Last month, a three-judge Third Circuit panel announced just minutes after oral arguments that it would affirm a district court’s ruling in favor a school district policy that allowed transgender students to use bathroom and locker room facilities corresponding with their gender identity. This unusually quick decision was partly practical, as the judges explained that they wanted to rule before the students’ graduation date.


On Thursday the Supreme Court issued a decision striking down a Minnesota law that prohibited political apparel in polling places. In a 7-2 decision, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the court held that Minnesota’s political apparel ban violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.  Justice Sotomayor joined by Justice Breyer, filed a dissenting opinion.


On Thursday, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and his three eldest children for allegedly misusing funds associated with his personal foundation. The complaint, filed in New York state court, asks the judge to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation and distribute its remaining $1 million in assets to other charities. Moreover, the lawsuit asks that Trump be forced to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and penalties and takes the unusual step of requesting that Trump be banned from leading any other New York nonprofit organization for 10 years and that each of his three children be banned from serving as a director of a New York nonprofit organization for one year.


When Laura Murray was 10 years old, she received a small glass vial containing light-gray dust from an old friend of her father’s: Neil Armstrong. The vial was paired with a note that said “To Laura Ann Murray — Best of Luck — Neil Armstrong Apollo 11.” Laura, who’s now Laura Cicco, found the vial years later in her parents' home after they had passed away. The note has since been authenticated by a handwriting expert to belong to Neil Armstrong. Cicco filed the lawsuit against NASA to get ahead of any potential legal issues since the space agency has a history of confiscating suspected lunar material from citizens.


On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that all member countries of the European Union must recognize same-sex marriage with regard to providing the same right to live and work across the European Union's 28 countries as heterosexual spouses, regardless of any individual country's views on same-sex marriage. The six European Union countries that have not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions are former Eastern Bloc countries that joined the European Union in the 21st century. The court stated that those six countries remain free not to legalize same-sex marriage or civil unions. However, the court expounded, countries "may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an E.U. citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country that is not an E.U. member state, a derived right of residence in their territory."


Square, which owns meal delivery service Caviar, has reached a $2.2 million settlement with customers in a class action lawsuit claiming that the company collected gratuities from them when they placed food orders but didn't share the money with delivery drivers. Patrons who used Caviar between January 2012 and August 2015 are included in the class.


Jared Duda claims that Google is wrongfully trying to patent his asymmetric numerical systems (ANS) compression technique.


The two largest entities in the world of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services are set to collide in a California federal court. 23andMe, the second-largest company in this evolving industry, recently sued Ancestry.com, the largest company, based on alleged patent infringement. The patent at issue involves the way in which each company uses…


Aaron Persky, the Santa Clara County Superior Court judge who sentenced Stanford student Brock Turner to just six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, was recalled on Tuesday. This is the first time in 80 years that a judge has been recalled in California. The last time a judge was recalled in the United States was in Wisconsin over 40 years ago.


Posted in: Criminal Law

The Rhode Island Governor has signed legislation regulating bump stocks and instituting a "red flag" law, allowing law enforcement to remove weapons from high risk individuals.