A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw |
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Today, President Trump is expected to announce a sweeping rollback of an Obama-era scientific finding that greenhouse gases pose a public health threat. The repeal could open up a new pathway for filing lawsuits against power-plant operators and other companies.
Legal experts said the policy reversal could lead to a surge in lawsuits known as "public nuisance" actions, a pathway that had been blocked following a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be left in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency instead of the courts.
Now that the EPA is abandoning that regulatory effort, the legal shield created by the 2011 decision will likely unravel, legal experts said. "This may be another classic case where overreach by the Trump administration comes back to bite it," said Robert Percival, a University of Maryland environmental law professor.
Jan Wolfe has more here. |
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- Immigration: U.S. District Judge Anna Reyes in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s renewed efforts to end Haiti's TPS designation.
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Immigration: U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to bar members of Congress from making unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities. Cobb previously blocked the policy.
- Diversity: U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a lawsuit from affirmative action foe Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights that argues the Hispanic Scholarship Fund violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
- Immigration: Department of Homeland Security officials are expected to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
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SEC: Paul Atkins, chair of the SEC, will give a second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, appearing before the Senate Banking Committee.
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Criminal: Former Democratic New Hampshire state Representative Stacie-Marie Laughton is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Boston after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of children in a case concerning child sex abuse images.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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- The LSAT, the predominant exam used for U.S. law school admissions, will no longer be offered online starting in August in a bid to bolster test security, its creator said. Read more here.
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Former longtime U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein testified in his own defense at his criminal tax trial, saying he never willfully broke the law while maintaining a side career playing multimillion‑dollar poker games. Find out more.
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Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said he has launched a new law firm with other senior lawyers who departed the state government when Democratic Governor Phil Murphy left office last month. Read more here.
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A lawyer leading efforts to bolster President Trump's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" pushed a U.S. intelligence contractor to search for evidence of voter fraud in that race, two people familiar with the events said. Learn more here.
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"It should disturb all of us that federal judges so brazenly flout congressional authority, and that Congress allows them to do so."
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—Aliza Shatzman, founder of the Legal Accountability Project, commenting on a workplace harassment complaint against U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby. An inquiry by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz of the 4th Circuit found that the environment in Griggsby's court chambers was "abusive," with Griggsby disputing some claims but expressing "deep regret" for the impact on staff. Read Diaz’s order.
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The top executive at Meta Platforms' Instagram defended the company's choices around features that some company insiders called harmful to young users, at a trial on claims the app helped fuel a youth mental health crisis. Read more about the testimony here.
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Abbvie sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, challenging a decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to select Botox for prescription drug price controls established by the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Read more here.
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A group of healthcare patients is dropping a data breach lawsuit against law firm Thompson Coburn and New Mexico-based Presbyterian Healthcare Services, part of a wave of cybersecurity litigation involving major law firms in recent years. Read more here.
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The U.K. Supreme Court ruled that an artificial neural network, a type of AI capable of machine learning, can be patented — a decision hailed by lawyers as a significant boost for AI innovation. The court determined that a computer program can be patented if it involves the use of physical hardware, marking a notable shift in legal precedent.
Alex Morgan, of Paul Hastings, described the decision as "consistent with the UK positioning itself as an AI-friendly, pro-innovation jurisdiction and could boost its attractiveness for companies developing advanced machine learning technologies."
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