Five Orthodox Jews, including a rabbi, and one Roman Catholic filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against New York Mayor Eric Adams, claiming the city’s COVID-19 vaccine passport regime is an “unprecedented abuse of power.” The suit claims the internal passport policy created in a series of executive orders runs afoul of the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The legal complaint labels the sweeping restrictions applied to unvaccinated individuals as part of a “reckless, ill-conceived government policy that ignores sound medical science and the principle of informed consent to medical treatment.” The 18 plaintiffs, three of whom … Continue reading Orthodox Jewish families sue NYC over internal vaccine passport rules

The Missouri Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended the law licenses of a Missouri couple convicted of misdemeanors for holding guns outside their St. Louis home in 2020, when a group of protesters, including BLM activists, demonstrated in their gated community. At the same time, the court stayed the suspension, subject to a year of probation during which the two attorneys–who have become folk heroes among conservatives–must “not engage in conduct that violates the Rules of Professional Conduct.” For defending their home, Mark and Patricia McCloskey were honored speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Mark McCloskey is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat … Continue reading Law licenses suspended for McCloskeys, the Missouri couple who held off protesters outside their home

The Supreme Court may end the use of race-based so-called affirmative action in college admissions in cases later this year, legal experts told The Epoch Times. Although left-wing activists such as advocates of Marxist-derived critical race theory say race-conscious government policies are essential to dismantle the systemic racism they say pervades the American experience, critics say using race in the college admissions process is both anachronistic and wrong. Critics quote then-Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who believed the policy was a necessary evil. In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), she wrote: “We expect that 25 years from now the use … Continue reading Supreme Court may end affirmative action in college admissions, experts say

An electoral integrity group is suing Louisiana in federal court for refusing to allow inspection of voter list maintenance records, including information the state receives from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a controversial data-matching service accused of inaccuracy. Republican Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana’s secretary of state, is violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by not allowing the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) access to the voter documents, including data provided by ERIC, according to PILF. PILF, a nonprofit, describes itself as “the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity.” PILF “exists to assist states and others to aid the cause … Continue reading Group sues Louisiana for denying access to voter files after state rebukes Democrat-dominated data service

Labor unions and related organizations took in $36.7 million in federal taxpayer funds through the Paycheck Protection Program for which they were legally ineligible, according to a new report from the Freedom Foundation. Legislation creating the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was signed by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The PPP authorized $349 billion in guaranteed U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans for eligible individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to cover payroll, rent, and utility payments. Some loans were forgivable if specific criteria were met. SBA … Continue reading Ineligible unions collected nearly $37 million in federal COVID-19 relief: Report

Fourteen states are urging the Supreme Court to reject a lower court’s ruling that a new congressional electoral map approved by Alabama’s Legislature last year be returned to state lawmakers for redrafting because it supposedly disadvantages black voters. The move comes after a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama issued a preliminary injunction on Jan. 24 against John Merrill, Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, temporarily forbidding him from conducting any congressional elections in the state, as The Epoch Times previously reported. The district court found that instead of having one predominantly black congressional district, as … Continue reading 14 states urge Supreme Court to block new Alabama redistricting ordered by lower court

Records that show foreigners registered to vote—and actually voted in North Carolina elections—will be disclosed by the state’s board of elections as a result of its legal settlement with an electoral integrity group. The Jan. 31 announcement that a settlement (pdf) had been reached came weeks after Garbant Piquant of Garner, N.C., was arrested and charged with falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote, voting by an alien, and passport fraud. Authorities say the Bahamas native, who is not a U.S. citizen, voted in every primary and general election from 2018 through 2020, as The Epoch Times previously reported. The … Continue reading North Carolina agrees to release records showing foreigners voted

A mathematics professor at St. Joseph’s University is suing the school after it canceled him for an anonymous tweet mocking a controversial policy proposal that would have the government pay monetary reparations to the descendants of slaves. Professor Gregory V. Manco, who was subsequently demoted, claims that he was accosted by an online mob for engaging in legally protected speech that expressed his personal opinions, and that the school made things worse. Manco might be called a libertarian. According to Legal Insurrection, he “has written op-eds on political topics expressing such views,” including one stating that people should combat racism with “individualism, … Continue reading Professor sues after being canceled for tweets about reparations, racial bias training

Parents of schoolchildren in New York state have filed a challenge with the Supreme Court contesting the state’s 2019 repeal of a law that exempted those with sincere religious objections from having to accept the vaccinations that children are normally required to receive in order to attend school. The petition comes as courts across the country, including the Supreme Court, are considering the separate, more specific issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and becoming increasingly receptive to arguments that governments are overstepping their lawful, constitutional authority in combating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The case is F.F. v. State of New York, Supreme Court … Continue reading Challenge to New York revoking religious exemptions for school vaccinations reaches Supreme Court

Virginia’s new Republican attorney general is urging the Supreme Court to overturn its 49-year-old ruling in Roe v. Wade and return the regulation of abortion to the states, as observers await the court’s imminent decision in a challenge to a Mississippi abortion law. Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court has denied requests to stay the Texas “heartbeat” law which bans abortions after six weeks of gestation and crowdsources enforcement to members of the public. Litigation is continuing in the case involving Whole Woman’s Health, which runs abortion clinics in Texas and five other states. Whole Woman’s Health sued to overturn the new Texas law, … Continue reading New Virginia attorney general urges Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade

The Supreme Court agreed on Jan. 24 to hear a challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s long-controversial claim that the presence of surface water on private property makes it a protected wetland subject to federal regulations. The National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had urged the court to take up the case. A ruling against the EPA could limit the reach of the Clean Water Act and allow Americans to relieve pressure on the red-hot housing market by building more new houses without becoming entangled in federal bureaucracy. The high court agreed in an unsigned order … Continue reading Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to controversial EPA wetlands rule

The Supreme Court announced Jan. 21 that it would consider whether its 2020 decision expanding tribal authority in Oklahoma should cancel out a non-Indian man’s conviction for abusing his part-Indian stepchild. The high court will consider whether states may prosecute non-Indians for crimes against Indians on Indian reservations but specifically refused to reconsider its 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which stripped Oklahoma courts of the ability to hear criminal cases against Native Americans for crimes taking place on Indian lands. The case, an appeal from the Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, is Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, court file 21-429. The Jan. 21 … Continue reading Supreme Court agrees to consider if states can prosecute non-Indians for crimes on Indian land