On Friday, August 16, 2019, Judge Brian C. Wimes of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri ruled that Mike Campbell was deprived of his constitutional right to free speech when Missouri Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch blocked Campbell from her Twitter page after Campbell retweeted a comment criticizing Reisch's political views. Judge Wimes granted Campbell's request for declaratory and injunctive relief against Reisch under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Read More.
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Recently Featured Dockets
STRZOK v. BARR et al (filed 8/6/19)
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. et al v. Padilla et al (filed 8/6/19)
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
Mercer County v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et al (filed 7/19/19)
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
A lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in restitution from corporations that inundated the market with prescription opioids.
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant et al v. Barr et al (filed 7/16/19)
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Several civil rights groups sued the Trump administration, challenging a new rule that would severely limit the asylum protections available under US and international law to migrants at the US-Mexico border.
CAPITAL AREA IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS COALITION et al v. TRUMP et al (filed 7/16/19)
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Two immigrant rights groups filed this lawsuit (and other groups filed another similar one in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California) against the Trump administration for its new rule that would significantly restrict the ability of asylum seekers to enter the United States. The rule requires would-be asylum seekers to apply for asylum in a third country through which they traveled to reach the United States before they are eligible to apply to enter the U.S. southern border. The lawsuit alleges that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act as well as federal statutes implementing international law.
COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY et al (filed 7/2/19)
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
The House Committee on Ways and Means filed this lawsuit requesting access to President Donald Trump's tax returns, escalating a battle between the House and the President. The Committee argues that the administration's defiance constitutes "an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight of Treasury, the I.R.S., and the tax laws on behalf of the American people."
MERCK & CO., INC. et al v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES et al (filed 6/14/19)
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
A lawsuit, filed by several drug makers against the Trump Administration, wishing to block a new rule that would force the drug makers to put the price of their drugs in television advertisements.
Other Legal News
Don’t Kill the Filibuster
The New York Times, August 23, 2019
Democracy isn’t just about majority rule.
Out Trumping Trump: Democrats Join the Attack on Courts but the United States Won’t Be Better for It
Justia's Verdict, August 20, 2019
Guest columnist Austin Sarat—Associate Provost, Associate Dean of the Faculty and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College—expresses concern that Democrats are joining President Trump in undermining the public’s trust in the judiciary. Sarat specifically discusses an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by five Democratic senators in which the senators criticize the bias and partisanship of the Court’s conservative justices.
Trump Has Right to End DACA, Justice Dept. Tells Supreme Court
The New York Times, August 20, 2019
The government’s brief in the case, about the fate of the program that shields the young immigrants known as Dreamers, is the first salvo in a legal test of the president’s immigration agenda.
A Relentless Jailhouse Lawyer Propels a Case to the Supreme Court
The New York Times, August 5, 2019
Calvin Duncan, “the most brilliant legal mind” in the nation’s largest maximum-security prison, had long questioned a Louisiana law that allows 10-to-2 jury verdicts.
Lying in Repose
Supreme Court of the United States, July 18, 2019
Retired Associate Justice John Paul Stevens will lie in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court of the United States on Monday, July 22. The public is invited to pay respects from 10:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. A private ceremony at the Supreme Court will begin at 9:30 a.m. Press coverage will be pooled for some parts of the ceremony and throughout the day. A private funeral service and interment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, July 23.
Trump administration ends effort to include citizenship question on 2020 census
SCOTUSblog, July 11, 2019
This afternoon President Donald Trump announced that his administration will end its battle to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. The news came two weeks after the Supreme Court blocked the government from including the question, with the court’s four liberal justices joining Chief Justice John Roberts in ruling that the reason…
