Observations from the COP27 Halfway Point

We are half way through COP27, so (disregarding the intersessionals that will take place during 2023), the negotiations will “soon” start to focus on Dubai, the venue for next year’s COP28 summit.  Who knows how much progress will be made before then.  One point to note is that COP27 is more of an “implementation” COP, rather than one with a more grandiose task, such as ramping up climate ambition.

To continue on that point, there do seem to be signs … Read the rest

Court allows Jan. 6 committee to obtain phone records of Arizona GOP chair

Court allows Jan. 6 committee to obtain phone records of Arizona GOP chair

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The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for a cellphone provider to turn over call records for Dr. Kelli Ward, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, to the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Ward had asked the justices to block a subpoena addressed to T-Mobile, arguing that there “could hardly be a starker example of seeking to punish people for having ties to political views regarding the outcome of the 2020 … Read the rest

FedEx employees seek to preserve collective-action lawsuits over wages

FedEx employees seek to preserve collective-action lawsuits over wages

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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Five years ago, the justices in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court of California limited certain personal-injury lawsuits against businesses to residents of a single state. Since that 2017 decision, businesses have convinced state courts to cabin a host of lawsuits brought by out-of-state plaintiffs over out-of-state conduct. This week, we … Read the rest

UK food microbiology lab notes less contact with the EU

The United Kingdom leaving the European Union has resulted in reduced communication between UK and EU food networks, according to a new report.

The annual report covers work of the UK’s national reference laboratory (NRL) for food microbiology between April 2021 and March 2022.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides this service for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for Listeria monocytogenes, coagulase-positive staphylococci, E. coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella and antimicrobial resistance.

Reduced information sharing

The NRL has had less contact … Read the rest

Justices will review scope of identity theft in case involving Medicaid fraud

Justices will review scope of identity theft in case involving Medicaid fraud

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The Supreme Court announced on Thursday afternoon that it will weigh in on what it means to commit identity theft. After holding their private conference a day early because Friday is a federal holiday, the justices released a one-sentence order list that added one new case to their merits docket for the 2022-23 term: Dubin v. United States.

The defendant in the case is David Dubin, who was convicted of Medicaid fraud. As the dispute comes to the … Read the rest

Justices seem receptive to opening up early challenges to agency proceedings

Justices seem receptive to opening up early challenges to agency proceedings

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The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments Monday in a pair of cases challenging the traditional framework of agency review: Axon Enterprise v. Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cochran. If those arguments tell us anything, several justices are strongly inclined to accept the invitation of these cases to reshape the traditional framework, under which challenges to agency proceedings have to wait until the end of those proceedings before they can get into … Read the rest