ruled that newly inaugurated Gov. Ron DeSantis must offer Snipes a "meaningful opportunity to be heard" regarding her suspension.  Late last year then-Gov. Rick Scott suspended her for "multiple violations of Florida law, incompetence and neglect of duty."  He announced the suspension roughly two weeks after she submitted her resignation.  Had she been allowed to voluntarily step down in January as she'd initially planned, Snipes would have benefited from a $71,000/year pension as per her stint as the Broward County elections supervisor.

One county just swore in 17 black female judges in Texas.  A new year brought the swearing-in of newly elected officials in Harris County, Texas, and among them were 17 black female judges.  The group of women, who were part of a local democratic campaign called "Black Girl Magic Texas," first made history — and headlines — when they won their respective midterm elections in November.  Together, they make up what is believed to be the largest group of black female judges to be elected at the same time in Harris County history.  The Harris County Democratic Party posted photos of the swearing-in ceremony, which took place on Tuesday morning [1/1/2019].

Stand by for a wave of male prison inmates claiming to be transgender females.  Two federal judges now have ruled, setting the precedent of transferring a male prison inmate to a female prison because he claims to feel that he is a woman and poses as one, and, in the current instance, has undergone surgical mutilation of his reproductive organs.  The "transgender female" is referred to as a "woman" and "she" in the following report from the Associated Press:  ["]A transgender woman serving a 10-year sentence in Illinois for burglary has been moved from a men's to a women's prison in what could be a first for the state, her lawyers announced today.["]  The transfer was forced by a federal judge whom the AP does not wish to identify.  (Why?)  That judge evidently accepts the politically correct line that, contrary to settled science, sex is not determined by chromosomes.

Judge Sullivan Disses the Constitution:  Strikes Down Trump Asylum Policy.  [G]randstanding Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling Dec. 19 throwing a wrench into Trump's revised asylum policy, even ordering the government to bring deportees back to the United States.  Sullivan has been a judge in the swamp for a long time.  Appointed to his current post by President Bill Clinton in 1994, before that he was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 1991.  Before that, President Ronald Reagan appointed Sullivan to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1984.

Judge Says U.N. Rules Require Deported Migrants Be Flown Back into U.S..  The United States agreed in 1980 to implement the United Nation's rules on refugees.  This means a group of recently deported migrants must be flown back to the U.S. and be given another chance to win asylum, a Democratic-appointed judge declared December 17.  "Congress made clear its intent in promulgating the Refugee Act was to bring the United States' domestic laws in line with the [U.N.] Protocol," Judge Emmet Sullivan declared in response to an ACLU lawsuit for several migrants against asylum policies established by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Sullivan added:  "The new credible fear policies are arbitrary, capricious, and in violation of the immigration laws," and so must be discarded.

Judge orders deported asylum seekers to be returned to US, in Trump administration rebuke.  A federal judge on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of ordering that asylum seekers who sued after their deportation be returned to the U.S. to have their claims heard anew, ruling against the Trump administration's revised asylum policies.  The ruling from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington came a day after the same judge presided over a contentious sentencing hearing for former national security adviser Michael Flynn — in which he questioned whether the ex-White House official committed "treason" and accused him of selling out the United States to foreign interests.  He later delayed Flynn's sentencing until 2019, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Sullivan's Travails.  Judge Emmet G. Sullivan was the judge in the Ted Stevens case.  Stevens was the 85-year-old Republican senator from Alaska whose conviction for corruption was set aside by Judge Sullivan because of investigative and prosecutorial abuse.  Prosecutors falsely charged and convicted a sitting U.S. senator whom they knew was innocent.  It is believed that because of Stevens's October conviction, he lost his November re-election bid to Democratic challenger Mark Begich.  Judge Sullivan angrily stated when he set aside the conviction a month later that, "In nearly 25 years on the bench, I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case."

Ted Stevens recap:
Same Plot, Different Actors.  [Scroll down]  In the Stevens case, the government suborned perjury, hid a critical witness for the defense, and suffered no consequences of note for that.  With Stevens out of the Senate, the Democrats rammed through ObamaCare before the serious misconduct of the FBI and DoJ attorneys was known, too late to provide solace to Stevens, who died in a plane crash before the truth was revealed.

The Tyranny of the Judiciary and What to Do about It.  Almost from Day One of his presidency, Donald Trump has been stymied by judges on lower federal courts issuing restraining orders to stop his executive orders and bring his agenda to a screeching halt.  On November 10, National Review ran "Obama's Judges Continue Thwarting Trump," a fine analysis by Andrew C. McCarthy, who explains what's really going on with the injunctions issued by these "rogue" judges.

Obama-Appointed Judge To Keystone Pipeline Developer:  Don't You Dare Haul Pipe To The Work Site.  The Keystone Pipeline is once again facing legal hurdles.  A federal judge in Florida told a developer working on the project that they couldn't even ship pipe to the construction site.  The judge is an Obama-appointee who recently blocked a permit for the long-awaited project in November. [...] President Trump said the construction of this pipeline, which was hamstrung by the Obama administration, would move forward under his presidency.

Catch and Release:  MS-13 Killer Avoided Deportation Because of Obama Judge.  In September 2016, a lawyer named Mario Sturla was appointed as a federal immigration judge by President Obama's attorney general, Loretta Lynch.  Sturla is himself an immigrant, a native of the Dominican Republic who graduated from Brown University in 2003 and got his law degree at Yeshiva University in 2006.  In June, Judge Sturla heard the case of Henri Salvador Gutierrez, a 19-year-old Salvadoran entered the country illegally in 2014.  Gutierrez, whose MS-13 nickname is "Perverso," had been arrested three different times since his arrival in the U.S. and, by the time of his June 22 hearing in Boston, had been in federal detention for seven months.  Homeland Security testified that Gutierrez had been determined "to be a risk to public safety as a verified and active member of the MS-13 gang in the Boston metro area."  Incredibly, Judge Sturla turned the foreign criminal loose on the streets.

Does the Commerce Clause Protect Female Genital Mutilation?  Three weeks ago U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman declared that the twenty-two-year-old federal law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional.  This ruling took Dr. Jumana Nagarwala and seven others off the legal hook for allegedly "circumcising" the genitals of nine girls from Michigan and two adjacent states, girls who were around seven years old when Dr. Nagarwala, an immigrant from India, performed an operation that most American doctors just won't do.  Though only nine girls were included in the charges, it is likely that dozens more underwent a genital cutting ritual observed by a Muslim sect based in India and apparently practiced by several worshipers attending a Farmington Hills, Michigan mosque.  The judge's legal analysis, curiously enough, was based on a constitutional principle that most jurists have ignored since FDR's New Deal-pliant Supreme Court ruled in 1942 in Wickard v. Filburn that an Ohio farmer whose wheat grown solely to feed his own animals was nevertheless subject to federal limits mandated by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 — an act based on the Constitution's Commerce Clause that was originally designed to regulate commerce between largely sovereign states.

Have Federal Courts Become the 'Tyrants' our Founders Feared?  In many ways, President Donald Trump's border fight is a battle on two fronts; one at the border with Mexico, and the other in the federal court system.  Reports of violence against U.S. Border Agents at our southern border with Mexico should remind us that securing the border is a fundamental responsibility of the President.  To at least some left-leaning federal judges, however, that responsibility is so unimportant that they have attempted to tie both of Trump's arms behind his back as he tries to gain control of the chaos down south.  It is fast reaching the point at which a fundamental decision must be made; one with profound consequences:  who runs our country, the president or the unelected judges?

Grand Jury Probing Judge for Helping Migrant Avoid ICE, Say Feds.  A federal grand jury is reportedly investigating a rookie Massachusetts judge after she allegedly allowed a suspected illegal alien to avoid arrest by immigration officers.  The judge reportedly allowed the man to take a rear exit from a courtroom after learning federal officers were planning an arrest.

Trump To Appeal 9th Circuit Court's Ruling On Refugee Policy.  President Donald Trump is appealing a federal judge's decision to block the administration's new policy on refugees.  Trump labelled California justice Jon Tigar "an Obama judge" in response to what the president viewed as judicial activism.  As the Washington Examiner reports, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal Tuesday evening [11/27/2018] in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump continues war of words with Chief Justice Roberts; calls 9th Circuit Court a 'total disaster'.  President Trump on Thursday [11/20/2018] continued his attack on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, calling the court in California a "total disaster" with a "horrible reputation."  "Justice Roberts can say what he wants, but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster," Trump tweeted.  "It is out of control, has a horrible reputation, is overturned more than any Circuit in the Country, 79%, & is used to get an almost guaranteed result.  Judges must not Legislate Security..."

No judge has jurisdiction to erase our border.  No court can ever force the president to allow any alien to enter the country.  No such lawsuit could ever have legitimate standing, and no such decision could have any constitutional moorings.  If we don't understand that, we are no longer a sovereign Republic.  Monday night [11/19/2018], Jon Tigar, an Obama-appointed judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, a forum chosen by the ACLU, penned what is essentially an op-ed expressing his desire that Trump's order on asylum be temporarily enjoined.  His desire is just as binding as my desire to place an injunction on all liberals from running for office.  He has no jurisdiction over immigration, has no jurisdiction over national security, has no jurisdiction over the border, violated endless settled law, violated Article II powers, violated Article I delegated authority, and broke every sane ruling on Article III standing that differentiates a court from a legislature.

Is Justice Roberts an 'Obama Judge'?  [Scroll down]  Roberts capitulated and said ObamaCare was constitutional because it was a tax, a gross distortion that injected into the law the false notion that government could legally force people to buy a product they did not want.  He knelt before the power of the state and not before the Constitution, the document that is supposed to limit government power that he was sworn to uphold and protect.  In this instance at least, John Roberts became a judicial activist aiding and abetting a community organizer.  He became an an Obama judge.

What about Your FISA Judges, Justice Roberts?  As long as we are on the subject of whether there is such an animal as an "Obama judge," let us consider the judges who sit on the FISA court and issue warrants allowing surveillance of American citizens who are suspected foreign agents, essentially taking the uncontested word of the government.  Their actions on behalf of one political campaign, colluding with a corrupt DOJ and FBI to target a political opponent, are not supposed to happen in a country based on the rule of law as administered by supposedly impartial judges.  Empowered to safeguard our national security against foreign actors, they essentially served as an extra-constitutional arm of the Hillary Clinton campaign as it colluded with foreign actors to stage a Deep-State coup against a duly elected president, Donald J. Trump?  Aiding and abetting the legacy of Barack Obama seems like something an "Obama judge" would do.

The Unelected Keep Telling Our Elected President to Shut Up.  Chief Justice John Roberts was appointed to the Supreme Court — appointed.  In fact, the entire judiciary is either clogged by those who have not earned a single vote or by those who won no more than the votes of one of the 50 states.  And yet, when the man chosen by Americans to represent all of America criticizes the judiciary, the top judge in the country tells him to shut up.

The Anti-American Americans.  So here we are, at Thanksgiving, surrounded by a crowd of arrogant, ignorant, self-proclaimed superior people who proclaim, as was once declared about Vietnam, that the only way to save the country is to destroy it.  That the European welfare state is the proper model for us, and that our electoral choices are mostly wrong.  And evil. [...] In Obama's view, we're unworthy of him and his ruling class.  All 57 states' worth, I suppose.  If we dare vote for candidates they don't like, they feel entitled to change the results.  And it isn't just the usual suspects in the media and the schools; it includes the sorry case of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. Roberts, who now suggests that judges are fully empowered to undo the clearly expressed preferences of the American people, and that somehow criticism of them, not their outrageous rulings, was the inappropriate act.  It was deliciously satisfying to see him slapped down by Senator Grassley, an Iowa farmer who understands better than most how politicized the judiciary has become.  He knows how often our judges have somehow come to believe that we have a lot to learn from foreign laws and judges, an amazing development that would have us turn the obvious lessons of the past 250 years upside-down.  Just check out where our judges go during summer vacation, and what they do, and you'll see it.

Roberts raps Trump for "Obama judge" comment.  President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts clashed Wednesday [11/21/2018] in an extraordinary public dispute over the independence of America's judiciary, with Roberts bluntly rebuking the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge."

Of Course We Have Obama Judges and Trump Judges, Clinton Judges and Bush Judges.  One easily can read between the lines of a frustrated and perplexed Chief Justice John Roberts when he now desperately claims, with patent nonsense and perhaps even a dry sense of humor, that "we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."  Of course we do!  The ACLU knows that we do.  Roberts knows that we do.  Everyone knows that.  The radical "Progressive" cabal of Democrats and their Left Media stooges know it.

Genital mutilation ban ruled unconstitutional; judge drops charges.  A federal judge Tuesday [11/20/2018] dismissed female genital mutilation charges against several doctors in the first criminal case of its kind nationwide, ruling the law is unconstitutional.  The opinion by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman comes two weeks after defense lawyers mounted the first challenge to a 22-year-old genital mutilation law that went unused until April 2017.  That's when Dr. Jumana Nagarwala of Northville was arrested and accused of heading a conspiracy that lasted 12 years, involved seven other people and led to mutilating the genitalia of nine girls as part of a religious procedure practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect from India that has a small community in Metro Detroit.

Law banning female genital mutilation ruled unconstitutional; Michigan doctors cleared of charges.  A federal judge on Tuesday [11/20/2018] ruled that the U.S. law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional and dismissed charges against several doctors in Michigan who carried out the procedure on underage girls as part Muslim sect's religious practice.  U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that Congress had no authority to enact a law that criminalizes female genital mutilation (FGM).  "As despicable as [FGM] may be... [Congress] overstepped its bounds" by banning the procedure, the judge said.

Muslim Female Genital Mutilation in America:  Legalized by Judge.  Two years ago, several doctors in the Detroit area, and their staff members participated in female genital mutilations of female children under nine years of age.  They've performed the barbaric Muslim ritual on hundreds of female children for 12 years until apprehended two years ago.  On October 20, 2018, an American judge ruled against the Michigan law that made the ritual illegal, and gave the doctors and their staff members, all Muslims, a free pass to continue.  Where are the feminists?  Where is the U.S. Constitution as to free choice about one's body?  No one possesses the right to disfigure or dismember another person's body, whatsoever.  Female genital mutilation proves the most barbaric, disgusting, cruel and violent act against a young female child under nine years of age.  What is it?  A practitioner uses glass or razor blades to cut the clitoris off along with slicing out the labia's majora and minora.  They use no anesthetic.  Then the practitioner sews up the vagina just enough to allow the child to urinate.  Often the child dies from sepsis and other vaginal infections.

Judge strikes down Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban.  A federal judge struck down a law in Mississippi banning abortion after 15 weeks.  U.S. District Judge Carlton Wayne Reeves ruled that the Mississippi law "unequivocally" violated the 14th Amendment, the portion of the Constitution that was used to justify Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.  Roe legalized abortion across the country for up until fetal viability, which is generally understood to be up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.  "Mississippi's law violates Supreme Court precedent, and in doing so it disregards the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of autonomy for women desiring to control their own reproductive health," Reeves, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in his opinion.

Thanks, Judge!  Caravan immigrants take judicial ruling as green light to enter the U.S. illegally.  Caravan migrants have heard a lefty judge's ruling to block President Trump's executive order halting asylum claims at the border, and sure enough, are taking it as a 'ready-set-go' opening gun.  They're telling the press they're set to illegally enter the U.S. because the penalty for entering illegally is now off, thanks to the Ninth Circuit's lefty Judge Jon S. Tigar.  It's just as I suspected would happen yesterday, because people know an incentive when they see one.

Judge Tigar Strikes Again.  [Scroll down]  Getting around America's border protections has been easy.  Simply cross our borders illegally, apply for asylum, never show up for your asylum hearing, and join the ranks of the millions of illegal aliens already living in America.  The administration's new rule was aimed at putting a stop to this absurdity.  We already know from Tigar's Shiloh Heavenly Quine ruling that the judge is not dedicated to upholding the Constitution.  It is clear that he has a political agenda instead.  When Barack Obama was in office, he pushed beyond common sense and the plain meaning of the Constitution to advance the cause of "fundamentally transforming America."  With Donald Trump in the Oval Office, he has become part of The Resistance.

Feinstein And Harris Would Like To Pick Trump's Judicial Nominees For Him.  Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris have sent a request to the White House in hopes of cutting a deal whereby they will agree to a couple of Trump's nominees to the Ninth Circuit if he will, in turn, nominate a couple of people from their list.

San Francisco Judge Blocks Asylum Ban For Aliens Who Cross Border Illegally.  Late last night another activist judge, U.S. District Judge Jon Steven Tigar in San Francisco (Obama appointee), issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's modified emergency asylum policy which barred asylum for aliens who enter the country illegally.  Setting up, yet again, another likely higher court appeal/decision.  While a challenge was predictable, frustrating and likely to be spun up by media, the ruling only applies to aliens who gain illegal entry and request asylum.  Nothing in the ruling stops the hardened border enforcement and/or current expedited review and deportation program.

Judge bars US from enforcing Trump asylum ban.  President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Nov. 9 that said anyone who crossed the southern border between official ports of entry would be ineligible for asylum.  As the first of several caravans of migrants have started arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said an asylum ban was necessary to stop what he's attacked as a national security threat.  But in his ruling Monday [11/19/2018], U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar agreed with legal groups that immediately sued, arguing that U.S. immigration law clearly allows someone to seek asylum even if they enter the country between official ports of entry.

But Who's Counting? (And For How Long?)  Just as Floridians began to think they would at least know who their governor-elect would be after this Thursday's [11/152018] deadline for the machine recount in that race, a Tallahassee circuit judge, one Karen Gievers, has dashed these hopes.  In response to a lawsuit filed by a Democrat, she has decided a deadline isn't really a deadline.  More of a suggestion line, I guess.  Her Honor has allowed Palm Beach County to have five more days to get its recount results in because Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher says she can't produce those results by this Thursday.  Heartwarming.  Sort of reminds one of that kindly professor back in college who you could usually talk into giving you a few more days to get your term paper in.

Ninth Circuit allows Mexican citizens to sue American Border Patrol agents.  It's bad enough that foreign nationals can invade our border, make demands on our agents, demand welfare, demand schooling, be counted in the Census, and claim citizenship for their children.  Now foreign nationals can sue our border agents for doing their jobs and protecting us from the perils they foist upon our brave men and women.  In another case of a GOP-appointed judge siding with the most radical legal theories of the Left, Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew Kleinfeld ruled earlier last week that border agent Lonnie Swartz is not covered by qualified immunity, thereby allowing a Mexican woman to sue him for shooting her teenage son during border violence in 2012.

Trump White House Responds to Judge's Ruling that CNN's Jim Acosta Has Right to Disrupt White House Pressers.  On Friday morning [11/16/2018] a federal judge ruled that the Trump White House must restore jackass Jim Acosta's hard press pass.  This is unbelievable.  In any other business this jackass would be fired — at CNN he is defended in court.

Judge Orders White House to Reinstate Press Credentials for CNN's Jim Acosta.  A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to immediately return the White House press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

Jim Acosta given new life by a Trump appointed judge.  U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly has ruled that the White House must restore to CNN's Jim Acosta a hard pass that allows him back into the White House to attend press conferences and such.  Unlike the usual scenario that sees an Obama-appointed judge seemingly up-end the rule of law by blocking some Trump Administration initiative or other, knowing that the politically motivated ruling will be affirmed by the Clinton-Obama-dominated United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, this ruling for CNN and Acosta was handed down by a federal judge with strong ties to the conservative Federalist Society.  Indeed, Judge Kelly was named to the bench by President Trump himself.

Obama Judges Can't Save Dem Losers.  Obama-appointed federal judges have brazenly rewritten election statutes to favor Democrats challenging the outcomes of races in Florida and Georgia.  In both states, however, the apparent losers haven't benefited from arbitrary changes these partisan jurists made in the laws by which election officials are legally bound.  Thursday, for example, an Obama appointee changed the rules governing how mail-in ballots with signature mismatches must be handled in Florida — just hours before the legally-mandated recount deadline.  In Georgia, two Obama appointees changed the rules regarding how to count incomplete absentee ballots, provisional ballots, and even delayed certification dates.  None of it worked.  The Florida ruling was handed down by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who was nominated by Obama in 2012.  Walker is a happy partisan who salts his rulings with sarcastic editorial allusions to Governor Scott's administration and whose wife has made campaign contributions to the governor's Democratic opponent in the Florida Senate race, Democrat Bill Nelson.

Obama's Judges Continue Thwarting Trump.  As I write on Friday [11/9/2018], the restraining order hasn't come down yet.  But it's just a matter of time.  Some federal district judge, somewhere in the United States, will soon issue an injunction blocking enforcement of the Trump administration's restrictions on asylum applications.  The restrictions come in the form of a rule promulgated jointly by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and a proclamation issued by President Trump.  In conjunction, they assert that an alien who wishes to apply for asylum in the United States must act lawfully:  An alien who is physically present here and wishes to apply must be in the country legally; an alien outside the country who wishes to apply must present himself at a lawful port of entry — not attempt to smuggle his way in or force his way in as part of a horde (i.e., no invasions by caravan).

Federal Judge Considers Halting Obamacare Nation Wide.  Remember when liberals cheered when a federal judge halted the implementation of President Trump's travel ban?  Well, now they are getting a taste of their own medicine.  A Federal Judge is considering to halt Obamacare on a national level.

SF judge throws out charges against homeless people camping on sidewalk.  A San Francisco judge dismissed criminal charges Thursday against three homeless people who were arrested for camping or sleeping on the streets, a decision that follows a federal appeals court ruling barring cities from prosecuting such cases when no shelters are available.  District Attorney George Gascón, who has announced a new policy of charging people with illegal camping only when they reject an offer of an available shelter, did not challenge the dismissals.  But Gascón and Public Defender Jeff Adachi's office appear to be at odds on what a city has to do to make shelters "available."

Sessions vows 'emergency' Supreme Court battles amid 'outrageous' discovery rulings by federal judges.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday lit into federal judges for what he called a dramatic uptick in "outrageous" decisions threatening to interfere with the separation of powers by exposing internal White House deliberations.  In a fiery speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, Sessions warned that "once we go down this road in American government, there is no turning back." [...] Sessions specifically singled out New York district court judge Jesse M. Furman, who ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross could be questioned in an ongoing lawsuit concerning the legality of the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Bring on More Kavanaughs!  No man or woman — let alone their children — should be forced to endure the slanders that Brett Kavanaugh and his family experienced in the past three weeks.  If good and decent people of talent and brains now decide to run and hide in fear of a similar onslaught, it would be disastrous for the United States and for our future.  Surrender to that onslaught, giving a victory to the bullies and McCarthyites of the Left who want to end all opposition and dissent, and have been working most intensely for the past decade to undo the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is unthinkable.  They cannot be allowed to cement their hold on power.  No, now is not the time to hide.  Now is not the time for Americans who believe in the Constitution, in freedom, in the rule of law, in the presumption of innocence, of freedom of speech, of limited government, of due process, of the right to bear arms (rights all delineated clearly in the Bill of Rights) to shirk their responsibilities and hide from the assault of the smear machine of the Left.

Democrats agree to confirmations of 15 Trump judges.  Senate Democrats accepted an offer Thursday [10/11/2018] from Senate Republicans to confirm 15 lifetime federal judges in exchange for the ability to go into recess through the midterms, allowing endangered Democrats to campaign.  The calculation by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus was simple:  That Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be able to confirm roughly 15 judges if he kept the Senate in session for the next few weeks anyway.  So Democrats OK'd an offer to confirm three Circuit Court judges and 12 Circuit Court judges as the price to pay to go home for election season.

Trump defies California senators with 9th Circuit judge nominations.  After months of negotiations and delays, the White House is moving to fill California's three vacancies on the influential 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — over the strenuous objections of the state's two Democratic senators.  White House officials had been negotiating with Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, earlier in the year about filling these and other federal court vacancies in the state.  But that dialogue collapsed this past summer, Senate aides said.

Trump snubs Feinstein, Harris to nominate conservative judges to liberal 9th Circuit.  President Trump is plowing ahead to fill three vacancies on the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, brushing aside Democratic resistance to nominate conservative judges.  Presidents traditionally work with senators from judicial nominees' home state — in this case, California — to put forward judicial picks.  They often seek what's known as a "blue slip," or an opinion from those senators.  But in a snub to California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, the White House announced Wednesday that Trump had nominated Patrick Bumatay, Daniel Collins and Kenneth Kiyul Lee (all from the Golden State, and reportedly all members of the conservative Federalist Society) to the influential circuit.

Court rules for California over Trump in sanctuary city case.  A U.S. judge on Friday blocked the Trump Administration from placing conditions on public safety grants to further its crackdown on illegal immigration, and he ordered the grant money to be released to California "sanctuary cities."

Judge blocks DHS from ousting Haitians, Salvadorans, blaming derogatory Trump comment.  A federal judge blocked the administration's attempt to cancel legal status for migrants from four countries, ruling Wednesday that President Trump poisoned the decision-making by calling them [bad] countries.  The ruling means hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan, who were going to be forced to return to their home countries, can remain in the U.S. under special humanitarian protections.  Though the decision to rescind Temporary Protected Status was made by Homeland Security, Judge Edward M. Chen, an Obama appointee to the bench, ruled that the White House put pressure on the department.

Does Ruth Bader Ginsburg still have the judicial temperament to sit on the Supreme Court?  [Scroll down]  The question that does arise is whether something has changed these past two years in Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She has become a hero of the Left by attacking President Trump.  It is personal.  She has spoken, and we all have read and heard.  She hates the man, and she surprisingly has lost that internal thermostat that inhibits a proper judge from being so candid about how much she hates someone.  It seems impossible to reconcile how she can sit as a justice on any case matter that touches on Trump Administration policies and initiatives.  Her prejudice is palpable.  It seems quite impossible to reconcile her refusing to recuse herself when any matter stemming from a Trump initiative comes before the Court.

Sen. Jeff Merkley demands immediate court ruling to halt Kavanaugh vote.  Sen. Jeff Merkley asked a court Thursday afternoon to quickly step in and delay the Senate from voting on this weekend on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.  Mr. Merkley has filed a long-shot lawsuit arguing President Trump has violated the Constitution by withholding documents from Judge Kavanaugh's past, denying senators the ability to make an informed decision on the nomination.  That, he says, violates the Constitution's demand that the Senate give "advice and consent" on nominations.  The Oregon Democrat asked for a hearing Friday afternoon [10/5/2018] or Saturday morning, just before the Senate is expected to hold a final vote on the judge's elevation.

Dawdling Democrats must stay after school.  Politico shed even its thin veneer of objectivity to report, "McConnell screws Dems ahead of election with October session."  Work in October?  Why they haven't had a vacation since August.  Politico reported, "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to keep the chamber in session for a significant portion of October if not four entire weeks, costing Democrats key campaign trail days and allowing the Senate to continue its work into the fall, according to five Republican officials.  The Kentucky Republican wants to keep cranking through as many lifetime judicial nominations and executive nominations as he can with his majority in the balance and the GOP still with the unilateral ability to confirm President Donald Trump's picks."  Not just judicial nominations, but "lifetime judicial nominations," as if there were another kind in Washington.

Illegals emboldened and getting more violent as judges thwart Trump.  Violence?  From illegals?  The report is a contradiction of the "narrative" put out by the left, its press allies, and even some libertarians, that illegals commit far fewer crimes than the average American and therefore rule of law is unimportant.  Illegals, after all, are just moms and toddlers, coming here to celebrate Mother's Day, aren't they?

Judge dismisses all charges against 3 'extremist Muslim' New Mexico compound suspects.  Three suspects tied to a New Mexico compound where alleged Muslim extremists reportedly trained children to be school shooters were released from custody on Wednesday, hours after a judge dismissed all of the charges against them, Fox News confirmed.  District Judge Emilio Chavez on Wednesday dismissed charges against three of the five defendants — Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj — ruling that authorities violated the state's "10-day rule."  Child abuse charges against them were dropped because prosecutors missed the 10-day limit for an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause.

Senate Fast-Tracks Trump's Judicial Nominees As Dems Cave.  On Tuesday [8/28/2018] the Senate cut a deal to fast-track votes on 11 nominations to the judiciary, seven of which were President Trump's nominees for district court judges. [...] Even one vote from a Democratic senator against the deal would have forced the Senate to consider the nominations one at a time, but no Democratic senator voted against the fast-track process.

Obama-appointed federal judge ditches Trump's executive order making it easier to fire bad federal workers.  This has become the go-to tactic of the left in the Trump era:  When the president exercises any sort of executive authority whatsoever, all you have to do is find a liberal federal judge who is willing to rule Trump's action illegal.  Often these judges have no authority to even get involved with these cases (looking at you, Judge Derrick Watson), but ties up the administration and forces them to file appeals — often taking them all the way to the Supreme Court where the White House inevitably wins — thus exceedingly complicating the process of governing.

The Courts v. the President of the United States.  The judicial branch, whose reach was once tightly circumscribed by the Constitution but is now apparently all encompassing, has zero authority over the chief executive or the executive branch and has no business ruling on executive orders, as the Supreme Court decision on Trump's "travel ban" should have settled.  Further, the collective bargaining agreement under which the federal employees unions operate is itself the product of executive orders issued by John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.  The statute in question dates from the Carter administration.  So once again, as in the DACA case (in which Trump has sought to overturn a previous president's executive order, in this instance, Obama's), rogue members of the lesser federal judiciary have "ruled" that the current president cannot remand a prior occupant's arbitrary decrees.

The Swamp protects its own:
U.S. judge rejects Trump directives easing ability to fire federal workers.  A U.S. federal judge on Saturday [8/25/2018] rejected key elements of President Donald Trump's May executive orders that would make it easier to fire federal employees and reduce their ability to bargain collectively.

Judge Strikes Down Key Parts of Trump's Orders Easing the Firing of Federal Workers.  A federal district judge in Washington struck down most of the key provisions of three executive orders that President Trump signed in late May that would have made it easier to fire federal employees.  The ruling, issued early Saturday [8/25/2018], is a blow to Republican efforts to rein in public-sector labor unions, which states like Wisconsin have aggressively curtailed in recent years.  In June, the Supreme Court dealt public-sector unions a major blow by ending mandatory union fees for government workers nationwide.  (Federal workers were already exempt from paying such fees.)  The ruling is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the administration, which has suffered losses in court in its efforts to wield executive authority to press its agenda on immigration, voting and the environment.

Judge Tells New Citizens to 'Take A Knee'.  Out of sheer boredom, I decided to go down to the second floor early and could hear the judge bellowing at the newly sworn-in Americans through the closed door.  A few other friends and family of new citizens had the same idea and we compared notes on the possible identity of the loudmouth judge.  "It is Judge LaShann DeArcy," someone said.  Her full name is LaShann Moutique DeArcy Hall.  She is an Obama appointee, naturally, and she is astonishingly obnoxious.  Talk about an entitled judicial activist, whose ego is as expansive as her name.  Her speech to the new citizens, to the extent that I could hear it, was appalling.  Sounding like a Democratic Party ward boss, she urged the new citizens to vote as soon as humanly possible.  She made voting sound like a tremulous act of self-defense against the country they had just joined.  The exhortation, needless to say, gave off a strong anti-Republican, anti-Trump whiff.  Then she started in on some ludicrous riff about the First Amendment, encouraging the new Americans to exercise that right as robustly as possible, including by "taking a knee."  Huh?  So here we have a federal court judge, who just turned a room full of foreigners into American citizens, and her first piece of advice to them is:  boycott the American flag you have just been handed.

Obama-appointed federal judge removed from all his criminal cases.  After weeks of progressive fulminations against Judge T.S. Ellis over his handling of the just-completed trial of Paul Manafort, a federal judge has been removed from all his criminal cases.  To this dismay of those on the Left, he is an Obama appointee, Judge Colin Stirling Bruce of the Central District of Illinois.  Michael Karm, Associated Press legal affairs correspondent, reports:  ["]A federal judge in two of Illinois' highest profile cases has been removed from hearing all his criminal cases after it was revealed he exchanged emails with an employee at the U.S. attorney's office in which he commented on and joked about one of his trials in progress at the time.["]

Judge halts full DACA restart.  The federal judge who had ordered the government to restart the Obama-era deportation amnesty in full has backed off his decision and said the government does not, after all, have to begin accepting new applications.  Judge John D. Bates acknowledged the legal mess that's arisen around the program, called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and said he didn't want to make it worse, so he issued a partial stay of his own ruling.  That means that while "Dreamers" who already have had DACA protections can apply for renewals, no new applicants can seek to start the process.

Obama's third term: 13 times courts said Trump must continue Obama's lawless policies.  With the runaway train of judicial supremacy consuming our political system, do elections really matter any more?  Anyone who has his head above the sand should recognize by now that the unelected judiciary — what was supposed to be the weakest branch of government — has been accorded the status of sole and final arbiter of every social and political question in recent years.  But there is a subset of this judicial tyranny that is particularly disturbing.  In addition to overstepping their jurisdiction, ignoring the Constitution, and abusing the rules of standing, courts are now using Obama's discretionary executive policies (many of which were lawless) as a new legal baseline, thereby prohibiting Trump from merely reverting back to the way things were before Obama unilaterally changed the law.

Judicial lunacy:  New Mexico's accused school shooter-training terrorist let out on bail.  A missing child.  A dead body found on a "compound."  Eleven starving kids.  A police warning about a training camp to train school shooters.  A raving maniac of the Islamic fanatic persuasion.  And somehow, none of that's quite good enough to hold the creep behind that utterly disturbing picture in jail for trial.  Solitary for Paul Manafort for a decades-old crime, sure, but this guy, Sirraj Wahhaj, and all his buddies get let out to go about their business.

Judge Releases 5 Suspects From Muslim Extremist Compound Who Were Allegedly Training Children for School Shootings.  Against the wishes of the Taos County sheriff, undersheriff, prosecutors and the FBI, Judge Sarah Backus ordered all five suspects arrested in the raid of the New Mexico compound, released.  Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Lucas Morton, 40, Jany Leveille, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 37, and Subhannah Wahhaj, 35 were arrested on child abuse charges.  The eleven children in the compound were taken into state custody.  All were substantially malnourished, kept in rags, and had no access to clean water.

The Editor says...
You can bet that if it had been a bunch of Christians keeping kids in a squalid pile of old tires out in the desert, the adults would all be kept in jail permanently.  But these people — allegedly operating what amounts to a terrorist training camp — must be released because ... islamophobia!

Unbelievable: New Mexico Judge Allows Jihadis Released on Signature Bond.  The five extremists of the New Mexico jihadist compound, where a 3-year-old was murdered, are being released from custody pending trial without any bail whatsoever.  They are free on a a mere signature bond; a promise to return for trial.

Judge Orders Return of Two Deported Asylum Seekers to U.S..  A federal judge on Thursday [8/9/2018] stopped the deportations of an asylum-seeking woman and her young daughter who were already aboard a plane to El Salvador, criticizing the Trump administration for trying to remove them while they were challenging their cases in court.  In Washington, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of court if U.S. officials didn't immediately return the pair to the U.S.

The Editor asks...
Why is it so very imperative to return these two people to the U.S.?

A judge ruled that the Trump administration must keep DACA alive.  A U.S. District Court judge in the District of Columbia ruled Friday that the Obama-era program offering temporary protected status to a cohort of immigrants brought here illegally as children must remain in place despite efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle it.  Judge John D. Bates excoriated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's arguments to end the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Federal Judge Rules Trump Administration Must Fully Restart The DACA Program.  A federal judge ruled on Friday afternoon that the Trump administration must restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  Judge John Bates stated in his opinion that the Trump administration failed to provide sufficient justification for ending President Obama's program.  The program itself provides temporary opportunities for children who were brought into the United States illegally to remain in the country.  Some 800,000 people, nicknamed "Dreamers," have been allowed to stay in the country under DACA.

Judge Orders Trump:  Help ACLU Give Legal aid to Deported Migrants.  President Donald Trump's administration must find the deported migrant-parents who separated themselves from their children in the United States, says the Californian judge who is trying to govern the nation's immigration policies.  "The reality is that for every parent who is not located there will be a permanently orphaned child and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration," U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw said Friday [8/3/2018] as he announced that he would pick a federal official to help ACLU lawyers meet the deported migrants.

The Editor says...
If anyone sneaks into this country illegally, knowing it is illegal, knowing it is risky, it is not the Trump administration's fault if bad things happen to them.  If the parents are rounded up and deported, leaving the kids here by themselves, the kids are far better off:  At least they're more likely to enjoy regular meals, clean clothes, and an occasional dental exam.  If their parents are living in another country, that doesn't mean the kids are orphans.  An impenetrable barrier across the entire U.S.-Mexico border would eliminate all this manufactured grief about separated families.

How Many Divisions Does Judge Bates Command?  To begin:  federal judges have no authority — none — to countermand an executive order issued by the president of the United States in the lawful pursuit of his executive function under Article Two of the Constitution.  And yet, so out of line has the lesser judiciary — that is to say, every federal judge below the Supreme Court level — become that we have now arrived at this blatantly unconstitutional pass.

Federal Judge Undermines Two Rights By Blocking 3D Printer Files.  Honestly, it seemed like I was the only one excited by the prospect of 3D printing your own firearms and parts.  While there was plenty of press about the Justice Department's decision to stop trying to prevent Defense Distributed from spreading the files, it just didn't seem like there was a lot of interest in folks printing their own parts.  Fair enough.  In fact, if the anti-gunners had realized that, they might have taken a step back and recognized that maybe this wasn't the threat they thought it was.  Too bad that's something they just can't do.  They don't know how to ignore something that doesn't seem to have much interest from the firearm community in the first place.  So, they found a friendly judge and got him to infringe on two rights, not just the right to keep and bear arms.

3D gun blueprint restraining order is ultimate test for rejecting judicial supremacism.  A semi-retired judge in a congressionally-created court might want to ban Computer Aided Design (CAD) files of 3D gun prints he doesn't like, but it doesn't mean we no longer have a 3-dimensional system of government.  We still have two other branches of the federal government with more robust powers.  The question is:  will the case of a district judge granting random states standing to bar nationwide the publishing of blueprints for 3D prints of guns be the final straw that will galvanize conservatives and libertarians to finally put the courts in their place?

Judge issues temporary restraining order stopping release of 3D-printed gun.  A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday blocking a Texas organization from posting new online blueprints for 3D-printed guns, delivering a last-minute win to gun control backers who were worried about the implications of untraceable firearms being manufactured at home.  Defense Distributed had planned to make 3D blueprints widely available over the internet on Wednesday, but U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik ordered a halt and reimposed Obama-era restrictions that blocked the plans' distribution.  The Trump administration reversed the rules this year.

The Editor says...
Free people, or careful people at least, have made their own guns at home for centuries.  This is nothing new, except that the printed guns are made of plastic.  The talking heads on TV, whose strings are pulled by the Left, say plastic guns could pass through the airport screening process undetected and lead to hijackings.  That may (or may not) be true, but the widespread ability to make unregistered, untraceable, disposable weapons at home is much more worrisome to big government bureaucrats and tyrants.

Judge tosses out Trump administration's lawsuit against California's sanctuary state law.  A federal judge on Monday [7/9/2018] threw out the Trump administration's legal effort to overturn California's immigration laws, marking a major defeat to the administration's war on sanctuary states.  Judge John Mendez approved California's motion to dismiss the federal government's lawsuit related to Senate Bill 54.  The state's sanctuary law also known as the California Values Act, and Assembly Bill 103 — allows the state attorney general to inspect detention centers, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Judge says Pakistan-born terrorist convicted of helping Al-Qaeda can Keep his US citizenship after government tried to take it away.  The government can't strip a terrorist of his U.S. citizenship, a federal judge ruled this month in a decision siding with a Pakistan-born man serving the last few years of a 20-year prison sentence for his guilty plea to plotting to destroy New York's Brooklyn Bridge.  The case involves Iyman Faris, who was sentenced in 2003 for aiding and abetting Al-Qaeda by scoping out the bridge as part of a plot to cut through cables that support it.  His case was among the first and highest-profile terrorism cases after the September 11 attacks.

Judge Vacates Terrorism Convictions of Muslim Who Trained with Pakistani Jihad Group.  A federal judge has overturned a man's conviction on terrorism charges, saying Seifullah Chapman should be released because of a shift in how the law defines violent crime.  In 2004, Chapman was sentenced as part of the Virginia "Paintball Jihad" network, which used games to train for armed combat.  District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in eastern Virginia ordered Chapman, a former U.S. Marine, to be freed immediately and to serve three years of supervised release.  The move dramatically shortens the 65-year prison term he had been serving.

The Real Threat to American Democracy.  A core belief on which America is based is that political power flows not from elite rulers, but from the people.  The people elect representatives, and if those representatives do things the people don't like, the people elect someone new.  We see this in the case of Obamacare.  The Democrats pushed this first step toward socialized medicine through, and in the next election, the people voted the Democrats out.  When judges make up laws rather than interpret the law, including the Constitution, they subvert our democracy by arrogating to themselves the power that belongs to the people through their representatives.  For example, 55,000,000 Americans voted against redefining marriage, yet a few rich white lawyers on the Supreme Court imposed gay "marriage" on the country.

Judge temporarily stops deportation of reunited families.  A federal judge on Monday [7/16/2018] ordered a temporary halt to any deportations of immigrant families who were reunited after being separated by the Trump administration at the border.

How the founders failed to prevent judicial activism.  The original list of 17 amendments were designated "articles" by their author, James Madison.  Ten were ultimately ratified as the Bill of Rights by the end of 1791. [...] This was Article 16, which read:  "The powers delegated by the constitution to the government of the United States, shall be exercised as therein appropriated, so that the legislative shall never exercise the powers vested in the executive or judicial; nor the executive the powers vested in the legislative or judicial; nor the judicial the powers vested in the legislative or executive."  Had it not been scrapped, this Article would have solved the entire issue of "ceding" power from one branch to another, as it is a direct command expressly prohibiting the behavior.  There is no gray area — no chance of misinterpretation by the left or right.

Judges Revive Catch-and-Release For Migrants With Children.  Administration officials are releasing thousands of migrants with young children into the United States, as required by judges, marking the return of catch-and-release policies for migrants with children.  Migrants with children are being released with ankle monitors so they can be tracked by border officials.  Officials admitted that the ankle-monitors do little to help enforcement officers find and repatriate the vast majority of the migrants who lose their asylum pleas, and that a large percentage of the first set of migrants' children are not being reunified by their parents because of concerns about criminal activity.

'Access to Literacy' Is Not a Constitutional Right, Judge in Detroit Rules.  Do students at poorly performing schools have a constitutional right to a better education?  On Friday [6/29/2018], a Federal District Court judge in Michigan decided that they did not when he dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by students at troubled schools in Detroit.  The suit, filed in September 2016, argued that students at some of the city's most underperforming schools — serving mostly racial minorities — had been denied "access to literacy" because of underfunding, mismanagement and discrimination.

Federal Judge Rejects Trump Admin Bid to Block California Sanctuary City Laws.  In March, the Justice Department sued the state of California over laws protecting illegal aliens from being detained by ICE.  The lawsuit named Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and challenged the three recently passed sanctuary city laws.  Thursday's [7/5/2018] ruling doesn't completely eliminate the possibility the Trump administration could win this lawsuit in the future, however, it is a temporary set back for an administration that is looking to bring law and order quickly.

Judge tosses suit alleging Trump campaign conspired with Russians in hack: report.  A federal judge on Tuesday [7/3/2018] tossed a lawsuit claiming that the Trump campaign and former adviser Roger Stone colluded with WikiLeaks and the Russian government to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the presidential election.  U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said in a ruling that the allegations of conspiracy were insubstantial to proceed in a court, Politico reported.

Judge's Meddling in Kentucky Medicaid Causes Benefit Cuts.  Before federal Judge James Boasberg vacated Kentucky HEALTH, a Medicaid demonstration project approved by HHS in January and due to be launched on July 1, he should have taken the time to learn about its benefits.  State officials tried to tell him that non-medical vision and dental coverage were available only through that project, and that these benefits would have to be cut if he struck it down.  But the Obama-appointed judicial hack was so intent on killing its "community engagement" provision that nearly half a million Kentucky residents became collateral damage in the Democratic war against work.

A U.S. District Court Judge Nullifies Provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  On June 27, a U.S. District Court Judge in Philadelphia, who had sustained a complaint filed by the city arguing that the Department of Justice (DOJ) rules forbidding grants to sanctuary cities should be enjoined, issued an additional memorandum regarding the filing of detainers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with police officials to seek custody of alien criminals.  Whether or not to honor such detainers, or even provide information to ICE about the individuals in police custody, is at the heart of the sanctuary movement, and what the DOJ grant funding regulations were designed to encourage.  For its part, ICE has revamped the operating policies under which detainers are issued, and even modified the detainer form itself to make clear that the filing represents a finding of probable cause that the alien arrested and in police custody is in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.

Trump administration showed 'bad faith' in adding citizenship to census, judge says.  A federal judge expressed skepticism Tuesday over the Trump administration's move to add a citizenship question onto the main 2020 census, saying the states have made a good argument that the federal government acted in "bad faith."  U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, an Obama appointee, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross initially claimed that he added the question at the request of the Justice Department was undercut by his recent admission that he was thinking about it even before then.  He ordered the government to disclose a host of information on its decision-making, and signaled he's unlikely to toss the lawsuit, as the Trump administration had asked.

How a Judicial Hack Halted Kentucky's Medicaid Work Plan.  U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, providing a timely object lesson in leftwing judicial activism, has vacated the Medicaid work rules created by the state of Kentucky and approved by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).  The ostensible basis of the ruling is that the Secretary of HHS approved the program in an "arbitrary and capricious manner," but its text reveals that the judge's reasoning has more to do with personal ideology than federal law.  Much of the decision is devoted to scolding President Trump and his administration for daring to alter Obamacare's Medicaid expansion in any manner.  In a ruling rife with partisan editorial commentary Judge Boasberg sniffs, "It is no secret that the current administration hopes to 'prompt[ly] repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,'" as if such aspirations are somehow immoral.

Judge temporarily blocks FEMA from ending housing aid to Puerto Ricans displaced after hurricane.  U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts ordered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot end its Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program until at least midnight Tuesday [7/3/2018], meaning those depending on the aid to pay for hotel and motel rooms should be able to stay at least until check-out time Wednesday, according to online court records.  The national civil-rights group that filed a lawsuit Saturday seeking the restraining order said the end of the FEMA assistance would lead to Puerto Rican evacuees being evicted.  The temporary restraining order affects around 1,744 people, an attorney involved in the suit said.  The FEMA transitional assistance was to end Saturday.

The Editor says...
The controversy is in Puerto Rico.  The judge is in Massachusetts.  Sounds like someone had to do a lot of shopping to find a sympathetic left-wing activist judge.

There Are No Conservative Judges.  Dishonest judges, who view their role as "improving" society, have a very Louis XIV view of their authority.  As such, they believe that they have the authority to impose whatever they deem best on America.  While they pretend, for political purposes, that their activist rulings are based on the law, the reality is that their methodology, the "living" Constitution, allows them to claim that pretty much anything is based on the Constitution.  It would seem clear to all that if the Constitution was viewed by the courts, the presidents, and Congress for over 100 years saying something is illegal, it's impossible that the intent of the people who ratified the Constitution was that that thing is in fact legal.

Marsha Blackburn says liberals, liberal judges to blame for US-Mexico border mess.  U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn pointed the finger Tuesday [6/26/2018] at "liberals" and "liberal judges," blaming them for the family separations underway at the U.S.-Mexico border.  "As a mother," the Tennessee Republican said in a statement released by her office, "my heart breaks for the families who are separated at the border, but we are in this position because liberals would not pay to enforce our immigration laws or build appropriate facilities for asylum-seekers."

Manafort appeals judge's decision to jail him.  Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is appealing a judge's decision to jail him over charges that he attempted to tamper with the testimony of two potential witnesses against him.  Ten days after U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson revoked Manafort's house arrest and ordered him jailed, his defense attorneys filed an official notice Monday [6/25/2018] appealing her ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A Double Injustice Throws a Scare into the Nation's Judges.  There is an obvious agenda behind the feminist revenge play and the perversion of justice poisoning the culture. #MeToo means "You're toast." [...] Judges ruling on sexual assault cases, which as time goes on are likely to proliferate, will now find themselves in the service of feminist madness if they wish to preserve their careers.  They will require sensitivity training.  They will be enjoined to "follow their hearts," not the established procedures and precedents of the law.  They will learn that allegations are dispositive and that "survivors" must be believed.  Neither the accused nor the presiding judge can expect that justice will be done.

SEC Judge Appointments Unconstitutional, U.S. High Court Says.  The U.S. Supreme Court gave presidents more control over key jobs in federal agencies on Thursday [6/21/2018], ruling that the way the Securities and Exchange Commission selected in-house judges who enforce investor protection laws violated the U.S. Constitution.

Meet the Republican justice who was indicted today.  The U.S. attorney charged this Republican state Supreme Court justice with 22 counts related to fleecing taxpayers and stealing antique furniture from the state Capitol.  It's pronounced "law free," which apparently means he thought he was free from the law.  Every newspaper in the state endorsed him because he said he was a reformer.  After all, he wrote the book on corruption.  Journalists did not realize it was a do-it-yourself tutorial.

Judge strikes down Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship to vote.  U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson sided with voters Monday [6/18/2018] that Kansas cannot require people who register to vote to provide documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers.

The Editor says...
Typical Associated Press bias:  The judge "sided with voters."  Really?  The judge ruled in favor of those who wish to cast a ballot with no questions asked, but this is not a ruling in favor of the voters who are legally entitled to a vote in an election that is not diluted by ineligible ballots.

Here's the Rundown on the Obama-Appointed Judge Who Tossed Manafort in Jail.  It sure seems like every Obama appointed judge is a far left radical who puts their own distorted interpretation of reality ahead of the US Constitution.  In this respect, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is a case study.  This past week she again showed that she puts politics before the law.  Her actions with Paul Manafort alone are cause for her to be removed or impeached.

Manafort ordered to jail, bail revoked on witness tampering charge.  Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was jailed Friday [6/15/2018] after a federal judge revoked his $10 million bail based on new witness tampering charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Washington, D.C., Federal District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sent the onetime power player to jail pending trial moments after he pleaded not guilty to the charges, brought against him and his associate, Konstantin Kilimnik of Moscow.  Mueller accused the pair of obstructing justice in the investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates in 2016.

Federal Judge Jails Paul Manafort:  No Bail Before Trial.  A federal judge has jailed ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort ahead of his fall trial, citing recently filed obstruction charges.  "I cannot turn a blind eye to this," Judge Amy Berman told a D.C. courtroom as she revoked Manafort's bail.  "This isn't middle school, I can't take your phone."

Judge Theresa Brennan faces formal complaint for misconduct in office.  The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission filed a formal complaint Tuesday against Livingston County District Court Judge Theresa Brennan for misconduct in office, more than a year after her affair with a Michigan State Police detective came to light.  The commission also accused Brennan of misusing her office for personal advantage or gain, failing to maintain high standards of conduct, failing to respect and follow the law and allowing social and other relationships to influence her conduct or judgment.  It also said she used the prestige of office to advance her personal business interests and failed to be "patient, dignified and courteous" to lawyers.

AT&T's Time Warner Takeover Wins Judge's Approval in Defeat for Justice Dept.  A federal judge on Tuesday [6/12/2018] approved the blockbuster merger between AT&T and Time Warner, rebuffing the government's effort to block the $85.4 billion deal, in a decision that is expected to unleash a wave of takeovers in corporate America.  The judge, Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, said the Justice Department had not proved that the telecom company's acquisition of Time Warner would lead to fewer choices for consumers and higher prices for television and internet services.

Why one judge's decision could change the fate of U.S. media.  The U.S. media industry waits on one man:  Richard Leon.  A senior judge at the U.S. District court for the District of Columbia, Leon will decide on Tuesday [6/12/2018] whether to approve AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.  AT&T's argument for the merger is focused on the looming threat from tech companies that have used the internet to sidestep the traditional media distribution methods of movie studios and cable systems.  Media companies are now trying to stockpile the most sought after content and develop their own internet-based distribution in hopes of attracting enough subscribers to compete with globally established tech companies.

Recall of judge in Stanford swimmer sex assault case is first since 1932.  California voters made history Tuesday [6/5/2018], recalling a judge for the first time since 1932.  Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky was tossed from office, the latest legacy from the Brock Turner case.  Turner was a Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault.  Persky's sentencing of Brock stirred national outrage, and the recall effort.

Judge agrees to halt fetal heartbeat abortion law in Iowa.  A judge agreed Friday to temporarily block the most restrictive abortion law in the country from taking effect in Iowa next month under an agreement between lawyers for the state and abortion rights groups.

Is This the Worst Judge in America?  John Adams must be rolling over in his grave.  The great founding father from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts once said, "We are a government of laws, not of men."  Today, it seems that some of his Bay State successors have all but forgotten Adams' words.  Perhaps most neglectful of the rule of law is Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley.  His latest legal rulings have been so egregious that Massachusetts state legislators and hundreds of concerned citizens are calling for his impeachment.  The Commonwealth's Gov. Charlie Baker even weighed in on the subject.  Judge Feeley's wisdom, or lack thereof, in recent months has let a cop killer, a heroin kingpin, and a sexual predator roam the streets after proving to be public threats.  Why did Judge Feeley let these men go?  In short, because he felt like it.

Teen who started devastating wildfire ordered by judge to pay more than $36 million in restitution.  A teen who started a massive wildfire in Oregon has been ordered by a judge to pay nearly $37 million over the next decade.  Hood River County Circuit Judge John Olson awarded the restitution totaling $36,618,330.24 to cover the costs of firefighting, repair and restoration, according to the Oregonian.  "Having reviewed the arguments presented by the parties, the court is persuaded that an award of more than $36 million in restitution does not violate either the state or federal constitution," the judge wrote in Monday's [5/21/2018] decision, according to the newspaper.

Judge in Stanford rape case is subject of recall vote.  A California Superior Court judge is resisting mounting pressure to resign over his handling of a 2016 sexual assault case.  Judge Aaron Persky, 56, drew outrage after sentencing Stanford University student Brock Turner to six months in jail and three months of probation for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in January 2015.

This State Supreme Court Justice Is In A Brutal Reelection Race.  Then A Friendly Judge Gagged Her Opponents.  An Arkansas judge issued a restraining order Monday barring several local television stations from broadcasting a controversial campaign ad linking a state Supreme Court justice to a Fayetteville lawyer who lavished the justice with personal gifts.  The judge who issued the decision, known as a TRO, has accepted campaign contributions from the attorney at issue in the ad, and his wife has substantial business connections to the embattled justice.

CIA emails to journalists don't have to be released to public, judge rules.  The CIA can selectively divulge classified information to selected reporters in emails yet withhold that information from other journalists or members of the public when they seek the same information under the Freedom of Information Act, a federal judge in New York has ruled.  The decision appeared in the court record on Friday but became more widely disseminated Monday [4/30/2018].

Judge: You Have To Bake That Cake, But Not Serve A Beer To Someone In A MAGA Hat.  A strange story out of Philadelphia which has been brewing since shortly after President Trump was inaugurated and has now culminated in a court decision. [...] Considering all of the activities which the courts believe they can force business owners to participate in (or the customers they must serve) this no doubt sounds like something of a discontinuity to some of you.  But unfortunately for Greg, the judge is probably right.  In terms of who you can deny service to, the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in any privately owned "places of public accommodation" (which includes bars and restaurants), but only on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin.  These are considered "protected groups" who can't be denied service on that basis.There is no assured protection against denial of service based on political beliefs.

What's next?  White-only restaurants?
Judge rules taverns can ban Trump supporters.  A Manhattan judge has ruled that a bar that ordered patron who was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat to leave had a right to do so under the New York constitution.  The judge rejected Greg Piatek's argument that he wore his MAGA hat to pay "spiritual tribute" to 9/11 victims and was thus discriminated against for his religious beliefs.  Instead, the judge cited the state constitution which does not bar discrimination based on politics.

How about an Obama supporter wearing a "Black Lives Matter" shirt?
Judge rules New York City bar can refuse service to Trump supporter wearing MAGA hat.  A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday [4/25/2018] that kicking a Trump supporter out of a bar does not violate the law — because the law does not protect against political discrimination.  Greg Piatek of Philadelphia claims he was refused service and eventually removed from a New York City bar in January 2017 for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, in a lawsuit against the establishment.  "Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here!  And you need to leave right now because we won't serve you!" Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour told him.

What about rabid feminists in pink hats?
Judge: Bars are allowed to throw out Trump supporters.  A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday [4/25/2018] that there's nothing "outrageous" about throwing the president's supporters out of bars — because the law doesn't protect against political discrimination.  Philadelphia accountant Greg Piatek, 31, was bounced from a West Village watering hole in January 2017, just after Trump took the oath of office, for wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, according to his lawsuit over the incident.  "Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here!  And you need to leave right now because we won't serve you!" Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour on West 10th Street told him after he and his pals complained about the rude service they were getting from a bartender. [...] But on Wednesday, when the bar's lawyer, Elizabeth Conway, pointed out that only religious, and not political, beliefs are protected under state and city discrimination laws, saying, "supporting Trump is not a religion" [...]

The Editor says...
The liberals want to preserve their right to discriminate against those with whom they disagree, while simultaneously deploring discrimination by those on the right — on the same grounds!

NYC Judge:  Businesses Can Refuse Service to Trump Supporters.  Suddenly it's cool again to discriminate against people with whom you disagree.  Probably still doesn't apply to Christians, so you bakers and florists still need a quick way to your ankles should a pair of lesbians or gays come knocking, demanding sugar filled treats.  But it's fine for businesses to discriminate against you if you hold different political beliefs than the leftist elite.

Third judge rules against Trump move to end DACA.  A third federal judge has rejected the Trump administration's justification for winding down the program protecting immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children.  U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said on Tuesday [4/24/2018] that the Department of Homeland Security's legal explanation for the decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, was too flimsy and, ultimately, unpersuasive.

Federal judge:  Trump administration must accept new DACA applications.  A D.C. federal judge has delivered the toughest blow yet to Trump administration efforts to end deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, ordering the government to continue the Obama-era program and — for the first time since announcing it would end — reopen it to new applicants.  U.S. District Judge John D. Bates on Tuesday [4/24/2018] called the government's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program "virtually unexplained" and therefore "unlawful."  However, he stayed his ruling for 90 days to give the Department of Homeland Security a chance to provide more solid reasoning for ending the program.

The curious DACA order from a DC District Court judge.  Back in February, the Supreme Court bailed out on the DACA question, declining to hear an appeal to a ruling from a San Francisco judge who thought the President couldn't end the program.  Sadly, that decision has left the door open to additional mischief from the courts, and now one of the strangest rulings yet has been handed down.  A federal judge in the District of Columbia has concluded that not only can't the President fully terminate the program but that the White House has only three months to come up with a better justification for its actions or he will order the full DACA program to go back into effect.

If Obama could start DACA, Trump can end it.  President Barack Obama created it.  President Trump killed it.  The courts keep reviving it.  That would be Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program to shield from deportation young undocumented immigrants brought illegally into the U.S. as minors.  DACA came about because Obama was frustrated he could not get the DREAM Act through the Senate.  He was facing increasing pressure from activists and backers to abandon his efforts to build support for immigration legislation through enforcement and instead bypass Congress to provide relief to a sympathetic subset of illegal immigrants.

Monkey See, Monkey Sue:  Monkeys Can Bring Lawsuits, 9th Circuit Says.  A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday found an ape satisfies the criteria for standing to bring a lawsuit under Article III of the Constitution.  Though the panel concluded the case could not proceed because apes do not have standing under the federal law at issue, it did acknowledge they meet basic requirements for standing set out by the Constitution.

Judge Kimba Woods:  Out of Control.  Judge Kimba Woods, infamous for sentencing Michael Milken to prison, is overseeing the questions surrounding the documents and other materials seized by the FBI from the house, office and hotel room of Donald Trump's attorney Michael Cohen.  She has ordered that the name of Cohen's third client, contained in documents, be revealed.  It turns out that Cohen's client, besides Trump and multi-millionaire Elliot Broidy, is FOX television host Sean Hannity.  There is absolutely no indication that Hannity is involved in any Cohen related criminal activity, thus it is absolutely bizarre that Woods ordered his name be revealed.

Obama-Era Judge Sides With Illegal Immigrant Who Sued Company For Discrimination.  Illegal immigrants have long had issues with gaining legal employment.  Illegal immigrants in the U.S.A. tend to work under-the-table jobs, jobs that pay them in cash.  Those jobs are generally less regulated and also pay less, sometimes even below minimum wage.  However, because ILLEGAL immigrants are, by definition, illegally in the country, they often cannot get employment.  After all, governments at both the federal and state level penalize illegal immigrant employees, and they even raid businesses suspected of hiring illegals.  But now, for the second time in a handful of years, a federal court has proclaimed that businesses can be sued for 'discriminating against illegal immigrants' by refusing to hire them.

Obama judge OKs lawsuit forcing companies to hire DACA recipients.  In a case that looks likely to win in trial, a left-wing Obama-appointed judge has ruled that a 34-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, David Rodriguez, could lead a class action lawsuit to force a Fortune 500 company, Procter & Gamble, to hire DACA recipients on the same basis as Americans and legal residents.  So much for the idea that DACA is just a stopgap measure of mercy, buttressed only by President Obama's executive order, to help supposedly innocent children who were brought here illegally by their parents.  The left-wing activists who brought this suit, the Chicano militants of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, are dogged and determined to institutionalize it and make DACA participation every bit as good as citizenship and green cards.

Court Rules Illegal Aliens Can Sue over "Discriminatory Employment Policy" Requiring Green Cards.  For the second time in a few years, a federal court has ruled that illegal immigrants can sue American employers that refuse to hire them because they require workers to be U.S. citizens or legal residents (green card holders).  The latest blow to the rule of law was delivered by an Obama-appointed federal judge in south Florida, who handed a powerful open-borders group a huge victory in a case accusing a major U.S. company of discriminating against an illegal immigrant.  Though years apart, both lawsuits were filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a leftist group that specializes in discrimination lawsuits on behalf of illegal immigrants and has Chicago ties to Obama.  MALDEF pushes for free college tuition for illegal immigrants and lowering educational standards to accommodate new migrants.  Its leadership refers to the U.S. government's immigration enforcement effort as racist and xenophobic and says it's racist to make English the country's official national language and inhumane to protect the southern border with a fence.  Both MALDEF victories involve plaintiffs who benefit from a special Obama amnesty known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that shields nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under the age of 31 from deportation.

Trump To Replace Liberal Lion Of The Ninth Circuit.  Fearing a conservative jurist would replace Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the liberal lion of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a prominent progressive legal scholar quietly urged him to retire in the spring of 2014.  U.C. Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky approached Reinhardt just months before the 2014 midterm elections and suggested he retire, The New York Times reported Saturday [4/7/2018].  Reinhardt refused the overtures.  Months later, Republicans assumed control of the Senate, effectively ending former President Barack Obama's judicial confirmations.  President Donald Trump's election forced the judge into an awkward actuarial battle, an increasingly common phenomenon as judicial appointments become highly politicized.  He died on March 29 at 87.

Massachusetts' ban on assault weapons doesn't violate 2nd Amendment, judge rules.  A judge in Massachusetts on Friday [4/6/2018] ruled against a lawsuit that questioned the state's ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, declaring that the weapons were not protected by the Second Amendment.  Assault weapons are considered to be military firearms, U.S. District Judge William Young said in his ruling, therefore disqualifying them from being included in a citizen's right to "bear arms."  Policy makers, rather than the courts, were better suited to decide on the regulation for the weapons, he said.

UCF student who idolized mass shooters online can buy guns, judge decides.  A UCF student who wrote online comments idolizing mass shooters may purchase weapons, a judge ruled Monday in lifting a temporary ban.  Orlando police in early March used Florida's new gun legislation, passed in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in South Florida, to temporarily ban Christian Nicholas Velasquez from owning any weapons or ammunition.  City attorneys sought to persuade Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc to extend the temporary ban a year.  "I don't disagree with the issuing of the initial temporary injunction.  I think that's exactly what the statute provides for," LeBlanc said.  But the judge declined to extend the ban.

Congress Needs to Rein in Overreaching Judges.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month gave a speech about the rise of "super legislators."  He wasn't talking about members of Congress; he was talking about judges.  In particular, he was talking about district court judges, and the growing frequency with which individual judges from California to Boston are issuing national injunctions — that is, using regional cases to make national policy from the bench.

Obama Judges Rule That 40-Foot Cross Monument Honoring Soldiers Killed In World War I Is 'Unconstitutional'.  It is quite possible that the greatest legacy of President Trump may be his tremendous success in changing the face of the American judiciary, as his record-setting performance in getting conservative jurists into the judiciary has been nothing less than stellar.  To understand how vital Trump's actions have been, consider this:  the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to reconsider a 2-1 ruling of a 4th Circuit panel last fall that ruled the World War I memorial Peace Cross in Bladensburg, Maryland, was "unconstitutional."

Judge's death gives Trump the opportunity to overhaul the liberal 9th Circuit.  The death this week of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt gives President Trump the opportunity to boost the number of Republican-appointed judges on the famously liberal-leaning court, with seven seats now open.  But legal experts say filling all of those vacancies could be a stretch because of partisan wrangling in the Senate.  Of the 22 active judges on the bench — the court is authorized to have 29 judgeships — 16 were nominated by Democratic presidents, and six were nominated by Republicans.

Federal judge blocks Trump administration officials from stopping immigrant teens from getting abortions.  A federal judge on Friday evening temporarily blocked Trump administration officials from stopping pregnant, unaccompanied immigrant teens who are or will be in federal custody from getting an abortion.  Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is violating the teens' constitutional rights to obtain the procedure.  According to the judge, the administration cannot strip unaccompanied immigrant minor children "of their right to make their own reproductive choices," Chutkan wrote in the decision.

Coffee must carry cancer warning, California judge rules.  Bad news, coffee drinkers:  A California judge has ruled that coffee companies across the state will have to carry a cancer warning label because of a carcinogen that is present in the brewed beverage.  Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle sided with a nonprofit's case against dozens of coffee companies, including Starbucks, Peets and other chains, saying that businesses that sold coffee were in violation of a state regulation requiring businesses with at least 10 employees to disclose the prevalence of carcinogens and toxic chemicals.  "While plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, defendants' medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation," Berle wrote.  "Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health."

Injunction Junction, What's Your Function?  Since taking office, President Trump has phased out President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for illegal aliens, initiated a travel ban, put in a place a new policy on refugees, and stripped federal grants from sanctuary cities.  So, why aren't any of these policies in place?  Because each of them has been blocked by individual judges at the lowest level of the federal judiciary.  District judges, empowering themselves with a judicial tool known as the national injunction, have single-handedly blocked the president from implementing his electoral mandate.

Trump Summoned for AG Lawsuit Alleging Constitutional Violation.  President Donald Trump received a summons for a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Washington, D.C., and Maryland alleging he has violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which bars foreign governments from paying U.S. officials, according to reports.  The suit is being aided by the executive director of a liberal watchdog group that filed an almost identical earlier lawsuit before being thrown out last year after a judge said it did not have standing.

Judge rules Trump must face defamation lawsuit from ex-'Apprentice' contestant.  A Manhattan Supreme Court judge has ruled that President Trump's job in the White House does not give him immunity from a defamation lawsuit filed against him by former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos.  "In Clinton v Jones the United States Supreme Court held that a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts," Justice Jennifer Schecter wrote in a ruling released Tuesday [3/20/2018], according to the New York Post.  "It left open the question of whether concerns of federalism and comity compel a different conclusion for suits brought in state court.  Because they do not, defendant's motion to dismiss this case or hold it in abeyance is denied."

FISA Judge Removed From Flynn Case Had Secret Friendship With Anti-Trump FBI Official Peter Strzok.  The federal judge who recused himself from the Michael Flynn case is personal friends with Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who conducted the White House interview in which the former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying.  The friendship between Strzok and Rudolph Contreras, a judge on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., is discussed in text messages the FBI agent exchanged with his mistress, Lisa Page.  The Justice Department redacted the references to Contreras in 384 pages of text messages provided to Congress.  Congressional investigators read the underlying documents and have filled in some of the gaps.  The unredacted versions of the texts were obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Calif. judge bars LA from enforcing gang restrictions that authorities credited with reducing crime.  The city of Los Angeles has been barred from enforcing the vast majority of its gang injunctions, which applied restrictions on gang associations that authorities have long credited with reducing crime.  The ruling Thursday by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union that the injunctions were likely to be unconstitutionally broad, and affect people who did not have adequate opportunity to challenge them in court.  The gang injunctions are civil court orders that have applied to nearly 9,000 people and 79 gang sets since 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Left and Distraction:  Pulling It All Apart.  This past year, it's safe to say, has shown just how far the left has gone in destroying the judiciary.  Leftist judges with no pretense of adhering to the law now make insane proclamations from the bench on more than a weekly basis.  Reading what the laws actually say, any modicum of common sense tells you they are inserting their very own political and juvenile ideas for the rule of law.  They want it torn apart.  And they are getting close to their endgame of gumming up the works via judicial nullification.

The Ninth Circuit Just Allowed Children To Sue Trump Over Global Warming.  A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday [3/7/2018] in favor of 21 children and young adults suing the U.S. government for not doing enough to protect their constitutional right to a stable climate.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judges refused to grant mandamus relief and block the U.S. District Court in Oregon from hearing the suit, which was originally filed by the environmental group Our Children's Trust in 2015.  A federal judge in Oregon ruled in 2016 the 21 youngsters had standing to sue.  President Donald Trump's administration and oil and gas groups appealed the decision in June 2017.  They asked judges to "end this clearly improper attempt to have the judiciary decide important questions of energy and environmental policy" and upset the balance of powers.  The Ninth Circuit disagreed.

The Editor says...
What part of the Constitution establishes and guarantees a right to a stable climate?

Dems Delay Trump's Judicial Nominees by Running Out the Clock.  President Donald Trump has nominated 84 people for federal judgeships.  Yet despite Republicans' enjoying total control of the federal government, the judiciary has more vacancies than when the president took office.  Trump inherited 112 vacancies when he took the oath of office in January 2017.  That has grown to 148, a 32 percent increase, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

'Congress needs to find out' what these judges are up to!  Appearing on "Hannity" Thursday night, LevinTV host Mark Levin demanded that Congress investigate whether the Obama administration Department of Justice and FBI engaged in "misconduct" before the FISA court by using the infamous Russian dossier to obtain a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.  He also questioned the actions of FISA court Judge Rosemary Collyer and demanded that she "do something" about the "alleged abuses" of the court by the FBI and DOJ.  Levin recounted how last April his organization, the Landmark Legal Foundation, filed secretly with the FISA court urging the court to use its "inherent jurisdiction" to investigate the conduct of the FBI.

Vandals Who Destroyed Confederate Monument Get Off Scot-Free.  The vandals who destroyed a Confederate monument in North Carolina got off scot-free in court on both Monday and Tuesday [2/20/2018].  Durham, N.C., Judge Frederick S. Battaglia Jr. deemed one suspect in the incident not guilty and annulled charges against two other protesters.  District attorney Roger Echols announced these actions made proceeding in court with the remaining protesters irrational, reported WRAL.com.  "I do believe the evidence supported the misdemeanor charges, and we proceeded on those charges," said Echols.  "Acts of vandalism, regardless of noble intent, are still violations of law."

How the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Could Derail Trump's Agenda.  It was ruled constitutional in 2013 — but then unconstitutional in 2018. Yet it, the Pennsylvania congressional districts map, hasn't changed in the last five years.  Nor has the Keystone State's constitution.  What's different is Pennsylvania's Supreme Court; it now has five more Democrats and has decreed that the judges' own redistricting map, which gives a relative advantage to Democrats, must be implemented.  As Politico reported, "Democrats' hopes of winning the House this fall got a boost Monday with the release of a new congressional-district map in Pennsylvania that could help the party pick up several seats in the battleground state."  This, along with redistricting challenges in other states, could facilitate a congressional power shift that helps derail President Trump's agenda.

Parents Lose Custody of Daughter for Opposing Transgender Medical Treatments.  Parents of a 17-year-old girl lost custody of their daughter for opposing her wish for transgender medical treatments.  Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon of Hamilton County, Ohio has allowed the girl to be taken into the custody of her grandparents — who support her medical transition — allowing them to make decisions that will further along her physical transition to the opposite sex.  According to CNN, Hendon ordered that the family's names not be released.  The parents reportedly continued to call their daughter by her given name, rather than a male name, and refused to consent to hormone treatments that were recommended by her medical team.  The girl claimed she became suicidal as a result of her parents' refusal to accept that she wanted to transition to a male.

The Transgender Totalitarians Can Now Legally Take Your Kids.  An Ohio court has removed a teenaged girl from the custody of her parents because they refused to consent to dangerous and experimental medical treatment.  The teenager wants to undergo irreversible treatment (hormones and probably sex-reassignment surgery) that she hopes will alleviate the depression associated with her gender dysphoria.  Based on 1) the scientific facts that such treatment will convert her into a lifelong medical patient and probably fail to alleviate her suicidal tendencies, 2) their religious belief that created reality is unalterable, and 3) their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their minor child, the parents said no.  But the court concluded they have no right to make that decision.  If they reject the radical new orthodoxy that replaces science with ideology, their authority to act for the good of their child is simply extinguished.

How to End the Judiciary Class War.  [Scroll down]  In the short run, I would encourage presidents and senators to look at appointing — both to the Supreme Court and to the federal judiciary generally — people with experience as state judges, preferably from states where judges have to run for office.  There are plenty of first-rate people who fit this description, men and women who would make fine judges, and who would be at least somewhat more sensitized to the world of the Back Row than the usual lineup of judicial thoroughbreds.  Likewise, perhaps it's time to reach beyond Harvard, Yale, and Columbia law schools as a source.  There are many fine lawyers and judges who are graduates of state law schools, or private schools outside of the Ivy League.  The Supreme Court would function at least as well, I suspect, with a few graduates from places like Texas, or Kansas, or Pepperdine.

The Judicial Resistance Reveals Itself.  Over the past 60 years, the federal judiciary has led a transformation of American society — from mandating enormous expenditures on diversity programs, to requiring the provision of abortion on-demand, to redefining the meaning of marriage itself.  No other nation in the world has been subjected to these judicially imposed upheavals.  But the 2016 election, in challenging the wisdom of our ruling elites, has elevated this judicial activism even further, fostering what constitutional law professor Josh Blackman has aptly dubbed the "judicial resistance."/p>

With DACA, Put the Federal Judiciary Back In Its Constitutional Box.  As the Supreme Court — the only constitutionally mandated federal court under Article III — considers whether to fast-track consideration of a lower-court ruling regarding the so-called "Dreamers," it might be wise for every federal judge in this country except nine to remember that their jobs, and their courts, could vanish tomorrow, and there's not a damn thing either they or the Supes could do it about.  We've been over this before.  The idea that the three branches of government are, in practical terms, "co-equal" is rubbish — as a glance at Article III would make clear to everyone except a lawyer.  That was also clear to the Founders, by the way, as per Alexander Hamilton's remark that the courts would be the "least dangerous" branch of the new federal government, lacking "the power of the executive branch and the political passions of the legislature."

General Mike Flynn, Rudolph Contreras and The Increasingly Sketchy FISA Application.  On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators.  The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge.  Six days later, December 7th, 2017, Judge Contreras "was recused" from the case without explanation.  The case was reassigned to DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan.  The Contreras recusal always seemed sketchy.  If the conflict existed on December 7th, wouldn't that same conflict have existed on November 30th, 2017?

U.S. court says Trump travel ban unlawfully discriminates against Muslims.  President Donald Trump's travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating on the basis of religion, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday [2/15/2018] in another legal setback for the policy.

Court orders full restoration of DACA program.  A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday [2/13/2018] that the government must restart the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals deportation amnesty, adding more weight to the legal case against President Trump's phaseout of the program just as Congress is debating the fate of "Dreamers" on Capitol Hill.  Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said the administration does have the power to revoke DACA, but it must give a sound reason for doing so — and the Homeland Security Department's September 2017 rationale fell far short of what is required in that regard.

Trump's Move to End DACA Program Blocked by Second Judge.  U.S. President Donald Trump's move to end a program protecting hundreds of thousands of children of undocumented immigrants from deportation was blocked by a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York.  It's the second time in less than two months that a U.S. judge ruled that rescinding the Obama-era program as proposed would be illegal.  U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Tuesday [2/13/2018] that the government hasn't offered legally adequate reasons for ending the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — or DACA. The judge issued a preliminary ruling which ordered the government to keep processing renewal requests, echoing the Jan. 9 ruling of U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco.

Judge strikes down Florida's system for denying felons' voting rights.  The state of Florida routinely violates the constitutional rights of its citizens by permanently revoking the "fundamental right" to vote for anyone convicted of a felony, a federal judge ruled Thursday [2/1/2018].  U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said the Florida "scheme" of restoring voting rights unfairly relies on the personal support of the governor for citizens to regain the right to vote.  In a strongly-worded ruling, he called the state's defense of voter disenfranchisement "nonsensical," a withering criticism of Gov. Rick Scott, the lead defendant in the case.

"The Right To Say Goodbye"??  Did you know that you have a fundamental constitutional right to say goodbye?  You do according to Federal District Court Judge Katherine B. Forrest (an Obama appointee).  I guess that right was another one of those rights hiding in the emanations and penumbras of the 14th Amendment, or something.  On Monday Judge Forrest ordered the release from custody Ravidath Ragbir, an alien who ICE had detained and was preparing to deport.  Judge Forrest twice notes that the government was in complete conformity with statutory law:  "The Court in fact agrees with the Government that the statutory scheme — when one picks the path through the thicket in the corn maze — allows them to do what was done here."  And:  "The Court agrees that the statutory scheme governing petitioner's status is properly read to allow for his removal without further right of contest."  This should be the end of the matter then, shouldn't it?  Not to Judge Forrest, who offers us this flourish of "legal reasoning": [...]

Judge rules illegals have constitutional right to 'say goodbye' to family.  Illegal immigrants snared by deportation officers have "the freedom to say goodbye" to their families, a federal judge in New York ruled Monday [1/29/2018], ordering the government to release a prominent activist to his family.  Judge Katherine B. Forrest, whom President Barack Obama appointed to the bench, said the government was following the law when it picked up Ravidath Lawrence Ragbir, the illegal immigrant.  But she said "larger, more fundamental" rights were at stake.

The Editor says...
What part of the Constitution gives Constitutional rights to illegal aliens, based only on their (illegal) presence in the U.S.?

Prosecutor: Parents' refusal of transgender treatment made teen suicidal.  A judge will decide next month whether to grant full custody to the grandparents of a transgender boy so he can pursue hormone therapy, which his parents oppose.  Closing arguments in the case, which began in December in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, took place Friday [1/26/2018].  The now-17-year-old wants to transition in gender, but prosecutors say his parents deny he is transgender and have refused services from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.  Instead, one of their attorneys said Friday, the parents prefer therapy to "get to the underlying causes" of the teen's desire to transition.

How a Civil War Happens.  Right now, Federal judges are declaring that President Trump isn't allowed to govern because his Tweets show he's a racist.  How long until they say that a president isn't even allowed to take office because they don't like his views?  That's where we're headed.

AG Sessions Resists the Resistance.  The Supreme Court agreed yesterday [1/19/2018] to hear a challenge to the third iteration of the Trump administration's travel ban.  It had been struck down by lower courts — a Hawaii district court and affirming Ninth Circuit — that seemed to place their hostility to the president above the law, which grants the chief executive clear discretion on such matters relating to immigration and national security.  Back in February 2017, after the Ninth Circuit struck down the first version of the travel ban, Eric Posner, a liberal critic of both President Trump and his policy, recognized that the courts may be creating a "'Trump exception' to settled law on presidential powers," holding the current president to a different standard from that of his predecessors.  He recognized this aberration from the law could come back to bite us.  One year later, it is clear that judicial resistance to this administration is alarmingly broad and almost entirely unmoored form the law.

Hey, #MeToo:  Isn't female genital mutilation the cruelest cut?  If you forcibly transport a little girl across state lines to have her genitals mutilated so she will never feel sexual pleasure, is that sexual abuse?  Not according to U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman.  Friedman, 74, this week dismissed the most serious federal charges against two doctors who perform a ritual known as female genital mutilation (FGM).

Constitution is no longer the law of the land.  Now the law is whatever a federal judge says it is.  A federal judge on the 9th Circuit Court — William Alsup — ruled that President Donald Trump's executive action phasing out the Obama-era DACA amnesty program is illegal and ordered the government to resume granting DACA waivers.  Trump announced the phase-out weeks ago, claiming the program established by his predecessor via executive order was illegal.  In doing so Trump sought to throw creation of immigration law back into the laps of the lawmakers — Congress.  Alsup, a Bill Clinton appointee, ruled the program legal.  In his ruling, Alsup concluded that without a nationwide injunction, DACA recipients would likely suffer irreparable harm, leading to harmful ripple effects on the nation's economy and healthcare system.

End Judicial Tyranny with One Single Word.  Since the election of President Trump, we have witnessed a series of rulings by Clinton- and Obama-appointed federal judges to block executive orders (E.O.) related to immigration.  In each case, the current system has allowed a single unelected judge to block the actions of a duly elected president who has attempted to exercise the authority conferred upon him by the Constitution and the voters.  Such judicial tyranny cannot be tolerated.  The only court created by the founders of the Constitution is the Supreme Court (SCOTUS), with all other federal courts established by Congress and administered by the Judicial Branch of government.  District courts, appellate courts, and the various circuits are all congressional initiatives.  Federal judges are nominated by the Executive Branch but confirmed by the congressional arm of government.

A Ludicrous Ruling That Trump Can't End DACA.  Yesterday [1/9/2018], Judge William Alsup ordered the Trump administration to keep its predecessor's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in place.  This remarkable 49-page order has all the aesthetics of a judicial decision but is, at heart, an amateur act of punditry.  Judge Alsup paints the picture of a divided White House, wherein "the Chief Executive publicly favors the very program [his Administration] has ended."  Citing a "presidential tweet," the court suggests that DACA's recision "was contrived to give the administration a bargaining chip to demand funding for a border wall in exchange for reviving DACA."  These talking points could have been plagiarized from the MSNBC chyron.  Such rhetoric in a judicial decision would have been unthinkable barely a year ago. But now it passes for the new normal.  Once again, the judiciary has attempted to shackle President Trump from making his own judgments about how to exercise his own power.  The Supreme Court has reversed Judge Alsup's outlandish rulings on DACA before.  And it will do so again.

Trump and Sessions must tell this amnesty judge to shove it.  Not in [Alexander] Hamilton's wildest imaginings could he ever have envisioned a time when a lowly district judge can force a president to make denizens of aliens, contrary to the most foundational sovereignty statutes.  Even King George couldn't do what Obama did on immigration without the consent of Parliament, according to the Library of Congress.  In that sense, the power of lower court judges has been elevated to a higher status than that of a king, much less a president.  Remember when Hamilton said even the Supreme Court would have "neither force nor will" on political issues even governing American citizens?  Those were good days.  It's not worth delving into the details of the ruling from this Antifa-style judge in San Francisco who declared last night that Trump must continue renewing work permits, visas, and Social Security cards for people who, pursuant to law, must be deported.  After all, Judge William Alsup is merely continuing "the resistance," with the power of supremacy that even conservative legal eagles have bestowed upon the judicial robes.  Let's put aside the fact that it is a settled, uninterrupted stream of case law that illegal aliens are considered as if they are outside the country and do not have standing to sue in court.  This is why we have administrative immigration judges, given that aliens have no access to Article III courts.

Judge rules against Trump administration on rescinding DACA.  A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday barred the Trump administration from turning back the Obama-era DACA program, which shielded more than 700,000 people from deportation, Reuters reported.  U.S. District Judge William Alsup, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, ruled that the program must stay intact while litigation is played out.  Alsup ordered that until a final judgment is reached, the program must continue and those already approved for DACA protections and work permits must be allowed to renew them before they expire.

The Judicial Rebellion.  We are witnessing a treasonous rebellion by leftist judges who are declaring the last election null and void.  At the core of these traitors' arguments is the belief that the people do not have the right to express their views through the electoral process.  Essentially, these courts are declaring that President Trump doesn't have the same authority as his predecessor and that the powers of the executive branch are constrained by what the judiciary thinks is good policy.  These judges assert that President Trump can't overrule the executive orders of his predecessor with his own executive orders.  If that were the case, elections would be meaningless, since one president could effectively prevent the people from rejecting his position by voting for a candidate who disagreed with him.  We see this in the judge's ruling on DACA.  Ignoring for a moment the fact that DACA was an unconstitutional usurpation of power by Obama, there is still a huge problem with a court effectively declaring that one president, Obama, can make edicts that other presidents can't change.

Judicial Anarchy Over DACA.  A federal judge, U.S. District Judge William Alsup, took it upon himself to order that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), put in place by former President Obama's executive order and wound down towards ultimate termination by President Trump's own executive order last September, must stay in place at least for the time being.  The judge issued a preliminary injunction against ending DACA while lawsuits over President Trump's decision go forward.  The effect of Judge Alsup's order is to throw out a temporary lifeline to the illegal immigrant "Dreamers" who have or have had DACA protection to be able to continue staying and working in the country while they apply for renewals.  Needless to say, President Trump was not happy with this latest example of judicial overreach.

Court won't halt judge's demand for details on DACA cancellation decision.  An appeals court has cleared the way for a federal judge to force the Trump administration to make public more of its internal documents on the decision to rescind the program granting quasi-legal status and work permits to so-called Dreamers.  A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted, 2-1, to rebuff the Justice Department's attempt to halt U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup's order that the administration turn over emails, letters, memos and legal opinions considered in the course of the decision announced in September to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created in 2012 under President Barack Obama.  Trump administration lawyers argued that Alsup's order clearly exceeded his authority, but the majority of the 9th Circuit panel disagreed.

Judge rules DACA legal, blocks Trump's decision to end program.  A federal judge in California blocked President Trump's planned phaseout of the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty in a ruling late Tuesday [1/9/2018] that could upend the negotiations on Capitol Hill over "Dreamers" future.  Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee to the bench, ruled the DACA program legal — the first court to do so — and said the administration illegally cut corners in canceling it.  He ordered the administration to allow illegal immigrants to renew their DACA applications just as they would have under President Obama.

Judge blocks Trump administration plan to roll back DACA.  A federal judge in California late Tuesday [1/9/2018] temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.  Judge William Alsup also said the administration must resume receiving DACA renewal applications.  But the ruling is limited — the administration does not need to process applications for those who have never before received DACA protections, he said.

White House:  San Francisco Court DACA Ruling 'Outrageous'.  The White House responded to a ruling issued by a federal district court in San Francisco demanding that President Donald Trump immediately reinstate DACA.  "We find this decision to be outrageous, especially in light of the President's successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.  Sanders added that President Donald Trump was determined to work on DACA through Congress, not through executive action.

Imran Awan case only gets weirder by the month.  Now a status hearing scheduled for just before Thanksgiving later postponed to January 8, 2018 has been moved once again to March 2108. [...] Judge Tanya S. Chutkan revoked Awan's curfew restrictions and stopped requiring him to be drug tested, according to Wednesday court filing.  But kept in place GPS monitoring device and he not travel outside 150-mile radius of his home.  Tanya Chutkan who?  Well if you read my previous thread you would know.  She's intimately involved with the firm that hired fusion GPS to commission the dossier.  She's also deeply tied to Obama:  Deeply.  She donated campaign cash to Obama.  After his election, he appointed both her and her husband as judges.  Other Chutkan family members also contributed to Obama's political coffers.

California federal court rules high school football player can't be ordered to stand for national anthem.  A California federal court has ruled that a high school football player cannot be ordered to stand for the national anthem before games.  The decision, made by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Dec. 21, struck down statutes enforced by the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday [12/30/2017].  The district prohibited students from "kneeling, sitting or similar forms of political protest" at sporting events and "required students and coaches to "stand and remove hats/helmets during the playing or singing of the national anthem," according to court documents.

Trump's Historic Success Appointing Federal Judges in 2017.  Even President Donald Trump's critics cannot deny his historic success in 2017 in appointed judges to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, exercising one of the greatest powers of the presidency in a way that will create a lasting legacy shaping the destiny of the nation.  President Trump's clearest single victory on the judicial front was the successful nomination and confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.  It began with the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.  For voters, the issue of the courts went from the abstract to the concrete, and judicial appointments became a red-hot issue.

Gaffney: Court Ruling on Transgender Military Recruits Presents Constitutional Crisis; Trump Must Act Now.  Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney joined SiriusXM host Rebecca Mansour on a special Friday night [12/29/2017] edition of Breitbart News Tonight to discuss a recent court ruling that the military must accept transgender recruits and what President Trump's administration should do about it.  "The issue that really is at the heart of this matter as far as I'm concerned is, does the president have the unquestioned authority under the Constitution of the United States Article II, which vests exclusively in him, the role of Commander-in-Chief of the United States' armed forces, or does that authority now get subjected to the whim of any federal judge in the United States judiciary?"

American ISIS Suspect Held in Iraq Has Right to Lawyer, Judge Rules.  Calling the Trump administration's position "disingenuous" and "troubling," a federal judge on Saturday ordered the Pentagon to permit a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union to meet with a United States citizen who has been imprisoned in military custody for three months after being deemed an enemy combatant.  In a novel case pitting the individual rights of citizens against government wartime powers, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia also ordered the Pentagon not to monitor that conversation — and told it not to transfer the man, who is being held in Iraq, until the A.C.L.U. conveys his wishes to her.

Power struggle:
Court denies Trump attempt to halt transgender military enlistment.  A three-judge panel on a federal appeals court ruled Thursday [12/21/2017] against the Trump administration's efforts to delay accepting transgender recruits into the military.  A two-paragraph order said Judges Diana Gribbon Motz, Albert Diaz and Pamela Harris on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Virginia are denying the administration's request to delay the Jan. 1 deadline, without further explanation.  The decision sets up the case for a potential appeal to the Supreme Court.

Federal appeals judge resigns after being accused of sexual misconduct.  Alex Kozinski, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, resigned Monday [12/18/2017] in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, The Washington Post reported.  "I cannot be an effective judge and simultaneously fight this battle.  Nor would such a battle be good for my beloved federal judiciary.  And so I am making the decision to retire, effective immediately," Kozinski said in a statement to the Post.

Judge blocks Trump administration rules on contraceptive coverage.  A U.S. judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from moving forward with new rules that undermined an Obamacare requirement for employers to provide health insurance that covers women's birth control.

Maryland: First Muslim judge reprimanded after sexual harassment complaint.  Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Hassan El-Amin was reprimanded last year after his former administrative assistant filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, according to a letter from the county's administrative judge that acknowledged the discipline.  But the exact nature of the reprimand El-Amin received remains undisclosed, even to Denise Lowe-Williams, the woman who filed the grievance.  Williams now is seeking more transparency in the judicial discipline process, saying that as someone who struggled to speak out against a person in a position of power she is frustrated by the confidentiality that cloaks the outcome.

Judge Releases 19-Year-Old Charged in Facebook Video Torture of Disabled Chicago Teen.  The first of four Chicago suspects accused of beating and torturing a disabled teenager and broadcasting the attack on Facebook has pleaded guilty, but a judge let her off without prison time, a report says.  Brittany Covington, 19, pleaded guilty to a hate crime in court on Friday [12/8/2017], according to the Chicago Tribune.

Case shows judges matter.  "A U.S. District Court judge in Washington on Tuesday [11/28/2017] handed a big victory to President Donald Trump, ruling in favor of the administration in its bid to install White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," Politico reported this evening.  His name is Timothy J. Kelly.  President Trump appointed him earlier this year, and on September 8, Judge Kelly took office.  He is 48 and likely will serve another 31 years.  That's the life expectancy of a male in America at age 48.

U.S. judge strikes down Texas measure to limit second-trimester abortions.  A U.S. district judge on Wednesday [11/22/2017] struck down parts of a Texas law that would ban the most common type of second-trimester abortions in the state, after plaintiffs argued the procedure was safe, legal and necessary for women's health.

Judicial Tyranny:  William Orrick, a Name That Will Live in Infamy.  The Constitution and the laws passed by Congress define one person who determines and executes U.S. immigration policy and U.S. District Judge William Orrick is not it.  Yet there is Judge Orrick once again imposing his will on the expressed will of the American people through their elected representatives by issuing a permanent ban on President Trump's executive order defunding sanctuary ciies:  A federal judge in California has blocked President Trump's executive order to cut funding from sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.  U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick issued the ruling Monday in lawsuits brought by San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.  According to the judge, Trump can't set new conditions on spending approved by Congress.

Federal judge says Trump administration can't stop funding sex-reassignment surgeries for military members.  A second federal judge has halted the Trump administration's proposed transgender military ban, finding that active-duty service members are "already suffering harmful consequences" because of the president's policy.  The ruling Tuesday [11/21/2017] by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis in a Maryland case comes just weeks after another judge in Washington blocked the administration's proposal that would have stopped military recruitment of transgender men and women and possibly forced the dismissal of current service members, starting in March.  The preliminary injunction issued by the judge in Baltimore on Tuesday goes further than the earlier ruling by also preventing the administration from denying funding for sex-reassignment surgeries after the order takes effect.

Second U.S. judge halts Trump's proposed transgender military ban.  In a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday [11/21/2017] in Baltimore, U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis ruled that transgender service members have "demonstrated that they are already suffering harmful consequences" due to the proposed ban including threat of discharge, stigma and the cancellation or delay of surgeries related to their gender transitions.  The six plaintiffs in the lawsuit he reviewed have all been receiving hormone therapy.

Obama Bundler Judge Wrong on Sanctuary City Funding.  The fine points of federal Judge William Orrick's ruling blocking the withholding of federal funds from sanctuary cities must have been lost on the families of Jamiel Shaw, Jr. and Kate Steinle, American citizens murdered by illegal aliens harbored and coddled by the sanctuary cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively.  No doubt they failed to grasp the legal logic which says cities are free to violate federal law while wrapping themselves in the U.S. Constitution.  The notion advanced by Judge Orrick that the Trump administration's attempt to defund sanctuary cities is unconstitutional because it amounts to changing the rules at halftime is nonsense, both historically and legally.  The federal government has long threatened to withhold federal funds to enforce federal policy over states rights from the federal speed limit to transgendered bathrooms.

9th Circuit to president of the United States:  You answer to us.  This is not a joke.  We now have judges saying that not only can a president steal the nation's sovereignty and grant illegal aliens affirmative benefits, but that a subsequent president must submit enough information to the courts before getting rid of the lawless program!  Imagine if a president granted Americans — not just illegal aliens — tax amnesty on the first $200,000 of their earnings.  Could you envision a court forcing the new president to retain the illegal program or demand disclosure of the president's private information?  Then again, illegal aliens and their powerful lobbies rule the roost, while Americans are left paying for the tab as strangers in our own land.

A judge permanently blocked Trump's 'sanctuary cities' executive order.  A federal judge on Monday [11/20/2017] permanently blocked President Trump's executive order to cut funding from so called "sanctuary cities."  Trump's order would have removed some federal funds from cities that limit their cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.  U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick rejected the Trump administration's argument that the measure only applies to a relatively small pool of money.

When Clinton Donors Prosecute And Judge Trump Associates.  In May, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson dismissed a lawsuit by the families of the victims of Benghazi against Hillary Clinton.  Judge Jackson decided that the families couldn't sue Hillary either for wrongful death or for defamation.  That isn't too surprising as Jackson is a former Clinton donor who had been appointed by Obama.  And a Clinton donor should never have been ruling on a Clinton case.  But now Judge Jackson will be presiding over the Paul Manafort case.  Presiding over Manafort's indictment is Judge Deborah A. Robinson.  Judge Robinson's most prominent previous case was the Berger trial.  Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's former National Security Adviser, stole classified documents about the terror failures of the Clinton administration, hid documents under a construction trailer, lied about taking them and destroyed some of them.

Bergdahl Skates.  The judge in this case, Army Colonel Jeffery R. Nance, ruled Friday [11/3/2017] that Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty October 16 to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, will receive a dishonorable discharge.  He was also reduced in rank to private and will be required to pay $1,000 a month from his salary over the next 10 months.  (This part is confusing.  If Bergdahl is to be discharged from the Army, what salary is the judge talking about?)  The desertion charge carried the potential of a life sentence.  As it is, Bergdahl will spend less time behind bars than Martha Stewart did.  And she didn't get anybody shot coming after her.

Bowe Bergdahl wasn't a victim, he's a traitor.  Several factors may account for the Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's seemingly light sentence Friday [11/3/2017] of a dishonorable discharge but no prison time for leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009.  He faced a possible sentence of up to life in prison for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.  I am one of many who believe Bergdahl was guilty of the higher crime of treason.  However, six factors seem to have played a role in prompting Army Col. Jeffrey Nance, the judge in his case, to let Bergdahl off without prison time.

Judicial hubris has escalated into a judicial coup.  A federal judge has ventured far beyond mere judicial activism in declaring that the president cannot alter the policy of his predecessor regarding men who consider themselves women, and vice versa, serving in the military.  In effect, this judge has deemed President Trump to no longer be commander-in-chief.  President Trump nullified the order that granted transgendered personnel full access to military service while pretending to be members of the opposite sex.  Today, a federal judge has ruled that the president has no such authority.  Let that sink in.  The president has no authority to set policy for military service.  This is a gross usurpation of power that, if permitted, establishes a precedent for any federal judge to stay the hand of the president in the conduct of war.  This egregious overreach must be resisted and punished.

The Iconoclasts Come For World War I Memorials.  It seems the iconoclasts have graduated from tearing down the Civil War monuments to World War I memorials.  A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a 40-foot-tall monument erected nearly a century ago just outside the nation's capital in Bladensburg, Md., known locally as the Peace Cross and dedicated to 49 residents of Prince George's County who died on the battlefields of France during the First World War, is unconstitutional because it's in the shape of a Latin cross.  The 2-1 ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court avers that because the memorial sits on public land maintained with public funds, it "has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion."  That of course is precisely the argument made by the American Humanist Association, a Washington-based lobby for atheists, who seem to think memorial crosses on public property constitute government establishment of religion (let's hope they don't wander into Arlington National Cemetery).

Towering cross-shaped monument on public land is unconstitutional, court rules.  A federal appeals court on Wednesday [10/18/2017] declared unconstitutional a towering cross-shaped monument that has marked a major intersection in Prince George's County for 90 years.  In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the 40-foot-tall memorial maintained with thousands of dollars in public funds "has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion."  The ruling by the three-judge panel does not mean the monument must be immediately removed from public land.  Supporters of the memorial, known as the Peace Cross, said the decision sets a "dangerous precedent" and vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court.

What else MUST we provide to illegal aliens?
Judge rules teen in US illegally must be allowed to obtain an abortion.  A federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to allow a teen who is in the U.S. illegally and under the custody of the U.S. government to have an abortion.  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said Wednesday [10/18/2017] she was "astounded" to learn that the 17-year-old girl from Mexico, who is being detained in South Texas, was not allowed to obtain the procedure.  She ordered the federal government to transport the girl to an abortion facility or to allow a guardian to take her "promptly and without delay" to have a counseling appointment on Thursday and an abortion by Friday or Saturday.

Federal judge rules illegal-immigrant minor has right to abortion.  Illegal-immigrant minors in the U.S. have an unfettered constitutional right to obtain an abortion, a federal judge ruled Wednesday [10/18/2017], ordering both the Trump administration and Texas officials to back off and allow a 17-year-old girl being held in a government-run shelter to be taken to a clinic.  District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who was appointed by President Obama, said during a hearing she was "astounded" that the administration was trying to hinder the girl, identified in court papers only as "J.D."  "Despite the fact that she's in this country illegally, she still has constitutional rights," the judge said.

The Editor says...
Really?  Everybody who steps across the border inherits the protection of the U.S. Constitution?  I don't think so.  Moreover, what part of the Constitution legalizes abortion, makes it a right, and bestows that right on everybody who sneaks across the border?

Update:
Court blocks illegal immigrant teen from demanding abortion services from feds while in custody after she crossed the border pregnant.  An appeals court has blocked a teenage illegal immigrant from demanding abortion services from the federal government while being held in custody.  The Friday [10/20/2017] ruling does allow the girl, a 17-year-old being held in Texas, to seek a private sponsor who could help her obtain the procedure without the government's assistance.

Judge blocks latest Trump travel ban hours before set to take effect.  A federal judge in Hawaii on Tuesday [10/17/2017] blocked President Trump's newest attempt to implement a travel ban, hours before it was scheduled to take effect at midnight.  U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday [10/17/2017] on Trump's third executive order, which had banned citizens of eight countries from entering the U.S. because of national security concerns.  The Justice Department said it would appeal the decision.

Federal judge blocks Trump's third travel ban.  A federal judge on Tuesday [10/17/2017] largely blocked the Trump administration from implementing the latest version of the president's controversial travel ban, setting up yet another legal showdown on the extent of the executive branch's powers when it comes to setting immigration policy.  The decision from U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii is sure to be appealed, but for now, it means that the administration cannot restrict the entry of travelers from six of the eight countries that officials said were unable or unwilling to provide information that the United States wanted to vet the countries' citizens.

Judge-king 'strikes down' cross on Pennsylvania county flag.  Ever since Judge Roy Moore won the Republican Senate primary in Alabama, there has been endless virtue signaling and handwringing over his "dangerous" disregard for court rulings. [...] Once again, a federal judge in Pennsylvania proves this warning to be ever prescient as he "struck down" the Lehigh County flag, which contains a Christian cross.  On Thursday [9/28/2017], Judge Edward Smith of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, an Obama appointee, ruled that, based on "precedent," the Christian cross contained in the official flag and seal of Lehigh County violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Judge lets Trump's pardon of former Sheriff Arpaio stand.  President Donald Trump's pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio's conviction for disobeying a court order in an immigration case will stand after a judge on Wednesday [10/4/2017] rejected arguments that it would encourage government officials to flout similar judicial commands in the future.

Judge Attempts To Ignore Supreme Court, Backfires As Federal Circuit Takes Charge.  US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap attempted to ignore this year's Supreme Court ruling that drastically limits where patent infringement cases can be filed.  By simply picking an earlier case from 1985 with enough similarity to the case at hand, the nation's busiest patent judge hand-crafted a "residency test" designed to keep the filing fees of patent troll lawsuits flowing.  The scheme backfired badly when the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals took charge.  "A writ of mandamus is appropriately issued, however, when there is 'usurpation of judicial power' or a clear abuse of discretion," the top court for all patent-related cases writes.

Canada: Muslim judge jails man for 5 months for "no more Muslims" scrawls.  A judge has sentenced a man who scrawled anti-Muslim graffiti at bus stops in Durham Region to five months in jail.  Joseph Porco shows little insight into the harmful nature of his conduct, Ontario Court Justice Ferhan Javed said in handing down the sentence Thursday, Sept. 21.  "Mr. Porco's message left black marks on a public bench but even after the words are scrubbed away with a guilty plea, it leaves stains that may be more permanent," the judge said.  "Mr. Porco's message was both hateful and hurtful to the community and needs to be deterred."

Judge: Black Lives Matter is a movement that can't be sued.  Black Lives Matter is a social movement, like the tea party or the civil rights movement, and therefore can't be sued, a federal judge ruled Thursday.  A police officer anonymously sued Black Lives Matter and DeRay Mckesson, a prominent activist in the movement, after being injured by a rock thrown during a protest over a deadly police shooting in Baton Rouge last year.  But U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson dismissed the officer's suit and ruled that Black Lives Matter is not an entity capable of being sued.

Federal judge tells Pennsylvania county to drop the Christian cross from its seal.  A federal judge has ordered a Pennsylvania county to remove the cross from its seal, saying it violated the Constitution.  Lehigh Valley County, which is about 40 miles north of Philadelphia, will have to redesign its seal after U.S. District Judge Edward Smith ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an organization that promotes separation of church and state and which filed the lawsuit against the county, according to The Morning Call.  Smith made it known in his ruling that he was not happy about the decision he had to make but was following the rule of constitutional law, including the establishment clause, which states that Congress may not pass any laws establishing a religion.

Judicial Anarchism.  [Scroll down]  History is full of examples where the ruling class either lost control or lost the moral authority to maintain control.  Every revolution in history follows this model to some degree.  What we are seeing in modern America is a strange combination of how order breaks down in a society.  The American ruling class is coming to the conclusion that the rules really don't work for them.  They don't have the will or ability to simply toss them aside and impose a new order, but they refuse to allow the old rules to limit their power.  That's what's happening with the chaos we see in the courts.  Judges, who are members of the ruling class, are willy-nilly overthrowing the constitutional order. [...] In a rational, liberal society, there should be debate and division, within the context of an agreed upon set of rules.  What the court is doing in America is questioning the very idea of rules.  They are claiming for themselves the right to make up whatever they feel like in the moment, in whatever incoherent fashion they choose.  This is not judicial activism, so much as it is judicial anarchism.

Teen accused of shooting Yonkers officer got probation last week on gun charge.  While Yonkers Police Officer Kayla Maher recovered from a bullet to the face, PIX11 News learned on Tuesday that one of the teenagers charged in the shooting, and who was shot himself in the exchange, had been released by a Bronx judge last week in another weapons case that involved a semi-automatic gun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a machete.  Frank Valencia, 18, of New Rochelle, received probation and youthful offender status when he was sentenced by Judge George Villegas of Bronx Supreme Court on Sept. 20.  The light sentence was meted out over the objections of prosecutors representing the Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

Teen who shot cop was loose thanks to judge's slap on the wrist.  The Yonkers cop who was shot in the face during an ambush Monday [9/25/2017] left the hospital to the cheers of fellow officers — as it emerged Tuesday that the teen who allegedly blasted her was free thanks to a Bronx judge's leniency.

Teen who punched principal in face gets sweet deal from judge.  A hot-headed teen got a slap on the wrist Friday for slugging a Manhattan principal who told him to turn down his music.  Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson granted Luis Penzo, 19, youthful offender status and sentenced him to a conditional discharge — as long as he stays out of trouble for three years he'll dodge prison and a criminal record.  "You made us very proud," the judge said of the surly teen's compliance with a family therapy program.  Penzo, who sauntered into Manhattan Supreme Court Friday [9/22/2017] wearing a white T-shirt and red gym shorts, offered no apology for the October 2016 beatdown of Principal Matthew Tossman.

Judge: Sessions can't deny grant money for sanctuary cities.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions can't follow through — at least for now — with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities for refusing to impose new tough immigration policies, a judge ruled Friday [9/15/2017] in a legal defeat for the Trump administration.

DOJ can't withhold grants from 'sanctuary' cities, judge rules.  A federal judge issued a ruling Friday that blocks the Justice Department from requiring cities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to be considered eligible for federal law enforcement grants.  The ruling blocks nationwide enforcement of two of the three new conditions the Justice Department sought to impose on jurisdictions seeking funds through the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, which doles out nearly $400 million to state and local agencies each year.

The Absurd Reasoning a Clinton-Appointed Judge Used to Strike Down Sanctuary City Law.  A federal judge in San Antonio appointed by President Bill Clinton, Orlando Garcia, has issued a temporary restraining order against portions of Texas' new sanctuary city law.  SB 4, which was set to take effect on Sept. 1, outlawed sanctuary policies by Texas counties, cities, and municipalities.  This order is wrong on two levels:  It interferes with the prerogatives of a state government, and it misinterprets federal immigration law.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as Gov. Greg Abbott (the state's former attorney general) have already announced that they intend to appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump's pipeline agenda takes a hit with court ruling.  A major part of President Trump's infrastructure agenda suffered a setback when a federal appeals court ruled that regulators must examine the effects of climate change when they review proposed natural gas pipelines.  On its face, the Aug. 22 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision applies to a single project, the Southeast Market Pipelines Project, a network that includes the Sabal Trail pipeline to move natural gas across a number of states for delivery at Florida power plants.  The court said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not properly evaluate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from the natural gas shipped by the pipeline.

Judge Richard Posner: 'No value' in studying the U.S. Constitution.  Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner sees "absolutely no value" in studying the U.S. Constitution because "eighteenth-century guys" couldn't have possibly foreseen the culture and technology of today.  In a recent op-ed for Slate, Judge Posner, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, argued that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post-Civil War amendments "do not speak to today."

San Antonio judge blocks Texas' sanctuary cities law.  A federal judge halted most of Texas' ban on sanctuary cities Wednesday — two days before the law was to take effect.  City of San Antonio officials who were challenging the law claimed victory while state leaders vowed to appeal the ruling, but it remained unclear Wednesday night what impact it would have on a San Antonio Police Department policy preventing officers from asking about immigration status.  City staff and lawyers working on the case said they would have more information Thursday [8/31/2017].

Federal judge blocks further implementation of Texas' voter ID law.  A federal judge in Corpus Christi blocked further implementation of Texas' controversial voter identification law, after finding for a second time that it intentionally discriminates against minorities.  In a court order Wednesday [8/23/2017], U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos blocked Texas from implementing portions of the 2011 voter ID law, which was considered to be one of the strictest in the country.  And in a striking blow to the state, she blocked entirely a revamp to the law that the Texas Legislature passed earlier this year as Senate Bill 5.  The legislation was an effort to appease Ramos and do away with the finding of discriminatory intent.

Judge Usurps Congressional Spending Power in Obamacare Cases.  If you are one of those hidebound individuals who believe that the distribution of taxpayer funds from the U.S. Treasury is a congressional prerogative clearly delineated in Article I of the Constitution, Judge Thomas C. Wheeler of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has some bad news for you.  Wheeler has handed down summary judgments ordering the government to pay two separate insurers a total of $266 million that Congress has declined to appropriate.  He awarded Moda Health $214 million in February and, two weeks ago, he awarded $52 million to Molina Healthcare pursuant to Obamacare's unfunded "risk corridor" program.  Upon what authority does Judge Wheeler order the U.S. government to pay insurers taxpayer money that Congress hasn't appropriated?

Is Your Dog 'Contraband'?  An awful ruling for pet owners has come from a federal court, in a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh.  But the threat is not just to Fido and Fluffy, because, as anyone familiar with how precedent becomes corrupted knows, the ruling will be cited and abused far beyond its original, flawed bases. [...] In deciding an unlicensed dog is "contraband" not protected by the Fourth Amendment, the ruling confuses government "licenses" with "title," i.e., private ownership and possession.  The ruling will eventually be cited in cases involving property other than dogs and other unlicensed activity in our overly license-happy statist society.

Federal Court Rules That Officials Can't Block Trolls On Social Media.  I first wrote about a lawsuit brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University a couple of months ago.  As you may recall, it involves a group of people who had been blocked on Twitter by President Trump after some of their "constructive criticism" (read: trolling) apparently generated enough spam in his mentions column to be noticed.  This was somehow interpreted as a First Amendment violation, leading to the pending lawsuit.  While the entire premise sounds like some sort of parody stolen from the pages of The Onion, we may have an early indication of how the courts will be treating such questions.  This case doesn't deal with the President, but instead an obscure fight involving the Board of Supervisors in Loudoun County, Virginia.  The board's chair apparently blocked a constituent, Brian C. Davidson, on Facebook (for a period of 12 hours before unblocking him) and deleted a post of her own which contained a comment from Davidson.  The results from the initial hearing at the federal district court are disappointing to say the least.

The judicial war on God and the Declaration of Independence.  On July 14, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Rowan County, North Carolina, commissioners can't begin their session with a public prayer delivered by an elected official.  And the vote wasn't even close.  This once conservative panel voted 10-5 to banish God from the public square.  The opinion was written by Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, demonstrating the imbalance in the judiciary once again — that even the most radical opinions are often penned by GOP appointees.  This case also demonstrates that the judiciary will always be a dead end and a one-way-street for conservatives.  While conservative lower court judges always feel bound to "precedent," liberal lower court judges have no problem violating precedent and established practice.

California judge refuses to bring back Trump's sanctuary cities ban.  In a seeming act of defiance toward the Trump administration, a federal judge in San Francisco has refused to reinstate the president's sanctuary cities order.  The bold move to not reinstate President Donald Trump's executive order — which sought to slash funding to cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities — comes amid a battle between the State Department and local governments across the country over the edict from Washington.

Judge to Marine vet:  Give up Second Amendment gun rights to foster grandson.  On Wednesday [7/19/2017], Fox News reported that William Johnson of Ontonagon, Michigan, was told that he would have to give up his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms if he wanted to foster his grandson.  Not only was he told this by caseworkers with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), he was instructed by a county judge that, "if you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights."  As a result, Fox said, a lawsuit was filed in federal court on Monday [7/17/2017].

Federal Judge Blocks Mass Deportation of Iraqis.  More than 1,400 Iraqi nationals who the federal government targeted for immediate deportation will get their day in court, a federal judge in Detroit ruled on Monday [7/24/2017].  In a 35-page order, United States District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith granted a request for a preliminary injunction, saying the group of Iraqis — many of whom are in their home country's Christian minority — could face "grave harm and possible death" if returned to Iraq.

Massachusetts Supreme Court Rules Police [are] Not Allowed to Follow Federal Law.  The glorious progressive secession movement from the United States continues.  If Obama were in office, we would be hearing lots of talk about the Confederacy.  But since it's a Republican in the White House, treason is patriotic again.  Also Massachusetts cops are not allowed to follow Federal law.  Obama had already decided that Arizona is not allowed to enforce Federal immigration laws.  Now the highest court in MA has decided that police are not allowed to follow Federal law either.

Judges Must Set Affordable Bonds for Nonviolent Defendants, Top Judge Says.  ook County judges will soon be required to set affordable bail amounts for defendants who don't pose a risk to the community.  "Defendants should not be sitting in jail awaiting trial simply because they lack the financial resources to secure their release," said Chief Judge Timothy Evans, who announced the new policy Monday [7/17/2017].  Beginning Sep. 18, bond court judges will be banned from setting bail that is too high for felony defendants to pay.

Hawaii: Rogue judge once again rules for the Imam, attempts to thwart Trump on refugees.  Judge Derrick Watson took advantage of the mess the Supreme Court made in its recent ruling (as Justice Thomas predicted) to once again attempt to stop President Trump from carrying out a simple 120-day moratorium on refugee resettlement in order to analyze the program and determine whether security screening is sufficient.  The Supreme Court literally unconstitutionally legislated when it created a way to go around a Presidentially-determined ceiling as defined by over 3 decades of refugee law and said refugees with a "bona fide relationship" to a family member or to an "entity" could come in over the 50,000 ceiling reached yesterday [7/13/2017].

Judge Forces Prison To Provide Hormone Therapy To A Transgender Dude Named Sparkles Wilson.  A federal judge has ordered officials at a taxpayer-funded county prison in Pennsylvania to provide — and foot the cost for — hormone therapy treatment for transgender inmate Steven Fritz, a man who longs to become a woman and who prefers to go by the name Sparkles Wilson.  Judge Robert D. Mariani issued the order late Friday [7/14/2017], reports The Scranton Times-Tribune.  Mariani's ruling comes after Fritz had filed a $1 million-plus lawsuit alleging that he will suffer physical harm and mental trauma if he does not continue receiving regular estrogen infusions.

Federal judge blocks deportations of 1,400 Iraqi nationals.  A U.S. federal judge blocked the deportation of 1,400 Iraqi nationals arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month while courts review the orders to remove them from the country.  Judge Mark Goldsmith said his court had jurisdiction in the case.  The Justice Department argued U.S. district judges do not have jurisdiction.  "This Court concludes that to enforce the Congressional mandate that district courts lack jurisdiction — despite the compelling context of this case — would expose Petitioners to the substantiated risk of death, torture, or other grave persecution before their legal claims can be tested in a court," Goldsmith wrote in a 24-page opinion.  Late last month, Goldsmith had halted the deportations until he figured whether he had jurisdiction over the case.

NY judge sparks outrage after freeing alleged cop attacker.  Cops say Kurdel Emmanuel, a mentally-troubled 29-year-old man, tried Saturday [7/8/2017] to wrestle the gun from a female officer who fought him off in a Brooklyn precinct house.  WNBC-TV reported that when Emmanuel was interviewed after his arrest he told police he wanted to kill a cop.  On Sunday, Emmanuel appeared before Brooklyn Judge Loren Baily-Schiffman on assault, attempted robbery and attempted criminal possession of a weapon charges.  Prosecutors requested a $250,000 bond.  Instead, Baily-Schiffman released him on his own recognizance.

Obama, Holder, and tyrannical judges put liberty in the crosshairs.  A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about the possible 2020 presidential run by Barack Obama's gun-running buddy and fellow race-baiter, former US Attorney General Eric Holder.  Not surprisingly, some of my readers dismissed the possibility that Holder could be a serious threat if he were to be the Democrat nominee, even though I warned against taking such a position based on the "behind-the-scenes" work he is doing with Obama.  Well, the wheels of their agenda will be put in motion later this week.  One of the ways Holder and Obama are hoping to shape the political landscape is through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC).  This group is working at the grass-roots level to elect enough Democrats in state and local government over the next few years, giving them the power to control Congressional Redistricting after the 2020 census.

Federal court blocks Trump EPA on air pollution.  An appeals court Monday struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's 90-day suspension of new emission standards on oil and gas wells, a decision that could set back the Trump administration's broad legal strategy for rolling back Obama-era rules.  In a 2-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA had the right to reconsider a 2016 rule limiting methane and smog-forming pollutants emitted by oil and gas wells but could not delay the effective date while it sought to rewrite the regulation.  The agency has proposed extending the initial delay to two years; the court will hold a hearing on that suspension separately.

Miami judge rules Florida's new Stand-Your-Ground law is unconstitutional.  Florida's updated "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law is unconstitutional, a Miami judge ruled on Monday [7/3/2017].  Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled that lawmakers overstepped their authority in modifying the law this year to force prosecutors to disprove a defendant's self-defense claim at a pre-trial hearing.  The judge ruled that under Florida's constitution, that change should have been crafted by the Florida Supreme Court, not the Legislature.

The Editor says...
The citizens of Florida had better decide right away if they want their elected representatives to make laws, or leave it up to the judges.

Can Trump Win His Fight Against Leftist Judges And Open-Border Radicals Over Immigration?  A battle is brewing between the federal government's right to enforce U.S. immigration laws and some cities' and blue states' desire to provide "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants in the U.S.  But unlike the past four presidents, Donald Trump is willing, even eager, to fight this battle.

Obama-appointed judges dismiss Supreme Court ruling, continue blocking Trump's immigration crackdown.  President Trump may have won a partial victory at the Supreme Court this week, but other federal judges remain major stumbling blocks to his aggressive immigration plans, with courts from California to Michigan and Atlanta limiting his crackdown on sanctuary cities and stopping him from deporting illegal immigrants he has targeted for removal.  The judges in those deportation cases have rejected Mr. Trump's argument that he has wide latitude to decide who gets kicked out, without having to worry about district courts second-guessing him on facts of the case.  Instead, the judges said, they get to decide their jurisdiction, and that extends to reviewing Mr. Trump's immigration policy.

Dems begin to panic as Trump set to transform federal judiciary.  The left adores judges who believe that their job is to make society better by interpreting laws in new and creative ways.  Once leftists discovered they could make up stuff like the "penumbra" of the Constitution and that judges could pretend their policy choices were required by law, despite no direct wording to that effect, the door was open to impose the Progressive Agenda without all the messiness of approving legislation in Congress, where the people have a voice.  That undemocratic — indeed, anti-democratic — approach to governing, wherein the elite discusses theories in academic journals, and then activist judges impose those theories as law, is popular among the cultural elite, because they believe themselves to be something like philosopher-kings, entitled to rule others by their superior wisdom.  Their cultural preferences, such as same-sex marriage, gain the authority of law thereby.  Restoring a judiciary that believes its job is to interpret, not make up, the law is a reform that cannot happen fast enough.

Judge Frees Illegal Immigrant MS-13 Member Because Of 'Rights Violations'.  An Obama-appointed federal judge in Virginia early this month released a Honduran teen who sold drugs, illegally crossed the U.S. border, and was a member of the violent street gang MS-13.  U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon ordered the 17-year-old to be released because his "rights had been violated" after he crossed the Rio Grande and turned himself in to U.S. Border Patrol, the Washington Post reported.  "The judge ruled that, by holding the illegal alien gangbanger without a hearing, the government violated his rights to due process and family unity," according to Judicial Watch.  The former gang-member's identity has not been revealed due to his status as a minor.

Monroe judge charged in scheme to hide her address.  Town Justice Lurlyn Winchester was arrested Wednesday [6/7/2017] on charges that she lied and gave fabricated documents to a bank and law enforcement officers to conceal that she lived in Rockland County and not in Monroe.  Winchester, 58, was released on $50,000 bail bond after appearing in federal court in White Plains on felony charges of making false statements to a lender and obstruction of justice.  She's accused of presenting a phony lease and rent checks to a bank in 2015 to deceive the lender into thinking she and her husband were going to rent out their New City home.

Boys sentenced in sexual abuse of Twin Falls girl; family upset with punishment.  The family of a girl who was sexually abused last June are still not satisfied with the sentences recently given to the boys who abused her, the family's attorney said.  Mark Guerry said he's unable to comment more specifically on the sentences after 5th District Magistrate Thomas Borresen again sealed the case and ordered the attorneys involved "to not discuss anything that was said or done."  [...] Three boys, ages 14, 10, and 7, were charged in the case.  The older boys, brothers, are from Eritrea, an African country, while the younger boy is from Iraq.  The boys are from refugee families, but it is unclear how long they had been in the community.

Media Blackout:  No Jail Time for Muslim 'Refugees' Who Raped 5-Year-Old Girl.  The travesty of justice in Idaho is now complete.  In the summer of 2016, a 5-year-old girl was orally and anally raped and urinated upon by three Muslim migrant boys in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Since then, instead of getting justice, the victim's family has been abused by law enforcement and governing authorities as if they were the criminals — because what happened to their little girl contradicts the politically correct narrative about Muslim migrants.  On Tuesday [6/6/2017], the perpetrators were sentenced, and the final injustice was done to this poor girl.

Drop that gavel!
N.Y. judge arrested, led from courthouse in handcuffs.  An embattled City Court judge was escorted Monday [6/5/2017] from judicial chambers in handcuffs.  Rochester court deputies and city police officers executed a bench warrant issued for Judge Leticia Astacio's arrest last week after she missed a Tuesday court appearance related to an August drunken-driving conviction.

Kelly: Courts Have Blocked Me 'From Doing Those Things I Know Would Make Americans Safe'.  Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Congress on Tuesday that he expects that some of the foreign fighters who traveled to Iraq and Syria to return home to continue their plotting, and "we expect that some will look to travel to the United States to carry out attacks."  But because the courts have blocked President Trump's temporary travel ban, Kelly said he is "not fully confident" that the Department of Homeland Security is doing "all that we can to weed out potential wrong-doers."

Federal Judge Is "Humiliated" For Having To Actually Uphold Immigration Law.  If Judge Reinhardt is so upset by having to enforce federal immigration law, he can resign.  The federal government is specifically tasked with protecting the nation from foreign invasion, which includes those who come to this country illegally as well as overstay their visas.  The majority of countries in the world, including Mexico, refuse to tolerate those who are unlawfully present, and many, including Mexico, have harsher penalties.

DHS Officers Humiliate Judges by Enforcing Immigration Laws, Declares Judge.  Judges are humiliated and dehumanized whenever they must enforce the nation's immigration laws, according to a senior judge on the far-left Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The judge's cry of outrage came when he could not block the orderly repatriation of an illegal immigrant who has two drunk driving convictions, plus a U.S. wife and three children.  "We are unable to prevent [Andres] Magana Ortiz's removal, yet it is contrary to the values of this nation and its legal system," complained Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who wishes to extend citizens' rights to illegal foreign migrants.

Supreme Court Expedites Trump's Petition on Travel Ban Executive Order Case.  President Trump issued Executive Order 13780 (EO) on March 6, Section 2(c) of which temporarily restricted travel from six Muslim-majority countries associated with terrorism while the United States developed new vetting procedures to keep the nation safe.  Immigration activists sued, along with several immigrants and their families.  A liberal federal district judge in Maryland granted a preliminary injunction blocking Section 2(c) of the EO.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit then affirmed the trial court's injunction in a 10-3 decision, ruling that the EO violated the Constitution's Establishment Clause, and taking the almost unheard-of step of all the court's judges hearing the case, instead of sending it to a three-judge panel.

The federal courts just joined 'the resistance'.  Last Thursday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals joined the resistance.  In a 205-page opinion, it struck down President Trump's 90-day travel ban on foreign nationals from six majority Muslim countries.  The ban was squarely within the authority of the president under USC 1182(f), which provides that:  "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation ... suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens."  That's clear enough, but the court set aside the order for two reasons.  First, the text had to be read in the context of Trump campaign speeches that dripped "with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination."  Second, the court doubted that the order's "vague words of national security" were supported by evidence that the excluded foreigners posed a danger to Americans.

How Sharia Supremacism and Judicial Imperialism Threaten National Security.  The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling against President Trump's so-called travel ban empowers both radical Islam and judicial imperialism.  The combination portends lasting damage to the United States.  To rehash, the executive order (EO) proclaimed temporary restrictions (the main one, for 90 days) on travel to the United States by the nationals of six countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.  Those countries, along with Iraq (cited in Trump's original executive order, but not the revised EO at issue), had previously been singled out by Congress and President Obama — not because they are Muslim-majority countries, but because a) the presence or promotion of terrorism in their territories makes their nationals suspect and b) their anti-Americanism and/or dysfunctional governments render it impossible to conduct background checks on visa applicants.  This Fourth Circuit's en banc review of prior invalidations of the EO by "progressive" activists masquerading as jurists produced 205 pages of opinions.

YouTube removes latest Planned Parenthood video on judge's order.  YouTube removed a video showing top Planned Parenthood officials making gruesome comments about abortion on the order of a federal judge in California.  U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who granted the preliminary injunction in favor of the National Abortion Federation to halt the release of the videos, ordered any links to the video to be removed after it was published by the Center for Medical Progress on Thursday [5/25/2017].  Judge Orrick also ordered CMP lead investigator David Daleiden and his attorneys to appear in court June 14, The Associated Press reported, for a hearing where he will consider holding them in contempt for releasing the footage.

On travel ban, judges reach 'Trump only' decision.  There's a glaring political divide in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to stop President Trump's revised executive order limiting entry into the U.S. for some people from a few terror-plagued Muslim-majority nations.  The court ruled against the president by a solid 10 to 3 vote.  All ten on the winning side were appointed by Presidents Barack Obama or Bill Clinton.  All three on the losing side were appointed by Presidents George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush.  If anything, the decision shows the value of a two-term presidency in shaping the courts.  The 4th Circuit, once solidly conservative, is conservative no longer with six Obama appointees.

Fake Judge Booted After Texas Learns She IS NOT a U.S. Citizen!.  New reports are coming out of Corpus Christi, Texas that a fake municipal court judge has been placed on unpaid leave after city officials learned she IS NOT a U.S. citizen.  How in the world did this happen?

Fake Law.  Just as fake news spreads ideologically motivated misinformation with a newsy veneer, fake law brings us judicial posturing, virtue signaling, and opinionating masquerading as jurisprudence.  And just as fake news augurs the end of authoritative reporting, fake law portends the diminution of law's legitimacy and the warping of judges' self-understanding of their constitutional role.

Federal judge orders Georgia to reopen voter registration ahead of 6th District runoff.  A federal judge on Thursday [5/4/2017] ordered Georgia to temporarily reopen voter registration ahead of a hotly contested congressional runoff in the 6th District.  U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten made the ruling as part of a broader lawsuit by a Washington-based advocacy group, which last month accused Georgia of violating federal law by reducing the amount of time residents have to register to vote.  Voter registration shut down March 20 ahead of the deciding runoff June 20 for the 6th District election, which is being held in the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta.  Batten, however, ordered registration immediately reopened until May 21.

Who needs elections?  We got judges!  What do you do when you lose everything between Maryland and the California border?  You look for friendly judges who hate Trump as much as you do.  You get these judges to write opinions that slow down or stop President Trump's agenda.  It probably draws a cheer from left-wing precincts, but it does not serve the independence of the judiciary.  After all, who wants to take the field when the guy calling balls and strikes is a partisan for the other team?

We're down to one branch of government.  How did we reach the place where nobody knows what the "law of the land" is until the Supreme Court rules?  How did the Supreme Court acquire so much blatantly unconstitutional and immoral power?  The answer is easy:  the Court stole it.

Does Judge Orrick Think President Obama 'Fundamentally Transformed' Executive Orders?  William H. Orrick III is a Democrat campaign bundler and left-wing political activist.  He has been known as "Judge Orrick" since 2013, when President Obama managed to get him on the federal bench — with the assistance of Republicans Senators Jeff Flake (Arizona), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Susan Collins (Maine).  All other Republicans opposed Orrick's nomination, except Bob Corker (Tennessee) who failed to vote.  It was as Judge Orrick that the San Francisco-based social justice warrior issued a 49-page decision this week.  His decision purported to invalidate President Trump's executive order (EO) on federal funding for "sanctuary" jurisdictions — cities, counties and other municipal subdivisions that refuse to cooperate in federal immigration-law enforcement.  I say "purported" because Orrick's screed is a ruling about nothing.  The Trump Justice Department had argued that the EO did nothing to alter pre-existing law.

Judge Orrick's Nullification of the Rule of Law.  The Left, and the Democrats have now come full circle.  Of course, Obama did not really believe in the rule of law — he believes only in what he deems is "progress" — and invoked the "Supreme Law of the Land" only because he judged it could be massaged to advance his leftist goals.  This week, a grafting, Obama appointed district court judge, William H. Orrick, delivered a poorly written and lawless decision that — in essence — invokes the long discredited principle of nullification.  Historically, nullification was the belief that a state could nullify, or interpose itself between its own laws and any federal law it deems unconstitutional.  In this instance, we have cities that, by and and large, have been controlled by the Left for decades trying to establish a basis for so called "sanctuary cities."  In truth they are are seeking nothing so much as a right to nullify federal laws they do not like.

Wife of Judge Who Blocked Pro-Life Videos Exposing Planned Parenthood is a Pro-Abortion Activist.  In California, a federal judge blocked the release of additional videos exposing the abortion industry after the National Abortion Federation (NAF) said they were concerned about footage from events it sponsored for abortion groups across the country.  Last month, four videos released by the Center for Medical Progress showed Planned Parenthood executives negotiating the sale of babies killed in abortions.  As LifeNews previously reported, NAF filed a suit in federal court "seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction which would prohibit the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), David Daleiden, and others from releasing recordings and materials they illegally obtained at NAF's educational meetings."

San Francisco Federal Judge, Obama Bundler, Blocks Trump Sanctuary City Defunding Order.  San Francisco based Federal Judge, William Orrick, issued a preliminary injunction today blocking any attempt by the Trump administration to withhold funding from "sanctuary cities" that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.  Judge Orrick said president Trump has no authority to attach new conditions to federal spending.

Judge blocks Trump order on sanctuary city money.  A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked a Trump administration order to withhold funding from communities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.

Judge Who Blocked Trump Sanctuary City Order Bundled $200K for Obama.  Federal Judge William Orrick III, who on Tuesday blocked President Trump's order to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, reportedly bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars for President Barack Obama.  Orrick, of the Northern District of California, issued an injunction against the Trump administration after the city of San Francisco and county of Santa Clara sued over the president's plan to withhold federal funds from municipalities that harbor illegal immigrants.

Judge who blocked Trump's sanctuary city order should have recused himself.  The federal judge who ruled against President Trump's effort to withhold money from so-called sanctuary cities had no business presiding over the case.  The appearance of partiality should have been enough for Judge William Orrick to disqualify himself.  His established record of political and personal bias demanded recusal.  I'm betting he didn't even consider it.  Orrick came into the case with glaring conflicts of interest.  First, he was an accomplished "bundler" for Barack Obama, raising over $200,000 and personally donating more than $30,000.  Later, he was rewarded with a federal judgeship.  So, his political favoritism is more conspicuous than it would be for your average federal judge.  Second, Orrick worked on key immigration cases for Obama's Justice Department, overseeing the Office of Immigration Litigation.

A Ruling about Nothing.  A showboating federal judge in San Francisco has issued an injunction against President Trump's executive order cutting off federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities.  The ruling distorts the E.O. beyond recognition, accusing the president of usurping legislative authority despite the order's express adherence to "existing law."  Moreover, undeterred by the inconvenience that the order has not been enforced, the activist court — better to say, the fantasist court — dreams up harms that might befall San Francisco and Santa Clara, the sanctuary jurisdictions behind the suit, if it were enforced.  The court thus flouts the standing doctrine, which limits judicial authority to actual controversies involving concrete, non-speculative harms.  Although he vents for 49 pages, Judge William H. Orrick III gives away the game early, on page 4.  There, the Obama appointee explains that his ruling is about ... nothing.

Judge Blocking Sanctuary City Order Apparently Still Thinks He's Part of Obama Admin.  A judge just declared taxpayers must give money to a city that refuses to enforce federal immigration law while at the same time refusing to give any redress for the family of dead Kate Steinle due to that same sanctuary city policy.  Judge William Orrick, a legacy of the liberal gentry whose grandfather founded one of the big corporate law firms in San Francisco, whose father also sat on the federal bench (and the left complains of "nepotism"?), and who, according to Public Citizen, bundled nearly a quarter of a million for Obama's campaigns, blocked Trump's executive order defunding sanctuary cities by claiming sanctuary cities' refusal to actually enforce immigration law is an act of "immigration enforcement strategy."  This, in the city that freed the killer of Katie Steinle just before he killed her.  Oh, and by the way, liberal judges in the city also said that Kate's family can't sue the city for the sanctuary city policy that killed her.

Judge halted execution plan, then participated in death-penalty protest.  An Arkansas judge who barred the state from hurriedly executing eight inmates attended a death-penalty rally just hours later — even posing as a condemned man as part of the protest.

AR Supreme Court Bars Judge Wendell Griffen from Death Penalty Cases.  The Arkansas Supreme Court is taking action against Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen.  The high court ruled early Monday afternoon that Judge Griffen be barred from hearing any death penalty, execution or drug protocol cases.  The decision follows Griffen's protest Friday outside the Governor's Mansion against the scheduled executions.

Arkansas Supreme Court bars judge who joined protests from hearing death penalty cases.  A state judge who railed against the death penalty at protest rallies while he blocked executions in his courtroom ran afoul of the Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday [4/17/2017] as the legal fight over a planned spate of executions continued into the night.  The state high court barred Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen from hearing cases involving executions, capital punishment and the state's lethal injection protocol, then referred him to the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.  Judge Griffen lost the battle, but he may have won the war:  The Arkansas high court also granted stays of execution to the two convicted murderers scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Monday, Bruce Ward and Don Davis.

Judicial Independence in the Government of the People.  Judges who hear individual cases should have the ability to use their discretion to dispense mercy and, even, leniency when and where they determine it is due.  Without judicial independence, judges would be unable to render fair and impartial decisions based on the law alone.  Too often they might be motivated by questions of whether their decisions are unpopular, or favor the powerful and well-connected over the weak, the criminal, and the despised.  This is far different from allowing life-tenured federal judges to unduly interfere in political questions against the actions of elected political actors, unless it is plain and clear from the text of the law or the Constitution that the elected political actor has gone outside of lawful bounds.

A Federal Court Rewrites the Civil Rights Act.  At what point do we declare that the judiciary is facing a credibility crisis?  When do we finally decide that laws passed by Congress have no meaning and that judges are able to rewrite them at will, often using the most laughably specious reasoning?  Yesterday [4/4/2017], the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals unilaterally revised that the Civil Rights Act's ban on employment discrimination on the basis of "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" so that it now includes a ban on sexual-orientation discrimination as well.  Never mind the actual words on the page. Never mind the common meaning of the words then or now.  All that matters is the right result — the triumph of the social-justice "super clause" that is hidden in every law, regulation, or constitutional provision.

Obergefell's Toxic Judicial Legacy.  The cultural, legal, and political consequences of establishing a right to same-sex marriage have dominated discussions regarding Justice Kennedy's Obergefell decision.  Will religious institutions that oppose same-sex marriage lose their tax-exempt status?  What will happen to vendors whose consciences prohibit them from participating in same-sex weddings?  How and when will schools address same-sex marriage?  Those consequences are important and merit serious discussion.  However, another aspect of the case — Justice Kennedy's instructions regarding judges' authority to create new "rights" — will prove equally important in the long run.  In Obergefell, Justice Kennedy did far more than merely discover a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.  He wrote that judges have an ongoing "duty" to identify and protect new "fundamental rights."  He maintained that judges should institute new rights whenever their "reasoned judgment" suggests that it is appropriate to do so.

Judge OK's Petition for America's First 'Genderless' Person.  A Portland student has become the first American to gain legal designation as "genderless", following a ruling by a Multnomah County judge.  The March 10 decision, reported for the first time on Thursday, involved a 27-year-old who was born male but claimed to identify with no gender whatsoever.  Judge Amy Holmes, who approved the petition, also last year approved a "non-binary" gender designation for another Portland resident.

Federal Judge Extends Halt of Trump's Travel Ban Indefinitely.  The same federal judge in Hawaii that temporarily blocked the president's travel ban 2.0 has now extended that injunction indefinitely, multiple sources reported early Thursday morning.  The updated decision by U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson now means that the travel ban will be put on ice unless it is reinstated by higher appeals judge.  Trump's second travel ban came after a three-judge panel issued a similar stay to an earlier version which temporarily halted the immigration and travel from citizens of seven majority Muslim countries to the United States.  The original order also included preferential treatment for Christian refugees seeking resettlement in the United States.  The second ban reduced the ban to only six countries and dumped the overt religious stipulations, but it still was not enough for Judge Watson[.]  "The Court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has," Watson wrote in his opinion.

Another Reason To Impeach Anti-Trump Judge Theodore Chuang.  Theodore Chuang, the Federal District Judge for the District of Maryland who halted most elements of President Trump's latest executive order temporarily banning travel from six Middle Eastern countries, as well as refugees from all countries, served as deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security Judge Chuang(DHS) in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2014.  Breitbart's Michael Patrick Leahy says his March 15 ruling in the case, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) v. Trump, in which DHS, the State Department, and President Trump are defendants, raises legitimate questions about whether he should have recused himself from hearing the case in the first place.

Liberal Judges Unwittingly Declare ObamaCare Religious Mandate Unconstitutional.  They don't realize it, but liberals have just declared that Obama's HHS mandate — which forced Catholics to cooperate with providing abortion and contraception — is unconstitutional.  The new interpretation of the Establishment Clause espoused by the activist judges who are striking down Trump's EO is that anything that has a disparate impact on a religious group is unconstitutional.  The rulings by activist judges declaring Trump's EO on immigration to be unconstitutional were based on arguments that if the EO/law had a disparate impact on any faith, or that if the person behind the EO/law ever said anything that could be construed to violate the new liberal interpretation of the establishment clause, then the EO/law in question was unconstitutional.

When Judges Cross Lines.  Activist federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland have issued rulings blocking the Trump administration's second executive order (EO) limiting travel to the U.S. from certain unstable, dangerous countries.  Per the courts, these orders will supposedly prohibit potential religious discrimination until the complainants' case can be heard on the merits.  However, they do nothing of the sort.  In fact, they simply offer more of the same flawed reasoning found in the orders blocking implementation of the first "travel ban," EO-13769.  They also demonstrate the dangers that emerge when the courts appoint themselves enforcers of an anti-borders orthodoxy, rather than performing their constitutionally assigned function as the interpreters of existing legal precedent.

Feud in the Ninth Circuit.  Whatever else one can say about President Trump's so-called travel ban, it has ignited a fabulous feud among the riders of the 9th United States Appeals Circuit.  One has called the whole case a "folly" and likened it not just to a dog being wagged by its tail but also to a St. Bernard "being wagged by a flea on its tail."  It's hard not to imagine that, from the high bench, the sages of the Supreme Court are enjoying the spectacle.  The business about the St. Bernard and the flea is from of one the clearest-thinking judges on the whole appeals bench, Alex Kozinski.  He issued a dissent from the refusal of the 9th circuit to give a full, en banc review of a district court's decision to block President Trump's travel ban.  He warns of a chilling effect of courts holding politicians to account for comments made on the stump.

What 2 Obama Judges Got Wrong in Striking Down Travel Executive Order.  Two federal judges, both nominated by President Barack Obama, have issued injunctions against President Donald Trump's revised executive order temporarily restricting travel from six terrorist safe havens in the Middle East and Africa.  The decisions by Derrick Kahala Watson in Hawaii and Theodore David Chuang in Maryland should shock no one — not because the judges are correct, but because their decisions follow the same pattern as prior decisions in Washington state and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the first order.  These rulings ignore or misinterpret federal immigration law that gives the president the clear authority to act and prior Supreme Court precedents that support the legality of the president's actions.

Trump: 'People are screaming to break up the 9th Circuit'; Here's how to do it.  Currently, said circuit is composed of nine Western states and the territory of Guam.  What this means in practice is, thanks to blue-slip tradition in the judiciary committee — which effectively subjects blue state judicial appointments to approval from blue state senators — liberal jurists from California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington end up ruling on cases in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Montana.  So, not only is the Ninth Circuit a primordial ooze for bad, oft-overturned jurisprudence, but it subjects millions in red states to blue state super-legislation (as the majority of federal cases never go to the Supreme Court).  It also subjects everyone involved to an overburdened circuit taking a disproportionately long time to serve justice.  While Trump's opponents will surely see the suggestion as cause for yet another hysteric meltdown, Congress has the power to do just this — and more — by simply passing legislation.

Five 9th Circuit Judges Dish Out Ruthless Take Down to Anti-Trump Travel Ban Decision.  [Scroll down]  The five judges note some of the absurdities in the original 3-judge panel decision:  claiming a consular officer must be deferred to more than the President of the United States; claiming first amendment rights exist for foreigners when the Supreme Court twice ruled otherwise; the claim that people here could claim a constitutional right for someone else to travel here, a decision specifically rejected by the Supreme Court just a year ago; and analogous Trumpian kind of immigration exclusion was uniformly approved by Circuit courts across the country in decisions issued between 2003 and 2008.  As the five panelists conclude, the overwhelming precedent and legal history reveals a court simply cannot "apply ordinary constitutional standards to immigration policy."  The five judges don't quit there, though.  They go on to identify other "obvious" errors.

Stop 'Stalking' Local Courthouses, California's Top Judge Tells ICE.  In a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, state Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye asked the federal government to immediately stop detaining suspected undocumented immigrants at courthouses in California.  "Enforcement policies that include stalking courthouses and arresting undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom pose no risk to public safety, are neither safe nor fair," she wrote.  "They not only compromise our core value of fairness but they undermine the judiciary's ability to provide equal access to justice."

The Editor says...
Someone who enters the country to give birth to an "anchor baby" or to sign up for a lifetime of food stamps and freebies may not be a threat to public safety, but they are still likely to be inadmissible and should be deported without delay.

Send the Refugees to Hawaii.  There is more judicial tyranny to warn you about.  Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii [...] blocked President Trump's temporary immigration ban. [...] Judge Watson's decision puts all of us in grave danger.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions says around three hundred of the FBI's active domestic terror investigations involve people who came here as refugees.  That's a lot of potential jihadists.  How many more Americans must die in the name of political correctness?  So I say send all the refugees to Honolulu.  Every last one of them.

Was Obama Involved in Pre-Planned Judicial Block of Trump Travel Ban?  As the Honolulu News Media points out:  U.S. District Judge Derrick Kahala Watson, who halted President Donald Trump's revised travel ban Wednesday, is a 1984 graduate of Kamehameha Schools who was in President Barack Obama's class at Harvard Law School.  Watson, 50, was appointed by Obama in November 2012 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2013.  Coincidences?  Or did President Obama travel to Hawaii to initiate, facilitate, or participate in the decision by Judge Watson?

Hawaii Judge's Ruling Could Lead to Constitutional Crisis.  When a Ninth Circuit panel issued a decision striking down President Trump's original travel ban, I described its opinion as "limited in impact, but full of mischief."  The biggest piece of mischief, I thought, was the panel's suggestion the administration's order violates the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses because it was intended to disfavor Muslims.  Citing statements made by Trump when he ran for president, the panel found that this argument raises "serious allegations and present significant constitutional questions."  However, it "reserve[d] consideration of these claims until the merits of this appeal have been fully briefed."  This bit of result-driven idiocy has now become the basis for the decision by a federal district judge in Hawaii striking down the Trump administration's new travel ban.  Eugene Kontorovich at the Volokh Conspiracy exploded it following the Ninth Circuit panel's ruling.

When Leftist Judges Didn't Complain: 2014 — To Protect Tourism, Hawaii Paid Homeless to Leave.  Remember in 2014, when Hawaii gave the homeless one-way tickets out of Hawaii?  Why do we have to take refugees from terror nations who haven't gone through "extreme vetting"?  They wanted to keep them away from tourists but somehow tourists won't be aghast at thousands of poorly screened and potential jihadists from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.  One of the reasons a Hawaiian judge gave for putting a halt to Trump's travel ban from these extremely dangerous terror nations is it would hurt tourism!  Just two-and-a-half years ago.  Hawaii launched a $1.3 million initiative to fight homelessness by flying them out of Waikiki to the lower 48.

Thomas Jefferson:  His opinion on our radical leftist "Judges".  The brilliant words of Thomas Jefferson echo through the ages, a slap in the face to rogue despots wearing black robes.

3 Most Idiotic Pronouncements From Hawaii Judge's Decision Restraining Trump's Executive Order.  On Wednesday evening [3/15/2017], a federal judge in Hawaii issued one of the most inane and insane judicial rulings in recent memory, placing a national temporary restraining order on President Trump's revised executive order concerning refugees and immigration from terror-rich countries.  The decision is a clear usurpation of legislative function by the judiciary and a clear overwriting of power delegated to the president by the Constitution and relevant legislation.  What's worse, the logic essentially allows any state to destroy the president's power as commander-in-chief.

The judges & others who left alleged EMT killer walking free.  Just what does it take to get a ticking-time-bomb thug off the streets?  That searing question is prompted by news that the man charged with the murder of an EMT last week had no business walking free — yet officials failed to rein him in.  At just 25, José Gonzalez already had 31 arrests, including violent incidents, before his fatal run-in with EMT Yadira Arroyo.  Reports also say he was a Bloods gang member.  Yet a Mayor de Blasio-tapped rookie judge, David Kirschner, still gave him a free pass — just three weeks before the fatal encounter.

Judge Considers Ordering President Donald Trump to Double 50,000 Refugee Inflow to the United States.  A federal District Court judge in Maryland is considering whether he should order President Donald Trump to double the annual inflow of refugees up to 100,000 per year.  Any demand by the judge that the federal government airbus an extra 50,000 migrants — including many adherents of Islam's sharia legal system — into American neighborhoods would be an unusual intervention into government roles normally left to the elected President and Congress.  If actually implemented, the judge's plan also would be extremely expensive for Americans, because state and local communities subsidize each new immigrant with roughly $1,600 each per year for decades.

More on the Left's Judicial Coup.  Two federal judges, one in Hawaii and one in Maryland, have enjoined execution of President Trump's travel order.  These court orders are obviously illegal and unconstitutional.  Under the Constitution and federal law, the president has the power to suspend immigration from any and all countries if he deems it in the best interest of the United States.  The idea that Trump's travel order "discriminates" against foreign Muslims is ridiculous.  The Supreme Court has made clear, in cases we have cited repeatedly, that no foreigner has a right to enter the U.S.  Our immigration and travel policies are entirely our business.  If we choose to "discriminate," we are entitled to do so, and have in fact done so throughout our history.  What we are witnessing is nothing less than a left-wing judicial coup, an effort to nullify the result of the last election by unconstitutionally depriving the president of his powers.  And what reason is there to assume that the coup will stop with Trump's inoffensive travel order?

Lawmakers warn judges ruling on travel bans against exceeding power.  This week's rulings against President Trump's revised executive order on travel and refugees have sparked heated pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who say judges have crossed the line to become adversaries of this White House — and suggested retribution could be coming.  Even some judges seemed worried about the tenor of recent rulings, saying their colleagues appeared to be letting personal beliefs taint their legal reasoning.

Could Someone Please Inform the Judiciary That Jihadists Are Muslim?  [E]ven a cursory look at the six countries included in Trump's temporary travel ban exposes the court's legal, intellectual, and moral bankruptcy:  Syria not only contains the capital of ISIS's caliphate, it's also home to thousands of al-Qaeda-affiliated and other jihadist terrorists, and its government is a Hezbollah-, Iran-, and Russia-supported genocidal regime that is largely responsible for the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century.  Iran is a sworn enemy of the United States, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, and is likely the world's foremost terror-exporting nation-state.  Yemen is the home of one of al-Qaeda's most potent remaining branches, is torn apart by civil war, and does not have a functioning government by any reasonable standard.  Libya is split between warring jihadist militias and nominal American allies.  ISIS attempted to establish a fallback stronghold in the city of Sirte, and it has been torn apart by civil war.  Somalia is a failed state.  Its own jihadist army, al-Shabaab, has exported terror beyond its borders, and Somalian immigrants have not only conducted terror attacks in the United States, they've sought to join with ISIS to carry out terror attacks at home and abroad.  Sudan long ago harbored Osama bin Laden, but in more recent years has launched its own jihadist genocide, killing tens of thousands (or, more likely, hundreds of thousands) of innocent men, women, and children.  But to a federal judge in Hawaii, all this is largely irrelevant.

We Are Living Under Judicial Anarchy!.  On "The Mark Levin Show" Wednesday night, Conservative Review's editor-in-chief called out "rogue judges" in today's "judicial anarchy," as one Derrick Watson, a federal judge in Hawaii, blocked President Trump's second draft of the executive order suspending travel from six high-risk countries.  "We have, ladies and gentlemen, rogue federal district judges now; we have rogue courts," Levin exclaimed.  "We have judicial anarchy taking place ... where judges are seizing plenary authority from the president of the United States to keep this nation safe — to control our borders and to determine the nature of our immigration in this country."  [Audio clip]

Rogue judges give legal standing to hypothetical immigrants.  When President Trump issued his revised immigration order, I warned that unless we reassess our erroneous views of judicial power, the courts would create an affirmative right to immigrate.  Even though the revised order applies only to prospective immigrants who have never stepped foot on our shores, we predicted that the courts would completely erase national sovereignty.  They did not disappoint.  Over the past few days, several liberal legal groups and a handful of blue states (led by Hawaii) have sued against the new order.  One federal district judge grotesquely manipulated the rules of standing and issued a temporary restraining order against the executive order, even in a case where Trump's moratorium was inapplicable.

A Liberal Coup Is In Progress.  Derrick Watson, a Democratic Party activist who was appointed to the federal bench in Hawaii by President Obama in 2012, has issued a purported injunction barring implementation of President Trump's travel order.  I have not yet read Watson's opinion, and will comment on it in detail when I have done so.  But I have read Trump's order, and the idea that it somehow can be blocked by a federal judge is ridiculous.  The order is absolutely within the president's constitutional discretion.  What we are seeing here is a coup:  a coup by the New Class; by the Democratic Party; by far leftists embedded in the bureaucracy and the federal judiciary.  Our duly elected president has issued an order that is plainly within his constitutional powers, and leftists have conspired to abuse legal processes to block it.

A New, Ideological Litmus Test for Christian Judges.  On December 2014, a reporter at a local Wyoming paper, the Pinedale Roundup, called the town's municipal judge, Ruth Neely, to ask if she was "excited" to be able to perform same-sex marriages.  (Two months earlier, the state had decided not to defend its same-sex marriage ban after it was struck down by a federal judge.)  In the ensuing conversation and later ones, Judge Neely explained that she'd never been asked to perform a same-sex marriage and mentioned her religious belief that marriage is the union of a husband and wife.  She also made clear that her beliefs would not prevent any same-sex couple in the area from getting married.  (They have not, in fact, done so, either:  To this day, no one has asked her to perform a same-sex wedding.)  Ominously, the reporter later called Judge Neely and offered not to run the story if she would "state a willingness to perform same-sex marriages."  This odd reaction to the judge's response to a hypothetical question was a portent of further trouble.

Judge gives custody of child to 1 dad and 2 moms.  An unconventional family produced a child before becoming tangled in a lengthy custody battle that ended last week when a New York judge awarded shared custody of the boy to his dad and two mothers.  The boy in the case is the biological child of a man and one of his neighbors.  Both the man and his wife had a longstanding, intimate relationship with the birth mother, according to court documents.

Sonia Sotomayor saddened by perception of judges as political.  Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor bemoaned people losing confidence in judges they believe to be political while taking questions at the University of California, Berkley on Thursday.  Sotomayor urged the crowd, "[D]on't give up hope on us" and said judges are "human beings who care deeply about what we're doing," according to the Associated Press.  The justice also said since the late Justice Antonin Scalia's death that the eight remaining justices are "talking more" and "trying to reach consensus more."

Oregon judge faces scrutiny for allegedly helping illegal immigrant escape ICE.  An Oregon judge is being investigated after she allegedly helped an illegal immigrant elude ICE agents in January by guiding the man through a private entrance at the courthouse.  Multnomah County Judge Monica Heeranz was notified by court staff that ICE agents were waiting outside her courtroom to possibly apprehend Diddier Pacheco Salazar, a 22-year-old Mexican national attending a DUI hearing, U.S. Attorney Billy Willaims said.  Specific details about what happend inside the courtroom next is not clear.  But Salazar reportedly somehow managed to leave the room using an employee exit.

Anti-Trump Democrats' Best Allies Are Senate Republicans.  So far, the Senate has confirmed 14 of the 549 senior federal positions that President Trump needs to run the government and who need Senate confirmation — Cabinet secretaries and people who run the departments, bureaus, agencies and the rest of the government.  The rest of the government is being run by career bureaucrats and a few Obama holdovers.  There are another 120 vacant federal judgeships and, of course, the Neil Gorsuch nomination to the Supreme Court.  Each requires Senate approval.

A Federal Court of Appeals Goes to War against the Second Amendment.  What happens when you mix contempt for individual rights with a healthy dose of willful ignorance and fear?  You get the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that's teaching the legal Left the recipe for attacking the Second Amendment.  Twice in less than a month, the court has radically restricted the constitutional rights of gun owners.  In January, it held that even lawful gun owners are inherently "dangerous" and can face limitations on their constitutional rights, including the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure, simply because they possess a gun.

The Fourth Circuit Runs Roughshod over Heller and the Second Amendment.  Freed up by the Supreme Court's ongoing reluctance to engage in depth with the Second Amendment, the Fourth Circuit has taken it upon itself to rewrite Heller en banc.  In a 10-4 decision, issued yesterday afternoon [2/21/2017], the court upheld Maryland's ban on both "assault weapons" and "high capacity magazines."  By so doing, it deprived the people of Maryland, the Carolinas, and the Virginias of the core protections to which the Constitution entitles them.

More of Hillary Clinton's secrets are kept from the public as judge turns down demand for State Department documents about her secret server.  A federal judge ruled yesterday [2/21/2017] not to hand another 30 documents pertaining to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's secret email server over to a conservative watchdog group.  Judge James E. Boasberg concluded that 'Judicial Watch has not provided a sufficient basis to believe that the information withheld by the State Department would shed light on any government misconduct,' the decision read, according to Politico.  Using the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch, the group that got many of Clinton's emails released, wanted additional correspondence about Clinton's server released to the public.

The Ninth Circuit's Stay On Trump's Immigration Order Is Legal Garbage.  The ruling is no surprise.  Two of the judges were appointed by presidents Carter and Obama.  And it is the Ninth Circuit, which is not exactly a hotbed of conservative thought.  After hearing the oral arguments, my only question was whether it would be a 2-1 ruling against President Trump, or a 3-0 ruling.  Turns out, we're not even 100 percent sure on that front.  More surprising was just how sloppy the opinion was.  It was weak on facts.  Weak on law.  Weak on analysis.  Heavy on conjecture and supposition and misspeak.  It's clear the judges were simply going through the exercise of writing an opinion so they could get to the outcome they wanted.  The problem is, the outcome they wanted is, legally speaking, wrong.

The Ninth Circuit:  Dangerously Out Of Order.  Three unelected federal judges in San Francisco yesterday [2/9/2017] ordered the Trump administration to continue accepting visitors and would-be immigrants from seven dangerous countries that are incubators of Muslim terrorism. [...] The open-borders crowd doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.  That may be why at a press conference celebrating the outrageous ruling, a member of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson's (D) team deployed the phrase "social justice" to justify the decision.  "Social justice" is a magical amulet that nullifies anything the Left doesn't like, including the president's executive order.  Its very invocation is an admission that a cause is illegitimate and un-American.

Judicial imperialism has been developing for decades.  [70 items.]

There Are Still 117 Court Vacancies To Be Filled By Trump.  President Donald Trump's influence on the federal judiciary goes further than just filling one seat on the Supreme Court.  The president needs to fill 117 vacancies on various federal courts.  On Jan. 31, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.  While this was certainly an important seat to fill, more than 13 percent of all lifetime judiciary positions remain vacant.

Gowdy Slams 9th Circuit Opinion:  No Right For Non-Citizens To Come To US.  South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, took apart the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked President Donald Trump's immigration pause Thursday night.  Gowdy said in a statement that no one should be surprised with the ruling that came from the court and that the 9th Circuit "has a well-earned reputation for being presumptively reversible.  Unlike the district court order, there is at least a court opinion which can be evaluated."

Analysis: Ninth Circuit Would Allow 9/11 Hijacker to Sue to Come to U.S..  The judgment of the Ninth Circuit upholding the temporary restraining order (TRO) against President Donald Trump's recent executive order restricting travel from seven terror-prone countries would have allowed one of the 9/11 hijackers to sue the government to come to, or stay in, the United States.  Under the court's novel theory of legal standing, "injuries" to public universities that result from foreign students and teachers not being able to enter the country give the states standing to sue.

The Ninth Circuit's Power Grab.  A federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, issued a temporary restraining order against the travel ban at the behest of two states, Washington and Minnesota, run by Democratic governors.  Now, the Ninth Circuit has upheld this single, unelected jurist's usurpation of the power to make American national-security policy.  According to the three-judge panel, even illegal aliens, to say nothing of aliens holding non-immigrant visas or permanent-resident status, have due-process rights against government actions to protect Americans from foreign threats.  Therefore, the president and Congress (i.e., the branches of government constitutionally responsible for national security) may not take such actions unless and until the judiciary (the branch with no such responsibility) has approved those actions.  That aliens are not citizens and have no constitutional right to come to the United States is apparently superseded by their newfangled "right" to be welcomed into the United States courts.  And even if they are not here already, even if they remain in the far reaches of the globe, this alien "right" may be asserted by state governments.

Ninth Circuit Court Now Demands It Be Protected From Itself.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is now independently, on its own impetus, requesting an internal vote on a full panel en banc hearing to review its own decision.  Additionally, the full ninth are asking the Trump administration to file an additional brief telling the court why the three member original appeals ruling authority was wrong.  In essence, the smart judges know what wasn't considered, and are now looking for an out.

Why the 9th Circuit Order Was Wrong, and What Trump Should Do About It.  At Defining Ideas, Michael McConnell, a former federal appellate judge and now a distinguished professor at Stanford Law School, addresses the 9th Circuit panel's decision denying the Trump administration's motion for an emergency stay, and finds it wanting. [...] The 9th Circuit order did not challenge the blindingly obvious fact — 8 U.S.C. §1182(f) — that the president can, by order, suspend the entry of "any class of aliens" into the United States.  So the 9th Circuit decision was wrong.  Where does the Trump administration go from here?

Troops Await Deployment Orders from Ninth Circuit.  Apart from the unremitting attacks on Republicans by paid mobs and Democratic congressmen desperate to help the base forget they lost big time and will continue to do so in 2018, the big news this week has to be the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granting itself the right to dictate foreign policy despite the clear words of the Constitution and federal law granting the president the absolute right to preclude entry to any alien he thinks poses a threat to national security.  Following a nonsensical decision by federal court Judge James Robart in Washington state staying the suspension of entry from seven countries, the administration sought to overturn it — the most popular Trump executive order — in the Ninth Circuit, the largest and most frequently overturned federal Circuit Court.

The Ninth Circuit gets it wrong.  A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court has repeated the mistakes made by the district court judge who stayed President Trump's executive order (EO) temporarily suspending visas from seven terrorist havens.  Both the judge in Washington State and the San Francisco-based circuit court have now refused to recognize the authority of Congress and the president to make this national security decision.  Neither the judge in Washington State nor the court has offered anything approaching a detailed discussion of 8 U.S.C.§1182(f), the law which specifically gives the president authority to suspend the entry of any aliens into the U.S. if he believes their entry would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States."  Unless this statutory provision is unconstitutional, the president has acted completely within the law.

Trump is Right, There are Some Major Problems With Ninth Circuit Travel Ban Decision.  Without getting too buried in the legal weeds, the weakest claims by the Ninth Circuit revolve around two areas:  1) the judges assert the courts can use Trump's prior statements on the campaign trail to determine the (maybe bad?) motivation behind the law 2) the judges remarkably found that the states of Washington and Minnesota having standing to sue.  If Trump appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is possible that the justices would come to a 4-4 decision which would effectively leave the 9th Circuit decision in place.  But, it is also equally possible that one of the Justices could be swayed to Trump's side based on some shaky principles put forward by the notoriously liberal-leaning Ninth Circuit.  "Look, this is not a solid decision.  This is a decision that looks like it's based more on policy than on constitutionality.  There are many, many flaws," Constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz said during a recent television appearance.

Court ends constitutional government by blocking Trump.  The 228-year experiment with a Constitutional Republic took another step closer to ending today in a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals courtroom when a panel of three judges upheld a district court's decision that the president of the United States and Congress cannot control our borders.  So much for the idea that elections have consequences. [...] he judges involved in this should be impeached for exceeding their authority.  There is no way every single district judge in America has the power or authority to make a policy decision affecting the national security of 320 million Americans.  The Supreme Court should make that perfectly clear.

The 9th Circuit's dangerous and unprecedented use of campaign statements to block presidential policy.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has just upheld a nationwide temporary injunction on President Trump's executive order relating to refugees and visas from certain countries.  I think the court's opinion is weak in most respects, but I will address one of the most interesting and potentially far-reaching aspects.  Generally, the president has vast discretion in issuing visas.  One of the major arguments against the executive order is that while in principle a president can limit immigration from the seven affected countries, it would be unconstitutional for President Trump in particular to do so, because in his case the action is motivated by impermissible religious bias.  The central exhibit for this argument is his campaign statements about a "Muslim ban."  While the 9th Circuit did not address this at great length, focusing instead on due-process arguments, it did accept the basic validity of the form of the states' argument.  "The States' claims raise serious allegations and present significant constitutional questions," wrote the court.

Trump Must Break Judicial Power.  When politicians don black robes and seize powers they do not have, they should be called out for what they are — usurpers and petty tyrants.  And if there is a cause upon which the populist right should unite, it is that elected representatives and executives make the laws and rule the nation.  Not judges, and not justices.

A legal analysis of the Ninth Circuit's dangerous usurpation of presidential power.  What we have here is a creeping constitutional coup.  As long as President Obama was in charge and had a massive open-door policy at our borders and at our airports, in violation of statutory law, the judiciary was content to be silent.  But when Donald Trump became president and tried to use the powers of the presidency to put some national security safeguards into place, the judiciary sprang into action.  The judiciary has usurped the executive branch's powers and has created a parallel constitution — one that bears no relation to the founding document of our nation.

The Threat to the Integrity of an Independent Judiciary.  President Trump's executive order on refugees was temporarily halted by a federal judge in Seattle without much in the way of legal reasoning, and it will shortly be ruled on again by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, one of whom is an Obama appointee, another a Carter appointee.  If the rule of written law is the point of judicial independence, it shouldn't matter who appointed the judges, since their independence should produce uniform results regardless of their political leanings.  And if you believe this is the way courts actually work, then naturally it is outrageously improper for prominent political figures to harangue the courts in an effort to influence their decisions.  Trump has been doing a lot of haranguing.

Only CBS Highlights Long History of Democratic Presidents Slamming Judges.  ABC and NBC on Thursday [2/9/2017] worried that Donald Trump is "taking shots at one of the pillars of this country," judges.  Of the three networks, only CBS This Morning bothered to explain that there is nothing unusual about a president fighting with the judiciary.  Reporter Jan Crawford highlighted the long history of Democrats, including Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, of attacking judges.  ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today skipped this point.  Crawford explained, "President Obama berated conservative justices who were sitting right in front of him during the 2010 State of the Union address."  She added, "President Clinton suggested at one point he would ask a lower federal court judge to resign over one of his controversial decisions."

Judge Who Will Rule on Trump Travel Order Won ACLU 'LGBT Award'.  Judge Michelle T. Friedland, who is on the three-judge panel that will rule on President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at stopping terrorists from traveling to the United States, won the ACLU of Southern California's LGBT Award in 2009, according to the Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.  "She received the President's Pro Bono Service Award in 2013 from the State Bar of California and the LGBT Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California in 2009," Leahy said in the U.S. Senate on April 10, 2014, stating his approval of Friedland's confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Short Circuit:  Bill Aims to Deep-Six 9th.  How big is the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals?  The San-Francisco-based circuit is so big that it represents nine states, including Nevada, 20 percent of the U.S. population and 40 percent of the nation's land mass.  It's so big that Congress has looked at bills to split the circuit since 1941, and it's so big that none of those measures have succeeded.

What every American wants to know about federal judges.  [T]he Seattle federal judge heard oral argument on the two states' emergency application for a temporary restraining order against the president.  During that oral argument, the judge asked a lawyer for the Department of Justice how many arrests of foreign nationals from the seven countries singled out by the president for immigration suspension there have been in the United States since 9/11.  When the DOJ lawyer said she did not know, the judge answered his own question by saying, "None."  He was wrong.  There have been dozens of people arrested and convicted in the United States for terrorism-related crimes since 9/11 who were born in the seven countries.  Yet even if the judge had been correct, his question was irrelevant — and hence the answer meaningless — because it does not matter to a court what evidence the president relied on in this type of order.  This is the kind of judicial second-guessing — substituting the judicial mind for the presidential mind — that is impermissible in our system.

Want to take back our sovereignty?  Start by breaking up the Ninth Circuit.  The time has come to strip the Ninth Circuit down to size.  This court is by far the most anti-constitutional circuit amidst a federal judiciary where the majority of the circuits don't respect the Constitution as written.  Most of the members of the Ninth have literally supplanted the written Constitution for an ever elastic set of ethos that are anchored to nothing more than the political values of these unelected judges at the time they woke up that day.  Most importantly, what they have done to the sovereign state of Arizona is outrageous.  Congress owes it to the good citizens of the Grand Canyon State to free them of the clutches of judicial tyranny.

The Judicial Coup Against President Trump.  The federal judiciary is one of the core elements of the Deep State, and Federal Judge James' Robart's anti-constitutional order suspending President Donald Trump's Executive Order pausing immigration from seven terrorist hotspots is only the first step in a well thought out plan by the Deep State to conduct what amounts to a coup against the newly-elected Trump government.  And Judge Robart's order was only the first step in how the coup will be conducted, step two has already been executed.

Immigration Rulings Continue Democrats' Strategy to Collect Votes.  The Democratic Party has a 200-year history of activism with regard to defying federal law in order to control the movement of people.  These efforts have always used one major strategy:  to use the local power of mayors and state officials to rewrite and defy federal law.  Now they are using judges sympathetic to the Democratic Party's political strategy.

Impeach Judge James L. Robart.  Our friend Daniel Horowitz, whose recent articles for Conservative Review help make the case for the impeachment of Federal District Judge James L. Robart, the federal judge who vastly exceeded his authority in restraining President Trump's Executive Order temporarily pausing travel from seven terrorist hotspots, has a book-length explanation of what needs to be done to rein-in the federal judiciary and restore it to its proper constitutional role.  In his book Stolen Sovereignty, Horowitz reminds us that "the courts did not create themselves."

Conservatives Build Case To Impeach Judge Robard.  Yesterday [2/6/2017], we called for the impeachment of Federal District Judge James L. Robart, who on February 3, 2017 issued a temporary restraining order barring the federal executive branch from implementing President Trump's Executive Order temporarily barring travel from seven terrorist hotspots.  It wasn't long before other conservatives made the case for the impeachment of Judge Robart. [...] Trump has the statutory authority to do what he did.  Period.  And Judge Robart had nothing but personal whim to justify his arbitrary and capricious ruling restraining the President's Executive Order.

The Tyrant in the Room.  Calling judges tyrants may seem harsh, but anyone who makes up laws under the guise of interpreting the law is a tyrant imposing his personal will on the people.  Such actions are a rejection of the core tenet of the Constitution that political power flows not from the barrel of a gun or from being appointed to the Supreme Court, but from the people.  Liberals love tyrannical judges, because liberals have never been able get society to accept their agenda via democratic processes.  Americans would not have voted to legalize abortion for any reason up until the moment of birth, for example.

Sorry: Trump's immigration order is totally legal.  If the law means anything, the Trump administration will succeed in overturning the so-called court ruling against its travel ban.  The nationwide stay of the ban issued by Judge James Robart, a Washington state-based federal district judge, is tissue-thin.  It doesn't bother to engage on the substance, presumably because facts, logic and the law don't support Robart's sweeping assertion of judicial authority in an area where judicial power is inherently quite limited.  This doesn't justify President Donald Trump tweeting that Robart is a "so-called judge."  That slam earned Trump bipartisan blowback and may encourage other judges to tilt against Trump's ban in response to a perceived threat to the independence of the judiciary.  But Robart's handiwork is shoddy and usurpatory, despite the fact that he is indeed a literal judge.

How to Drain the Judicial Swamp.  It's no surprise the Democrats plan to fight against the nomination of President Trump's Supreme Court pick, 10th Circuit Court of Appeals judge Neil Gorsuch.  There are no confirmation battles like Supreme Court confirmation battles because, as we always hear, such a decision can "shape the country for a generation."  This doesn't sound like the role envisioned by the founders.  As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist, No. 78, the judiciary is (theoretically) the "least dangerous" branch of government because it "has no influence over either the sword or the purse."  So how have the courts been afforded so much power?  "Afforded" is the word.  In reality, the judiciary has become the most dangerous branch due to ignorance and congressional abdication of responsibility.

U.S. judge who stayed President Trump's immigration order abused his judicial power.  I just read the ruling of U.S. District Judge James Robart blocking a sitting American president's ability to impose temporary rules limiting the entry of migrants seeking access to the United States so that the existing programs are properly evaluated and modified, as necessary, for reasons of national security.  Can you spell "forum shopping" for a favorable judge?  Imagine the attorney general of the state of Washington being able to strategically pick a judge who allows his personal preferences to override his responsibility to respect the law and apply it properly rather than acting as an independent arbiter with the duty to respect and follow the law.

Robart's Renegade Ruling.  The old saw that "bad facts make bad law" is supposed to be operative only when a court is in a position of making law — i.e., deciding a vexing legal question in the absence of firm guidance from a statute or precedent.  That is not the situation, however, in the matter of President Trump's temporary ban on entry into the U.S. by refugees and aliens from seven Muslim-majority countries.  Federal district judge James Robart of Seattle was not on tabula rasa when he issued a temporary restraining order suspending the ban.  He was acting in defiance of the law.

Federal appeals court decides to schedule a hearing on Trump travel order.  A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to restore President Trump's controversial immigration order, marking a critical juncture for the president's directive temporarily barring refugees and those from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.  The hearing, which will be conducted by telephone, is to review an order by a lower court judge to put Trump's directive on hold.

Judge Robart's Dunce Cap.  Does the 9th Circuit want anyone to assert border integrity?  Doesn't look like it.  Late in the day last Saturday [2/4/2017], the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied president Trump's DOJ emergency request to stay the temporary restraining order issued by Seattle federal district court judge James L Robart.  Judge Robart blocked Trump's executive order temporarily halting travel from seven countries, whose ties to terrorism pose a significant security risk to the United States.

Justice Department demolishes case against Trump order.  James Robart, the U.S. district judge in Washington State, offered little explanation for his decision to stop President Trump's executive order temporarily suspending non-American entry from seven terror-plagued countries.  Robart simply declared his belief that Washington State, which in its lawsuit against Trump argued that the order is both illegal and unconstitutional, would likely win the case when it is tried.  Now the government has answered Robart, and unlike the judge, Justice Department lawyers have produced a point-by-point demolition of Washington State's claims.

Time To Strip Lower Courts Of Jurisdiction Over Immigration.  If pigs could fly conservatives would take back the White House and the legislative branch of government with solid constitutionalists in one election cycle.  But even that tantalizing fairy tale would be rendered moot if nothing is done to immediately reform the federal judiciary and stave the coming tide of judicial tyranny.  Nowhere is this more evident than with the Court's unconstitutional doctrine of conferring super rights on illegal aliens.  As I noted following the Supreme Court's bloodless coup on our constitutional form of government, as bad as 5-6 SCOTUS justices seem to be, they are on the level of James Madison when compared to some of the lower court judges.  There are solid post-constitutional majorities on 9 of the 13 circuit courts as well as a majority of district courts.  Obama has filled 53 of the 179 appellate judgeships in the federal circuits and over 250 of the 673 on a district level.  These are people who believe that the Constitution is unconstitutional and that illegal aliens have the right to come here and demand services.  Why should we tolerate this for one more day?

'Muslim ban' injunction is a judicial coup against President Trump.  Federal district judge James Robart of Seattle ordered a complete, nationwide temporary restraining order against President Trump's temporary ban on visitors from seven Middle Eastern countries.  If you read the ruling, as I have, you can see that this is clearly unconstitutional on its face, and constitutes a judicial coup against President Trump and the executive branch.

Judge Roberts Was, and Is, Wrong About U.S. Refugee Arrests From Countries Within Trump Visa Ban.  Last week Seattle Judge Robart claimed no one had been arrested from the seven nations that are included in President Trump's executive order. [...] Judge Robart is just factually wrong.

Judge Robart's Black Humor.  The Left goes shopping for a likeminded judge, and finds a Seattle District Court judge who is sympathetic to Black Lives Matter and does pro-bono work for refugees.  He has the added advantage of being located in the Ninth Circuit, the wackiest, most reliably left-wing precinct of the U.S. appellate system (though that may change soon). Said judge then intervenes to suspend the implementation of an executive order issued by the president of the United States to help safeguard the country.  The Justice Department quickly asked for an emergency stay of Judge Robart's order, but, as could have been predicted, the left-leaning Ninth Circuit just as quickly denied the request.  Additional legal briefing in the ninth circuit is forthcoming, but most observers believe the case is headed for the Supreme Court.

Judge's blocking of travel ban sets stage for epic court battle.  A federal judge in Seattle Friday [2/3/2017] struck down a week-old executive order that barred all refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States — a dramatic move that set the stage for a contentious battle between President Trump and the courts.  The ruling by Judge James Robart, a George W. Bush appointee, nixed Trump's order and ruled that travel restrictions across the country should be lifted immediately.

Amherst Student Expelled for Sexual Misconduct Can't Defend Himself — It Would 'Impose Psychological Trauma' on Accuser.  Remember Amherst College student "John Doe," who was expelled for sexual misconduct, even though he had good reason to believe that his accuser had actually assaulted him?  A judge recently blocked Doe's attempt to subpoena his female accuser's text messages on grounds that re-litigating the matter "would impose emotional and psychological trauma" on her.  Consider the implications of this decision.  According to Seattle District Judge James Robart, a student who believes Amherst violated his due process rights, wrongfully expelled him, and ignored subsequent evidence that his accuser, "Sandra Jones," was the actual violator of the college's sexual misconduct policies, does not deserve the opportunity to make his case because someone else's feelings are more important.  Whatever happened to believing the victim?

Federal Judge Who Blocked Part Of Trump's Immigration Ban Is Obama Appointee And Clinton Donor.  The federal judge who issued a nationwide stay on deportations Saturday for individuals trapped in airports following President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration is an Obama appointee and a Clinton donor.  Judge Ann Donnelly of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York was appointed by Barack Obama in 2015 and is a graduate of Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

How Donald Trump and Friends Can Crush the Great Crime Wave.  [Scroll down]  Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the magnification of technicalities went into overdrive.  With Mapp v.  Ohio (1961), the Warren Court extended the exclusionary rule to state prosecutions, and with Miranda v.  Arizona (1966), it added to the right of a suspect to remain silent a right not to be questioned and a right to receive helpful legal advice from detectives whose true job is to solve crimes.  Decided on a 5-4 vote and perhaps the most controversial ruling of Warren's tenure, Miranda provoked three bitter dissents, which make interesting reading for anyone of Roosevelt's or Cardozo's bent of mind.  And then there is the interdiction of the death penalty, a series of rulings starting with Trop v.  Dulles (1954) that traduced the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment and, through its multifarious restrictions and requirements, has made the condign punishment of capital crimes virtually impossible.

The Conquering Loser.  [George Washington's] worst fears have been realized in Obama's "fundamentally transformed" America, where judges, bureaucrats, and pols liberated from the constraints of religion and morality invent bogus rights that collide with God-given ones, starting with the right to life of unborn children.

Judge booted from bench after allegedly offering plea deals for sex.  An Arkansas judge has been removed from his state's bench for life after allegedly offering secret plea deals to women in exchange for having sex with him.  Judge Tim Parker of Carroll County, Arkansas, resigned Saturday after a judicial oversight group investigation uncovered his alleged actions, which were outlined in a letter that was made public on Tuesday [1/3/2017].  The investigation found that Parker conducted his business over jail phones and also swapped cash and prescription pills for sex acts, according to The Daily Beast.  The judge Parker "engaged in a pattern of personal relationships with many female litigants" from 2013 to 2016, the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (JDCC) said in the letter.  "Allegations also exist about trading cash or prescription pills for sexual favors or money with many of the same women, as well as other women in the community."

Keep an Eye on Santa Clara County.  A state commission last week has cleared Judge Aaron Persky of wrongdoing in the case of Brock Turner — the Stanford swimmer who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and sentenced to six months in jail, prompting a national firestorm and calls to remove Persky from the bench.

Obama loses Merrick Garland battle — but reshapes federal courts for decades to come.  President Obama has reshaped the federal courts for decades to come with a record number of women and minorities appointed to lifetime judgeships, despite losing his high-profile battle over the U.S. Supreme Court this year.  Of the more than 340 judges nominated by Mr. Obama and confirmed by the Senate, about 42 percent are women, 19 percent are black and 11 percent are Hispanic — more female and minority appointees than any other president.  Mr. Obama also has appointed at least 11 federal judges who are openly gay, another record.

Two Democrat Judges Removed From Office For "Case-Fixing Schemes".  In what should be national news, two Democrat judges were removed from office for "case-fixing schemes."  One unethically intervened in cases, according to the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.  The other was "guilty of seven violations of judicial ethics rules, including bringing the court into disrepute," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Guess why you're not hearing about this on the national news?  The two judges are Democrats.

Spray-painting 'Kill all police' on wall isn't a terrorist threat, judge rules.  Spray-painting 'Kill all police' on a public wall doesn't rise to the level of a terrorist threat, a Detroit judge ruled Tuesday [12/13/2016].  Stuart Lewis, 49, of Detroit, faced a series of charges after police pinpointed him as the culprit who painted anti-police graffiti on a wall last October.  After discovery of the graffiti threats, Detroit Police Chief James Craig vowed to find and arrest whoever was responsible.  The department followed through, dispatching its Special Response Team — the equivalent of SWAT — to arrest Lewis at his home.  The man's dog was killed during the raid.

Judicial Activism Set the Stage for Trump Win.  Donald Trump's election as president is due in no small part to the prominence of the Supreme Court in the campaign, following a spike in judicial activism this decade.  Doubts about Trump faded when Republicans and like-minded voters looked back at the High Court's unmistakably activist decisions on ObamaCare and same-sex marriage, and considered the consequences of a Court dominated by Hillary Clinton appointees. [...] Voters who called High Court appointments the most important factor in their presidential choice constituted a full 21% of the electorate, and they voted overwhelmingly for Trump.  After he issued a highly praised list of potential Supreme Court nominees, conservatives critical of Trump consistently cited the Court as the best or only reason to vote for him.

7 things Sessions can do immediately to restore the rule of law at Justice.  [#5] Replace immigration judges:  Why do we have so much amnesty even though the congressional statutes call for illegal aliens to be deported?  The immigration judges within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EIOR) have granted de facto amnesty by overturning deportations and letting criminal aliens roam free.  The administrate judges within the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which serves as the appellate body of EOIR, have the ability to overturn a deportation order from a lower administrative judge and can review all enforcement actions taken by ICE and the border patrol.  As Ian Smith of the Immigration Reform Law Institute warned, many of these administrative judges were former lawyers for illegal immigrants or organizations funded by George Soros.

Minnesota: Judge sentences last of 9 Muslim terrorists to 30+ years prison, then defends Islam as non-violent.  After sentencing 9 more Muslims for their Islamic terrorist activities, the judge said this:  "I will fight anyone who says Islam is a dirty religion or one of violence.  It is not," Davis said.

The Editor says...
In my opinion, Judge Davis is mistaken.

Judge lets Florida run its own election.  A federal judge did something rare for his occupation these days.  He refused to take over a state function, in this case running the Florida election.  He is an Obama appointee, and Democrats were gleeful when he got the case.  Now they have the sadz.

Judge convicted of bribing federal officer with Bud Light.  Federal prosecutors say a North Carolina judge has been convicted of bribery after he offered Bud Light and cash to an officer in exchange for text messages from his wife's cellphone because he suspected she was cheating on him.  The U.S. Attorney's office said Friday [10/21/2016] that a jury deliberated for 33 minutes before finding Superior Court Judge Arnold Ogden Jones II guilty of paying a bribe and other charges.

Ex-Arkansas judge indicted on federal fraud, bribery charges.  A former Arkansas judge accused of giving lighter sentences to defendants in exchange for nude photos and sexual acts has been indicted on federal fraud and bribery charges, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday [10/17/2016].

Illinois judge cites "cisgender" subjects in transgender bathroom ruling.  A judge in Illinois has dealt another blow to parents seeking to protect the privacy of students in bathrooms, locker rooms and showers.  This is a case which dates back to last winter when the families of girls in Illinois school District 211 went to court asking for an injunction against a new federal mandate saying that boys who "identify" as girls should be allowed in their toilet and changing facilities.  That case has bounced back and forth a few times now, but the most recent ruling just came down and it went against the parents.  A federal judge has ruled that there is no constitutional right not to share restrooms or locker rooms with transgender students and the wording of his ruling is rather jaw dropping.

GOP Judge Paves Road For Thousands Of Potential Non-Citizens Voting In Kansas.  Despite news percolating throughout the country about non-citizens registering to vote under loose Motor-Voter practices, the courts are refusing to allow states to verify citizenship as a condition for registering to vote.  Yesterday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court's injunction against a Kansas law requiring those registering with federal Motor-Voter forms to show proof of citizenship.  The original injunction forced the state to register 20,000 individuals who failed to show proof of citizenship.  Now, that number could rise to 50,000.

Pro-life pregnancy centers must make abortion referrals, 9th Circuit rules.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a coalition of pro-life pregnancy centers on Friday, upholding a California law that requires them to refer patients to publicly funded contraception and abortion services, even if doing so violates their moral and religious beliefs.  The decision upheld a lower court ruling saying California law AB 775, or the FACT Act, does not violate the First Amendment rights of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and two other faith-based nonprofits.  Matt Bowman, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the appellants, called the decision a "clear violation" of constitutionally protected rights to freedom of speech and religious expression.

Federal Judge Sees Little Value in Studying Constitution in Law School.  Judge Richard Posner (shown) is perhaps the most quoted and most significant federal appellate court judge in the country, and his recent comments (which he has attempted to "clarify") are illustrative of the differing views on the role of the federal judiciary in the current presidential campaign.  In a brief article published recently in Slate, Posner was highly critical of American law schools.  Among his criticisms was a dismissal of a need to study the meaning of the Constitution.  "I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries — well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments)," he wrote.  "Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21st century."

Federal Judge Meddles In Florida Voter Registration Deadline.  Once again it is prudent to remind everyone to ignore media polls.  Instead, focus on what the desperate Clinton campaign is doing, not what the media are trying to portray.  Clinton's legal team appealed to a federal court to extend the Florida voter registration deadline — which is tomorrow, Tuesday [10/11/2016], at 5:00pm.  Currently, it appears the judge has granted a 24 hour extension through Wednesday.

In 'Unprecedented Move', Judge Orders Fmr. CIA Officials to Testify About Enhanced Interrogation Program.  A federal judge has ruled that two former top CIA officials must submit to depositions in a lawsuit filed on behalf of three individuals who allege they were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques at CIA "black sites."  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows federal lawsuits to be brought for certain international law violations.  The lawsuit claims two former CIA-contracted psychologists, James Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, were responsible for developing the enhanced interrogation methods that were allegedly used against former black site detainees Gul Rahman, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud.  Rahman actually died while in custody at a CIA black site in Afghanistan.

Court Judge: 'No One Should Have' Guns — 'Not Police, Not Security'.  According to Oregonlive.com, circuit court judge Kenneth Walker of Multnomah County, Ore. decided to go on a tangent about gun control during a criminal sentencing on Monday [9/26/2016].  "If I could, I would take all the guns in America, put them on big barges and go dump them in the ocean," the judge said.  "Nobody would have a gun.  Not police, not security, not anybody.  We should eliminate all of them."

Heather Mac Donald Fact-Checks Hillary Clinton on Systemic Bias and Stop-and-Frisk.  [Scroll down]  [C]avalier claims are being made about stop-and-frisk — an investigative method in which police, upon observing suspicious behavior, stop a person to ask questions and pat the person down to check for weapons.  While Trump endorses the practice, both Clinton and Lester Holt suggested that it has conclusively been found unconstitutional by the courts; and Clinton insists that it is also ineffective.  The claims are based on a ruling by a single, agenda-driven judge (who was actually removed from the case, as Ed Whelan explained at the time).  But, as Heather relates, the Supreme Court sanctioned stop-and-frisk in the 1960s, so "[n]o federal judge would have the power to declare pedestrian stops unconstitutional."  Moreover, Stop-and-frisk remains a lawful and essential police tactic.  Criminologist David Weisburd examined the practice in New York City and found that it reduced crime in shooting hot spots.

Sharia-compliant judge sentences 73-year-old female Christian pastor to study the Islamic faith.  A 73-year-old Christian minister and landlord who apparently was wrongly convicted of pushing her unruly and law-breaking Muslim tenant down a small flight of stairs must spend six months in jail and comply with a judge's unconstitutional order that she learn about the Islamic faith as part of her probation, the state's highest court concluded today.

Appeals court:  Ohio voter purge illegal.  For 20 years, Ohio has purged its voter rolls of people who have not voted in the last several elections.  The usual reasons for why people don't vote is that they are dead, or have moved out of state. [...] The few genuine voters that are purged who simply haven't taken the time to vote but are still eligible may find it inconvenient that they need to register again (although it's become ridiculously easy to register these days).  But is that any reason to throw the whole process out and invite voter fraud?  The ACLU and liberal Democrats thinks it is.

Mass. High Court:  Blacks Have Special Right To Run From Cops.  Black men may have a legitimate reason to flee Boston police during investigatory or "Terry" stops, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday [9/20/2016].  The court found that systemic racism in the Boston Police Department may be considered in conjunction with a suspect's decision to flee from police during a stop.  A Terry stop, named for the U.S. Supreme Court case which sanctioned the practice, refers to a brief detention and search of an individual due to reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.

Obama's judges help to set election rules for November.  President Obama has been unable to fill a seat on the Supreme Court for six months, but his lower court appointments could help swing the presidential election to his chosen successor.  Judges named by Obama to federal appellate and district courts overseeing North Carolina, Texas, Michigan and Wisconsin have in recent months voted to strike down restrictions on voting imposed by Republican legislatures.  In Michigan and North Carolina, his Supreme Court nominees helped block efforts to restore the restrictions for this fall's elections.

Obama taps first Muslim for federal bench.  President Obama used lawmakers' first day back in Washington after a seven-week recess to push the Senate on judicial nominations.  Obama nominated Abid Riaz Qureshi to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday [9/6/2016].  Qureshi, a partner in a Washington law firm who specializes in False Claims Act cases, healthcare fraud and securities violations, is the first Muslim nominated to the federal bench.

How Liberal Judges Took Control of 70 Percent of US Appeals Courts.  On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama promised to fundamentally transform the United States of America.  After nearly eight years as president, he has delivered on one front by reshaping the federal judiciary.  That revolution has been comprehensive, dramatic, and under the radar.  When Obama entered the Oval Office, liberal judges controlled just one of the 13 circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals.  Fifty-five successful presidential nominations later, liberal majorities now control nine of those appeals benches, or 70 percent.

Obama appointments already pulling appeals courts to the left.  [Scroll down]  The Fourth Circuit, which sits just one level below the Supreme Court and is headquartered in Richmond, Va., is a prime example.  Previously viewed as one of the most conservative appellate courts in the country, it has drifted significantly to the left, with Democratic appointees now outnumbering their Republican counterparts two-to-one.  That circuit not only recently struck down North Carolina's voter ID law, but also ruled in favor of a transgender student seeking to use high school bathroom facilities matching the student's gender identity rather than biological gender.

With Wyoming Judge's Case, Left Aims To Ban Religious People From Legal Field.  If your religious views block you from performing a job, don't do that job.  That's the Left's refrain about religion and expressing it.  If you're religious, that's fine, but it really needs to not impinge on others via your career.  Keep your relationship with a Higher Power meekly to yourself.  The case of Judge Ruth Neely in Wyoming shows, in stark clarity, that it doesn't actually matter whether religious people do their jobs well and keep their religion to themselves.  It's unacceptable to think and believe certain things, such as marriage being an institution between one man and one woman, and if you do that, forget about going into the legal profession.

Dallas Judges Shred Constitution, Steal Millions.  Jeff Baron is a Dallas resident and U.S. citizen who was put into "virtual slavery" by U.S. District Court Judge Royal Furgeson after Baron settled an otherwise ordinary contract dispute in his court.  Although Baron was never accused of any crime and had just resolved the dispute in Furgeson's court, Furgeson seized the sum total of Baron's personal property and possessions, including his home and car, and suspended nearly all of his civil rights, including his right to be represented by counsel, right to own property, right to earn income, and right to travel.  Four years later, Baron was still in civil lockdown — even after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the unlawful rulings and enjoined any further liquidation of Baron's property.

Obama's Immigration Judges Threw Out Every Other Deportation Order In 2016.  An analysis from the University of Syracuse shows that immigration judges ruled in favor of illegal immigrant defendants in more than half of the deportation cases heard throughout Fiscal Year 2016.  The data shows that 169,258 immigration cases have been closed in US immigration courts from September 2015 [to] August 2016.  96,223 cases ended with "non-citizens against whom Homeland Security sought removal orders" being allowed to stay in the country.

Judges nixed DHS bids to deport illegal immigrants 100,000 times: report.  Immigration judges around the country are denying the Department of Homeland Security's attempts to deport illegal immigrants in record numbers, according to a new report.  Over the last 10 months, immigration judges opted against the department's efforts to remove some 96,223 illegal immigrants, including criminals, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University-based nonprofit.  At this rate, TRAC estimates the number of illegal immigrants allowed to remain in the U.S. despite DHS attempts to remove them will surpass last year's breaking number of 106,676.  With the court's protection, subjects can often remain indefinitely.

Immigration Judges Allow Illegal Aliens To Stay in the U.S..  According to a new report by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a Syracuse University-based nonprofit, immigration judges are denying DHS' attempts to deport illegal aliens in 57% of their cases.  So far in FY16 immigration judges have released 96,233 illegal aliens, including criminals, back into U.S. communities.  If the judges' decisions continue at this rate they will exceed last year's deportation denials that allowed 106,676 illegal aliens to remain in the U.S.

Federal Judge Declares 'Black Lives Matter' From The Bench.  A federal judge in Washington state declared "black lives matter" during a hearing Monday [8/15/2016].  U.S. District Judge James Robart, a former President George W. Bush appointee, is presiding over the implementation of a 2012 consent decree requiring Seattle to adopt various police reforms.  The city's police department was accused by the federal government of engaging in various practices, such as excessive force, that fell disproportionately on non-white residents and therefore violated their civil rights.  The consent decree was reached so the city could avoid fighting a costly lawsuit against the feds.  This is the first time the contentious political movement has had its anthem officially supported by a judge in a federal courtroom.

When abortion funding is a fundamental right, but religious liberty is not.  The courts of Sodom and Gomorrah have struck again.  On Friday [8/12/2016], just as I was finishing my article concerning the distortion of religious liberty and property rights in America, the federal judiciary illustrated my point once again.  In two separate decisions in different parts of the country — when juxtaposed to one another — the federal judiciary demonstrated that, in their estimation, the Constitution is unconstitutional.  On Friday, Judge Michael R. Barrett, a federal judge for the Western Division of the Southern District of Ohio, blocked the state's new law cutting off state funding to Planned Parenthood.  This Bush appointee, who once served as chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party, said that the injunction was necessary because otherwise the abortion-provider "will suffer a continuing irreparable injury for which there is no adequate remedy at law."

Federal judge strikes down Wisconsin's voter ID law.  A federal judge in Milwaukee struck down Wisconsin's voter identification law Tuesday [7/26/2016], declaring that a requirement that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls imposes an unfair burden on poor and minority voters.

Kansas judge rules 17,500 suspended voters can cast ballots in all races.  A Shawnee County judge has ruled that 17,500 voters can have their votes counted in state and local races as well as federal ones in Tuesday's Kansas primary election.  "Losing one's vote is an irreparable harm in my opinion," Judge Larry Hendricks said in his ruling Friday [7/29/2016].  A state board approved a rule earlier this month to allow people to vote only in federal elections — not state and local ones — if they registered at DMV offices but failed to provide proof of citizenship as required by Kansas law.

Ohio Judge Sentences Lawyer To 5 Days In The Slammer For Wearing Black Lives Matter Pin.  A municipal court judge in Ohio ordered his bailiff to take a black attorney into custody and sentenced her to five days in jail because she refused to remove a Black Lives Matter pin in the judge's courtroom.  The incident occurred on Friday in the Youngstown, Ohio courtroom of Judge Robert Milich, reports local CBS affiliate WKBN-TV.

Federal appeals court rules Texas voter ID law has a 'discriminatory effect'.  The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals handed a significant victory to voting rights Wednesday when it ruled a controversial Texas voter ID law has a "discriminatory effect" that violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act.  The law requires voters to show a government-issued form of ID before voting and places strict parameters on which types of identification are acceptable; the court found these restrictions to disproportionately affect minority voters.

Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law.  Texas' voter ID law discriminates against minorities and must be revised before Election Day, the en banc Fifth Circuit affirmed Wednesday [7/20/2016].  The ruling came in under the wire of a July 20 deadline that the U.S. Supreme Court set with the Nov. 8 presidential election in mind, allowing time for a lower court to propose changes to the voter ID law.  "We conclude that the district court did not clearly err in determining that SB 14 has a discriminatory effect on minorities' voting rights in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  As discussed below, we remand for a consideration of the appropriate remedy in light of the impending general election," Judge Catharina Haynes wrote for the majority.

A Texas-Sized Voter ID Problem.  Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas's voter ID law discriminates against minority voters.  The court didn't strike down the law entirely, however, instead sending it back to a lower court, ordering changes before the coming November elections.  Currently 33 states have some form of voter ID laws.  Of these states, nine have a strict photo ID requirement.  Not surprisingly, many of the states with no form of voter ID laws — like California, New York and Massachusetts — are not only Democrat controlled but are some of the most liberal in the nation.  The concern that Texas and many other states have is the very real problem of voter fraud, which has grown in part as a result of the unabated flow of illegal immigrants over America's porous borders.  Since the current administration has refused to enforce our nation's immigration laws, many state governments have responded by enacting voter ID laws as a means of protecting their citizens.

Texas Judge Uses Naturalization Ceremony to Bash Trump and Guns.  Texas held the largest naturalization ceremony this week that the Lone Star State's capital has ever seen.  The ceremony was used to assault Donald Trump, the Second Amendment, and the death penalty before 1,210 new U.S. citizens and their families and friends.  The Guest of Honor, Democrat Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt told the participants flanked by voter registration tables, "I encourage everyone to register to vote and hopefully, not for that guy who is against immigrants."

Why Mississippi's Law on Religious Rights and LGBT Discrimination Got Blocked.  Why doesn't anyone care about Mississippi?  This spring, the state's legislature passed H.B. 1523, an extensive law written to protect people who believe any of the following:  that marriage is between a man and a woman; that sex should only happen in the context of marriage; and that the words "male" and "female" refer to "an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth."  The law claim these protections are a form of religious freedom.  It provides that religious organizations can refuse to rent out their social halls for a same-sex wedding, for example, and that clergy can refuse to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony.  These groups can also fire a single mother who gets pregnant, or, in the case of religious adoption agencies, decline to place a child with a same-sex couple.  Doctors and psychologists can refuse to get involved with gender-reassignment procedures or take cases that would violate their religious beliefs.  Schools and other public agencies can create "sex-specific standards" for dress code, bathrooms, and more.  State employees can also refuse to sign same-sex-marriage licenses, and they can't be fired for saying they believe homosexuality is wrong, for example.  It is, without a doubt, the most extensive legislation of its kind to be passed into law since the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex-marriage decision one year ago.  And for the most part, the country has been silent.  Now, a federal judge has blocked the law from going into effect, which was set to happen on July 1.

Judge blocks Mississippi religious objections law.  A federal judge has blocked a Mississippi law that would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs in denying or delaying services to same-sex couples.

Lighthouse Cuban migrants climbed isn't 'dry land,' judge rules.  The lighthouse that a group of Cuban migrants scaled in an attempt to reach the United States isn't "dry land," a federal judge ruled Tuesday [6/28/2016].  The decision means 24 migrants who've been detained for more than a month on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter will be processed for repatriation back to Cuba, the agency said in a statement.

The McDonnell Case:  Another Study in Criminal Law as Democratic Partisan Warfare.  It's common for those unhappy with a decision to criticize the partisanship of the judges involved, but the weakness of the case, which was evident when it was argued in the Supreme Court (and during the trial itself), and the fact that it was reversed unanimously warrants a raised eyebrow.  It comes on the heels of the reversed prosecutions of then-Senator Ted Stevens, Governor Rick Perry, House Majority leader Tom DeLay, the IRS war on Obama's opponents in the tea party and other conservative groups, and the outrageous trampling the rights of those who worked for and supported Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  This case and those matters lead to an inescapable conclusion:  With the endorsement of partisan juries and/or judges, the Democratic Party seeks to and will use the power of the prosecution to destroy Republican political leaders and anyone who supports them.

Judge Richard Posner: 'No value' in studying the U.S. Constitution.  Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner sees "absolutely no value" in studying the U.S. Constitution because "eighteenth-century guys" couldn't have possibly foreseen the culture and technology of today.  In a recent op-ed for Slate, Judge Posner, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, argued that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post-Civil War amendments "do not speak to today."

Concealed carry, California and the 9th Circuit's misrepresentation of the facts.  Thursday [6/9/2016], the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 7-4 decision that Americans don't have a right to carry concealed handguns for protection.  Since California bans people from openly carrying guns, their decision amounted to prohibiting people from carrying guns at all (whether openly or concealed).  It is clear that a judge's political affiliation determines whether he thinks that people have a right to defend themselves.  Democratic judges are now moving to overturn recent Supreme Court decisions that struck down bans on guns.  Last year, about 0.24 percent of adult Californians had a concealed handgun permit.  In the rest of the U.S., the rate was 24 times higher, for a rate of 5.8 percent.  In many parts of California, it is essentially impossible to get a permit.  In San Francisco County, just four people (0.0005 percent of the adult population), got a permit in 2015.  That is an improvement over 2012, when just two permits were granted — one of which was to the sheriff's personal attorney.

Oregon judge allows person to change gender from female to 'non-binary'.  An Oregon judge ruled Friday [6/10/2016] that a transgender individual can legally change their sex to "non-binary" rather than male or female in what is believed to be an unprecedented ruling.  The Oregonian reported that Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy Holmes Hehn legally changed Jamie Shupe's, 52, sex from female to non-binary. [...] Shupe is an Army veteran who retired in 2000 a sergeant first class.  She began transitioning in 2013 while living in Pittsburg and knew that neither the male or female gender label fit.

First-of-kind ruling changes Army vet's gender from female to nonbinary.  Oregon residents can now legally identify as having a nonbinary gender identity, according to a recent court ruling that legal experts say is the first of its kind in the US.  On Friday [6/10/2016], Judge Amy Holmes Hehn legally changed the sex of Army veteran Jamie Shupe from female to nonbinary.  Judge Hehn wrote in the ruling that Mx.  Shupe's "sexual reassignment has been completed," therefore complying with Oregon's law allowing for the change of a person's sex if a judge determines they have had surgical, hormonal, or other treatment related to gender transition.  "Oregon law has allowed for people to petition a court for a gender change for years, but the law doesn't specify that it has to be either male or female," said civil rights attorney Lake J. Perriguey, who filed Shupe's petition for gender change in April, to CNN.  "The law just says, 'change.' Historically, people have asked for a gender change from male to female and the other way around, but Jamie is the first to ask for the gender of 'nonbinary.'"

Federal judge rules California transgender inmates must get some female items.  A federal judge ruled Thursday [6/9/2016] that California prison officials must let transgender inmates have more female-oriented commissary items including nightgowns, robes, sandals, scarves and necklaces as part of a settlement that will make the stat the first to pay for an inmate's sex reassignment surgery.  California agreed in August to provide some items to transgender inmates who are housed in male prisons, aside from providing surgery to 56-year-old Shiloh Quine.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas decided that the policy didn't go far enough.  He said transgender inmates housed in men's prisons should have many of the same items provided to female inmates.  Shiloh's attorneys argued that the state was keeping some items from transgender prisoners "based solely upon gender norms" rather than security concerns.

Report: Were judge's Mexican parents illegals?  The sometimes controversial scoop journalist that runs GotNews.com has published documents that raise questions about the citizenship status of the parents of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, presiding over a suit against Trump University.  Charles C. Johnson put up documents showing that Curiel's father crossed the U.S. border with Mexico at least twice and might not have become a U.S. citizen.  He also published images of the death certificates of the judge's parents that apparently show no Social Security number.

Trump Is Right:  The Shame of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.  In a shameful haste to embrace identity politics, the latter the political descendant of slavery and segregation, Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have stunningly given thumbs up to a judge who has made no bones about injecting his ethnic heritage into his role as a lawyer and judge.  In a broadside against Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who presiding over the case against Trump University (a case in itself riddled with bad judicial decision-making as the judge has assigned the case to a notoriously Clinton-supporting law firm — more of which later this week), Trump has assailed the Indiana-born judge as "of Mexican heritage" who has "an inherent conflict of interest."  The response from the Speaker?  "It's reasoning I don't relate to.  I completely disagree with the thinking behind that."  Said McConnell:  "I think it's a big mistake for our party to write off Latino Americans."

Donald Trump's own lawyer is donating to Hillary Clinton.  While Donald Trump has been trying to reframe his attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel — complaining about his membership in a Latino lawyers organization, or accusing him of bearing some responsibility for the Trump U plaintiffs' law firm's six-figure speech payments to Hillary Clinton — it turns out that his own lawyer has given to Clinton's presidential campaign, and he did so after Trump hired him.  The lawyer defending Trump in the case, Daniel Petrocelli, has donated to Clinton and several Democrats over the years, Yahoo News' Mike Isikoff noted.  The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political donations, says that in January, Petrocelli donated $2,700, the maximum amount allowable for a contribution to Hillary Clinton's presidential primary campaign.  Isikoff had also reported that Petrocelli had been hired by Trump a month earlier, in December 2015.  Further, Petrocelli's law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, has given nearly $20,000 to her campaign, Yahoo News reported.

Trump and the Judge.  Something that we think still confuses a lot of conservatives is their presumption that leftwing arguments are supposed to be applied evenhandedly.  Thus their befuddlement over Trump's comment about the judge.  To be clear, we don't like what Trump said and find the implications troubling.  We are not defending that position specifically.  But we also think that this issue points to an underlying problem resulting from the politicization of the judiciary begun by the left.  When Sonia Sotomayor said that being a "wise Latina" influences her decisions for the better, that — we were told — was not merely nothing to worry about but a sign of her judicial temperament and fitness for the High Court.  When Trump says being a Latino will influence this judge's hearing of his case, he's Hitler.

Stanford sexual assault: judge facing recall campaign over light sentence.  The victim of a sexual assault by a former Stanford University swimmer said on Monday [6/6/2016] she was "overwhelmed and speechless" at the deluge of support for her as the judge who gave her attacker a light sentence faced a recall campaign.  Brock Allen Turner, 20, who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus, was sentenced to six months in county jail and probation — a punishment that is significantly less severe than the minimum prison time of two years prescribed by state law for his felony offenses.

La Raza Judge Gonzalo Curiel and the Hispanic National Bar Association.  Now, I doubt you could find a more conformational reason for Donald Trump to be concerned about a Judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit, which everyone admits is based on some sketchy legal standing, than Judge Curiel specifically belonging to a legal enterprise of affiliates who have clearly stated their intent to target Trump's business interests.

Alberto R. Gonzales:  Trump has a right to ask if Judge Gonzalo Curiel is fair.  An independent judiciary is extremely important.  But that value is not the only one in play here.  Equally important, if not more important from my perspective as a former judge and U.S. attorney general, is a litigant's right to a fair trial.  The protection of that right is a primary reason why our Constitution provides for an independent judiciary.  If judges and the trials over which they preside are not perceived as being impartial, the public will quickly lose confidence in the rule of law upon which our nation is based.

Donald Trump Is Correct To Hit 'La Raza' Judge For Latino Identity Politics.  The controversy erupted when Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper that Gonzalo Curiel — the judge in the Trump University class action lawsuit — might not give him a fair shake because of the judge's connection to Mexican political activism.  After critics bemoaned such an accusation as racism, Trump doubled down on "Face the Nation."  "[Judge Curiel] is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine," Trump told CBS's John Dickerson.  "But I say he's got bias."  The club Trump was referring to was La Raza Lawyers; an organization with the stated mission "to promote the interests of the Latino communities throughout the state."  Translated, "la raza" means "the race."  Imagine the outcry if white attorneys from Mississippi, such as this author, started a a legal association called "The Race" with the stated mission to promote the interest of white, Southern communities.  Hollywood stars and entertainers, such as Bryan Adams, would boycott the state in perpetuity.

The Donald & The La Raza Judge.  Before the lynching of The Donald proceeds, what exactly was it he said about that Hispanic judge?  Stated succinctly, Donald Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a class-action suit against Trump University, is sticking it to him.  And the judge's bias is likely rooted in the fact that he is of Mexican descent.  Can there be any defense of a statement so horrific?  Just this.  First, Trump has a perfect right to be angry about the judge's rulings and to question his motives.  Second, there are grounds for believing Trump is right.

Donald Trump and Gonzalo Curiel.  Every mature, intelligent person in this country knows that the judge in the Trump University case, United States District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, could very well be biased against Donald Trump, the one man who has the testicular fortitude to declare that he will build a wall on the Mexican border.  Judge Curiel is of Mexican heritage.  There is, by the way, a law already on the books calling for building such a wall (Secure Fence Acts, 2006 and 2008), but establishment politicians in both parties have no interest in doing so.  The "righteous indignation" Republicans Paul Ryan and Newt Gingrich are displaying over the fact that Trump asserted Curiel is biased (because of his heritage), does not impress those of us who tend to agree with Trump.  Lou Dobbs of Fox Business News, in a recent interview with Gingrich, read from a list of ethnic organizations in which Judge Curiel holds membership.  All are activist Spanish-heritage groups.  Dobbs also pointed out a possible conflict of interest in the case.  One of the attorneys in the law firm appointed by Curiel to represent the plaintiffs has contributed money to Hillary Clinton's 2016 run for President.

Bloggers and researchers are doing the digging MSM reporters refuse.
Hidden Agendas Exposed — Trump University Lawsuit Brought By Firm Who Paid $675,000 To Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Research by Lawnewz has discovered the legal firm behind the Trump civil action lawsuit paid Bill and Hillary Clinton massive amounts of money for speeches and advocacy during and after Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State: [...] In addition GotNews is reporting on the Open Borders immigration position of the judge overseeing the Trump civil case.  Donald Trump has accused Judge Gonzalo Curiel as having a bias, a specific agenda bias, to the benefit of the plaintiffs in the case; and it appears he is correct.

Judge Presiding Over Trump University Case Is Member Of La Raza Lawyers Group.  United States District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the man presiding over the class-action lawsuit against Trump University, is a member of the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego and oversaw the gift of a law school scholarship to an illegal alien.  In his 2011 judicial questionnaire to become a federal judge, Curiel revealed his history with La Raza.  GotNews.com originally reported this Tuesday [5/31/2016], and The Daily Caller has independently verified.

Resisting Obama's Transgender Directive:  A Hill to Die On.  [T]he left, without remorse, appoints results-oriented, activist judges, whom they view not as protectors of the Constitution and law but as vehicles to advance its political agenda by any means necessary, including twisting the meaning of constitutional and statutory provisions and often inventing rights out of whole cloth.

Indiana High Court Rules People Cannot Resist Illegal Entry by Police Into Homes.  People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law.

Another Awful Antitrust Ruling Damages Another U.S. Industry.  Acting on a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, a federal judge has rejected the planned $6.3 billion merger of Office Depot and Staples.  It's yet another example of why our nation's antiquated antitrust law should be either reformed or repealed entirely.  The ink wasn't even dry on the judge's order when, as CNBC.com noted, "analysts called into question the office-supply chains' ability to effectively compete in the market as stand-alone companies."

Federal Judge Says Texas Can't Outlaw Harboring Illegal Aliens.  A federal district judge in San Antonio has issued an order stopping a Texas law criminalizing the harboring of illegal aliens, at least for now.  The judge issued the preliminary injunction in MALDEF's (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) lawsuit challenging Texas House Bill 11, a law which open border advocates are fighting because they say it improperly targets illegal alien shelters and those who rent to illegal aliens.

TX Judge resigns when caught texting instructions to prosecutors to help win convictions.  Texas district Judge Elizabeth E. Coker is stepping down from the bench after being caught engaging in a massive perversion of justice.  A whistleblower revealed that Corker was sending text messages to prosecutors with suggestions on questions to ask in court in order to secure a conviction.

Judge threatens to free men accused of violent crimes if Louisiana doesn't provide attorneys.  Each of the seven defendants has been charged with a serious crime — including murder, rape, armed robbery or assault with a firearm.  Now a Louisiana judge is threatening to set them free before their cases have a chance to go to trial.  In an effort to pressure state lawmakers to provide more reliable funding for public defenders, Orleans Parish Judge Arthur Hunter Jr. on Friday [4/8/2016] ordered that all of the men be released on the grounds that the state is violating their right to a competent defense.

The Editor says...
The Sixth Amendment says that you have the right to legal representation in all criminal prosecutions.  The Supreme Court invented the right to taxpayer-funded public defender in 1963.

The Courts are Even Worse than Obama Administration on Immigration, Sovereignty.  Once again, the unelected federal courts are violating Congressional authority over the most important societal question: who is allowed to become a member of our society?  As we've explored in detail in recent months, throughout our history the courts have always stayed away from questions of immigration and citizenship, with the understanding that a sovereign nation has the right to determine who enters its society and on what conditions a person is admitted to that society.  In a representative democracy, those decisions are made by the elected branch of government.  Unfortunately, the modern judiciary thinks otherwise, and [...] the courts will completely take over immigration if they are not stripped of their ill-gotten powers.

Court tells TUSD to improve teachers' racial diversity.  The Tucson Unified School District has been ordered to improve racial diversity among its teachers.  In a district that has spent years under federal oversight for desegregation efforts, U.S.  District Judge David Bury has told it to reduce by half the number of schools where racial disparities exist among the teaching staff — affecting more than one-third of TUSD schools.

Judge rips thug: 'Black lives don't matter to black people with guns'.  A Manhattan judge on Tuesday [3/29/2016] lashed into a Harlem man convicted of attempted murder — telling him that "black lives don't matter to black people with guns" before tossing him in prison for 24 to 26 years.  "Black lives matter," Justice Edward McLaughlin told defendant Tareek Arnold, 24, as he sentenced him in Manhattan Supreme Court.  "I have heard it, I know it, but the sad fact is in this courtroom, so often what happens is manifestations of the fact that black lives don't matter to black people with guns."

Man commits food stamp fraud, escapes jail time because he's an immigrant.  A Massachusetts store owner was reportedly given a reduced sentenced with no jail time Tuesday [3/22/2016] in a food stamp fraud case because he is an immigrant.  Julio Rodriguez used his position owning Bethania's Fish & Meat Market to trade benefits for cash.  He was able to scam the system for an estimated $46,000 between September and December, 2014.  Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page reduced the sentence to not include incarceration so Rodriguez would not be deported.  Rodriguez is in the country on a green card.  "Had he been a citizen of the U.S. he would in all likelihood be serving a substantial sentence," Page said, according to MassLive.com.

Potential Supreme Court Candidate Defended Pipe Bomber, Child Murderer.  Judge Jane Kelly, who was appointed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013, is reportedly on President Obama's short list for the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia.  Before becoming a judge, Kelly worked for years as a public defender in Iowa.  In 2005, Kelly was the appointed attorney for a 26-year-old man named Casey Frederiksen, who was charged with possession of child pornography.  Although Frederiksen had previously been convicted of sexual assault involving a minor, Kelly urged the judge to grant him leniency, arguing that he was not a danger to others and should be released and allowed to live with his father.  Frederiksen was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the case.  A decade later, Frederiksen was convicted of murder and sexual assault in the 2005 cold case killing of 5-year-old Evelyn Celeste Miller.

Ohio judge rules some 17-year-olds can vote in primary.  An Ohio judge has granted teenagers who will turn 18 before Election Day the right to vote in the state's presidential primary elections in a new decision that could boost Bernie Sanders's chances in the state on Tuesday.

Four Out of Five of Obama's Supreme Court Finalists Are Obama Donors.  The White House has reportedly narrowed its list of potential Supreme Court nominees down to five people, and four of them have donated to Barack Obama's political campaigns.  The five federal judges who will be interviewed by the White House for the nomination are federal judges Sri Srinivasan (who has donated $4,250 to Obama), Jane Kelly ($1,500 to Obama), Paul Watford ($1,000 to Obama), Ketanji Brown Jackson ($450 to Obama), and Merrick Garland, who has not donated to Obama.  None of the judges are major political donors and the contributions made to Obama account for the majority of each judge's political giving.  The donation from Jackson is the only federal political contribution she made that was large enough to be included in election filings.

Coming Supreme Court Battle Shows Need for Fixed Judicial Terms.  Contrary to the judiciary's reputation as the least dangerous branch, judges exercise almost every executive and legislative power other than going to war.  Their ability to make, transform, and distort the nation's fundamental law is why the battle over Antonin Scalia's successor is likely to be so brutal.  That wasn't the Constitution's original plan.  The courts were important, but were not to supplant the other branches.  Rather, judges were expected to constrain the executive and legislative branches.  Alexander Hamilton, though a proponent of strong central government, expected the judiciary to play a "peculiarly essential" role to safeguard liberties and act as an "excellent barrier to the encroachments and oppressions of the representative body."  Judges were not to implement the popular will, but instead to "guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals" from "the people themselves."

Judge's order could expose 10M California schoolkids' personal info, say critics.  A federal judge's order earlier this month that California public schools turn a trove of personal information on millions of children over to two nonprofits has parents worried and privacy rights advocates outraged.  The nonprofits, who advocate for special needs kids, say they need the info to gauge compliance with federal law, but critics don't believe Social Security numbers, home addresses and other sensitive records should be included.  The ruling by Judge Kimberly Mueller of the Eastern District of California, applies to all students enrolled in Golden State public schools at any time since 2008, a number estimated at 10 million.

Bill would reduce reach of liberal court.  A pair of Republican senators has resurrected an old idea: splitting the Ninth Circuit, the largest and most liberal court of appeals in the country, into two courts.  Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, aren't the first to try.  The Ninth Circuit dominates the western United States, serving about one-fifth of the population of the country, and the resultant caseload has created a bureaucratic logjam that court-watchers of all stripes dislike.  Conservative critics derive extra motivation from the fact that the court, long perceived as being dominated by California, issues reliably liberal decisions that bind a full 20 percent of the nation's population.  But that same notion discourages liberal lawmakers from changing the court, and so the Ninth Circuit has stood, unreconstructed, since its establishment in 1866.

U.S. judge grants injunction against anti-abortion activists.  A U.S. judge on Friday [2/5/2016] granted a preliminary injunction stopping the distribution of surreptitious videos taken by anti-abortion activists who alleged Planned Parenthood staff discussed the illegal sale of aborted fetal tissue.  The National Abortion Federation (NAF), a nonprofit representing abortion providers, accused the Center for Medical Progress and its founder, David Daleiden, in a lawsuit last year of illegally infiltrating and recording its private meetings.

Judge's courtroom gun ban still in effect; 2 police officers refuse to surrender weapons.  A "Lone Ranger" judge says no guns in his Douglas County courtroom — not even on police officers.  Omaha police officers say no way; they're not disarming.  The issue was expected to come to a head Monday [1/25/2016] at a hearing on the fifth floor of the Douglas County Courthouse.  But for all the hubbub — police officers, prosecutors and even fellow judges gathered in a hallway, wondering if an officer would actually be handcuffed for refusing to disarm — the hearing ended with a whimper.

While No One Was Watching, Obama Took Control of the Courts.  The New York Times wrote in 2014, "Democrats have reversed the partisan imbalance on the federal appeals courts that long favored conservatives, a little-noticed shift with far-reaching consequences for the law and President Obama's legacy."  It didn't favor conservatives but there was a dramatic shift to the far left.  The appellate is under the control of leftists and ACLU types.  They own the Court of Appeals.  As he has done by ignoring Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States, Obama has been eliminating voices not his own.  He has been erasing the Separation of Powers and our Constitution.  He has been obliterating states rights.  The judicial branch was also on the agenda.  This is part of Mr. Obama's fundamental transformation.

Will The Senate Confirm This Judge Who Called Reagan A Bigot?  A judge who accused the Reagan administration of "bigotry" is expected to be confirmed Tuesday [1/19/2016] by the Republican-led Senate for an Obama-appointed federal judgeship in Minnesota.  Justice Wilhelmina Wright, who currently sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, accused former President Ronald Reagan and Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1989 of helping white people avoid desegregated public schools, reported The Daily Signal.

Update:
Senate Confirms Obama Court Nominee Who Called Reagan a Bigot.  Minnesota jurist Wilhelmina Marie Wright's written accusation that President Reagan tolerated racism did not hinder her ascent to the federal bench.  The Senate voted 58-36 on Tuesday evening to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee to U.S. District Court in Minnesota.  While a student at Harvard Law School in 1989, Wright wrote an article published in the prestigious UCLA Law Review that accused Reagan and his administration of "bigotry" and implied that property rights undergird American racism.

Judge ignored warnings, freed 'slasher'.  The career criminal charged with slashing a woman on her way to work in Chelsea was on the streets because a judge ignored warnings that he's a "high risk" defendant and sprung him without bail on an earlier assault, The [New York] Post has learned.  Kari Bazemore is also suspected in yet another attack on a Bronx woman after Manhattan Judge Laurie Peterson set him free on Dec. 31.

Alabama Chief Justice Screwed 66 Judges.  Defying history, the law, and common sense, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has issued an order prohibiting Alabama probate judges from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  Those judges now face a choice between disobeying the law of the land and disobeying their boss.  Moore issued his law not as chief justice, but in his administrative role as head of the Alabama court system.

Feds Say Alabama Judges Must Obey US Supreme Court Decision.  Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore — ousted from office a decade ago when he refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from state property — on Thursday [1/7/2016] stood by his assertion that Alabama probate judges should not issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a seemingly direct challenge to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

Ninth Circus Court: Car Theft No Longer Grounds For Deportation.  Vehicle theft does not constitute a crime of moral turpitude for the purposes of deporting an immigrant, the en banc Ninth Circuit ruled Monday [12/28/2015].

Relief for Immigrant Convicted of CA Car Theft.  In the case at hand, an immigration judge ordered the deportation of Gabriel Almanza-Arenas after finding that his conviction for vehicle theft in California met the statutory bar as a crime involving moral turpitude.  The Board of Immigration Appeals had affirmed that finding, concluding that Almanza-Arenas had a duty he did not meet to produce evidence showing that he did not intend to permanently deprive anyone of the vehicle he stole.

Activist Judge Legalizes Illegal Gun Confiscation in New York.  [Scroll down]  [Andrew] Carroll decided to sue in federal court for violations of his Second Amendment and other rights.  He also demanded that the county be enjoined from destroying his guns and to stop them from future illegal gun confiscations.  The decision by District Judge Arthur Spatt was almost as incredulous as the confiscation of the guns themselves.  He denied the injunction against Nassau police, citing the belief that Carroll could be compensated monetarily for having his guns stolen by law enforcement.  I challenge the judge to show me in the constitution where any government agency, local, state or federal are allowed to illegally seize guns and then compensate the owner with cash.  It is more likely that this judge just wants to make it very expensive for Carroll to get his guns back and even if he receives money in place of the guns, Nassau County will in all likelihood refuse him a permit to buy new guns.

Muslim judge sworn in on Koran in New York.  A Muslim Civil Court judge was reportedly sworn in Tuesday in New York using the holy book of Islam as a testament to her faith.  "All is praise [sic] is indeed due to the Most High!" Hon. Carolyn Walker-Diallo, a life-long resident of Brooklyn, said in a post on her website.  "I am humbled that my community has entrusted me with the immense responsibility of ensuring that EVERYONE has notice and a FAIR opportunity to be heard in the halls of justice."

Carolyn Walker-Diallo, Muslim judge, sworn in on Koran in Brooklyn.  A routine municipal ceremony has become seeped in controversy after a Brooklyn Civil Court judge was sworn in using a Koran.  Carolyn Walker-Diallo, who was elected last month in Brooklyn's 7th Municipal District, took her oath of office Thursday [12/17/2015] using the holy book of Islam as a testament to her Muslim faith.  The swearing-in session went off without a hitch, but after attendees posted video of the ceremony to social media, the backlash became so severe that some of Walker-Diallo's supporters became concerned for her safety.

U.S. judge sworn into office on Quran.  New York's newest 7th Municipal District Court judge for the Brooklyn borough, a Muslim woman named Carolyn Walker-Diallo, has reportedly shied from the Bible and turned to the Quran to swear in to her seat.  The Gulf News first reported the matter, saying the use of the Quran gives "hope" to the Muslim community.

Judge receives death threats after being sworn in on Koran.  The NYPD hate-crimes unit is investigating threats made to a Brooklyn Civil Court judge who was sworn in on a Koran, The [New York] Post has learned.  Judge Carolyn Walker-Diallo got two calls at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the courthouse on Schermerhorn Street, law enforcement sources said on Wednesday [12/16/2015]. [...] David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state's courts, said judges need only swear an oath of office that they will uphold the law, and that there are no requirements to use a religious text.

Federal Judge Who Outlawed Racial Profiling is Victim of Black Mob Violence.  Federal Judge Susan Dlott wrote the book on racial profiling in 2002.  Last week, she ripped it into one million tiny pieces when three black people broke into her $8 million Cincinnati home and started beating her and her 79-year old husband.  "There's three black men with guns at our house," Dlott told a 911 operator after she escaped the home invasion and ran to her neighbor's house one mile away.  And just in case the operator did not hear her the first time, Dlott said it again:  "My husband and the dogs are still there.  There are three black men with guns and masks at the house."  That's Racial Profiling 101:  Identifying the criminals by race, as if that had something to do with it.

Federal judge bans school's live Nativity show.  A federal judge has banished the Baby Jesus and the Three Wise Men from an Indiana high school's Christmas musical.  U.S. District Court Judge Jon DeGuilio, appointed to the bench by President Obama, issued an injunction against Concord Community Schools on Dec. 2.  The court order forbids students from presenting a live Nativity scene during the Concord High School's Christmas Spectacular.  The judge said that portion of the show is overtly religious in nature.

The Editor says...
So what?  Christmas programs at public schools have been "religious in nature" since public schools have existed, and that was never a problem until very recently.

Group gets judge's OK to parade nude in S.F..  It's illegal to go naked in public in San Francisco, unless you're part of an event with a city permit, like a parade.  And that's what 50 to 100 nudists plan to do on city streets Saturday [9/26/2015], with an assist from a federal judge.

Also posted under the poisonous fruits of liberalism.

Hundreds of deported immigrants with mental disabilities may return to US.  Hundreds of immigrants with mental disabilities who were deported from the U.S. after representing themselves in court may be allowed to return to the country under a settlement approved by a judge Friday [9/25/2015].

Arkansas judge reinstates Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.  A federal judge on Friday [9/18/2015] ordered Arkansas to temporarily reinstate its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after the state blocked funding over concerns about secretly recorded videos released by an anti-abortion group.

Grievance Driven Asian Judge Makes Up Her Own Law, Declares Illegals Should.  It's the next immigration outrage Donald Trump should denounce.  As we previously predicted, Obama-appointed judge Dolly Gee acted as a kritarch, a judge who thinks she can make law, and ordered the release of the illegal immigrants who had been lured to the United States by Obama's Administrative Amnesty.  Essentially, it's a unilateral abolition of one of the few remaining aspects of immigration law enforcement.  And needless to say, it's based less on the law than on Gee's personal feelings.  Who is Dolly Gee?  She's the first Chinese-American to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge, previously nominated by President Clinton but not confirmed until nominated again by Obama.  And she sees her role in the court system as a way of achieving racial revenge against Whites.

Conservatives demand GOP field pledge no more moderate judges.  In advance of Wednesday's [9/16/2015] Republican presidential debate, conservatives are mounting a campaign to get the candidates to pledge that if elected they won't nominate moderate Supreme Court judges like Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices David Souter and Anthony Kennedy.  "No More Roberts, Souters or Kennedys" is the rallying cry of the effort from the Judicial Crisis Network, led by Carrie Severino, a former clerk to Republican Justice Clarence Thomas.  Souter retired in 2009.

Tennessee judge dismisses divorce case, cites Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling.  A judge in Tennessee has dismissed a divorce case, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage has negated his state's ability to define divorce.  Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Altherton wrote in his decision that he cannot grant Thomas and Pamela Bumgardner's divorce because Obergefell v. Hodges redefines the rules for marriage, and thus the rules for divorce.

Can Federal Judges Run Public Schools?  Judicial tyranny, specifically in our American court system, has usurped legislative jurisdiction, and I am so bold as to add Divine jurisdiction, in our Constitutional Republic.  We saw its egregious head again this past weekend after a Mississippi school district canceled Brandon High School's marching band playing of the Christian hymn "How Great Thou Art" during halftime at Friday night's [8/21/2015] football season opener.  The reason?  It was decided that singing a hymn was too similar to a recent ban by U.S. District Judge, Carlton Reeves, given to Rankin County School District on July 10, saying it promoted Christianity during school hours after it agreed to stop.  So Reeves fined the district $7,500 and again ordered it to stop sponsoring prayers at graduations, assemblies, athletic competitions and other cschool events, WLBT-TV reported.

Court Rules Illegal Aliens Have Second Amendment Rights.  A recent decision by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that says illegal aliens — what the left likes to call "undocumented immigrants" — enjoy a Second Amendment right to bear arms, even if their presence in this nation is criminal.

Judge blocks release of recordings by anti-abortion group.  A federal judge on Friday [7/31/2015] blocked the release of any recordings made at meetings of an abortion providers' association by an anti-abortion group that previously revealed secretly recorded videos of a Planned Parenthood leader.

Obama Appointee And Bundler Blocks More Video Releases By Group Behind Planned Parenthood Sting.  A federal judge late Friday [7/31/2015] granted a temporary restraining order against the release of recordings made at an annual meeting of abortion providers.  The injunction is against the Center for Medical Progress, the group that has unveiled Planned Parenthood's participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children.  Judge William H. Orrick, III, granted the injunction just hours after the order was requested by the National Abortion Federation.  Orrick was nominated to his position by hardline abortion supporter President Barack Obama.  He was also a major donor to and bundler for President Obama's presidential campaign.  He raised at least $200,000 for Obama and donated $30,800 to committees supporting him, according to Public Citizen.

Fear and Fascism: Judge Bars Release of More Planned Parenthood Videos.  A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers.  The group is the same one that previously shot viral covert video of a Planned Parenthood leader discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research.  The Los Angeles Superior Court order issued Tuesday [7/28/2015] prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of three high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant in May.  It appears to be the first legal action prohibiting the release of a video from the organization.

Court bars anti-abortion group from releasing new videos.  A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers.

More about Planned Parenthood.

Judge blasts ICE, says immigrant children, mothers should be released from detention centers.  A federal judge has ruled that hundreds of immigrant women and children held in detention facilities should be released, finding that their detention was in serious violation of an earlier court settlement.  U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ruled late Friday [7/24/2015] that federal officials had violated an 18-year-old court settlement regarding the detention of migrant children.

Judge orders Obama administration to release illegal immigrants from 'deplorable' facilities.  A federal judge in California has ruled that hundreds of illegal immigrant women and children in U.S. holding facilities should be released, another apparent setback for President Obama's immigration policy, according to The Los Angeles Times.  U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said Friday [7/24/2015] that the conditions in which the detainees are being held are "deplorable" and violate parts of an 18-year-old court settlement that put restrictions on the detention of migrant children.  The ruling also raises questions about what the administration will do with the estimated 1,700 parents and children at three detention facilities, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.

The Editor asks...
Why is it necessary for a judge in California to address immigration issues in Texas and Pennsylvania?

Federal judge frees Fla. imam — a former Marine accused of radicalizing homegrown terrorists.  A gang leader-turned-radical-Muslim imam considered so dangerous he was kept in shackles and assigned his own guard while he was held in a Florida prison for four years has been freed by a federal judge who said he believes Marcus Dwayne Robertson is a "very bad man," but that federal prosecutors were "woefully inadequate" in making their case for keeping him behind bars.

Constitutional Remedies to a Lawless Supreme Court.  This week, we have twice seen Supreme Court justices violating their judicial oaths.  Yesterday, the justices rewrote Obamacare, yet again, in order to force this failed law on the American people.  Today, the Court doubled down with a 5-4 opinion that undermines not just the definition of marriage, but the very foundations of our representative form of government.  Both decisions were judicial activism, plain and simple.  Both were lawless.

Constitutional Remedies to a Lawless Supreme Court.  This week, we have twice seen Supreme Court justices violating their judicial oaths.  Yesterday [6/25/2015], the justices rewrote Obamacare, yet again, in order to force this failed law on the American people.  Today, the Court doubled down with a 5-4 opinion that undermines not just the definition of marriage, but the very foundations of our representative form of government.  Both decisions were judicial activism, plain and simple.  Both were lawless.

U.S. attorney chills Reason-able speech.  What do you call it when a prosecutor forces a magazine to hand over confidential information — and then orders the magazine not to publish anything about it?  Some might call it heavy-handed judicial overreach, but lately it's just another day at the office for those who purport to administer justice.

Court: Mother and daughter deported to Guatemala need to be returned to U.S. immediately.  A mother and her 12-year-old daughter who were deported to Guatemala on Friday [6/19/2015] need to be immediately returned to the United States, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge ordered.  In a rare move, Chief Judge Theodore A. McKee of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has order U.S. officials to search for the 34-year-old mother, Ana, and her daughter, who were pulled from their rooms at a Pennsylvania family detention center at 3 a.m. Friday and placed on a plane flying to Panama City.

Kalief Browder was no circus freak.  [Scroll down]  Browder was charged with robbery, grand larceny and assault.  His friend and alleged accomplice was not incarcerated for the matter but Browder was because of his probation.  His bail was set at $3,000, a sum his family could not raise.  After his indictment, another judge ordered Browder kept behind bars without bail.  He was sent to Riker's Island, where he was locked up for three years without a trial.  This actually happened.  No one disputes these facts.  And it happened in America, no less, where you're supposedly innocent until proven guilty.

Fare-skipping Ohio woman ordered to take a hike at sentencing.  A fare-skipping Ohio woman was sentenced last Thursday to walk 30 miles in 48 hours as a form of punishment by a judge known for his eye-for-an eye sentences.  Victoria Bascom, 19, who did not pay for a 30-mile cab fare back in February for a ride from Cleveland to Painesville, WATE.com reported.  Judge Michael Cicconetti gave Bascom two options at sentencing:  30 days in jail or the hike.

Canadian judge could free former teen terrorist who killed US Army medic.  A former teen terrorist who killed a U.S. Army Delta Force medic in Afghanistan in 2002 was released on bail Thursday [5/7/2015] by a Canadian judge, a move that allows the former Guantanamo Bay detainee to appeal his U.S. conviction while free.  Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was just 15 when he threw the grenade that killed U.S. Army medic Christopher Speer as Speer and four others cleared a building in the Khost province following an air raid.  Captured at the scene, Khadr admitted carrying out the act years later while in Guantanamo.

SFC Christopher Speer Is Dead; Omar Khadr Is Free.  A Canadian judge ruled this week that former Gitmo detainee Omar Khadr poses no public safety threat.  Tell that to the children of Sergeant First Class Christopher J. Speer and the surviving American soldiers who valiantly fought Khadr on the battlefield.

Obama Potential Supreme Court Nominee Let Off Cartoon Gunman Because She Wasn't Sure What "Jihad" Meant.  The Mohammed cartoon shootings did not turn into a massacre because of the quick actions of police officers on the scene.  But if a massacre had occurred, much of the responsibility would rest with Judge Mary H. Murguia. [...] Elton Simpson got off with a slap on the wrist because Murguia chose not to find that he was lying about being engaged in terrorism.  Now a man has been shot and a serious terrorist attack was narrowly averted because Judge Murguia refused to do her job.

Judge: DEA not liable for botched sting that killed truck driver.  The drug war means never having to say you're sorry.  ["]A Houston-based federal judge ruled that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration does not owe the owner of a small Texas trucking company anything, not even the cost of repairing the bullet holes to a tractor-trailer truck that the agency used without his permission for a wild 2011 drug cartel sting that resulted in the execution-style murder of the truck's driver, who was secretly working as a government informant.["]  The Houston Chronicle story also points out that the ruling will spare the DEA a "potentially embarrassing trial."  Another way to phrase that might be that the ruling prevents the public from knowing the details of just how ruthless and indifferent to collateral damage drug warriors can sometimes be.

NY Judge Gives 2 Chimpanzees 'Human' Status.  As far as a judge in New York is concerned, the "Planet of the Apes" is no longer a fantastic sci fi movie because he has given two chimps legal status as humans.  The judge has given the chimps legal status so that they can "challenge their captivity."

N.Y. Judge Grants Legal Rights To 2 Research Chimps.  The judge in the case has amended her ruling to strike out the term "writ of habeas corpus."  It is now unclear whether Hercules and Leo, the chimps at Stony Brook University, can challenge their detention.

This is a Picture of Judge Barbara Kluka: Make Her Name a Household Word.  Judges are supposed to uphold the law, not rubberstamp the criminal suppression of political opponents.

Black Judge Gives Black Home Invader Probation, Attacks White Family for Racism.  A black judge, offended by a white family's concern that their toddler was frightened of black men after a violent home invasion and robbery, publicly shamed them and let off the convicted man with mere probation.

How the Environmentalists are Destroying California.  In 2007, they mobilized around saving the Delta Smelt, a three-inch baitfish, as an outgrowth of a policy that for decades put animal life and vegetation ahead of drinking water and food.  The Delta Smelt requires a rare and somewhat precise mixture of fresh and salt water.  It is by any measure a fragile species.  In August 2007, Federal Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that the fresh water pumped into the Central Valley, the lifeblood of its economic base, threatened the survival of the Delta Smelt.  He ordered a severe reduction in the water directed to Central Valley agriculture.  The ruling (subsequently reversed for sloppy science and then upheld) resulted in a loss of thousands of jobs and acres of farmland.

Judge Cuts 15 Years Off Mandatory Sentence of Man Convicted of Sodomizing Toddler.  An Orange County Superior Court judge decided a Santa Ana man convicted of sexually assaulting a child should not have to serve the minimum sentence of 25 years to life in prison, saying that the sentence would be cruel and unusual punishment.

Black Judge heaps Scorn on Three-year old Racist.  Louisville has a new hero: A black judge unafraid to stand up to the relentless white racism that is everywhere, all the time, and explains everything.  And the racist at the receiving end of Judge Olu Stevens' courageous scorn?  A three-year-old girl.

Judges Order Sheriff to Remove American Flag From Courthouse.  By now you've all heard about the flag controversy at the University of California-Irvine, where the student government voted to ban flags, including the American flag, in student government offices.  While a higher student body vetoed that measure, the debate on the university's campus is not over.  Now, on the East Coast, we're seeing a similar controversy brewing at a courthouse in Virginia.

Obama Threatens Immigration Officials Who Don't Comply With Executive Amnesty.  President Obama sent a strong message to illegal immigrants counting on the legality of his executive actions on immigration reform at a Wednesday [2/25/2015] town hall.  He said that the Texas ruling against him was only temporary and that he would hold immigration officials accountable to his directives.  "Unfortunately a group of Republican governors sued," Obama admitted, referring to the Texas court ruling against his actions.  "They found a District Court judge who enjoined ... but that's just the first part of the process.  This is just one federal judge."

Activist NJ judge rules greedy unionistas get their pension payment no matter what.  New Jersey is broke.  That fact is not in dispute.  But greedy public employee unionistas sued to force Governor Chris Christie into fully funding their gold-plated pension system.  And an activist judge said "yes."

Obama-Nominated Judge: New Illegal Immigrants Must Be Released.  A federal judge has ordered the federal government to grant U.S. civil rights to illegals who are caught at the border, and to release all migrants except for those who may endanger Americans.  The migrants "may have legitimate claims to asylum ... [and] their presence here may become permanent ... [so] that they are entitled to the protection of the Due Process Clause, especially when it comes to deprivations of liberty," said the judge, who was nominated by President Barack Obama.  Under current rules, border-crossers who are released are also allowed to compete against Americans for jobs, and to attend U.S. schools and to receive welfare, until their cases are decided by immigration judges.

Alabama same-sex marriage resistance, federal law to collide in court.  Estimates vary, but judges in about 45 of the state's 67 counties refused to issue licenses for same-sex marriages, while more than 20 judges complied with the federal courts.  After listening to about 30 minutes of arguments from each side, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade called a recess and then quickly issued her ruling in support of four same-sex couples seeking action against Mobile Probate Judge Don Davis, who had refused to issue them marriage licenses.

U.S. Judge Orders Alabama Official to Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses.  A federal judge here [in Mobile, Alabama] on Thursday [2/12/2015] ordered that a county probate judge must comply with her earlier ruling and cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  The federal judge, Callie V. S. Granade of Federal District Court here, wrote that the county judge, Don Davis, of Probate Court in Mobile County, cannot deny a marriage license "on the ground that plaintiffs constitute same-sex couples or because it is prohibited by the sanctity of marriage."

Federal Judge Awards Illegal Alien Nearly $500K After Being Shot by Border Patrol Agent.  U.S. District Court Judge James Soto awarded an illegal alien nearly $500,000 after he was shot in the back by a Border Patrol Agent.  The now imprisoned Border Patrol agent claimed the immigrant threatened him with a rock.  The judge ruled against the government and ruled in favor of the illegal alien.

Court and Constitution: The Argument Against Judicial Supremacy.  Three weeks ago, Rand Paul argued, before a skeptical Heritage Foundation audience, that "judicial activism" wasn't the threat conservatives, for two generations, have thought it to be.  A week and a half ago, Mike Huckabee suggested that a Supreme Court decision purporting to make gay marriage national would do no such thing until the states approved enabling legislation.  Both drew heavy criticism for their remarks — some of it, at least, merited.

Federal judge strikes down Alabama bans on same-sex marriage.  A federal judge struck down two Alabama laws banning same-sex marriage Friday [1/23/2015], making it one of dozens of states where it is now legal for gays and lesbians to marry.

Ferguson grand juror sues over gag order.  A member of the grand jury that declined to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown asked a federal court Monday [1/5/2015] to remove a lifetime gag order preventing jurors from discussing the case.

The Editor says...
Never before have I heard of a lifetime gag order imposed upon a juror.

Federal judge's ruling makes Florida the 36th state where gay marriage is legal.  US District Judge Robert Hinkle issued a clarifying order on New Year's Day that all of Florida's county clerks have a legal duty to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples seeking to wed.  The couples can wed as soon as Tuesday [1/6/2015].

Judge frees 2nd cop-hater in 2 days.  She keeps turning 'em loose.  A day after freeing a gang member who posted an anti-cop death threat online, a Brooklyn judge ignored the admonishment of a court boss — and sprung a man who allegedly punched a police officer and threatened to kill his colleagues, The [New York] Post has learned.

Judges Strikes Down Arkansas, Mississippi Gay Marriage Bans.  Federal judges on Tuesday struck down same-sex marriage bans in Mississippi and Arkansas, opening the door to gay nuptials in the Deep South.  If their decisions stand, they could bring the number of states that allow gays and lesbians to wed to 37.  U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves in Mississippi said the state's gay marriage ban violated same-sex couples the rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Obama's Makeover of the Judiciary.  With Republicans in control of the Senate for the first time since Barack Obama took office, the president may find it harder to appoint left-wing lawyers to judgeships.  Whether he compromises on some of his nominees, including any to the Supreme Court, may depend on the willingness of the new Republican majority to engage the president on judicial philosophy.

Abolish elected judges.  Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is right.  Judicial elections where they exist in 39 states should be abolished.  They rest on sophomoric dogmas about justice that shortchange wisdom and the imperative of checks and balances to frustrate majoritarian oppression.  Judicial elections should be replaced with merit appointments modeled on the Missouri Plan.  It contemplates a nominating commission selected by the governor to vet candidates and send three to five names for his consideration.  The governor's ultimate nominee would require confirmation by the legislature.

Federal Judge Offers Flimsy Legal Reasoning in Dismissing IRS Scandal Lawsuit.  For years, the IRS served as a cudgel that worked to penalize and diminish the efficacy of political organizations that objected to the Obama Administration's radical agenda.  The IRS demanded information on Tea Partiers and the organizations that applied for tax-exempt status, including records of members, emails, lists of reading materials and other protected information.  While other leftist organizations were free to make differences in their communities and within the political process, Tea Party organizations were harassed and delayed by the IRS until after the 2012 elections.

True the Vote's Lawsuit Against IRS Gets Tossed by Federal Judge.  On Thursday [10/23/2014], a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered an order dismissing a lawsuit filed by True the Vote, a Houston, Texas-based non-profit organization focused on "voters' rights and election integrity" against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  The order alleged that the IRS had improperly delayed granting their application for 501(c)(3) status and targeted them as a conservative organization.  The opinion, by Judge Reggie B. Walton, found that the IRS had taken sufficient "remedial steps to address the alleged behavior."

Federal judge rules Alaska's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.  A federal judge ruled Sunday that Alaska's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, paving the way for same-sex couples to begin marrying in the state for the first time.  The state quickly said it would appeal the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess, despite recent higher court rulings striking down similar bans around the country.

Judge strikes down Texas voter ID law.  A federal judge on Thursday likened Texas' tough voter ID law to a poll tax meant to suppress minority voters and blocked Texas from enforcing it just weeks ahead of next month's election, knocking down a measure the U.S. Justice Department condemned in court as deliberately discriminatory.

Courts block voter ID laws in Texas, Wisconsin.  A federal judge likened Texas' strict voter ID requirement to a poll tax deliberately meant to suppress minority voter turnout and struck it down less than a month before Election Day — and mere hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a similar measure in Wisconsin.

Our Judicial Dictatorship.  Do the states have the right to outlaw same-sex marriage?  Not long ago the question would have been seen as absurd. For every state regarded homosexual acts as crimes.  Moreover, the laws prohibiting same-sex marriage had all been enacted democratically, by statewide referenda, like Proposition 8 in California, or by Congress or elected state legislatures.  But today rogue judges and justices, appointed for life, answerable to no one, instruct a once-democratic republic on what laws we may and may not enact.  Last week, the Supreme Court refused to stop federal judges from overturning laws banning same-sex marriage.  We are now told to expect the Supreme Court itself to discover in the Constitution a right of men to marry men and of women to marry women.

Judge Wants To Force A Printer To Make Pro-Gay T-Shirts.  An administrative law judge has ruled that a Kentucky printer's refusal to print gay pride t-shirts "constitutes unlawful discrimination," and, by extension, that printers cannot refuse to print materials promoting ideas they disagree with.

The Senate and the Courts.  With little fanfare, President Obama has enjoyed remarkable success in his project to remake the federal courts in his own ideological image.  How much more he achieves during his final two years in office depends in large part on whether Republicans win control of the Senate this November.

Ninth Circuit Affirms That It's Illegal To Wear American Flag Shirts On Cinco De Mayo.  It's official:  the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an order declining a request for an en banc hearing in a case involving four students in at a California high school who were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.  The full slate of Ninth Circuit judges has thus agreed with a lower district court and with a trio of appellate judges that officials at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif. could censor students who wanted to wear flag-emblazoned shirts.

Obama Reshapes Appellate Bench.  For the first time in more than a decade, judges appointed by Democratic presidents considerably outnumber judges appointed by Republican presidents.  The Democrats' advantage has only grown since late last year when they stripped Republicans of their ability to filibuster the president's nominees.

Harry Reid's Court-Packing Scheme Pays Off In Halbig Case.  One of the main reasons that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blew up the traditional applicability of the filibuster in the United States Senate was so that President Obama could pack the DC Circuit Court of Appeals with liberal judges, anticipating the need for bias, or at least partisanship, on the bench in order to defend Obamacare from legal challenge.  This particular appeals court, officially called the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is often considered the second-most important court in the country since it handles so many cases related to the regulatory power of the federal government.

Louisiana Judge Throws Out Challenge to Landrieu's Residency.  A state district judge on Friday [9/5/2014] threw out a challenge to Senator Mary L. Landrieu's bid for re-election in Louisiana.  The judge, Wilson Fields, of Baton Rouge, ruled that a lawsuit questioning Ms. Landrieu's residency was premature.  The suit, filed by State Representative Paul Hollis, claimed that Ms. Landrieu, a Democrat, lived full time in Washington and could not represent Louisiana because she was not a state resident.  Mr. Hollis, a Republican, had briefly considered a run against Ms. Landrieu.  Judge Fields said the United States Constitution made it clear that the residency of senators mattered only on the day of an election.

The Editor says...
That last sentence makes me wonder if the judge also thinks there is no need to print ballots until election day.  Maybe he is trying to give Senator Landrieu the opportunity to buy a house in Louisiana sometime between now and November.

One Judge to Decide the Future of Detroit.  In a trial set to open in the federal courthouse here on Tuesday, nothing short of this city's future is at stake.  If Judge Steven W. Rhodes approves a blueprint drawn up by Detroit officials to eliminate more than $7 billion of its estimated $18 billion in debts and to invest about $1.5 billion into the city's now dismal services, it will mark the beginning of the end of the nation's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy.  The outcome will set this troubled city's new course for the coming decades, perhaps longer.

Democracy Alliance Bankrolled Court-Packing Scheme.  A shadowy network of wealthy liberal donors bankrolled an operation to pack one of America's most powerful courts with progressive judges, according to documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.  Now the effort could prevent an Obamacare challenge from reaching the Supreme Court, legal experts say.  The strategy to fill the D.C. Court of Appeals with left-leaning judges was aided by the American Constitution Society, a non-profit group that "promotes a progressive vision of the law."  The ACS is funded in part by the Democracy Alliance, a liberal donor network that funnels millions to a web of dark-money member groups.

Judges are not 'neutral umpires'.  In the last two years, 14 lower federal courts have ruled on the constitutionality of gay marriage bans, with all finding that the U.S. Constitution forbids prohibitions against same sex marriage.  Of the 16 judges who have ruled for gay marriage, 13 were appointed by Democratic presidents.  On the opposing side, all three dissenting judges were appointed by Republicans.

You can vote all you want, but it won't matter.  Judges will decide what's best.
US Judge Strikes Down Florida Gay Marriage Ban.  A federal judge on Thursday [8/21/2014] declared Florida's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, joining judges across the country who have sided with gay couples wishing to tie the knot.

Cleveland judge accused of beating wife had 2,500 rounds of ammunition, semi-automatic rifles, sword and smoke grenades in home.  Police confiscated smoke grenades, semi-automatic rifles, a sword, a bulletproof vest and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition from the home of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lance Mason's home, according to a police report.  Mason, 46, entered no plea Monday [8/4/2014] during his initial appearance in Shaker Heights Municipal Court.  He's charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony.  He's accused of punching his wife in the face several times along with biting and choking her.

10 states join Indiana's appeal of federal judge's same-sex marriage ruling.  The attorneys general of 10 states have joined in Indiana's appeal of a federal judge's ruling that found the state law banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional.  In a filing this week, the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah filed a friend of the court brief alleging it is not the judicial branch's role to determine whether same-sex marriage should be permitted.  "The moral, political, and social issues surrounding this case are profound and profoundly important," says the brief filed by Colorado Solicitor General Michael Francisco. "However, they are distinct from the purely legal principles that this court can address."

Oklahoma's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, federal appeals court rules.  A federal appeals court on Friday [7/11/2014] struck down Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriages.  The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the ban violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law for everyone.  "States may not, consistent with the U.S. Constitution, prohibit same-sex marriages," the judges wrote.  The court stayed its opinion, putting it on hold pending an expected challenge.

Florida Court Overturns State's Same-Sex-Marriage Ban.  A judge in Florida overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage on Thursday [7/17/2014].  The ban had been approved by 62 percent of voters in 2008.  "The court is aware that the majority of voters oppose same-sex marriage, but it is our country's proud history to protect the rights of the individual, the rights of the unpopular and rights of the powerless, even at the cost of offending the majority," Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia wrote in his opinion.  Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an appeal almost immediately.

Well-connected rookie judge to preside over Khattala Benghazi trial.  Just three months into his tenure on the federal bench, and before his formal investiture ceremony later this week, newly minted U.S. District Judge Christopher "Casey" Cooper has been handed one of the most high-profile and politically sensitive American terrorism cases in recent years.  Cooper, who was confirmed by the Senate in March, has been randomly assigned by the court's selection system to preside over the U.S. government's case against Ahmed Abu Khattala, a suspected ringleader in the deadly attack on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya.

Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Utah's Same-Sex Marriage Ban.  For the first time, a federal appeals court has struck down a state's ban on same-sex marriage.  A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver voted 2-1 that Utah's ban is unconstitutional.  "We hold that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right to marry, establish a family, raise children, and enjoy the full protection of a state's marital laws.  A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union," the court said.

Judge strikes down Montana immigrant law.  A Montana judge struck down most of a 2012 voter-approved law requiring government officials to conduct immigration checks on anybody seeking services provided by the state — from unemployment benefits to crime-victim assistance.

Alabama judge rejects Catholic broadcaster's claim against ObamaCare mandate.  A federal judge in Alabama has dismissed a Catholic broadcaster's legal claim that requiring employers to include contraception in their health care coverage is unconstitutional.

Also posted under Obama versus the Catholics.

Wisconsin AG Seeks Stay Halting Gay Marriages.  Same-sex couples began getting married in Wisconsin on Friday [6/6/2014] shortly after a federal judge struck down the state's gay marriage ban and despite confusion over the effect of the ruling.

Judge strikes down Wisconsin gay marriage ban.  A federal judge struck down Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage on Friday, ruling it unconstitutional.  It wasn't clear whether U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's 88-page ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin immediately.  But the ruling makes Wisconsin the 27th state where same-sex couples can marry under law or where a judge has ruled they ought to be allowed to wed.

Judge who sentenced rapist to 30 days faces suspension.  A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim appeared "older than her chronological age" will be publicly censured and given a 31-day suspension without pay for his misconduct in the case, the Montana Supreme Court said in a Wednesday [6/4/2014] order.  Justices said Judge G. Todd Baugh of Billings eroded confidence in the court system with his actions in the case of convicted rapist and former teacher Stacey Dean Rambold.

Judges [sic] Orders Temporary Halt to Ohio Executions.  Ohio executions have been put on hold for 2 1/2 months after a federal judge said [5/27/2014] he wanted to hear arguments over the state's new lethal injection procedures.

Gay-Marriage Decisions Read Like GLAAD Press Releases Now.  A district judge in Pennsylvania ruled yesterday that the state is obligated to recognize same-sex marriages.  Given the sensitivity of the issue, the judge must have taken extra caution to present a sober, impartial analysis of the relevant case law, right?  Of course not.  His decision reads like a press release from a gay-rights organization, replete with emotional appeals, loaded terminology, and rhetorical flourishes.  While reading the first paragraph of the decision, keep in mind that the author is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of the law: [...]

Federal judge puts U.S. Rep. John Conyers back on primary ballot.  U.S. Rep. John Conyers' on-again, off-again roller coaster ride for the Aug. 5 ballot took a new twist Friday [5/23/2014] when U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman put the 85-year-old congressman back on the ballot.  Leitman's decision, released late Friday, contradicts the Secretary of State's review of Conyers' petitions, which found earlier in the day that Conyers had less than half the required signatures of valid registered voters on the petitions he turned in to qualify for the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

Judge allows long-time Dem Rep. Conyers on primary ballot.  A federal judge put Michigan Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress, on the primary ballot Friday [5/23/2014,] hours after state election officials declared him ineligible.  Earlier Friday, Conyers lost his appeal to get on the August primary ballot after state officials found problems with his nominating petitions.  But hours later, Detroit federal Judge Matthew Leitman issued an injunction ordering that Conyers' name be placed on the ballot.

Federal judge puts Rep. John Conyers back on the Democratic primary ballot.  Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson office affirmed a decision by Detroit-area election officials, agreeing that only 455 of the signatures he submitted were gathered by registered voters in his heavily Democratic district.  At least 1,000 were needed to qualify for the August 5 primary election.  But just hours later, Detroit federal Judge Matthew Leitman issued an injunction ordering election officials to put Conyers' name on the ballot while larger constitutional issues are sorted out.  Leitman was appointed in July 2013 by President Barack Obama.

The Editor says...
Not all voting fraud occurs on election day.  Mr. Conyers failed to get the required number of signatures to get his name on the ballot, and was then quite correctly excluded from the ballot, until an activist judge helped him out. If the permanent Congressman and the activist judge were both Republicans, this would be front-page news.

Ohio court OKs order that dad can't have more kids.  An Ohio appeals court has upheld a judge's order that a deadbeat father can't have more kids until he pays his back child support.

The Editor says...
There is a way to make sure he doesn't have any more kids, but this country isn't ready for that yet.

It's open season on prostitutes.
Rape victim not a 'victim,' judge says, giving rapist probation.  A Texas judge has sentenced a confessed rapist to just five years' probation, implying his 14-year-old victim was promiscuous and "wasn't the victim she claimed to be."  Sir Young, 20, pleaded guilty to raping the girl at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas when he was 18, even as she told him "no" and "stop," according to the Dallas Morning News.  But State District Judge Jeanine Howard stunned many when she opted for probation, which will include 45 days in jail, and also exempted him from standard sex-offender restrictions, [...]

Federal judge strikes down Wisconsin voter ID law.  A federal judge struck down Wisconsin's voter identification law Tuesday, declaring that a requirement that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls imposes an unfair burden on poor and minority voters.

Report finds appeals court judges violated conflict-of-interest laws in 26 cases.  More than a dozen federal appeals court judges have violated federal conflict-of-interest laws over the past three years, throwing into doubt decisions in 26 cases, according to an analysis from a watchdog group.

Calif. moves to ban judges affiliated with Boy Scouts.  California is proposing to ban members of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) from serving as judges because the Boy Scouts do not allow gay troop leaders, The Daily Caller has learned.  In a move with major legal implications, The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing "invidious discrimination" against gays, which would end the group's exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group.

Free Exercise Thereof.  We are in a post-republic America.  There is no rule of law, there is only a rule of judges.  Legislation is equal to a dictate from the king.  That we elect the barons and the lords to rule over us does not lessen tyranny, but it makes us feel better; it gives us faith in the "system" and that is all the government really needs.  Through several supreme court decisions, largely where they have ruled on Obamacare, the message as been sent:  Whatever the government chooses to do is within its power. [...] The laws against privacy and guns are passed by legislators.  The laws against religion are passed by judges.

11 Reasons the left has not won the culture war.  Let's start with the biggie:  same-sex marriage.  Yes, polls show gay marriage is breaking out all over, but when put to a vote same-sex marriage has lost (even in California) much more often than not.  Furthermore, gay marriage is not being legalized through popular opinion or demand, it is being legalized through activist judges.

Federal Judge Overturns North Dakota's 6-Week Abortion Ban.  A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a North Dakota law that bans abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they're pregnant.

Federal judge strikes down Texas gay marriage ban.  The state's gay marriage ban was challenged by two gay couples — one seeking to marry in Texas and one seeking to have their marriage, which was performed in Massachusetts, to be recognized.

Judge orders Kentucky to begin recognizing gay marriage.  A federal judge in Kentucky took a final step Thursday forcing the state to begin recognizing same-sex marriages performed outside the state.  U.S. District Judge John Heyburn was following through on his ruling earlier this month that found a portion of the state's constitution, which bans the recognition of gay marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution.  On Thursday, the judge wrote the amendment was unlawful and "void and unenforceable."

Know-Nothing Judges.  Conservatives and liberty lovers pretty much take it for granted that liberal judges don't know anything about the Constitution.  That much seems obvious from the consistently ridiculous decisions made by left-wingers on the bench at all levels.  Yet, it is somewhat jarring to come across a liberal judge who is so un-knowledgeable, so uneducated, so thoroughly ignorant of the foundations upon which this country was built that she literally does not know what the Constitution actually says[.]

NYT, federal judge overruling gay marriage ban confuse Constitution for Declaration of Independence.  Both federal judge Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen and the one-time newspaper of record confused the Constitution for the Declaration of Independence during their haste to celebrate the overturning of Virginia's gay marriage ban Thursday night.  "Our Constitution declares that 'all men' are created equal.  Surely this means all of us," wrote Allen in a tautological pronouncement that cited a unilateral assertion of sovereignty penned in response to 18th-century British abuses of power, rather than the supreme law governing the U.S.  The New York Times gave no indication it noticed Allen's glaring error, dedicating most of its 761-word article to sniffing at opponents of same-sex marriage.

Maine's highest court: Transgender student's rights were violated.  The rights of a transgender girl from Orono were violated when school administrators made her use a staff bathroom at her elementary school instead of the girls' restroom, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday [1/30/2014].  The ruling is the first in which a state supreme court has affirmed a transgender person's right to equal access to restrooms in places of public accommodation.

Federal ruling forbids states from checking voters' citizenship.  A federal commission rejected three states requests to ask voters for proof of citizenship, issuing a complex decision Friday [1/17/2014] that said it's up to the national government, not the states, to decide what to include on registration forms.  Under the motor-voter law, federal officials distribute voter-registration forms in all of the states.  Arizona, Kansas and Georgia all asked that those forms request proof of citizenship, but the federal Election Assistance Commission rejected that in a 46-page ruling.  The EAC said states can check driver's license databases or ask federal immigration authorities for information, but they cannot tell the federal government what to include on federal forms.

As trial nears, 9th Circuit Court accused of favoring Hollywood.  The California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is known for progressive rulings that champion individual rights over government and corporations, but when it comes to show business, the "Hollywood Circuit" — as it has been called — stands accused of routinely siding with the home-turf entertainment industry.  Judges famously sided with film studios in the early 1980s when the studios sued Sony for infringing their copyrights by selling the Betamax video recorders.  Had the Supreme Court not reversed the decision, the home video industry might never have been born.

Court affirms Mass. murderer's right to get sex change in prison.  A federal appeals court on Friday [1/17/2014] upheld a judge's ruling granting a taxpayer-funded sex change operation for a transgender inmate serving a life sentence for a murder conviction, saying receiving medically necessary treatment is a constitutional right that must be protected "even if that treatment strikes some as odd or unorthodox."

Pennsylvania voter ID law struck down.  Pennsylvania's voter ID law, among the nation's most stringent, was struck down Friday morning [1/17/2014] by a state judge.  Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard L. McGinley ruled that the law, requiring almost all voters to present photo identification prior to voting, was an unreasonable burden on voters.

US judge strikes down Okla. same-sex marriage ban.  A federal judge struck down Oklahoma's gay marriage ban Tuesday [1/14/2014], but headed off any rush to the altar by setting aside his order while state and local officials complete an appeal.

Judge Strikes Down Utah Traditional Marriage Laws, Calls Them 'Irrational'.  In his 53-page opinion for Kitchen v. Herbert on Dec. 20, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby — who was appointed by President Obama in 2011 — compared marriage laws that do not include homosexual pairings to racist laws.  He noted that in its 1967 case Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment a Virginia law that did not allow a white man to marry a black woman. [...] However, the ruling in Loving does not appear to stand for what Shelby says it does.

Federal Judge: Right to Same-Sex Marriage Is 'Deeply Rooted in This Nation's History and Tradition'.  Judge Robert J. Shelby, whom President Barack Obama appointed to the U.S. District Court in Utah last year, issued an opinion on Friday [12/20/2013] declaring that a right to same-sex marriage is "deeply rooted in the nation's history and implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."  Shelby was confirmed to the federal bench by a voice vote of the Senate on Sept. 21, 2012.  There was no debate over his nomination, and no senator objected to his confirmation.  He has now issued an opinion that could fundamentally alter American law and culture.

End Of Filibuster Brings the First Of Many Radical Judges.  The first spoil of Harry Reid's shredding of the Senate's historic filibuster rules has been confirmed to the D.C. Circuit. Patricia Millett is another radical activist masquerading as judge.

Democrats use new power to tilt appeals court.  Democrats overwhelmed outnumbered Republicans and pushed a pair of President Barack Obama's high-profile nominees through the Senate on Tuesday [12/10/2013], the first to win confirmation since the chamber weakened the age-old filibuster.

D.C. Circuit Court has Democratic majority bench for first time since Reagan administration.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, considered the nation's second-most influential court behind the Supreme Court, now tilts Democratic, thanks to the Senate's new filibuster rules.  The Senate on Tuesday [12/10/2013] confirmed President Obama's nominee Patricia Ann Millett to the appeals court, a long-delayed move that brings the bench's judicial lineup to nine — with five judges appointed by Democratic presidents and four by Republicans.

Reid the Rat.  Harry Reid is having a banner year.  The Senate majority leader has emerged as an unlikely darling of the Left, most recently because of his decision to annihilate longstanding Senate precedent by "nuking" the filibuster on executive-branch and judicial nominations.  In the near term, this move will allow President Obama to pack the lower courts with liberal justices to rubber-stamp his extensive regulatory regime; in the longer term, it potentially sets the stage for the outright demise of the filibuster and "the end of United States Senate."  At least, that's how Reid himself put it in 2005, when the Republican majority almost took the drastic step that he has now embraced.

Cruz: Dems want to pack court with judges to protect O-Care.  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Senate's leading critic of the Affordable Care Act, denounced a vote Thursday to prohibit filibusters against appellate court nominees as a scheme to save the healthcare law.  "The heart of this action is directed at packing the D.C. Circuit because that is the court that will review the lawless behavior of the Obama administration implementing ObamaCare," he said.

Nuclear Option 'Greatly Eroded' Graham's Leverage to Get Benghazi Answers.  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that the nuclear option not only detonated the filibuster, but most of the leverage he held to get answers from the Obama administration about Benghazi.  "After today, I fully expect President Obama to stack the D.C. Circuit Court with liberal, rubber-stamp judges.  This court has primary jurisdiction over lawsuits that challenge Obamacare regulations.  It is no accident the rules were changed to stack this court," Graham said after the vote Thursday.

Republicans Shouldn't Let Obama Pack the Courts.  The fifth and sixth years of a presidency often end up being high noon for judicial politics.  This time the first confrontation concerns the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the venue for many important regulatory issues and a training ground for future Supreme Court justices.

Obama packing the DC Circuit?  The DC appellate court may be one of the few areas of the federal bench not demanding more judges, according to a column in The Hill by David Rivkin and Andrew Grossman.  Already, the panel includes eight full-time judges split evenly between Democratic and Republican appointments, and six senior part-time jurists to take up more slack.  None of its openings are considered to be among the "judicial emergencies" facing the federal courts, most of which Obama has ignored.

Don't Let Democrats Pack the D.C. Circuit.  It is one of the most important battles raging in Washington, a fight that will have far-reaching consequences for everything from health care and the regulatory state to gun rights and the war on terrorism.  Yet most Americans have heard nothing about it.  I'm talking about Democratic efforts to pack the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  America has 13 different federal appellate courts, but the D.C. Circuit stands out as the most powerful, especially on regulatory and constitutional matters.  No other appellate court wields so much influence over hot-button national issues.

Packing Washington's most crucial court.  The U.S. Senate will soon vote on the nominations of three individuals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  This court is widely regarded as a steppingstone to the Supreme Court.  Because of its location in the nation's capital, a considerable portion of its cases involve federal agencies.  This makes the D.C. Circuit a watchdog over the executive branch.

Late-Term Abortion Still the Issue in Texas.  Abortion-rights activists are celebrating this afternoon [10/28/2013] in the wake of the news that a federal court has struck down a provision of a controversial Texas law. [...] Federal District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled the bill's provision demanding that all doctors performing abortions in Texas have admitting privileges at hospitals was an unreasonable restriction of abortion rights.  But the main parts of the legislation remain in place.

Federal judge rules part of Texas' new abortion law is unconstitutional.  Texas officials have appealed a decision made Monday in federal court that would block a part of the state's new abortion law requiring doctors who perform an abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.  District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday [10/28/2013] that the provision in the bill violates the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman's access to abortion clinics.  Attorney General Greg Abbott filed an emergency appeal of Yeakel's order to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Fed Judge: Texas Abortion Limits Unconstitutional.  A federal appeals court didn't act on an emergency motion Tuesday [10/29/2013] that would've allowed some new abortion restrictions to take effect in Texas, the latest step in a lengthy battle activists on both sides predicted would end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Social Security Judge Accused of Disability Scheme.  A retired Social Security judge in West Virginia collaborated with a lawyer to improperly award disability benefits to hundreds of applicants, according to a report released Monday [10/7/2013] by congressional investigators.

Who needs elections when you have left-wing activist judges?
Judge Orders New Jersey to Allow Gay Marriage.  A New Jersey judge ruled on Friday that the state must allow same-sex couples to marry, saying that not doing so deprives them of rights that were guaranteed by the United States Supreme Court in June.  It is the first time a court has struck down a state's refusal to legalize same-sex marriage as a direct result of the Supreme Court ruling, and with lawsuits pending in other states, it could presage other successful challenges across the country.

Judge Expresses Ideological Solidarity With Would-Be Mass Murder.  Liberals hold that "hate crimes" are worse than crimes involving the same conduct but not the same attitude.  But the application of this doctrine may depend on which group the perpetrator hates.  If he hates a group that liberals desire for their political base, his crime will be viewed as particularly heinous.  If he hates a group that liberals dislike, it may earn him an expression of ideological solidarity from the sentencing judge and perhaps even a break on the sentence.  This, at least, is my takeaway from the words of U.S. District Chief Judge Richard W. Roberts at the sentencing hearing of Floyd Corkins.

Connecticut judge declares 'No one should have guns'.  A Superior Court judge in Bristol "expressed his contempt for the right to keep and bear arms' in a closed door meeting in his chambers, the state gun rights group Connecticut Carry reported last Thursday in a media advisory.  Judge Robert C. Brunetti "exposed his bigotry for fundamental civil rights in front of at least three defense attorneys," the group explained.  "No one in this country should have guns," the judge reportedly stated, adding "I never return guns."

Confessed child rapist gets 30 days in jail.  The county attorney had asked the judge for 20 years with 10 years suspended.  The girl's mother most certainly wanted something serious done.  But this looks like the judge took things in his own hands and essentially gave Rambold what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

Former Senior High teacher gets 30 days for rape of student.  A Yellowstone County district judge Monday [8/26/2013] ordered a former Senior High teacher convicted of raping a 14-year-old female student who later committed suicide to spend 30 days in jail.

Mont. judge apologizes for comments in teen's rape.  A Montana judge on Wednesday stood by his decision to send a former teacher to prison for 30 days for raping a 14-year-old girl who later killed herself, but said he "deserved to be chastised" for his comments about the young victim.

Montana judge reconsiders controversial 30-day rape sentence.  A Montana judge under fire for his comments about a 14-year-old victim in a schoolhouse rape case has ordered a new sentencing hearing for the former teacher who received just 30 days in prison for the crime.

Judge: Clerks must issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  On Monday, Judge Alan Malott ruled it unconstitutional to ban same-sex couples from getting married in Bernalillo County.  Malott ruled that the Bernalillo and Santa Fe county clerks must grant marriage licenses to gay couples who apply for them.

Political Correctness Pushes Military Justice In Wrong Direction.  [Scroll down]  Take the case of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who decided, as he put it, to "switch sides" in the War on Terror by slaughtering unarmed fellow soldiers in a jihad-inspired shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.  After the defense rested this week in Hasan's case, Judge Col. Tara Osborn told prosecutors they won't be able to enter evidence that Hasan meant to commit jihad in his mass murder.  She also disallowed his correspondence with al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki.  This is key, since it forms the very core of the prosecution's assertion:  That his murders were motivated by extremist Islamic ideology in the service of al-Qaida.  Osborn's was a strange decision, to say the least.

Oklahoma Ban on Sharia Law Unconstitutional, US Judge Rules.  An Oklahoma federal judge struck down a state constitutional amendment that forbade its courts from considering Islamic law in judicial decisions.  The constitutional amendment — approved by more than 70% of Oklahoma voters in 2010 — was part of a broader national push led by a handful of organizations that claim Islamic Sharia law is creeping into courtrooms.

Judge Says Courts Must Accept Shariah Influence.  An Oklahoma constitutional amendment barring the state's courts from weighing or using Shariah law was struck down in federal court.  How can a law written to protect the Constitution be unconstitutional?

Tennessee judge, citing Jesus, changes baby's name from "Messiah".  A Tennessee woman named her baby Messiah, but she and the boy's father couldn't agree on whose last name he should bear.  So they went to court.  Except at a hearing in Cocke County Chancery Court on Thursday, Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew changed Messiah's first name.

The Editor says...
Generally, judges don't change someone's name without being asked to do so.

Did you vote on this issue?  It doesn't matter.  Judges know what's best for you.
Voter ID's fate now in judge's hands.  The fate of Pennsylvania's 16-month-old voter identification law is in the hands of a Commonwealth Court judge after closing arguments in the landmark voting-rights case Thursday [8/1/2013].  The state argued that it had done its part to ensure that all registered voters had access to mandatory ID, while petitioners countered that those efforts were not enough.  Jennifer Clarke, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, said the law placed a "fundamental burden" on a right "enshrined in the Constitution."

Dallas suburb cannot bar housing to illegal immigrants, court rules.  A federal appeals court on Monday [7/22/2013] rejected a Dallas suburb's controversial law that would have prevented illegal immigrants from renting housing.

Federal Judge Blocks North Dakota's Six-Week Abortion Ban.  A federal judge has bowed to pressure from pro-abortion forces, blocking the implementation of a new North Dakota law that would ban the murderous procedure after the sixth week of pregnancy. [...] Marjorie Dannenfelser of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List had a few choice words for the judge's decision to ride roughshod over the will of the North Dakota electorate.  "A single district judge is thwarting the pro-life legislation brought about by a surge of grassroots momentum ... and passed by the majority of the North Dakota state Legislature," said Dannenfelser, noting that Hovland had ignored scientific findings that offer clear evidence on the beginnings of human life in the womb.

Federal judge orders Ohio to recognize gay marriage performed in Maryland.  Needless to say, if other courts follow this lead, we'll have coast-to-coast legal gay marriage as a matter of Full Faith and Credit with the only limitation on gay couples their ability to travel to a pro-SSM state temporarily to get hitched. The Windsor decision that the court cites here in support of its ruling held that Section 3 of DOMA, which bars the federal government from recognizing gay marriages performed in pro-SSM states, is unconstitutional.

Federal judge blocks North Dakota's abortion law from taking effect.  A U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary block on Monday [7/22/2013] to North Dakota's new ban on abortions in cases where a heartbeat is detected in the fetus.  The new state law could have an impact on those who are as early as six weeks pregnant.  Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck called the law "clearly invalid and unconstitutional," The Associated Press reported.  He issued a temporary injunction that prevents the law from going into effect until at least Aug. 1.

The Editor says...
We do not have a representative democracy if one federal judge can block the legislature's work.

Zimmerman Judge Ran Kangaroo Court.  There are biased judges, and then there's Debra Nelson, who's presided over what can only be called a kangaroo court in the George Zimmerman trial.  The bias of Nelson, Florida Circuit Court judge and a lifelong Democrat, in favor of the prosecution and its efforts to railroad Zimmerman as a racist murderer has been palpable throughout the case.

Why Zimmerman's Motion for Acquittal Should Have Been Granted.  Immediately following the close of the State's case on Friday [7/5/2013], Mark O'Mara, the lawyer leading George Zimmerman's defense team, stood before Judge Nelson and made his oral motion for a judgment of acquittal for his client (a parallel written motion was also submitted to the Court).  The motion was well-reasoned, and strongly founded on Florida's case law.  It was also doomed to fail before a Judge who has consistently denied reasonable defense motions out of hand, while rubber-stamping motions by the State that bear not the slightest relevancy to the facts of this case.

Man charged with Brandishing for putting gun away.  [Scroll down]  I grew up in a legal family, married a judge's daughter and have known dozens of judges both good and bad over the years.  I have never however, seen a judge behave as badly as the one in this case.  He simply did not want to hear any of the defense.

Judge asks enviros for ideas to punish gas company.  Apparently frustrated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down an $18 million penalty for a Texas natural gas firm, a federal judge is taking the unusual step of asking the environmental community for suggestions on how to sentence the company in a way that will have "the broadest possible impact."

The Wrong Standards for Tsarnaev.  [Scroll down]  Now the news comes that the person who actually read the Miranda warning to Tsarnaev wasn't even an FBI agent, but a U.S. magistrate judge. [...] This is an outright violation of the separation of powers.  It is not for federal judges, or worse yet their assistants, to rove around looking for criminal cases in which to act as law enforcement agents. [...] But the Obama Administration apparently did not protest very hard against this violation of the separation of powers.  And we can see why.  When the war on terror began, the Left's immediate reaction was to domesticate it by subjecting it to the same rules that apply to domestic crime.

President Obama's Plan for A Socialist One Party State.  An independent judiciary is also supposed to be a check and balance on the abuse of government power.  But as his second term drags on, President Obama will have appointed more and more, and eventually a majority of, all federal judges.  Moreover, these won't just be any judges but liberal judges chosen with a liberal judicial philosophy that their job is not to follow the law, but to do what they think is right, regardless of the law.  What is "right" is going to be Obama's liberal/left agenda.

Legislating from the Bench on Gay Marriage.  A political legislature known as the U.S. Supreme Court held a purely-legislative hearing about homosexual marriage on March 26.  The hearing debated raw policy preferences and speculated about benefits for and against homosexual marriage.  To anyone trained in the law, it violated almost every law and rule of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Only a lawyer willing to 'tell' on his profession can reveal how disturbing was the High Court's oral argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry.

Sen. Graham Backs Radical Obama Judicial Appointment.  The presidential judicial appointments — by custom — should be taken under consideration by the Senate, but not this one.  For starters, [Caitlin] Halligan is a pro-abortion, anti-gun zealot, who just received the support of Sen. Lindsey Graham.

20 Reasons America Is Becoming An Increasingly Nonfunctional Society.  [#3]  Our legal system encourages frivolous lawsuits, is punitively expensive and because of the political inclinations of the judges, can often be almost random.

Part of NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk Ruled Unconstitutional.  You can pass all the gun laws you want, but unless you empower the police to actually arrest those with illegal guns, none of those gun laws will matter.  This is why Chicago is a shooting gallery ever weekend and NYC is the safest big city in the world.

Nine current and former Traffic Court judges indicted.  Nine current or former Philadelphia Traffic Court judges were charged today ]1/31/2013] with conspiracy and fraud after a three-year FBI probe into ticket-fixing in the beleaguered court.  A 77-count indictment, returned Tuesday but sealed until Thursday [1/31/2013], said judges or their assistants routinely shredded documents, used code words and practiced "a well-understood conspiracy of silence" that turned the court into two systems:  One where the average citizen paid for infractions, while connected offenders were found not guilty or saw their cases dismissed, costing the Commonwealth an untold amount.

Judge finds NC 'Choose Life' plates unconstitutional.  A federal judge has ruled it is unconstitutional for North Carolina to issue pro-life license plates unless the state offers similar plates supporting abortion rights.  U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox ruled on Friday [12/7/2012] that North Carolina cannot produce or distribute the "Choose Life" plate.  Judge Fox concluded, "The State's offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment."

The Editor says...
I've got a copy of the Constitution, and it doesn't mention license plates or "viewpoint discrimination".

State judge rules Louisiana school voucher program unconstitutional.  Gov. Bobby Jindal's voucher program that uses tax dollars to send students to private schools was ruled unconstitutional Friday [11/30/2012] by a state judge who said it's improperly funded through the public school financing formula.

Louisiana Citizens to Gun-Grabbing Judges: Come and Take It.  While national eyes were on the presidential election on Nov. 6, citizens of Louisiana were voting on a state-constitutional amendment that made the right to keep and bear arms "a fundamental right," and put gun-grabbing judges on notice.

Judge in court to face charges hours after re-election.  A Cook County judge who was re-elected Tuesday despite being suspended from the bench appeared in court a few hours later as a defendant in a battery case that her attorney said should be tossed because his client was "legally insane" at the time.