Judiciary.org - Part 51

Supreme Court strikes down bump stock ban

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a rule that banned bump stocks, issued by the Trump administration after a 2017 mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas. By a vote of 6-3, the justices rejected the federal government’s argument that rifles equipped with bump stocks are machine guns, which are generally prohibited under federal law. In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s conservative justices emphasized that Congress could have enacted a law that banned all … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices refuse to force refund of excessive bankruptcy fees

Two years after the court ruled that a disparity in bankrupt debtors’ fees between judicial districts was impermissible, the justices on Friday ruled 6-3 that charging equal fees going forward is an adequate remedy for that disparity. The government will not have to pay back debtors who paid more than they would have in another district.

In most districts (88 out of the 94 federal judicial districts), Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases are administered by the Office of the … Read the rest

Civil Law

Lawmakers Request Comments from Health Stakeholders on Medical Research and Care Delivery Reforms

On June 6, 2024, Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN) released a letter requesting information from stakeholders on their 21st Century Cures initiative, a policy effort focused on medical research and health care transformation and reforms. With this opportunity to comment, the lawmakers have renewed their commitment to developing the initiative with the support of the health community, nearly eight years after the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act (Pub. L. 114-255).

Enacted in December 2016, … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Wednesday, June 12

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

Supreme Court has a lot of work to do and little time to do it with a sizable case backlog (Mark Sherman & Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press)
Explosive cases flow to US Supreme Court from ‘bold’ regional court (Andrew Chung, Reuters)
Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will block Democrats’ effort to unanimously pass

… Read the rest

Criminal Law

Past Week Sees Major Surge in Reported Anti-Semitic Plots

In the past week, there were almost 200 swatting incidents on Jewish organizations, and several children were arrested for planning attacks on synagogues, exemplifying the ongoing surge in antisemitism in North America, Mack Lamoureux reports for Vice. The Secure Community Network, an organization that works with Jewish communities to provide security, said in a press release it has “tracked staggering 199 (and counting) swatting incidents and false bomb threats targeting Jewish facilities.” This includes “93 in California, 62 in … Read the rest

Civil Law

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Employment Discrimination Laws Proposed in Six States: What Employers Need to Know (US)

We recently wrote about Colorado’s historic law aimed at protecting, among others, employees and employment applicants from harm arising out of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Although Colorado is the first state to pass legislation addressing AI-based discrimination, similar bills have been proposed in at least six other states as well as at the federal level, with a recent Executive Order discussing a wide range of issues arising from the private-sector use of AI systems, including discrimination in … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices to review Meta investors’ data-harvesting suit and Medicare payments calculation

The Supreme Court on Monday added two cases to its argument schedule for the 2024-25 term. In a list of orders from their private conference last week, the justices agreed to weigh in on a case involving the calculation of Medicare payments as well as a securities-fraud case against social media giant Meta.

The justices once again did not act on a group of petitions urging them to weigh in on the constitutionality of bans on gender-affirming care for … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In financial disclosure Thomas adds two “inadvertently omitted” trips from billionaire Crow

Justice Clarence Thomas revealed on Friday that conservative billionaire Harlan Crow paid for two trips in 2019, involving a hotel stay in Bali, Indonesia, and at a private club in Sonoma County, Calif. The news came as part of the justices’ annual financial disclosures, which are filed in mid-May and released in early June each year. The forms published online on Friday by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts chronicled the justices’ book royalties – including an advance … Read the rest

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