On October 26, 2020, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) sued President Donald Trump’s administration in federal court over an executive order which reclassifies a large number of federal employees. Specifically, the executive order signed October 21, 2020, reclassifies certain federal employees previously considered to be “competitive service” employees as... Read More »
On Monday, November 2, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision that said a protest organizer could be sued for injuries inflicted by someone else during the protest. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented without a written explanation. In response to the 2016 police officer-involved... Read More »
For better or worse, California is often a bellwether for the rest of the nation when it comes to regulations and laws and how they can potentially affect both commerce and consumers. For businesses with operations in the nation’s most populous state, one with a Gross Domestic Product that alone... Read More »
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, announced the delisting of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on October 29, 2020. After 45 years of being classified as an endangered species, the Trump Administration has announced the successful restoration of the species that dominates the lower... Read More »
When international celebrity Johnny Depp, 57, lost his court case against News Group Newspapers, the publishers of the British tabloid The Sun, women’s groups across the world celebrated as legal teams sat down to dissect how this case will impact future libel cases both in Britain and the US. At... Read More »
In April of 2020, a Supreme Court made up of justices who ranged in age from 52 to 87 entered a ruling on a case regarding age discrimination of federal employees. One might imagine that a nation where octogenarian justices rule on its most important cases and where the largest... Read More »
Oregon has become the first U.S. state to abolish criminal penalties for possession and use of all drugs, including cocaine, LSD, and heroin. The ballot initiative, known as Measure 110 or the “Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act,” also redirects state funding to expanded healthcare access and addiction services without... Read More »
The law firm of Gianelli & Morris has filed individual and class action complaints against UnitedHealthcare of California alleging the wrongful denial of coverage for the Coflex medical device to treat the plaintiffs’ spinal stenosis and back pain. On November 4, 2020, the California insurance law firm Gianelli & Morris... Read More »
Georgia’s Supreme Court recently overturned immunity granted to three former sheriff’s deputies indicted for Eurie Lee Martin’s murder. The court’s unanimous decision will see the former deputies tried in Washington County for Martin’s murder and other charges. In a story that has become too familiar, three white law enforcement officers... Read More »
On Wednesday, October 28, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology virtually brought together the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google for a lengthy hearing on Social Media Content Moderation. The hearing centered around amending Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act (CDA). Section 230 is what Chairman Wicker... Read More »
Christie West underwent an emergency partial hysterectomy to remove a dysfunctional birth control device called Essure, manufactured by Bayer AG. Ariel Grace died at birth due to injuries to her mother that were caused by the same faulty sterilization implant. These tragedies are two of the almost 39,000 claims against... Read More »
Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEOs of Twitter, Google, and Facebook, respectively, appeared before the Senate on October 28. The hearing was called to examine the consequences of Big Tech’s “immunity” under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Section 230 gives platforms like Twitter, Google,... Read More »
On October 16, 2020, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson ordered that all open-carry firearms were to be prohibited at polling places across the state. The action led an alliance of gun-rights groups to file suit and request a preliminary injunction against the order on October 22. Oral arguments were... Read More »
The voting case Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar technically should have ended in Pennsylvania with the state supreme court’s decision. The highest authority on a state’s laws is that state’s judiciary—not the federal one. Justice Samuel Alito describes the petitioning of this state-decided matter to the U.S. Supreme Court... Read More »
Modern concerns over climate change have thrust the environment into the international spotlight, but not for the first time. In the 1960s, industrialism in the United States led to environmental degradation that became difficult to deny. In one alarming example, the Cuyahoga River caught fire. The flames on the surface... Read More »
