PolitiFact.com
Statements about Legal Issues
Randy Forbes

Randy Forbes

Mostly True

Save those receipts and canceled checks!

"The IRS doesn't have to prove something against you ... you've got the burden of proof."

Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott

True

Now up to 27

Says he has sued the Obama administration 25 times.

Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova

Half-True

Depends specifically where, and what you do

"In 29 states in this country you can still get fired for not just being gay, but if your employer thinks you are gay."

Chris Clark

Chris Clark

Mostly False

Far from the top

In just six years, Georgia has dropped from first in the nation from a business-friendly legal climate to 24th.

Bob Goodlatte

Bob Goodlatte

Half-True

Sure, but Bush's numbers were already microscopic

Federal prosecutions for lying on background checks to buy guns are "down 40 percent" under President Barack Obama.

Linda Finn

Linda Finn

Half-True

Police can seize handguns, not rifles

Right now, if Rhode Island police come across a young person with a gun, "they really don't legally have the right to take it away from them."

John Duncan

John Duncan

Mostly False

The percentage is high, but not that high

"Well over 90 percent of felony cases, all over the nation, are committed by defendants who grew up in father-absent households."

Jeff Sessions

Jeff Sessions

Half-True

Yes, but Bush's numbers were low, too

Says President Barack Obama "has allowed, each year he's been here, the prosecutions of gun cases (for background check failures) to go down. ... They've declined every year since President Bush left office."

Ban the Box RI

Ban the Box RI

True

It’s now up to 31 percent

"In Rhode Island, 28 percent of adults released from state prisons are re-incarcerated within a year."

Patience Roggensack

Patience Roggensack

No Flip

Still thinks judges should decide for themselves

On recusing herself from cases after receiving a campaign contribution

Ed Fallone

Ed Fallone

Half Flip

Early comments at odds with later attack line

On changing the rules governing judicial conflicts of interest

Charles Cooper

Charles Cooper

Half-True

No 'fertility cliff,' but science isn't settled

"Very few men outlive their own fertility."

Ed Fallone

Ed Fallone

Mostly True

Individual gifts outpace union PAC money

"The majority of my contributions have been from private individuals" giving $125 on average, "not from PACs, not from groups."

Rand Paul

Rand Paul

Half-True

Robert Gibbs said it when pressed by activist group

"When the president's spokesman was asked about (Anwar) al-Awlaki's son, … he said he should have chosen a more responsible father."

John Roberts

John Roberts

Half-True

Massachusetts data seems unreliable, but Mississippi is pretty spot on

"Do you know which state has the worst ratio of white voter turnout to African-American voter turnout? Massachusetts. Do you know what has the best, where African-American turnout actually exceeds white turnout? Mississippi."

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Mostly False

Scare tactic

If the sequester hits, federal prosecutors will have to "let criminals go."

Ed Fallone

Ed Fallone

False

Numbers steady amid conflicts

Wisconsin's Supreme Court justices are "deciding fewer opinions in civil and criminal cases than they used to."

Patience Roggensack

Patience Roggensack

Mostly True

Decides a lot, authors fewer

Says she heard more than 2,400 cases as a Wisconsin appeals court judge  

Brian Patrick Kennedy

Brian Patrick Kennedy

Mostly False

Employers CAN watch you work

Employers and schools have no right to conduct "surveillance of a dorm room or a worker’s cubicle."

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

False

Lots of Members of Congress don't think so

"Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts" to create a legal framework on counterterrorism.

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