New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a new law on Tuesday that bans the so-called “gay panic” defense for murder, preventing the reduction of murder to manslaughter committed in the heat of passion under certain circumstances. Both houses of the New Jersey legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill. Under previous law, a homicide that would be [...]

The United States Supreme Court released orders on Friday that granted certiorari for six new cases, consolidating them into three hours of upcoming oral arguments. The first case, which consolidates Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth District Court and Ford Motor Co. v. Bandemer, presents  a question about personal jurisdiction. The Due Process Clause permits [...]

New York Attorney General Letitia James and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine are co-leading a lawsuit filed Thursday against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Requirements for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents, a rule passed on [...]

Kimberly Gardner, the first black Circuit Attorney in the history of St. Louis, Missouri, filed a lawsuit on Monday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri against the city of St. Louis, the St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA), the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 68, and five other individuals for [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a per curiam opinion in Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, “leaving it to the Second Circuit whether to determine their merits, taking such action as it deems appropriate” regarding arguments raised in the petitioners’ brief. IBM offered employees the opportunity to invest in the company through [...]

In the 2020 Report on the State of the Legal Market, the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute and Peer Monitor noted that “there has been mounting evidence that revolutionary changes are afoot” in the market for legal services. Over the past [...]

The Trump administration took its first step towards tighter pollution control on heavy-duty trucks and truck engines after US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed an advance notice of proposed rulemaking Monday. In 2016 more than 20 organizations petitioned the EPA to develop more strict emission standards after the EPA projected that heavy-duty [...]

The White House announced Monday that US President Donald Trump signed S 151, the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (Pallone-Thune TRACED Act), into law. The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue additional civil penalties for intentional violations of restrictions on the use of automated telephone equipment.  [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of California on Tuesday denied a motion by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the American Lighting Association (ALA) for a temporary restraining order against the California Energy Commission (CEC) to block updated light bulb efficiency standards. NEMA and ALA filed a complaint [...]

Pastor Wang Yi of an unregistered house church in Chengdu, China was convicted of subversion on Monday and sentenced to nine years in prison. This sentence followed a secret trial at the Chengdu Intermediate Court on December 26. In December 2018, around 100 students and seminary leaders from Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu were [...]