Blogs

By Christine Coleman

Edited by Elissa D. Hecker

Entertainment

Reality TV or Court TV? Lawsuits Test Limits of Outrageous Behavior

Popular shows including “Love Is Blind,” the “Real Housewives” universe and “Vanderpump Rules” are being challenged in court amid a changing legal landscape. Reality TV is fueled by on-camera insults, extreme drunkenness, aggressive sexual behavior, and physical confrontations that would instantly spark human resources complaints or lawsuits in most workplaces. The industry has long shielded itself from litigation with tightly written contracts laden with nondisclosure agreements and provisions requiring closed-door arbitration proceedings to settle any disputes. However, the industry may be facing a reckoning with the enactment of a 2022 federal law that gives an employee who makes allegations of sexual assault or harassment the right to resolve disputes through the courts even if their contract calls for arbitration, along with the encouragement towards reality TV stars to unionize. Even while continuing to fight these lawsuits, the reality TV industry has made some conciliatory responses, including a $1.4 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by a former “Love is Blind” contestant against Netflix and the production companies behind the show, and updated policies by NBCUniversal imposing stricter rules on alcohol consumption, more serious consequences for violence, and offering more psychological support for those on their Bravo programs. Conversely, networks and production companies are also fiercely defending themselves, characterizing the lawsuits in court documents as frivolous and aggressively fighting challenges to the contracts that have long made the industry tick.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/09/arts/reality-tv-lawsuits.html?searchResultPosition=2

Young Thug Lawyer Clashes With Judge in Chaotic Gang Case

Brian Steel, the primary lawyer for the Atlanta rapper Young Thug, was ordered to serve 10 weekends in jail after a dispute with the judge, further complicating a messy gang conspiracy trial. After a star witness was jailed for refusing to testify and then had a change of heart, Steel was taken into custody for implying that an improper secret meeting led to the witness’s about-face. Judge Ural Glanville held Steel in contempt for refusing to disclose who told him about a closed-door meeting between the judge, prosecutors, the uncooperative witness, and his lawyer. After a heated exchange, Judge Glanville sentenced Steel to a maximum of 20 days in jail for failing to reveal his source. Steel had argued in court that the conversation was unconstitutional and that the defense should have been present, or at least notified. The in-court fireworks threatened to derail the lengthy and complex case, which has already been plagued by delays, disruptions, uncooperative witnesses, extralegal distractions and fits of tension from all sides.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/arts/music/young-thug-brian-steel-trial.html?searchResultPosition=1

Four Tops Singer Sues Hospital Over Being Put in Restraints

Alexander Morris, who joined the Four Tops in 2018, sued a Michigan hospital, accusing its staff of placing him in restraints and ordering a psychological evaluation because they did not believe he was part of the famous Motown group. In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, he accuses Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital of racial discrimination and two employees of negligence for an incident in April 2023, when he was taken there by ambulance with chest pain and difficulty breathing. The lawsuit also alleges that when Morris told hospital staff that he was a member of the Four Tops, the staff “wrongfully assumed he was mentally ill” and a security guard was instructed to put him in restraints. When Morris offered to show his identification card, the lawsuit said, the security guard, who is white, told him to “sit his Black ass down.” According to the lawsuit, “None of the nursing staff intervened to stop the racial discrimination and mistreatment,” and Morris accused the staff of taking him off oxygen while they pursued a psychiatric evaluation, even though he has a history of heart problems. Morris then he showed a nurse a video of him performing at a Grammy charity event in order to convince the hospital he was not “delusional.” After this, the staff canceled the psychiatric evaluation, removed the restraints, which had allegedly been in place for about 90 minutes, and placed Morris back on oxygen. Once the ordeal was over, Morris was offered a $25 gift card to a supermarket, which he said he refused to accept.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/arts/music/four-tops-singer-sues-hospital-restraints.html?searchResultPosition=1

Arts

Officials Condemn Protest Outside Exhibit Memorializing Oct. 7 Victims

Hundreds of people protested against Israel outside an exhibition in Lower Manhattan that commemorates the more than 360 people who were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 at the music festival in southern Israel, prompting strong condemnations from public officials. The location of the demonstration was outside an exhibition featuring portraits of the people killed at the Tribe of Nova trance music festival, along with cars that were charred in the attack and the personal belongings were left behind. This was widely criticized from the city government to Washington, with Mayor Eric Adams calling the protest “despicable.” According to videos posted to social media, the protestors gathered, lit flares, and repeated shouts including “Long live the intifada” and “Israel, go to hell.” Josh Kadden, the exhibition’s lead organizer, said his team had received 10 minutes’ notice that the protest was materializing and visitors sheltered inside until it dispersed. Government officials have condemned the demonstration on social media, including Gov. Kathy Hochul; Senator Chuck Schumer; Attorney General Letitia James; Mark D. Levine, the Manhattan borough president; the official X account of Israel; and New York City’s comptroller Brad Lander.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/arts/israel-gaza-protest-nova-exhibit.html?searchResultPosition=1

Vandals Splash Graffiti on Home of Jewish Director of Brooklyn Museum

The homes of Anne Pasternak, the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum, was vandalized with red paint and a banner at her the entrance of her building called her a “white supremacist” Zionist. The homes of two trustees and the museum’s president and chief operating officer, Kimberly Panicek Trueblood, were also targeted. Mayor Eric Adams said in a social media post that the Police Department “will bring the criminals responsible here to justice,” and a Police Department spokeswoman said that officers are investigating.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/nyregion/anti-zionist-graffiti-jewish-museum-officials.html

Sports

International Olympic Committee and Esports Integrity Commission Tackle Corruption

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed an historic agreement that will allow them to share information and work together to prevent misconduct and ensure that competitions are free and transparent. The IOC’s Olympic Movement Anti-Manipulation Unit (OM Unit PMC) will work closely with the ESIC by exchanging information and knowledge related to the integrity of e-sports. The significant development of e-sports requires urgent regulation and a monitoring framework, because they can be easily distorted or manipulated. The intentions of this agreement are for e-sports to eventually have a place in the Olympics or the formation of an Olympic Games for e-sports.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1145916/esports-ioc-integrity-corruption-firm

Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Loses Challenge Barring Her From Elite Women’s Swimming Races

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas lost her challenge against the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, the world’s top court in matters of sporting fairness, to overturn the rules of World Aquatics that prevent transgender women from competing in women’s divisions. The judge ruled Thomas did not have standing to bring the case. World Aquatics, which sets rules that inform elite competitions, introduced a new gender policy in June 2022, allowing transgender women to compete in women’s events only if they transitioned before the age of 12 or before one of the early stages of puberty. The ruling excludes transgender women who underwent male puberty, like Thomas, from participating in women’s races. In Thomas’ challenge against the CAS, she sought an order from declaring the “challenged provisions are unlawful, invalid and of no force and effect.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5561524/2024/06/13/lia-thomas-transgender-swimming-olympic-challenge-denied/

Ex-NFL Quarterback Bernie Kosar Sues Podcasting Company Over Bet That Cost Him Browns Radio Job

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar is suing BIGPLAY, a podcasting company he alleged forced him to make a bet causing him to lose his job on the Brown’s pregame radio show last year. Kosar filed the lawsuit in April against BIGPLAY and co-manager Kendall Myles, claiming the company breached its contract with him and Myles “verbally assaulted” him and attempted to threaten him to get Kosar to agree to change the terms of his deal with BIGPLAY. In the suit, Kosar alleged that Myles and BIGPLAY co-manager David McAllester told Kosar at a charity event on December 31, 2022, that he would have to personally place a $19,000 bet on the Cleveland Browns to win a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Team employees are prohibited from betting on NFL games per the NFL’s gambling policy and the Browns fired Kosar days after the event.

Players Union FIFPRO Sues FIFA Over Packed Football Schedule

Players union International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) filed a legal claim against FIFA, the world football's governing body. In May, FIFA said it would not consider rescheduling its 32-team Club World Cup after FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association (WLA) threatened legal action if it did not review their plans. FIFPRO members England's Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) and France's players union (UNFP) submitted a legal claim with the Brussels court of commerce. In a statement, FIFPRO said, "FIFPRO Europe member unions have today submitted a legal claim against FIFA, challenging the legality of FIFA's decisions to unilaterally set the International Match Calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.” FIFPRO and WLA had  previously expressed their concern over the expanded competition in a letter addressed to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstro, with FIFA then rejecting their claims that it had made unilateral decisions to benefit its competitions in the international calendar.

https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/40339870/players-union-fifpro-sues-fifa-packed-football-schedule

Saudi Arabia’s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover

A proposal awaiting financing would attempt to bring together dozens of the world’s best boxers in a single, Saudi-run pro league. The ambitious and expensive plan would reshape the economics, structure and future of boxing and is in the final stages of approval. The project would be financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s giant sovereign wealth vehicle. Under the proposal, about 200 of the top men’s boxers in the world would be signed and then divided into 12 weight classes in what would amount to a global boxing league. This would effectively create a single boxing entity that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of dueling promoters and warring sanctioning bodies.

Technology/Media

Google Ad Tech Antitrust Suit Will Go to Trial, Judge Rules

Alphabet Inc. will have to defend itself at trial against all of the Justice Department’s claims of a Google monopoly in online advertising technology after District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema rejected the tech giant’s request to decide the case ahead of time. Google had sought summary judgment in the case, asking that it be decided before a trial. The company argued that antitrust enforcers failed to show that it controls at least 70% of the market for display advertising shown on the open web and that Google doesn’t qualify as a monopoly. The Justice Department sued Google last year, alleging that it monopolized the market for advertising technology used to buy, sell, and serve video and display ads online. Judge Brinkema ruled that the case will proceed as a bench trial after Google cut a cashier’s check for $2.3 million to cover the government’s alleged damages.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-14/google-ad-tech-antitrust-suit-will-go-to-trial-judge-rules

States Take Up Artificial Intelligence Regulation Amid Federal Standstill

California legislators have made the biggest push to pass new laws to regulate Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), advancing about 30 new measures on A.I. aimed at protecting consumers and jobs. This is one of the biggest efforts yet to regulate the new technology. The proposals include rules to prevent A.I. tools from discriminating in housing and health care services, and aim to protect intellectual property and jobs. While federal law makers drag out regulating A.I., state legislators have stepped into the vacuum with a flurry of bills poised to become de facto regulations for all Americans. Tech laws like those in California frequently set precedent for the nation, in large part because lawmakers across the country know it can be challenging for companies to comply with a patchwork across state lines. State lawmakers across the country have proposed nearly 400 new laws on A.I., with California leading the states. Chief executives of leading tech companies have called for federal regulations on A.I. technology, warning Congress of the risk of their products. However, most tech policy experts say they don’t expect federal proposals to pass this year, causing state and global regulators to rush to fill the gap.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/technology/california-ai-regulation.html?searchResultPosition=1

Judge Orders Sale of Alex Jones’s Personal Assets but Keeps Infowars in Business

A Houston bankruptcy judge ordered the personal assets of the Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to be liquidated and sold, with the proceeds distributed among the Sandy Hook families. The judge, however, spared Jones from having to shutter his Infowars business empire. The ruling will allow Jones to continue broadcasting on Infowars, while the families pursue payment of $1.4 billion in defamation damages. While the families who sued Jones in Texas favored the decision, allowing them to potentially receive more in damages, the families who sued Jones in Connecticut favored settling for less money and shutting him down.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/us/politics/infowars-bankruptcy-alex-jones.html?searchResultPosition=1

Washington Post Publisher and Incoming Editor Are Said to Have Used Stolen Records in Britain

The publisher and the incoming editor of The Washington Post used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles when they worked as journalists in London two decades ago, according to a former colleague. Will Lewis, The Post’s publisher, assigned one of the articles in 2004 as business editor of The Sunday Times. Another was written by Robert Winnett, whom Lewis recently announced as The Post’s next executive editor. The use of deception, hacking and fraud is at the heart of a long-running British newspaper scandal, one that toppled a major tabloid in 2010 and led to years of lawsuits by celebrities who said that reporters improperly obtained their personal documents and voice mail messages. Lewis maintains that his only involvement in the controversy was helping to root out problematic behavior after the fact. However, a former The Sunday Times reporter said that Lewis had personally assigned him to write an article in 2004 using phone records that the reporter understood were obtained through hacking. Additionally, a private investigator who worked for The Sunday Times publicly acknowledged using deception to land the materials for a 2002 article carrying Winnett’s byline. At the time when both articles were produced, the newspaper was paying the private detective explicitly to obtain material surreptitiously, violating the ethics codes of The Post and most American news organizations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/world/europe/will-lewis-records-uk-editor.html

Elon Musk Withdraws His Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Elon Musk withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI, a day before a state judge in San Francisco was set to consider whether it should be dismissed. The suit, filed in February, had accused the A.I. start-up and two of its founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, of breaching OpenAI’s founding contract by prioritizing commercial interests over the public good. Musk’s suit claimed a multibillion-dollar partnership that OpenAI signed with Microsoft represented an abandonment of the company’s pledge to carefully develop A.I. and make the technology publicly available. OpenAI called for a dismissal days after Musk filed the suit. Musk could still refile the suit in California or another state.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/technology/elon-musk-openai-lawsuit.html

Abortion Groups Say Tech Companies Suppress Posts and Accounts

Abortion groups and women’s health advocates say they are increasingly confused and frustrated by how major technology platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, moderate posts about abortion services. They say the companies’ policies on abortion-related content, including advertisements, have long been opaque, but the platforms seem to have been more aggressive about removing or suppressing posts that share information about how to obtain safe and legal procedures since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/business/abortion-groups-tech-platforms.html?searchResultPosition=1

Clearview AI Used Your Face. Now You May Get a Stake in the Company.

Clearview AI, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, does not have the funds to settle the lawsuit. Instead, the facial recognition startup has agreed to a settlement that would collectively give a 23% stake in the company to those whose faces are in its database. Clearview AI scraped billions of photos from the web and social media sites to build a facial recognition app used by thousands of police departments, the Department of Homeland Security, and the F.B.I. After The New York Times revealed the company’s existence in 2020, lawsuits were filed across the country and consolidated in federal court in Chicago as a class action. According to court documents, the litigation has proved costly for Clearview AI, which would most likely go bankrupt before the case made it to trial.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/business/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-settlement.html

Russian Prosecutors Finalize Indictment of Evan Gershkovich

Russian prosecutors announced a major step in their case against Evan Gershkovich, the imprisoned American journalist for the Wall Street Journal, saying that they had finalized the espionage indictment against him and that he would be tried in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested more than a year ago. If convicted, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison. Gershkovich, his employer, and the U.S. government denied the charge against him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/world/europe/evan-gershkovich-russia-indictment.html

Three Men Convicted in Murder of Dutch Journalist

A Dutch court sentenced three men to prison for more than 25 years for the murder of Peter R. de Vries, whose daylight murder in 2021 rattled Europe. The conviction represents the most significant to date in the murder of de Vries, who was gunned down in July 2021 outside a television studio in Amsterdam’s bustling city center. He had reportedly been issued death threats over his involvement in a court case against one of Europe’s most notorious drug lords, Ridouan Taghi. Three other men were also convicted over their complicity in the killing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/world/europe/peter-de-vries-murder-netherlands.html?searchResultPosition=1

General News

In Secret Recordings, Alito Endorses Nation of ‘Godliness.’ Roberts Talks of Pluralism.

Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito were secretly recorded at a Supreme Court Historical Society gala last week by Lauren Windsor, a self-described documentary filmmaker and “advocacy journalist” posing as a Catholic conservative. Justice Alito, after being prompted by Windsor, told her that compromise in America between the left and right might be impossible and then agreed with the view that the nation should return to “a place of godliness.” Chief Justice Roberts, on the other hand, pushed back against Windsor’s assertion that the Court had an obligation to lead the country on a more moral path, stating that it is a role for the people we elect, not lawyers. He thinks the role for the Court is deciding cases. The Supreme Court Historical Society released a statement condemning the surreptitious recordings and journalism ethics experts have questioned Windsor’s tactics in securing the recordings of the justices.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/us/politics/supreme-court-alito.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240610&instance_id=125905&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=67127294&segment_id=169238&te=1&user_id=0236c45b7ba3058bdd4cb83eb64a9d71

Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Trademark ‘Trump Too Small’

The Supreme Court rejected California lawyer Steve Elster’s attempt to trademark the phrase “Trump too small.” While the decision was unanimous, it was badly fractured on the rationale, with justices arguing over whether a history-based methodology introduced in a recent Second Amendment case should be used to decide First Amendment disputes. The case was centered on a federal law that forbids the registration of trademarks “identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent.” In his trademark application, Elster said that he wanted to convey the message that “some features of President Trump and his policies are diminutive.” Elster has used the phrase on the front of T-shirts with a list of Trump’s positions on the back. The Patent and Trademark Office rejected Elster’s application, but a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the First Amendment required it to allow the registration. In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas applied the history-and-tradition test to the case holding the restriction constitutional. The application of this test was criticized by Justice Sotomayor in her concurring opinion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-trademark.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240613&instance_id=126164&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=67127294&segment_id=169505&te=1&user_id=0236c45b7ba3058bdd4cb83eb64a9d71

Supreme Court, in Starbucks Ruling, Curbs Labor Regulator’s Authority

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for the National Labor Relations Board (N.L.R.B.), a key federal agency, to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. The case was brought by Starbucks over the firing of seven workers in Memphis, who called themselves the Memphis Seven, who were trying to unionize a store in 2022. The workers said that they were fired for their unionization efforts and that the company didn’t typically enforce the rules they were accused of violating. After the firings, the N.L.R.B. issued a complaint saying that Starbucks had acted because the workers had “joined or assisted the union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities.” Separately, lawyers for the N.L.R.B. asked a federal judge in Tennessee for an injunction reinstating the workers, and the judge issued the order in August 2022. In its petition to the Supreme Court, Starbucks argued that federal courts had differing standards when deciding whether to grant injunctions that reinstate workers. Starbucks further argued that the stricter standard for reinstating workers should apply nationwide requiring the board to show that not reinstating the workers would cause “irreparable harm,” and that the N.L.R.B. was likely to prevail in the case. The looser standard would only require the N.L.R.B. to show that there was “reasonable cause” to believe Starbucks had violated labor law. The N.L.R.B. argued that the apparent differences between the two standards were semantic and that there was effectively one standard in place already, making it unnecessary for the Supreme Court to intervene. This argument was rejected in the majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The case now returns to the lower courts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/business/economy/supreme-court-starbucks-nlrb.html

Read the Court’s Decision to Uphold Access to Abortion Pill

The Supreme Court upheld access to a widely available abortion pill, rejecting a bid from a group of anti-abortion organizations and doctors to unravel the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill. This article contains a document of the Court’s full opinion in this case.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/13/us/scotus-pill.html

Supreme Court Rules Against Migrants in Dispute Over Deportation Hearing Notices

The Supreme Court sided with the federal government in a dispute over what information immigration officials must provide migrants about their deportation hearings. In a 5-to-4 decision, the majority upheld the current requirements, which can mean that basic information about a deportation hearing is missing. In the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Court cautioned that the decision “does not mean that the government is free of its obligation” to provide immigrants with notice of deportation hearings. Rather, it blocked immigrants from seeking to challenge removal orders “in perpetuity based on arguments they could have raised in a hearing that they chose to skip.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent, wrote that the majority had formally approved the government’s “abject noncompliance” with its duty to give migrants proper notice about deportation proceedings. The case stemmed from a group of cases brought by immigrants who challenged their deportations, claiming they never received proper notice of their court hearings. In each instance, the government failed to provide a single notice to appear with information about the time and place of the deportation hearing. As a result, the migrant failed to show up for the hearing and was ordered deported in each case, with each person then challenging their deportation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/us/politics/supreme-court-deportation-notice-ruling.html?searchResultPosition=1

Supreme Court Rejects Trump-Era Ban on Gun Bump Stocks

The Supreme Court struck down a ban on bump stocks, erasing one of the government’s rare firearm regulations to result from a mass shooting. The decision, by a vote of 6-3, split along ideological lines. The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, stated that he Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device by issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns. The Trump administration originally enacted the ban on bump stocks after a gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas concert in 2017, one of the deadliest massacres in modern American history. The narrowly written decision was not a Second Amendment challenge; rather, it is one of several cases this term seeking to undercut the power of administrative agencies. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound disagreements and the first such announcement of the term. She stated that “the majority puts machine guns back in civilian hands.” The decision prompted immediate blowback with Democrats blaming former President Trump and saying that both his actions and his nominees on the Court were decisive factors in the outcome. President Biden, in a statement, urged Congress to act to ban the device saying, “Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation.” Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner in Texas, backed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, was the man who challenged the bump stock ban.

Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Title IX Rules in 4 States

The Biden administration’s new Title IX regulations that expanded protections for L.G.B.T.Q.+ students have been temporarily blocked in four states after a federal judge ruled that the Education Department overstepped its authority. The order from Judge Terry A. Doughty, a district court judge in Louisiana, placed a preliminary injunction on the enforcement of the rules in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho, which have all challenged the regulations. The plaintiffs argued that the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX betrayed the law’s original purpose of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. The new rules disallow discrimination or harassment of students based on their gender identity, enshrining stronger protections for transgender students. However, Judge Doughty denounced the rule as an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy,” writing “Title IX was enacted for the protection of the discrimination of biological females. However, the final rule may likely cause biological females more discrimination than they had before Title IX was enacted.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/us/politics/biden-title-ix-transgender-students-schools.html?searchResultPosition=1

Thomas Took Additional Trips on Harlan Crow’s Private Jet, Documents Show

The Senate Judiciary committee released documents showing that Justice Clarence Thomas had not previously disclosed three private jet trips paid for by the Texas billionaire Harlan Crow. The revelation underlined the extent to which Justice Thomas has relied on the generosity of his friends over the years and the consistency with which he declined to report those ties. Justice Thomas has said that he had been advised he did not need to disclose gifts of personal hospitality from friends who did not have cases before the Supreme Court. The announcement is all but certain to fuel the fight over greater transparency at the Supreme Court.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/us/politics/justice-clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-trips.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240613&instance_id=126206&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=67127294&segment_id=169537&te=1&user_id=0236c45b7ba3058bdd4cb83eb64a9d71

Senate Republicans Block Supreme Court Ethics Measure Pushed by Democrats

Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to quickly pass Supreme Court ethics and transparency legislation they had pushed forward in the wake of disclosures about justices taking unreported gifts and travel and other ethical issues surrounding the high court. The unsuccessful outcome was predetermined, but represented an effort by Senate Democrats to show they were pressing the case against the Court.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/us/politics/supreme-court-ethics-bill-blocked.html?searchResultPosition=1

A Democrat, Siding With the G.O.P., Is Removing Limits on Political Cash at ‘Breathtaking’ Speed

Decisions by the Federal Election Commission, the political campaign watchdog made up of three Democrats and three Republicans, have long been deadlocked because of the even divide of members between the two parties. Now, there has been a shift in recent decisions with three Republicans and one Democrat voting together to roll back limits on how politicians, political parties, and super PACs raise and spend money.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/us/politics/fec-deadlock-deregulation.html?searchResultPosition=1

Judge Strikes One Element From Trump Indictment in Documents Case

Judge Aileen M. Cannon slightly narrowed the classified documents case against Trump, saying that prosecutors cannot charge him based on an episode in which he is said to have shown a highly sensitive military map to a political adviser months after leaving office. The decision was more of a swipe at prosecutors working for Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought the case, than a major blow to the allegations against Trump. The prosecutors may still be able to introduce evidence of it to the jury if the case finally goes to trial, even though Cannon technically removed the charge from the indictment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/us/politics/trump-documents-charges-cannon.html?searchResultPosition=1

In Arizona, Life Sentences for Juveniles Test Supreme Court Precedents

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to hear a case regarding an Arizona state court ruling that said juvenile offenders could be sentenced to die in prison without the possibility of parole under state law. This goes against Supreme Court precedent established in Miller v. Alabama, where the Court rejected mandatory sentences for youths who committed murders before they turned 18. In that case, the Court said that to be constitutional, state laws must at least allow judges the option of sentencing juvenile offenders to life with the possibility of parole. The present Arizona state case involves Lonnie Bassett, who was convicted of two murders committed when he was 16. When he was sentenced in 2006, Arizona law did not give the judge the option of sentencing him to anything but life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Arizona Supreme Court did not dispute the sentence in a unanimous opinion last year, saying an idiosyncratic feature of the state law, allowing judges to choose between “natural life” without the possibility of release in any fashion and life without parole but with the theoretical possibility of clemency from the governor, rendered it constitutional. Further, the court said, “Miller and its progeny do not specifically require the availability of parole when sentencing a juvenile offender.” Lawyers for Bassett have asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying that his case could determine the fates of more than two dozen other juvenile offenders, and  that the case “presents exceptionally significant questions about gamesmanship and the supremacy of federal law.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/us/supreme-court-arizona-life-sentence-juveniles.html?searchResultPosition=1

Judge Strikes Down Florida’s Ban on Transgender Care for Minors

Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Federal District Court in Tallahassee ruled that Florida could not “prohibit transgender minors from receiving specific kinds of widely accepted gender-affirming medical care,” determining key parts of a Florida law that bans gender transition care for minors and imposes hurdles on adults seeking such care are unconstitutional. Judge Hinkle sided with advocacy groups and three families who had said that the law stripped them of parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their transgender children. The law at issue barred doctors and nurses from prescribing or administering transition-related medication to those under 18 and exposed medical providers to criminal liability and professional discipline if they did so, among other provisions. A spokeswoman for Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state would appeal the ruling. Provisions of the law that prohibit gender-transition surgery for minors and impose restrictions on such surgery for adults were unaffected by Judge Hinkle’s order.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/florida-transgender-law.html?searchResultPosition=1

Oklahoma Supreme Court Dismisses Tulsa Massacre Lawsuit

A historic quest for justice by Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, and Viola Ford Fletcher, 110, the last two known centenarian survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, likely ended when the Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that sought reparations. The women were young children at the time of the 1921 attack. Fletcher and Randle argued that the destruction of Greenwood, the Tulsa neighborhood known then as Black Wall Street, and the massacre of up to 300 African Americans by a white mob amounted to an ongoing public nuisance that still hangs over the neighborhood more than a century later. The ruling concludes their lawsuit that was filed in 2020. The court ruled that the plaintiffs’ grievances, including any lingering economic and social impact of the massacre, though legitimate, “do not fall within the scope of our state’s public nuisance statute.” Damario Solomon-Simmons, the lead lawyer for the massacre survivors, said what happened in the spring of 1921 was essentially a “state-sponsored atrocity” and that ending the case without a trial is a blow to the notion of racial justice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/us/oklahoma-supreme-court-tulsa-massacre-lawsuit.html?searchResultPosition=1

Justice Dept. Says It Won’t Prosecute Garland for Contempt

The Justice Department said that it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick B. Garland for declining to comply with a Congressional subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden’s interview by a special counsel. The decision was expected because President Biden had invoked executive privilege last month to shield recordings subpoenaed by G.O.P. lawmakers. The Justice Department does not consider it a crime for a government official to fail to comply with a subpoena for material when the president has invoked executive privilege.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/us/politics/merrick-garland-contempt-doj.html?searchResultPosition=1

Convictions of Biden’s Son and Trump Put the Justice System on Trial

While former President Trump and his Republican allies have sought to delegitimize criminal investigations into his actions by declaring that Democrats have “weaponized” the justice system, President Biden has not stopped the Justice Department’s inquiry into his own son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted of three felony counts for lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018. The convictions of Hunter Biden and Trump have shown that even under immense political pressure, the 12 jurors in both cases appear to have taken their jobs seriously, weighing the evidence and delivering convictions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/politics/hunter-biden-trump-convictions-justice.html

Sandy Hook Victims Are Remembered on Day They Would Have Graduated

More than 11 years after one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, on what would have been the victims’ high school graduation day, the residents of Newtown, Connecticut, paused to reflect. The graduating seniors of Newtown High School were in first grade on December 14, 2012, when a gunman attacked Sandy Hook Elementary. Twenty students and six faculty members were shot and killed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/nyregion/sandy-hook-survivors-graduation-newtown.html?searchResultPosition=1