Civil Law

Abortion Rights Ballot Measures Pass in Seven States

Quick Hits

  • Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, and Nevada supported ballot measures to add the right to abortion into the state constitution.
  • Ballot measures to expand abortion access failed in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
  • Legal challenges are expected regarding the ballot measure process, parental consent requirements, and other abortion limits in certain states.

On November 5, 2024, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, and Nevada approved ballot measures to amend the state … 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

Civil Law

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

Supreme Court

Washington residents challenge state’s effort to tax long-term capital gains

Washington residents challenge state’s effort to tax long-term capital gains

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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.

The Constitution constrains states from excessively burdening out-of-state commerce – a doctrine known as the dormant commerce clause, because it is implicit in the grant of power to Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Five years ago, a divided Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Wayfair that, under the doctrine, … Read the rest

Civil Law

Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder Avoids Contempt and Sanctions in United States, But Bankruptcy Court Previews Worldwide Enforcement Options

On June 27, 2022, Three Arrows Capital (“3AC”), a crypto hedge fund, commenced liquidation proceedings in the British Virgin Islands and thereafter filed recognition proceedings in, among other countries, the United States and Singapore.  As we discussed earlier this year, on December 2, 2022, the bankruptcy court presiding over 3AC’s chapter 15 proceeding pending in the Southern District of New York held that the 3AC joint liquidators (the “JLs”) could serve a subpoena (the “U.S. Subpoena”) upon a 3AC cofounder, … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Washington family counselor challenges state’s ban on conversion therapy

Washington family counselor challenges state’s ban on conversion therapy

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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.

Conversion therapy, the practice of seeking to change a gay or transgender person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling, is outlawed or heavily restricted in roughly half of the country. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether a Washington state … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices divided on the constitutionality of the federal law that bans “encouraging” immigrants to remain unlawfully in the United States

Justices divided on the constitutionality of the federal law that bans “encouraging” immigrants to remain unlawfully in the United States

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Both oral advocates faced fairly cold receptions on Monday morning in United States v. Hansen when the Supreme Court heard argument on whether 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(iv), the federal law that criminalizes “encouraging or inducing” an immigrant to come or remain in the United States unlawfully, violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.  

The argument also shed more light on the newer justices’ views on the freedom of speech. The newly reconfigured Court appears less strongly … Read the rest