Most entertainers — particularly those of the liberal female variety — would do well if they stuck to singing. Alas, when they comment on public affairs, as they too often […]

The post Pop Star Sabrina Carpenter Slams Trump Admin for Using Her Song for 'Agenda'- But She Did Much Worse to Christians appeared first on The Western Journal.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is mulling a bid for governor in Minnesota, filing paperwork opening the door for a possible run.

The post MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Files Paperwork for Potential Minnesota Governor Run to Unseat Tim Walz appeared first on Breitbart.

Justices didn’t seem to break along predictable lines Wednesday, when they presented critical questions to both sides in a case regarding a Christian pastor’s free speech challenge to a Mississippi city ordinance. 

In Olivier v. City of Brandon, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether someone convicted under a law has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law to prevent its future enforcement without nullifying a prior conviction for violating that law.

Brandon, Mississippi, adopted a city ordinance regulating protests around the city’s amphitheater. Pastor Gabriel Olivier preached outside a designated “protest zone” even after police warned him not to do so. He pleaded no contest to violating the ordinance but now wants to prevent future enforcement. 

“I am grateful to have had my case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court—an opportunity few others in my situation have ever had,” Olivier said in a statement released by First Liberty, the religious freedom law firm that represents him, after the oral arguments concluded. “I pray this case results in a decision that allows others to be able to fight for their First Amendment rights in court.”

Doors Olivier ‘Chose Not to Enter’

During his opening arguments, G. Todd Butler, representing Brandon, said Olivier had multiple opportunities to challenge the law and his conviction in state courts. Butler scoffed at the argument that “courthouse doors are closed” to Olivier. 

“That argument ignores the countless doors the petitioner chose not to enter,” Butler told justices. “What this case is about is the petitioner’s preferred door, one that offers a favored venue, and an opportunity for attorneys fees.”

Olivier shared his Christian faith near the amphitheater in May 2021. Police told him he was required to speak only in the designated “protest zone.” 

Olivier first did as requested, but later argued the designated area was too isolated. So, he returned to his original location and was arrested for violating the city’s ordinance. 

Had he challenged his arrest, it would have been less murky legal territory, since he would clearly have standing as someone harmed or affected by the law. However, in June 2021, Olivier made a no-contest plea, which is not admitting guilt but not disputing charges. He received a fine and a suspended 10-day sentence. 

Olivier wanted to return to preach at the amphitheater area again, so to avoid another arrest, he challenged the constitutionality of the city’s ordinance in federal court. 

Supreme Court Arguments

During arguments, Justice Neil Gorsuch asked about “collateral consequences” of challenging the law but not the conviction, and how that could affect the enforcement of the terms of future convictions that might be challenged in a similar manner.

Allyson Ho, volunteering pro bono with First Liberty to represent Olivier, replied that past court rulings determined it “would not automatically, or even permissibly preclude the state” from enforcing the conditions of the conviction. 

Along those same lines, Chief Justice Roberts asked, “What about a requirement that the individual show up for probation meetings?”

Absolutely, your honor, because, again, the only effect that the federal judgment has is forward looking,” Ho replied. “It is a prospective relief. It prohibits the enforcement of the ordinance against him on a forward-looking basis. It does not reach back.”

The district court and the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined Olivier could not challenge the Brandon ordinance even if its future enforcement would violate his constitutional rights. It based the dismissal on the Supreme Court case Heck v. Humphrey (1994). The high court ruled in Heck that a person can’t bring a civil rights lawsuit if success in the lawsuit would imply the conviction is invalid—unless that conviction has already been reversed through appeal or clemency. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the plaintiffs’ call for only looking forward without challenging the previous conviction was unusual. 

“By definition, a win by you, or win by a third party, would call the prior convictions into question,” Sotomayor said. “It will be used by you and others to try to go back in other proceedings and get those expunged or otherwise set aside. You may or may not win. But it will call it into question.”

Ho disagreed, and said the high court has used only “two buckets” in applying the Heck precedent. Neither, she said, would apply to Olivier, since he was never incarcerated.

“The first bucket are claims where the federal relief would result in immediate or faster release from confinement,” Ho said. “The second bucket is damages resulting from past confinement.” 

Questions for Butler

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pressed Butler, the city’s attorney, “about your initial litany of doors” for Oliver.

“Were they all state forums, all state remedies, that you discussed? Is there any other federal remedy?” Jackson asked. “If we agree with you, this person ends up with no federal remedy, and that just seems odd.”

Butler replied, “My laundry list of things were state court remedies.” But he said the Heck precedent was in part about steering plaintiffs to resort to state litigation. 

Roberts pressed the city’s attorney about whether this meant an automatic arrest and jail time if Olivier preaches again at the amphitheater outside the protest zone. 

“When you commit a crime, a particular one, and you’re convicted, you undertake not to commit further violations of that provision,” Roberts said. “Now, if he does, is he subject to reincarceration? Certainly, that’s a big part of the probation in this particular case.”

Butler suggested Olivier may go to jail if he violates the ordinance again.

“If he violated the ordinance, he would immediately not pass go and go straight to jail for 10 days, because he was under the suspended sentence,” Butler said. “And that constitutes custody under this court’s jurisprudence.”

The city passed the ordinance in question in 2019, in response to what it considered a hardship for local police to control protesters that showed up in the area. 

The Trump administration is siding with Olivier, as U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, and Assistant Solicitor General Ashley Robertson gave a brief argument to justices, as well. 

The post Supreme Court Justices Hear Street Preacher Who Challenged Speech Restriction After Pleading No Contest to Breaking It appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Congress may soon vote on national concealed carry reciprocity. If passed, the law would require all states to recognize carry permits and, in some cases, permitless carry from every other state. Here’s what that means under the current legal landscape. How Reciprocity Works Today “Concealed carry reciprocity” refers to whether one state recognizes carry permits ... Read more

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DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats is bringing the United States closer to war with Venezuela.

Paul, a leading critic of foreign intervention, has sharply criticized Trump’s continued strikes on alleged drug traffickers and warned the president against pursuing regime change. Trump declared Venezuelan air space to be closed over the weekend, ratcheting up his pressure campaign against dictator Nicolás Maduro, whom the White House views as an illegitimate leader.

“I think most of this is a prelude to war with Venezuela. All of this is a lead up,” Paul told reporters in the Capitol.

“I hope it’s not a prelude to war, but I feel like they’re building up towards war,” the senator continued. “Hopefully this second bombing of survivors … which is clearly illegal, hopefully there’ll be enough of an uproar over this, that will slow down the drumbeats.”

His comments on Tuesday came in response to Sept. 2 strikes on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean Sea, which sparked outrage over concerns that a follow-up strike on two survivors violated the laws of war.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Admiral Frank Bradley ordered the strikes, but acted within his authority to eliminate the alleged drug traffickers.

The White House referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s comments during a Tuesday afternoon cabinet meeting.

“We’ve only just begun striking narco boats and putting narcoterrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said. “And [former President] Joe Biden tried to approach it with kid gloves.”

Paul has faulted the administration for failing to show proof the vessels are trafficking drugs.

The boat strikes remain politically popular, according to recent polling. A Nov. 23 CBS News/YouGov poll found that 53% of American adults support military strikes against alleged drug boats. However, the same poll found that seven-in-10 American adults oppose potential U.S. military action Maduro’s regime.

Though the Pentagon has limited its strikes against drug traffickers to the Caribbean Sea, Trump has repeatedly floated expanding the military operation to land.

“That was what people liked about Donald Trump, was that he wasn’t for these offensive wars of choice,” Paul said. “He wasn’t for regime change.”

Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis joined Paul in criticizing the Sept. 2 strikes, pressing for congressional oversight and accountability in the incident.

“Somebody made a horrible decision—somebody needs to be held accountable,” Tillis told the DCNF on Tuesday. “You don’t have to have served in the military to understand that that was a violation of ethical, moral, and legal code. And so if the facts play out the way they’re currently being reported, then somebody needs to get the hell out of Washington.”

Both the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee have launched inquiries into the lethal double-strike.

Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt defended the Secretary of War, calling the Washington Post story that first reported on the Sept. 2 strikes “totally debunked.”

“This nonsense about it being a war crime is total bulls—. It’s all they have,” Schmitt told reporters on Tuesday. “And the desire then to treat [Hegseth] as a war criminal, to treat servicemen as war criminals, is beyond just a normal political debate.”

Democrat lawmakers have largely denounced the deadly strike and called for Hegseth’s resignation despite the White House saying Hegseth did not make an order to kill the survivors.

“This is beyond the pale, and we would not accept it, and we never have accepted it, from any other administration in my lifetime,” Democrat Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen told the DCNF. “And so we cannot normalize this. Laws are not suggestions. The rules of engagement are not suggestions at someone’s whim.”

“[Hegseth] likes to tout his position as a secretary: He’s the one in charge. Everything stops with him. The buck stops at his desk for everything that happens … He needs to take responsibility. He needs to resign,” Rosen continued.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

The post Rand Paul Says Trump Boat Strikes ‘Prelude to War’ With Venezuela appeared first on The Daily Signal.

ISTANBUL — In a remarkable moment of Church history, leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have come together to officially denounce Wham's "Last Christmas".

A high-level rift in the Republican-controlled House appears to be healing — but it took President Donald Trump to get involved. New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik caused an uproar […]

The post Rep. Elise Stefanik Gets What She Wanted Out of Heated Battle with Mike Johnson After Trump Intervenes appeared first on The Western Journal.

Dec. 3 (UPI) — A doctor who pleaded guilty earlier this year to providing ketamine to the late Friends star Matthew Perry is set to be sentenced Wednesday in a Los Angeles court.

The post Doctor to Be Sentenced for Providing Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry appeared first on Breitbart.