Judge Sinks Youths' Suit Challenging Trump Energy Orders

By Keith Goldberg

A Montana federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a suit by youths seeking to undo President Donald Trump's energy-related emergency orders, saying that it's beyond the power of federal courts to dictate U.S. environmental and energy policy.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Meat Industry Fights To Defend Nix Of Slaughterhouse Rules

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

A meat and poultry industry group has told the Ninth Circuit it opposes green groups' challenge to the federal government's decision to rescind a Biden-era proposal that would have imposed stricter water discharge regulations on slaughtering, processing and rendering facilities.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Colo. Urges Justices To Reject Nebraska South Platte Case

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Colorado on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to get involved in Nebraska's claims that Colorado is failing to deliver water from the South Platte River according to the terms of an early 20th-century compact.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

States Seek To Revive FEMA's Disaster-Mitigation Funding

By Ganesh Setty

A group of 22 states and the District of Columbia urged a Massachusetts federal court Wednesday to block the Trump administration's termination of a disaster mitigation program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing such authority lies with Congress.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Hertz Must Face Investors' Claims Over EV Statements

By Emilie Ruscoe

Car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings Inc. can't completely shed securities fraud claims over its statements that it was seeing strong demand for electric cars that artificially boosted stock prices, a Florida federal judge has ruled, while also dismissing other claims in the proposed class action.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ga. Justices Stand By Holding That Runoff Fees Aren't Taxes

By Chart Riggall

The Supreme Court of Georgia has for the second time ruled that a landowner can't use a constitutional challenge to get out of paying stormwater utility bills to its local government, declining Wednesday to overturn a decade-plus precedent that ruled the county was enforcing a fee rather than a tax.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mich. AG Urges Justices To Leave Enbridge Suit In State Court

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan's attorney general has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strictly enforce the statutory deadline for transferring a case to federal court and refuse Enbridge Energy LP's entreaties to move her lawsuit seeking to shut down a pipeline out of state court.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FERC Ignored La. LNG Terminal's Enviro Harms, DC Circ. Told

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shirked its obligation to evaluate the potential harms of a massive liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana before approving its construction, environmental groups and fishermen have told the D.C. Circuit.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

11th Circ. Sides With Insurer In Fla. Gas Station Pollution Fight

By Ganesh Setty

An insurer for an owner and operator of Florida gas stations owes no coverage for pollution costs stemming from an underground fuel tank leak, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday, finding the owner failed to properly notify its insurer of a "pollution condition" that could result in an insurance claim.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Oregon, Groups Seek Dam Changes For Columbia River Basin

By Crystal Owens

The state of Oregon and several conservation groups asked a federal court to order changes to hydropower dam operations in the Columbia River Basin that they say will reduce harm to endangered salmon and steelhead.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Florida Accused Of Hiding Info On Detention Center Grant

By Tom Lotshaw

A nonprofit focused on protecting the Everglades has accused the Florida Division of Emergency Management of breaking the state's laws by refusing to provide information about federal grant funding for the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mineral Co. Investors Seek Final OK Of $4.9M Deal

By Sydney Price

Investors of mineral producer Compass Minerals International Inc. have asked a Kansas federal judge to grant final approval to their nearly $5 million deal settling claims that the company misled the public about the likelihood it would secure a fire retardant supplier contract with the U.S. Forest Service.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-WH Ethics Attys Slam 'Vindictive' Comey, James Charges

By Jack Karp

Three former White House ethics attorneys have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice over what they call the "vindictive and meritless" criminal prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jack Smith And Other Ex-DOJ Staffers Slam Trump Purge

By Lauren Berg

Former U.S. Department of Justice employees, including former special counsel Jack Smith, spoke out Wednesday in support of colleagues fired or forced to resign by the Trump administration, issuing a warning about the "existential crisis" born from efforts to use the agency to punish the president's political opponents.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Leans Toward Limiting Voting Rights Act Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority seemed ready Wednesday to further limit the use of the Voting Rights Act in challenging alleged racial discrimination in legislative redistricting, but appeared divided over how to accomplish that.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Vought Aims To Close CFPB Within '2 Or 3 Months'

By Jon Hill

White House budget chief Russell Vought said Wednesday that he wants to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to succeed in the next few months, despite the Trump administration's claims in court that the agency is just being downsized.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DHS Says Seizure Of Atty's Phone Tied To Employment Probe

By Julie Manganis

The government is pushing back on a Massachusetts immigration attorney's allegations that his work phone was seized in retaliation for his criticism of the Trump administration and advocacy for noncitizens, saying it's looking into whether he violated federal employment verification laws.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Goldstein Can't Dismiss 2016 Tax Charges As Time-Barred

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge denied SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein's motion to dismiss four of the 22 federal tax charges brought against him in January, ruling that his defense that the counts stemming from the 2016 tax year should be time-barred will have to be raised at trial.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Chief Judge Bars Civil Arrests In Cook County Courts

By Celeste Bott

Cook County's top judge issued an order Wednesday prohibiting the warrantless civil arrest of individuals attending court proceedings in Chicago-area state courthouses, as the federal government has ramped up immigration enforcement and arrests in the area.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NY Court Tosses Most Of Ex-Lil Wayne Atty's Contract Claims

By Emily Sawicki

A New York state judge has dismissed most counterclaims a former attorney for Lil Wayne pursued in a fee dispute with his ex-client, but the lawyer may still attempt to collect some funds he claims to be owed by the rap star.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Some Federal Workers Win Quick Block On Shutdown Layoffs

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Wednesday granted a request from two unions representing thousands of federal workers to immediately block the Trump administration from laying them off during the government shutdown, saying she believes the plaintiffs will show that "what's being done here is both illegal and is in excess of authority."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »