New York Requires Paid Lactation Breaks and Prenatal Leave (US)

New York’s recently approved 2024 – 2025 budget brings two major changes to the landscape of leave and accommodation laws that New York employers need to know about.

Paid Lactation Breaks

Effective June 19, 2024, all private sector employers (regardless of size) will be required to provide 30 minutes of paid break time to employees who need to express breast milk for a nursing child at work. Employees must also be allowed to use any existing paid break or meal … Read the rest

Court declines death penalty case on jury selection

Court declines death penalty case on jury selection

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Over a written dissent by two justices, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a death penalty case asking them to weigh in on when jury selection begins and the defendant has a right to be present. The order in Sandoval v. Texas came as part of a list of orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices did not add any new cases to their docket for the 2024-25 term.

The denial of review … Read the rest

Climate Justice Denied: Ninth Circuit Dismisses Juliana v. United States

The environmental climate change case that has attracted the most attention, Juliana v. United States has come to an unceremonious end and all Americans should be concerned. On May 1, 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered, “The district court is instructed to dismiss the case forthwith for lack of Article III standing, without leave to amend.

Without regard to one’s perspective on the merits of the claims, the dismissal of this case after nearly a decade … Read the rest

The morning read for Friday, May 10

The morning read for Friday, May 10

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Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

  • Supreme Court Rules Against Women Whose Cars Were Seized by the Police (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
  • US Supreme Court rules against Warner Music in copyright damages case (Blake Brittain, Reuters)
  • Sotomayor reflects on fairness, justice in virtual Albany talk (Patrick Tine, The Times Union)
  • Solicitors general, past and present, reflect on ups
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The morning read for Thursday, May 9

The morning read for Thursday, May 9

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We’ll be live this morning at 9:45 a.m. EDT, as the court issues one or more opinion from the current term. Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

  • Black voters ask Supreme Court to back Louisiana’s congressional map in messy fight over race (John Fritze, Tierney Sneed, & Fredreka Schouten, CNN)
  • Black Louisiana voters ask US supreme court to confirm congressional
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Smith v Fonterra: A Climate Change Litigation Development

The Supreme Court of New Zealand recently overturned strike-out decisions to allow climate change claims (involving a new climate tort) to proceed to trial.

Background

In 2022, Michael Smith, a Māori tribal elder and the climate change spokesman for the Iwi Chairs Forum, a national forum of tribal leaders, brought proceedings against seven corporate defendants, alleging that they were collectively responsible for one-third of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020-2021.

Mr Smith sought a declaration that the seven defendants … Read the rest

The morning read for Tuesday, May 7

The morning read for Tuesday, May 7

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Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

  • The Supreme Court is nearing the end of its term. Here are the major cases it still has to decide. (Melissa Quinn, CBS News)
  • US Supreme Court Argument Order Gives Unlucky Lawyers Less Time (Lydia Wheeler, Bloomberg Law)
  • Blockbuster cases abound as Supreme Court enters opinion season (Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News Service)
  • The Supreme
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