On Friday, July 2, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of three Texas attorneys who filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging that mandatory registration with the State Bar of Texas violated their First Amendment rights. The lawyers claimed that their rights were violated due to the State Bar of Texas's engagement in political and ideological activities not germane to the interests in regulating the legal profession.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s laws prohibiting ‘ballot harvesting’ and allowing counties to discard ballots cast in the wrong precinct.
The litigation involved voice command and bar code scanning technology that Amazon had promoted in connection with online shopping at Whole Foods.
The United States Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of protecting public school students' free speech rights on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. The ruling expounds upon Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, bringing student free speech jurisprudence into the internet era. "[S]ometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a Philadelphia Catholic foster agency accused of discrimination by the City of Philadelphia.
Rideshare drivers are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, so they are not entitled to health care coverage through Uber except in California, as provided by a distinctive state law.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a police officer who provided information from a police license plate database to an acquaintance in exchange for around $5,000 did not violate the law.
Tech industry groups argue that the law violates the Constitution by exposing social media companies to potential fines and lawsuits based on their application of content moderation rules.
A class action lawsuit was filed against Roblox Corporation in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. The lawsuit alleges that Roblox, in a "sham 'content moderation'" scheme, deletes content paid for by users without providing refunds on the grounds that the content violates the platform's policies. At least 70% of Roblox's users are under the age of 18, and over 50% of Roblox's users are under the age of 13.
In an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, Inc., Apple has asked the court to dismiss a claim that its iOS is an essential facility. While Epic’s claim iOS is an essential facility is only one of ten counts alleged against Apple, a win for Apple on this issue could be impactful.