Executives Beware: DOJ Antitrust Division is Taking a Hard Look at a Wide Spectrum of Potential Criminal Violations

On March 2, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers laid out a significant and aggressive criminal enforcement agenda for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. While speaking at the the ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime in San Francisco, CA, Powers began his remarks by noting that the Division’s Criminal Section currently had 18 indicted cases against 10 companies and 42 individuals, including 8 CEOs or Presidents. DAAG Powers also noted that the Section had 146 open … Read the rest

Justices decline to reinstate GOP-backed congressional voting maps in North Carolina, Pennsylvania

Justices decline to reinstate GOP-backed congressional voting maps in North Carolina, Pennsylvania

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The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block orders by courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that threw out the congressional maps enacted by the states’ Republican legislatures and replaced them with maps drawn by the trial courts. The justices’ rulings mean that the states’ 2022 congressional elections will go ahead using the court-drawn maps.

But although the justices declined to intervene now, four justices signaled that they believe the court should soon take up the theory at the … Read the rest

A 27-year solitary confinement and a dispute about discharging settlement payments in bankruptcy

A 27-year solitary confinement and a dispute about discharging settlement payments in bankruptcy

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This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether a prisoner’s 27-year period in solitary confinement violates either the Eighth Amendment or the 14th Amendment, and whether a settlement can include a provision in which a debtor agrees that any payments are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Constitutional challenges to a 27-year solitary confinement

Dennis Wayne Hope has been in solitary confinement for 27 years since 1994. In Hope v. Harris, Hope … Read the rest

COURT OF APPEAL SUMMARIES (FEBRUARY 28, 2022 – MARCH 4, 2022)

Jump To: Table of Contents | Civil Decisions | Short Civil Decisions

Good afternoon.

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of February 28, 2022.

In Gefen Estate v. Gefen, an estates case, the Court reiterated that while the quality of evidence may vary depending on a claim, the civil standard of proof will always remain the same: proof on a balance of probabilities. The issues canvassed … Read the rest

THE BANKRUPTCY COURT’S RULING IS IN: J&J’S TEXAS TWO-STEP DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A BAD FAITH FILING

Last week this author delved into what has become known as the “Texas Two-Step,” the arguments for and against its permissibility and the broader implications for the bankruptcy system.  The discussion focused on an ongoing trial on motions filed in the bankruptcy case of LTL Management, LLC (“LTL” or the “Debtor”), a Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) subsidiary, by the Official Committee of Talc Claimants and several other parties, seeking an order dismissing the Debtor’s case pursuant … Read the rest

Jackson submits Senate Judiciary questionnaire, prepares to start meeting with senators

Jackson submits Senate Judiciary questionnaire, prepares to start meeting with senators

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Just four days after President Joe Biden nominated her to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson submitted her responses to a questionnaire that the Senate Judiciary Committee will use as it considers her nomination. Her responses repeat many of the details in the questionnaire that she submitted in 2021 when she was nominated to her current position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But Jackson’s Supreme Court questionnaire does provide new … Read the rest

Greenhouse gases and “major questions”: Justices to hear argument on EPA’s power to tackle climate change

Greenhouse gases and “major questions”: Justices to hear argument on EPA’s power to tackle climate change

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Three days after President Joe Biden named Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to succeed the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, Breyer and his colleagues will return to the bench on Monday morning to hear oral argument in a case involving the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Although the case hinges on a highly technical provision of the Clean Air Act, it nonetheless has the potential to be one of the most consequential cases in a … Read the rest