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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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Calif. Assembly OKs Exemption For Returned Tribal Land

By Jaqueline McCool

California land that is transferred to a federally recognized Native American tribe would be exempt from state real estate transfer tax under a bill passed in the state Assembly. 

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'Sparse' OPM Record On Mass Firings Backs Win, Unions Say

By Bonnie Eslinger

A "sparse and self-serving" record provided by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management still shows the agency unlawfully directed federal agencies to fire probationary employees en masse, so a California federal court can reach a final decision now and "unwind" those terminations, a coalition including unions and advocacy groups said Thursday.

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Analysis

Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates more than 100 times in May on issues such as making room for 5G's use of the airwaves, licensing tribal spectrum, broadband mapping, the 12.7 gigahertz band, FCC satellite rules and more.

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Brief

Feds Invest Millions To Revitalize Former Coal Mine Sites

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Department of the Interior is doling out $130 million to help states and tribes redevelop former coal mine sites.

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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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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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Seven County Ruling Should Trim Agency Enviro Analysis

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County provides needed clarity for infrastructure projects by expressly directing agencies to narrow environmental reviews, and reducing the threat of litigation if even tangential issues are not exhaustively evaluated, say attorneys at Dentons.

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Digital Equity Act Grant Terminations Raise Key Legal Issues

The Trump administration's move to cancel grant programs created under the Digital Equity Act yields key legal and policy questions facing the executive branch, Congress and the courts, including how the administration plans to implement the cancellation of the Digital Equity Act's appropriations in the first place, say attorneys at Akin.

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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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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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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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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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