NewsHere’s the domestic legal news we covered this week:
[JURIST] The US Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved [press release] $51.35 billion in funding on Thursday for state and foreign appropriations [text, PDF], including $10 million to help fund the UN agency that oversees the Paris Climate Agreement.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed [docket list] an amicus curiae brief [text] with the US Supreme Court [official website] Thursday in support of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, which was charged with discrimination for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, citing their religious beliefs against gay marriage.
The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that Wyoming Statute § 6-3-414(c) and Wyoming Statute 40-27-101(c) [text, DOC] are subject to First Amendment protections of free speech.
New Mexico filed a lawsuit [press release and complaint, PDF] Thursday against big opioid producing pharmaceutical companies, alleging the corporations are responsible for the Opioid Epidemic flooding the state and specifically small rural communities.
[JURIST] A federal appeals court ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that elected public board commissioners in a county in Michigan did not violate the US Constitution by opening their sessions with Christian prayer and asking attendees to join in.
[JURIST] New York’s highest state court, the Court of Appeals [judicial website] ruled [opinion PDF] on Thursday that the state constitution does not guarantee a right to physician assisted suicide.
[JURIST] Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas [official website] issued a temporary restraining order [text] on Wednesday prohibiting Dallas, Texas, officials from removing a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee.
Eric Dreiband, a partner at Jones Day [professional profile] and former top attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [official website], appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee [materials] on Wednesday to answer questions as he seeks confirmation as the head of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division.
The US House of Representatives [official website] on Tuesday approved legislation [HR 3388 materials] to allow self-driving cars into the marketplace.
Property owners in Harris County, Houston filed a class action lawsuit [amended complaint, PDF] against the federal government on Tuesday for releasing water from the Barker and Addicks reservoirs after Hurricane Harvey, causing flooding in their homes and businesses.
A group of 15 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end [press release] the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) [USCIS materials] program.
A number of prominent Republicans on Monday and filed amicus briefs imploring the Supreme Court to end gerrymandering.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] on Tuesday stayed an injunction [opinion, PDF] that had blocked the Texas voter ID law [SB 5, PDF], allowing its implementation.
The injunction was put in place [JURIST report] by Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas [official website] in late August after she found the revised law discriminatory against minority voters.
[JURIST] US President [more]
A 26-year-old Mexican immigrant in New York has amended his ongoing lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against the US government to challenge the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program [JURIST report].
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) [advocacy website] on Tuesday announced [press release] a settlement [dismissal, PDF] with Buffalo City School District [official website] to halt discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students in the district.
[JURIST] US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced [prepared remarks] the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) [official website] program, which gives undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, known as Dreamers, protection from deportation.
