Trump’s legal woes:
Former President Donald Trump announced last weekend on Truth Social that he expected to be arrested this week as the office of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg considers charges over a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels. The probe in question has started and stopped so many times that it is known as a “zombie case,” that failed to produce charges yet again this week.
Meanwhile, leading U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Donald Verrilli and his colleagues at Munger, Tolles & Olson argued that Trump can be sued over his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol. A federal judge said Trump will get an anonymous jury in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll’s upcoming defamation trial, citing the threat of juror harassment. And, Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the former president’s retention of classified documents.
Social media:
At a tense congressional hearing on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced tough questions as many lawmakers pressure the Biden administration to ban TikTok, alleging the app could be used for data collection, content censorship and to the detriment of children’s mental health. Experts said TikTok would be tough to ban in the U.S. without a new law that bolsters the government’s authority to regulate speech.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed two laws intended to restrict social media use by minors and to make it easier to sue social media companies for damages. And Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and its former COO Sheryl Sandberg must face questions in an antitrust lawsuit that alleges the tech company deceived users and advertisers about data privacy to maintain market power.
Legal ethics:
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are casting doubt on disbarred California lawyer Tom Girardi’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis as they wrangle over how to test his competency to stand trial. The California Supreme Court asked the State Bar of California to fast-track changes meant to identify potential conflicts of interest among potential bar leaders. A South Carolina civil rights organization is challenging rules that it says would block it from training volunteers who are not lawyers to give limited legal advice to tenants facing eviction in the state.
