Freelance journalists filed suit this week against California in federal court in hopes of striking down an unusually restrictive and possibly unconstitutional state employment law that outlaws independent contracting with very narrow exceptions. Layoffs blamed on the law, known as … Continue reading Freelance journalists challenge California law that restricts their work
I gave my thoughts on the farce that is the Trump impeachment to TRT World (Turkish TV) on Dec. 17, 2019. Here is the video clip: Continue reading Matthew Vadum on TV discussing the Trump impeachment Dec. 17 2019
A federal judge in Utah has ruled that American Samoans are full U.S. citizens and ordered the Trump administration to issue the plaintiffs in the case new passports reflecting their full-citizen status. “It’s an overwhelming victory, but it’s the first … Continue reading Judge declares American Samoans US citizens; Samoan government objects
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court turned away a legal appeal on Dec. 16 that aimed to restore Boise, Idaho’s laws banning homeless outdoor camping, which a lower court had struck down as violating the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling, which … Continue reading Supreme Court allows lower court’s ruling overturning Boise vagrancy law
Bowing to student activist pressure, Iowa State University is planning in the new year to require staff members to undergo politically correct anti-racism training, as well as require students to undergo “inclusion” training, after a series of incidents on campus. The … Continue reading Iowa State University to require anti-racism training
A nationally prominent midwife is suing Georgia authorities, claiming they’re engaged in regulatory overreach as they violate her First Amendment rights by punishing her for accurately calling herself a midwife. Debbie Pulley (pictured above), who helped found the Georgia Midwifery Association, … Continue reading Georgia midwife sues for right to call herself ‘midwife’
Virginia Democrats are proposing a mandatory state gun registration measure after widespread public outrage forced them to back off a more aggressive plan to confiscate so-called assault weapons, a designation that gun experts have long rejected as arbitrary. Gun-control advocates … Continue reading Democrats election win in Virginia produces gun registration proposal
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump hit an important milestone Dec. 11, as the U.S. Senate confirmed his 50th judicial nominee to the nation’s federal courts of appeal, an event that will resonate for years to come, as the judicial branch and American … Continue reading Trump reaches milestone as 50th federal appeals judge confirmed
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court seemed reluctant to wade into an international child custody dispute during oral arguments on Dec. 11 in a case about a young girl born overseas whose Italian father wants to keep her in Italy and whose American mother … Continue reading Supreme Court seems hesitant in hearing child custody case
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that the government is not obligated to pay $12 billion to insurance companies that knowingly took a business risk and lost money by participating in the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridors” program. Republican lawmakers and other critics characterize taxpayer funding to cover the shortfall as a “bailout” and a “slush fund” for the insurance industry. That’s because the program gave the insurers participating in the risk corridors program a special deal that limited their financial exposure for the first three years beginning in 2014. The program was created in hopes of stabilizing health insurance … Continue reading Insurance companies tell Supreme Court of government bait and switch
WASHINGTON—Judicial review of the deportation orders of permanent residents with criminal records who miss statutory deadlines should be limited, the Trump administration told a skeptical Supreme Court. The justices heard oral arguments Dec. 9 in two cases that were consolidated, Ovalles v. Barr and … Continue reading Supreme Court considers whether deportation of criminal aliens can be reviewed
A Colorado family whose home was destroyed by police trying to capture an armed suspected shoplifter is pressing on with a lawsuit for damages after losing a round in a federal appeals court. Courts tend to resist awarding damages to … Continue reading Homeowner looking to Supreme Court after police destroy house
The Supreme Court agreed Dec. 6 to hear a challenge to a Delaware law invalidated by a lower federal court that regulates the partisan makeup of that state’s courts. The Supreme Court granted a petition brought by Gov. John C. Carney, a Democrat … Continue reading Supreme Court to consider if states can choose judges on party affiliation
“Bo Snerdley,” the longtime producer and on-air sidekick on “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” founded a new federal super PAC earlier this year with a mission to “make Black Americans Republican again.” The new political action committee comes on the scene as two … Continue reading Rush Limbaugh’s sidekick works to make blacks Republican again
Liberty University, a private Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, has launched a new think tank that it says will push back against the left’s efforts to turn young people and Christians into socialists by misrepresenting the Bible and U.S. Constitution. … Continue reading University goes on offense in cultural battle, new center debunks Christian socialism
WASHINGTON—Supreme Court justices seemed unreceptive to arguments by retirement plan managers that a six-year limitation for plan participants to sue over mishandling investments should be halved if participants had “actual knowledge” of the misbehavior complained of sooner. The case is known as Intel Corporation Investment Policy Committee v. Christopher M. Sulyma. Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp. itself isn’t a party to the proceeding, which was originally brought in 2015 as a class-action lawsuit by Sulyma, a former Intel engineer. The Trump administration supports Sulyma’s position. The case concerns the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a federal statute that requires plan … Continue reading Supreme Court skeptical of shortening time frame for pension plan members to sue
WASHINGTON—Federal law bars Montana landowners from suing for damages to restore a polluted copper-smelting site to pristine, pre-smelting condition, which is beyond the current goal of the federal Superfund program that governs the remediation project, the Supreme Court heard Dec. 3. … Continue reading Whether Superfund law bars landowner lawsuits tested
WASHINGTON—The outcome of a Trump administration-backed challenge to New York City’s uniquely restrictive gun laws that make it burdensome for law-abiding gun owners to transport their weapons is in doubt after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on Dec. 2. Critics … Continue reading Challenge to New York’s restrictive gun laws may fail due to passage of new law
The Supreme Court refused to throw out a 7-year-old defamation lawsuit that climate scientist Michael E. Mann brought against National Review, after the magazine accused the inventor of the famous “Hockey Stick” graph that purported to show a dramatic increase … Continue reading Defamation suit by inventor of climate change ‘hockey stick’ graph proceeds
The Trump administration has ordered the continued detention of a convicted foreign terrorist for at least six months after the completion of his prison sentence due to concerns he is still active in terrorist activities. It’s thought to be the first invocation of the … Continue reading Trump administration invokes Patriot Act to continue detention of convicted terrorist