A former scout for the Washington Nationals is suing the Major League Baseball (MLB) team in federal court for firing him in August 2021 when he refused on religious grounds to receive the vaccine for COVID-19, also known as the CCP virus. Bernard “Benny” Gallo of Carlsbad, California, has said that his constitutional rights were violated by the team and that the vaccination requirement, which didn’t apply to athletes, was discriminatory. The lawsuit comes after New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, was sued earlier this month by an MLB sports venue worker over his city’s inconsistent enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccination … Continue reading Baseball scout fired for refusing CCP virus vaccine on religious grounds sues Washington Nationals

The Supreme Court sided with the often-reversed U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by declining to intervene on behalf of a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer who was relieved of command as punishment for his religious-based refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The case is still pending before both the 9th Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The ruling in Dunn v. Austin, court file 21A599, came late in the day on April 18. The lead respondent, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, was sued in his official capacity. The Supreme Court did … Continue reading SCOTUS sides with 9th Circuit, refuses application of airman punished for refusing COVID-19 vax: 3 conservative justices—Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch—dissent, saying court should hear the case

A Washington state law that extended workers’ compensation benefits to employees at a decommissioned federal nuclear production facility where employees suffered exposure to radioactive waste discriminates against the federal government, the Supreme Court heard April 18. The case could have expensive consequences for U.S. government contracts related to hazardous work conducted on federal property. The Biden administration argues that the state law impermissibly intrudes on federal authority. Washington state counters that the case is moot because a new state law replaced the old one. The case is United States v. Washington, court file 21-404, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals … Continue reading State workers’ comp law at nuclear site discriminates against feds, Biden administration tells Supreme Court

The Supreme Court decided on April 18 not to hear an appeal from New York and three other Democrat-dominated Northeastern states that were challenging the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions imposed by President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law. The case is New York v. Yellen, court file 21-966. Janet Yellen was sued in her official capacity as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The respondents were New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland. According to its usual practice, the high court didn’t provide reasons why it refused to take up the case. The Biden administration urged the court not to hear … Continue reading Supreme Court declines New York’s challenge to Trump-era federal cap on state and local tax deductions

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is vowing to ask the Supreme Court to prevent the Biden administration from recalculating and using the “social cost” of carbon emissions, a metric used in climate regulation that critics say needlessly drives up operating costs for businesses and prices for consumers. Critics have long said the classification of carbon dioxide, the gas humans expel from their lungs when breathing, as a pollutant makes no sense. Carbon dioxide is essential to life on the planet and is used in the process of photosynthesis, which spurs plant growth. But environmentalists claim human-created carbon dioxide contributes to climate change. … Continue reading Louisiana asks SCOTUS to block Biden administration from calculating ‘social cost’ of carbon emissions: AG Jeff Landry argues the metric hurts consumers and industry

A left-wing group is trying to disqualify outspoken Trump supporter Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano from the state governor’s race because he allegedly participated in an “insurrection” against the U.S. government by supporting the former president’s reelection bid. Recent polling shows Mastriano has the lead—garnering 19 percent support—in the field of 9 candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor of the Keystone State, according to a poll Eagle Consulting Group conducted of 502 likely GOP primary voters from April 7 through April 9, PennLive reports. The primary election is May 17. The current governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, is term-limited. Attorney General Josh Shapiro is running … Continue reading Left-wing group tries to disqualify Republican frontrunner in PA governor’s race on ‘insurrection’ grounds

The Louisiana Court of Appeal has reinstated the state’s lawsuit against a Mark Zuckerberg-funded nonprofit that flooded Democrat-controlled jurisdictions with election administration grants and, in the process, may have skewed election results. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, said the ruling was a major victory for election integrity. “Our law is clear: No individual, including Mark Zuckerberg, should supersede the people’s elected representatives,” Landry said in a statement. “Our elections should never be for sale; private money should not fund our elections.” The thinking behind the lawsuit is that the millions of dollars doled out by the left-leaning Chicago-based Center for Technology and … Continue reading Louisiana appeals court reinstates AG’s suit re Zuckerberg bucks

At the urging of an election integrity group, a federal judge ordered Pennsylvania to hand over records showing the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had allowed foreign nationals to register to vote for decades. The order came the month after a federal court ruled that Illinois violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, when it refused to provide the same group access to the state’s voter roll, as The Epoch Times reported. NVRA provides that election officials must allow inspection of all records related to the maintenance of the voter rolls. Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District … Continue reading Federal judge orders Pennsylvania to produce records for foreigners registered to vote

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of a New York man suing police for malicious prosecution to relax the legal standard for bringing such lawsuits in federal courts, overturning the tougher prevailing standard. The case is Thompson v. Clark, court file 20-659. The high court agreed March 8, 2021, to consider the case and heard it Oct. 12, 2021. The respondents are four New York Police Department (NYPD) officers: Pagiel Clark, Paul Montefusco, Phillip Romano, and Gerard Bouwmans. The officers raided the home of petitioner Larry Thompson, a U.S. Navy veteran living in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his wife. … Continue reading Supreme Court rules for Navy veteran, makes it easier to sue for malicious prosecution

A homeless 66-year-old grandmother is suing a New England city for “home equity theft” after her home was seized for a tax debt and sold but her equity in the property was not refunded to her. The legal action takes aim at what some call “home equity theft,” which is widespread in Massachusetts, according to the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a public interest law firm that is representing the woman free of charge. PLF says it is committed to ending home equity theft across the country. The legal complaint (pdf) in the case, Foss v. City of New Bedford, was filed March 29 … Continue reading Homeless grandmother sues Massachusetts city over ‘home equity theft’

The Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by 8–1 on March 31, limiting when federal courts have jurisdiction to confirm or vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act. The case is Badgerow v. Walters, court file 20-1143. Oral arguments were heard on Nov. 2, 2021. The majority decision, joined by seven justices, was written by Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Stephen Breyer was the sole dissenter. According to Kagan’s opinion (pdf) in the case, petitioner Denise Badgerow was a financial adviser for REJ Properties, a firm run by respondent Greg Walters and two others. Her contract … Continue reading Supreme Court reins in federal courts’ ability to handle arbitration disputes

A businesswoman in Hawaii is suing the Biden administration for hurting her business by banning swimming with spinner dolphins, a popular tourist and therapeutic activity that generates a living for many residents of the 50th U.S. state. Spinner dolphins are called such because “they are often seen leaping and spinning out of the water,” even “up to seven times … before falling back into the water,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported. The legal problem is that the low-level federal bureaucrat in the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) who issued the new regulation had no authority under the U.S. Constitution to … Continue reading Feds sued for banning swimming with dolphins, hurting Hawaiian economy