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Michigan's judicial watchdog has said in a formal misconduct complaint a state judge "created a climate of fear" among court personnel that disrupted the administration of the court, "bullied" court staff and improperly dismissed criminal cases to "punish" prosecutors.
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Michigan
SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025

TOP NEWS

Judicial Watchdog Says Mich. Judge Created 'Climate Of Fear'

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan's judicial watchdog has said in a formal misconduct complaint a state judge "created a climate of fear" among court personnel that disrupted the administration of the court, "bullied" court staff and improperly dismissed criminal cases to "punish" prosecutors.

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Michigan House Escalates Docs Fight With Secretary Of State

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Michigan House of Representatives sued the state's top election official Thursday, saying she has withheld election training materials from lawmakers despite a House subpoena.

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Mich. AG Asks Judge To Block Abortion Coercion Screening

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan's attorney general has asked a judge to strike down a state-law requirement that abortion patients be evaluated for coercion, after the judge upheld the screening while permanently blocking other abortion regulations last month.

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Religious Network Owner Must Face Pastor's Race Bias Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday said a religious television network and its owner must face a lawsuit alleging they interfered with a Black pastor's on-air and earning opportunities, saying the pastor shared enough evidence to support his claim that he was discriminated against because of his race.

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Justices Nix Higher Hurdle For Heterosexual Bias Claims

By Ryan Harroff

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday vacated the Sixth Circuit's ruling that plaintiffs claiming anti-heterosexual workplace discrimination need to provide extra "background circumstances" evidence, opining that it improperly imposed special standards on majority-group plaintiffs.

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Jeep Maker FCA Can't Send Battery Defect Suit To Arbitration

By Hailey Konnath

A Michigan federal judge on Thursday refused to throw out or send to arbitration a proposed class action accusing automaker FCA US LLC of knowingly selling certain electric vehicles with defective batteries, ruling the Stellantis unit hasn't shown that drivers had sufficient notice of arbitration provisions.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Maryland Judge Halts 'Mass Closure' Of AmeriCorps Programs

By Thy Vo

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday temporarily enjoined the Trump administration's "mass closure" of AmeriCorps programs in two dozen states and ordered more than 750 national service members be restored, but declined to vacate the firing of AmeriCorps' paid staff.

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States, Attys, Groups Push 8th Circ. For ND Tribes' Voting Rights

By Crystal Owens

Nineteen states, 16 former federal attorneys and a slew of civil rights groups are backing two North Dakota tribes in their efforts for an Eighth Circuit rehearing, arguing the appellate court's semantic shift regarding voting rights presents important questions that merit its full consideration.

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LITIGATION

Mich. Judge Trims Property Owners' Foreclosure Surplus Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A Michigan federal judge trimmed a proposed class action filed by former property owners who accused Wayne County of wrongfully refusing to pay them surplus proceeds from tax foreclosure sales.

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Judge Wants Details On Harm From Trump Wind Farm Pause

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday asked a coalition of states and a clean-energy advocacy group for more specifics about the harm they allegedly will be caused by the Trump administration's decision to pause wind farm permitting, and said he wanted to move forward with a trial "promptly."

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DOL Head Vows To Fight Wage Theft With Fewer Investigators

By Max Kutner

The U.S. labor secretary told a U.S. House committee Thursday that the Department of Labor will continue to combat wage theft even with fewer resources after President Donald Trump's administration proposed cutting the number of wage and hour investigators.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Running Marathons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

After almost five years of running marathons, I’ve learned that both the race itself and the training process sharpen skills that directly translate to the practice of law, including discipline, dedication, endurance, problem-solving and mental toughness, says Lauren Meadows at Swift Currie.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

How Trump's Pardons Could Sway Prosecutorial Discretion

By Phillip Bantz

As President Donald Trump dismantles a growing list of white collar criminal cases with a flurry of clemency grants early in his second term, erasing years of investigative and prosecutorial work with a stroke of his black Sharpie, experts worry his actions will have a chilling effect on prosecutorial decision-making.

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Bernstein Litowitz Can Hire Ex-SEC Atty Over Musk Objection

By Jessica Corso

A New York federal judge on Thursday gave the all-clear for investor-side firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP to hire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's former litigation chief over the objections of Elon Musk.

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Seyfarth Joins Long List Of BigLaw's China Closures

By Aebra Coe

Seyfarth Shaw LLP is the latest large law firm to close an office in China, with a spokesperson confirming Thursday that the firm plans to shutter its Shanghai office later this year.

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Foley & Lardner Says Palestine Support Didn't Doom Job Offer

By Andrea Keckley

Foley & Lardner LLP urged an Illinois federal judge to dismiss a bias suit by a former summer associate, arguing her job offer was rescinded not due to her Arab Muslim identity but because her public comments on Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel "violated the firm's core values" and showed "incredibly poor judgment."

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Analysis

Trump's New Travel Ban May Be Harder To Fight This Time

By Britain Eakin

President Donald Trump's travel ban, which suffered multiple court losses during his first term before the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, may be on more solid legal footing in its renewed form, with lessons evidently applied from those losses.

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Dems, GOP Question Contempt Section Of Reconciliation Bill

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats have vowed to do whatever they can to defeat a provision in the budget reconciliation that would limit federal courts' ability to hold federal officials in contempt, and some Republicans are wary of it as well. 

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Girardi's Son-In-Law Admits Contempt In Illinois Theft Case

By Lauraann Wood

Tom Girardi's son-in-law pled guilty to criminal contempt Thursday in Illinois federal court, admitting he knew the once-celebrated plaintiffs lawyer failed to pay millions of dollars in plane crash settlement funds they had been ordered to distribute to their clients "as soon as practical."

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High Court Drops Class Cert. Clarification Bid

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to weigh in on whether federal courts can certify classes that include uninjured members, holding it improperly agreed to hear a disability discrimination case against diagnostics company Labcorp that raised the important question.

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Atty Coalition Asks Fla. Bar To Open Ethics Probe Into Bondi

By Carolina Bolado

A group of lawyers, law professors and former judges asked the Florida Bar on Thursday to open an ethics investigation into Pam Bondi's actions as attorney general, saying she has pushed U.S. Department of Justice attorneys to violate their ethical obligations under the guise of "zealous advocacy."

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Senate Panel Advances Picks For Nat. Sec. Post, Iowa US Atty

By Courtney Buble

The Senate voted 52-43 along party lines on Thursday to confirm John Andrew Eisenberg to be assistant attorney general for national security.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Joseph Saveri

By Daniel Connolly

Joseph Saveri, now one of the most successful plaintiffs lawyers in the U.S., said he's thought often about the story of his paternal grandparents, who left Italy around 1918, immigrated to America and traveled across the continent to settle in San Francisco.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Abell Eskew

Bakke Grinolds

Bernstein Litowitz

Beveridge & Diamond

Bodman PLC

Cera LLP

Cheronis & Parente

Clark Hill

Cleary Gottlieb

Collins Einhorn

Cooper & Kirk

Cuneo Gilbert

Davis Polk

Day Pitney

Dykema

Edelson PC

Edward L. Gilbert Co. LPA

Foley & Lardner

Girardi & Keese

Goodman Hurwitz

Gronda PLC

Gupta Wessler

HKM Employment Attorneys

Hartley LLP

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Joseph Saveri Law Firm

Kapitan Gomaa

Kirkland & Ellis

Klein Thomas

Lane & Waterman

Law Office of Bryan L. Sells

Law Offices of Aaron D. Cox

Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman

Lieff Cabraser

Lockridge Grindal

Matthew G. Miller PC

Mayer Brown

Morgan & Morgan

Morgan Lewis

Nelson Mullins

Orrick Herrington

Outside Legal Counsel PLC

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Quinn Emanuel

Robins Kaplan

Saveri & Saveri

Seyfarth Shaw

Slack Davis

Sommers Schwartz

Swift Currie

Vitale Vickrey

WilmerHale

Wilson Sonsini

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Civil Liberties Union

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Apple Inc.

Associated Press

Bumble Bee Foods LLC

California Institute of Technology

Campaign Legal Center

FCA US LLC

GameStop Corp.

George Washington University

HDR Global Trading Ltd.

Harvard University

Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings

LinkedIn Corp.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Congress of American Indians

Native American Rights Fund Inc.

Nikola Corp.

Robinhood Markets Inc.

Stellantis NV

The Center for Reproductive Rights Inc.

The Florida Bar

The Word Network

Twitter Inc.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Ltd.

University of Virginia

Varsity Brands LLC

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Corporation for National and Community Service

Maryland Attorney General's Office

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Michigan Supreme Court

National Institutes of Health

National Security Council

North Dakota Attorney General's Office

Ohio Attorney General's Office

State of Maryland

State of Michigan

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

Wage and Hour Division