Ayahuasca Church Brings Religious Use Case To DC Circ.

By Sam Reisman

An Iowa church that seeks to use a psychedelic drug in its rites filed a petition Monday with the D.C. Circuit seeking to compel federal drug enforcers to process an application for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act, which has been pending for over six years.

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Worker's Suit Over Weed Firing Gets Thrown Out

By Jonathan Capriel

A construction worker can't sue his employer for wrongful termination on claims that his supervisor wrongly accused him of smoking marijuana while on the job, a Virginia federal judge has ruled, saying state law allows companies to fire workers even on untrue allegations of drug use.

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Photographer Says Marlon Wayans Took Pot Pic

By Jonathan Capriel

Marlon Wayans, star of such films as "White Chicks" and "Scary Movie," was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit on Tuesday by a photographer who claims he used her image of a Ziploc bag filled with marijuana on his Facebook account without permission.

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No Entitlement To A Cannabis Retail License, NJ Town Says

By George Woolston

A New Jersey municipality urged a federal court on Monday to toss a suit from a cannabis company alleging its constitutional rights were violated when the town denied its retail license application, arguing that there is no protected property interest in the issuance of the license.

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Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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ABA 'Surprised And Disappointed' By DOJ Shunning

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association on Tuesday defended its long-standing process for reviewing judicial nominees and said Attorney General Pam Bondi was wrong to call the group an "activist organization."

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Analysis

Feds Reboot FCPA Agenda With Narrower Enforcement Focus

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released new and tightened guidelines for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a four-month pause on such prosecutions, centering prospective investigations on situations that affect U.S. competitiveness and national security as well as transnational cartels.

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Top CFPB Enforcer Quits Over 'Devastating' Agency Pullback

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top enforcement official resigned Tuesday, saying she can no longer effectively do her job under leadership that "has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way."

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Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

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NJ Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted Over ICE Facility Incident

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver has been charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during her inspection of a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention facility last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Wis. Judge Can't Wield Immunity For Obstructing ICE, DOJ Says

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a Wisconsin federal judge to reject a state court judge's argument that judicial immunity blocks her prosecution for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse, saying that while judges may be immune from civil liability for official acts, they are not shielded from prosecution for supposedly criminal conduct.

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State Chief Justices Blast Plans To Cut Legal Services Corp.

By Hailey Konnath

A coalition of 37 state Supreme Court chief justices have asked federal lawmakers to reject President Donald Trump's plans to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., arguing that the "justice system is hobbled when citizens are deprived of legal counsel."

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Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

By Julie Manganis

Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

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House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

By Courtney Bublé

House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

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SEC's Investment Management Chief Greiner To Leave Agency

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission veteran Natasha Vij Greiner is stepping down as the director of the agency's investment management division, ending a nearly 24-year career serving the SEC in multiple roles, regulators announced Tuesday.

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Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery showed new resistance to suits alleging corporate weaponizing of advance notice bylaws, and a new report highlighted the high fees that attorneys are cashing in on in Delaware courts compared to the federal court system. Several new suits were also filed concerning allegedly under- or overvalued sales and acquisitions being pushed through.

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