NewsHere’s the domestic legal news we covered this week:
Members of Congress introduced legislation [materials] Thursday that would prohibit lawmakers from paying settlements in sexual harassment claims with taxpayers’ money.
The office of the US Attorney for the District of Columbia [official website] announced [text, PDF] Thursday that it was dropping charges against 129 people arrested in the Inauguration Day protests, proceeding with charges against 59 defendants.
The US Senate [official website] voted 65-34 [roll call] on Thursday in favor of a six-year extension [materials] of the FISA Amendments Act [text, PDF], which authorizes the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] to gather intelligence by means of warrantless surveillance of foreign persons and American companies.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Thursday ordered [opinion, PDF] the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] to disclose two documents within an internal DOJ resource manual for federal prosecutors related to electronic surveillance and tracking devices in criminal investigations.
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday temporarily stayed [order, PDF] an order from the US District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina [official website] to redraw the state’s congressional map because of partisan gerrymandering.
The defendants in the North Carolina Case filed a motion for stay [text, PDF] with the Supreme Court last week after the the North Carolina court filed an order requiring the state to enact a new congressional district map.
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Thursday unanimously struck down [opinion, PDF] a constitutional challenge to a California law [text] that criminalizes prostitution.
[JURIST] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] on Wednesday announced [official notice] that it will bar Haitians from receiving H-2A and H-2B visas, which provide foreign workers access to the US for temporary agricultural and seasonal work.
DHS cited the “high rate of [Haitians] overstaying the terms” of their work visas as justification for removing Haiti from the list of visa-eligible countries.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] issued a memo [text, PDF] Wednesday outlining policy changes to help combat the caseload backup throughout immigration courts over the past few years.
A bipartisan group of senators unveiled an immigration proposal [summary, PDF] on Wednesday as more Republicans offered support for immigration reform.
The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments in two cases on Wednesday: one concerning overtime-pay, and another concerning constitutional protections to criminal defendants.
[JURIST] Attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia filed a Protective Petition for Review [text, PDF] in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] on Tuesday asking the court to review the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] decision to rescind net neutrality laws [JURIST report] that prohibited internet service providers (ISPs) from deliberately blocking or slowing down websites or internet content or charging for preferential treatment.
[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced Tuesday that it plans to seek Supreme Court review [press release] of a trial court’s decision to block the rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) [official website] program, which gives undocumented immigrants brought into the US as children, known as “Dreamers,” protection from deportation.
