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☆ Judge Denies One of Trump’s Efforts to Derail Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s prosecution on charges of mishandling classified documents on Thursday rejected one of his motions seeking to have the case dismissed, the first time she has denied a legal attack on the indictment. In a two-page order, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, rebuffed arguments by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that the central statute in the indictment, the Espionage Act, was impermissibly vague and should be struck down entirely. The decision by Judge Cannon followed a nearly daylong hearing in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., where she entertained arguments from Mr. Trump’s legal team and from prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith about the Espionage Act. The government says the former president violated that law 32 times by removing a trove of highly sensitive classified material from the White House after he left office. Mr. Trump’s lawyers had claimed that certain phrases in the text of the law — for instance, its requirement that prosecutors prove defendants took “unauthorized possession” of documents “relating to the national defense” — were so ambiguous and open to debate as to be unenforceable.

Persons: Donald J, Aileen M, Cannon, Judge Cannon, Jack Smith, ” — Organizations: Federal, Court, White Locations: Fort Pierce, Fla

☆ Trump loses big in NY hush-money hearing, as judge rejects all efforts to dodge or delay March 25 trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Laura Italiano | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Trump appeared in his Manhattan felony hush-money case, and learned his trial date remains March 25. Trump had asked to delay the March 25 trial, insisting through his lawyer that he was too busy campaigning and fighting his three other felony cases. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan is expected to rule whether the trial will begin as scheduled on March 25. Cohen sent his own $130,000, borrowed on a home equity line of credit, to Daniels to ensure she would not go public with her claim of an affair with Trump, prosecutors allege. Read Manhattan prosecutors' 99-page rebuttal to Trump's dismissal motion here.

Persons: Trump, he's, —, Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, Trump's, Blanche, Juan Merchan, Merchan, Stormy Daniels, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, Brendan McDermid, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Daniels, Michael Cohen — Trump's, Cohen, he'd Organizations: Service, Republican, Manhattan Criminal, Court, Attorney, Prosecutors, Trump Organization, Read Manhattan Locations: Manhattan, Florida, New York City

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because both the school and the NCAA were not immediately releasing information regarding an investigation. The person said Tennessee has not received a notice of allegations from the NCAA. The NIL collective that supports Tennessee athletes, Spyre Sports Group, was among the first and most well organized to emerge around the country after the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes making money off their fame. The NCAA fined Tennessee more than $8 million last July to cap an investigation started by the university in November 2020. The head of the panel ruling on the investigation called the violations “egregious and expansive” with Tennessee failing to monitor its football program.

Persons: Jeremy Pruitt, Pruitt, Josh Heupel, Nico Iamaleava, Iamaleava Organizations: NCAA, Associated Press, Tennessee, Spyre Sports Group, AP Locations: Tennessee, California, Iowa

☆ US Court Rejects EPA's Decision to Withhold Small Refinery Biofuel Waivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday said it struck down the Biden administration's decision to deny small refiners "hardship waivers" that exempt them from nation's biofuel mandates, in a win for the refining industry. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found in favor of refineries that challenged the EPA's decision, including Ergon, Calumet Shreveport and Placid. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation's fuel mix, or buy tradable credits from those that do. The EPA can, however, award exemptions to some small refiners if they prove that the obligations cause them undue harm. Refiners, meanwhile, have long argued that the nation's ethanol mandates impose unfair costs on fuel producers, and can threaten the viability of small plants.

Persons: Heather Timmons, Mrigank Dhaniwala Organizations: WASHINGTON, Biden, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S, Appeals, Fifth Circuit, EPA Locations: Ergon, Calumet Shreveport, Placid

☆ Supreme Court to hear Texas and Florida social media cases over right to moderate content
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will decide whether it's constitutional for Texas and Florida to prevent social media companies from banning users over potentially harmful rhetoric. Tech companies have historically had control over the type of content that's published on their platforms, and most apps require users to agree to terms of service. The Supreme Court's upcoming nine-month term begins next week, and its ruling on the social media cases will likely come next year. The Biden administration has also asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the laws in the two states violate the tech companies' First Amendment rights. In a filing, the administration argues that the tech companies are protected under the Constitution.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Elon Musk, Biden Organizations: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Tech, Capitol, Republican, Tesla, SpaceX Locations: Texas, Florida

Elon Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter has sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publish their policies for removing offending material such as hate speech, misinformation and harassment. The first-of-its-kind legislation was signed into law a year ago by California Gov. The California law requires social media platforms to post their content moderation policies — which they already do — and twice a year submit a report to the state on how they address hate speech, racism, misinformation, foreign political interference and other issues. The company formed the council in 2016 to address hate speech, harassment, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform. The law's author, Democratic Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, said it is a "a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content.

Persons: Elon, Gavin Newsom, Robert Bonta, impermissibly, ”, Musk, Jesse Gabriel Organizations: Twitter, California Gov, X Corp, Musk, Trust, Safety Council Locations: California

☆ Elon Musk’s X Corp. sues California AG over content moderation law
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk’s X Corp., the parent company of the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Friday sued California’s attorney general over the state’s new content moderation law. The law requires social media companies to post their terms of service online and submit a semiannual report to the state attorney general outlining their content moderation policies and practices. It added that the law could place an “undue burden” on social media companies such as Musk’s X, which is headquartered in California. “California will not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country,” Newsom said in the statement. The law “‘compel[s]’ X Corp. to ‘speak a particular message,’ which necessarily ‘alters the content of’ its speech,’” in violation of its First Amendment rights, the company alleges in the complaint.

Persons: New York CNN — Elon, California’s, Gavin Newsom, Robert Bonta, impermissibly, General Bonta’s, ”, Newsom, ” Newsom, Jonathan Greenblatt, “ ‘, ’ Organizations: New, New York CNN, New York CNN — Elon Musk’s X Corp, California Gov, Court, California, X Corp, CNN, Anti, Defamation League, ADL, Corp Locations: New York, California, “ California

☆ CFPB to crack down on data brokers, Chopra says at White House event
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday held a roundtable examining potential harmful data broker practices as part of an overall strategy to protect Americans' privacy. The CFPB's new rule proposals will build upon the FCRA to hold data brokers that sell highly sensitive information more accountable. One proposal, said Chopra, will define a data broker dealing in certain types of consumer data as a consumer reporting agency and the brokers' sale of data as a consumer report. Another will clarify whether credit header data, the portion of a credit report that contains identifying information, can be considered a covered consumer report. "We applaud the steps the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau is taking to stop data brokers from unlawfully collecting and selling millions of Americans' sensitive data," she said.

Persons: WASHINGTON, Chopra, There's, Arati Prabhakar, Lael Brainard, Lina Khan, Brian Boynton, Khan, Brainard Organizations: Consumer, Fair, White, Office of Science, Technology, National Economic Council, Federal Trade, Justice Department's Civil, FTC, Protection

☆ Biden signs law implementing first part of U.S. trade pact with Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] Flags of Taiwan and U.S. are placed for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation on Monday implementing the U.S. and Taiwan's "21st Century" trade initiative and issued a statement saying certain sections of the law "raise constitutional concerns." Biden said he would treat those sections, which require transmission of trade deal drafts to Congress, as non-binding if they "impermissibly infringe upon my constitutional authority to negotiate with a foreign partner." Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Caitlin WebberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tyrone Siu, Joe Biden, Biden, Jasper Ward, Caitlin Webber Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Thomson Locations: Taiwan, U.S, Taipei

☆ The Supreme Court preserved the Indian Child Welfare Act, giving tribal families preference in Native American adoptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Supreme Court issued a decision Thursday preserving the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law aims to keep Native American kids in tribal families in foster care and adoption cases. This was the third time the Supreme Court has taken up a case on the IWCA. In the not-so-distant past, Native children were stolen from the arms of the people who loved them," Biden said in a statement. Matthew McGill, who represented the Brackeens at the Supreme Court, said he would press a racial discrimination claim in state court.

Persons: —, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Alito, Chuck Hoskin, Charles Martin, Tehassi Hill, Guy Capoeman, Joe Biden, Biden, Chad, Jennifer Brackeen, Fort Worth , Texas —, Brett Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh, Matthew McGill, McGill Organizations: Indian Child Welfare, Service, WASHINGTON, Republican, Child Welfare, Cherokee Nation, Morongo, Mission, Oneida, Quinault Indian Nation, Democratic, Navajo, Supreme Locations: Quinault, Delaware, Alaska, Texas, Fort Worth , Texas, American, Navajo, Southwest, Cherokee, Sur Pueblo

☆ Supreme Court Rejects Voting Map That Diluted Black Voters’ Power
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court, in a surprise decision, ruled that Alabama had diluted the power of Black voters by drawing a congressional voting map with a single district in which they made up a majority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion in the 5-to-4 ruling. He was joined by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal members, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Voting rights advocates had feared the decision would undermine the Voting Rights Act, which instead appeared to emerge unscathed. It simply holds that a faithful application of our precedents and a fair reading of the record before us do not bear them out here.”

Persons: John G, Roberts, Brett M, Kavanaugh, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, ” Locations: Alabama

☆ Supreme Court orders voting maps redrawn in Alabama to accommodate Black voters
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Alabama officials to redraw the state’s congressional map to allow an additional Black majority district to account for the fact that the state is 27% Black. The federal court ordered the creation of another majority Black district to be drawn. He said it would be impossible to draw a second majority Black district in the state without taking race into consideration. Instead, she wrote, the state plan “divides the Black voters within this well-established community of interest across several districts, and as a result, Black Alabamians have no chance to elect their preferred candidates outside of” the one Black majority district. “Black voters are significantly numerous and compact to form a majority in a reasonably configured district, as the district court specifically found,” she said.

Persons: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, ” Roberts, Roberts, ”, Terri Sewell, “, ” Sewell, General Merrick Garland, –, Democrats –, Steve Vladeck, ” Vladeck, Sen, John Thune, ” Thune, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Gorsuch, ” Thomas, Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, ” Thomas ’, Edmund LaCour Jr, Alabama’s, LaCour, NAACP –, Abha Khanna, Khanna, ” Khanna, Alabamians, Biden, dilutions, Elizabeth Prelogar Organizations: CNN, Alabama, Republicans, Democratic, “, Central, Supreme, Trump, Democrats, University of Texas School of Law, Representatives, Republican, Judiciary, Black, ”, NAACP Locations: Alabama, United States, Black, Louisiana, Mobile , Montgomery, ”

☆ Supreme Court rejects challenge to California pork industry restriction
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Demonstrators with PETA gather outside the Supreme Court of the United States and the high court hears oral arguments on a California law mandating better treatment of animals in food production is being challenged by the pork industry, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to a California animal welfare law that would ban the sale of pork derived from breeding pigs housed in confined spaces. "While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list," Gorsuch said. Lower courts upheld the measure, prompting the challengers to turn to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. The groups challenging the California law said in court papers that Proposition 12 "will transform the pork industry nationwide" because currently nearly all farmers keep sows in pens that do not comply with the law.

"Bump stocks allow a shooter to fire hundreds of bullets a minute by a single pull of the trigger. Like other machine guns, rifles modified with bump stocks are exceedingly dangerous." Bump stocks use a semiautomatic's recoil to allow it to slide back and forth while "bumping" the shooter's trigger finger, resulting in rapid fire. Cargill sued, challenging the ATF's rule in 2019, which required him to surrender his two bump stocks. Two days after that ruling, Biden signed into law the first major federal gun reform in three decades.

☆ How the Supreme Court could soon change free speech on the internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

Musk's actions since closing the deal last year have illuminated how he sees the balance internet platforms must strike in protecting free expression versus user safety. The Supreme Court has yet to decide if or when to hear the cases, though many expect it will take them up at some point. The Age-Appropriate Design Code requires internet platforms that are likely to be accessed by kids to mitigate risks to those users. Google said such a change would also make the internet less safe and less hospitable to free expression. The Supreme Court of the United States building are seen in Washington D.C., United States on December 28, 2022.

The law targets fraud and abuse, such as bribery, in federal healthcare programs including Medicare, which provides coverage for the elderly and disabled. Pfizer contends the government's interpretation of the law was blocking access to critical medical care. New York-based Pfizer's medication, also known as tafamidis, treats a rare heart condition known as transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy that can lead to progressive heart failure. Given the drug's high price, patients would need to bear yearly co-payments of roughly $13,000, with Medicare covering the rest. Pfizer's proposal sought to assist "middle-income" patients who do not qualify for low-income co-pay support but might still be deterred by its cost.

☆ Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney faces ethics inquiry after wrangling a Met Gala ticket: 'It is the one thing she cares about'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Madison Hall | Walt Hickey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

While in office, Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York has been a frequent attendee of the Met Gala. "She has been coming to the party for years, and it is the one thing she cares about," the Met's former president said in an email. The OCE is a nonpartisan body, created by Congress itself in 2008, that investigates allegations of misconduct by House members and staff. The OCE also noted that they had obtained evidence Maloney "may have requested a Met Gala invitation, as recently as 2020." Maloney lost her primary after her district was merged with Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler's district.

According to Harvard, around 40% of U.S. colleges and universities consider race in some fashion in admissions. The Supreme Court has been upheld such policies, most recently in a 2016 ruling involving a white woman who sued after the University of Texas rejected her. Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could require the court to overturn its 2016 ruling and earlier decisions. 'DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION'The lawsuits accused UNC of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Harvard's use of race was "meaningful" and not "impermissibly extensive" because it prevented diversity from plummeting.

Oct 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the constitutionality of a California law banning the sale of pork from pigs confined in spaces with too little space to move freely that industry groups have said impermissibly regulates out-of-state farmers. The law was approved by voters as a ballot initiative in 2018 to bar sales in California of pork, veal and eggs from animals whose confinement failed to meet minimum space requirements. "As I read California's law, it's about products being sold in California," conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said. The Supreme Court took up the case after the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has sided with the pork producers, saying in a Supreme Court brief that states cannot ban products "that pose no threat to public health or safety based on philosophical objections."

☆ Supreme Court considers pork industry challenge to California animal welfare law
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | Lawrence Hurley Covers The Supreme Court For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The challengers say the measure impermissibly interferes with interstate commerce in part because almost all of the pork sold in California is produced out of state. Lower courts upheld the measure, prompting the challengers to turn to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. “What the pork producers are asking for is quite unprecedented,” said Brian Frazelle, a lawyer with the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal legal group that filed a brief supporting the state. The groups say in court papers that Proposition 12 “will transform the pork industry nationwide” because currently nearly all farmers keep sows in pens that do not comply with the law. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is defending the law, said in court papers that the measure is valid under the commerce clause because it is not aimed at benefiting California producers over out-of-state competitors.

☆ Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard sue DeSantis in class action alleging fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Migrants who were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, under a new program by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sued DeSantis, a Republican, and other state officials Tuesday, alleging they were victims of fraud for political purposes. Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for DeSantis, said in a statement that the migrants chose to board the flights. "The transportation of the immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard was done on a voluntary basis," Fenske said. DeSantis has insisted that no laws were broken, and he has pledged to continue his administration’s $12 million program to relocate migrants.

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