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Good morning. A conservative panel at the 5th Circuit is set to hear arguments over the future of abortion drug mifepristone today, which could impact abortion access nationwide. Plus, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins is resigning after becoming the target of a DOJ inspector general investigation, and Taco Bell takes aim at federal trademarks on “Taco Tuesday.” All that, and hologram witnesses.
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The 5th Circuit will hear arguments today, in a closely watched case brought by anti-abortion activists seeking to ban the abortion pill mifepristone, that have a potentially far-reaching impact on abortion access across the United States, reports Brendan Pierson.
The Biden administration, represented by the DOJ’s Sarah Harrington, will urge the panel to overturn last month’s unprecedented ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, suspending mifepristone’s FDA approval.
Anti-abortion groups and doctors, led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and represented by Erin Hawley of Alliance Defending Freedom, will be defending Kacsmaryk’s order. They claimed in their lawsuit last year that mifepristone is unsafe and that the FDA’s approval, almost 23 years ago, was illegal.
Each of the three judges on the panel, Circuit Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, James Ho and Cory Wilson, have taken anti-abortion stances in the past.
Mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen that accounts for more than half of the country’s abortions, remains available for now, following an emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court putting Kacsmaryk’s order on hold during the appeal.
Read more >>>
The judges who will decide the appeal over the abortion pill
Abortion pill case goes before conservative appeals court; What’s next?
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- Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, 95, who is facing a competency investigation, has been unable to complete simple tasks independently and threatened a staffer with arrest, according to witness reports included in an order from her court. The investigative committee ordered her to undergo a neurological evaluation and neuropsychological testing, with a Friday deadline to say whether she will comply. (Reuters)
- Could courtrooms soon play host to hologram witnesses? William & Mary’s Center for Legal and Court Technology has spent the past four months experimenting with hologram court witnesses through a partnership with Proto, a California-based hologram company – but constitutional questions remain. (Reuters)
- Proskauer Rose cannot head off a trial in a $636 million legal malpractice lawsuit, a Massachusetts state judge said, setting the stage for a jury to decide if the firm’s bungling cost an ex-client his stake in a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. Suffolk County Superior Court Justice Kenneth Salinger rejected Proskauer’s argument that there was not enough evidence to show that the firm’s conduct led to its ex-client Robert Adelman’s alleged losses. (Reuters)
- Lewis Brisbois’ management committee unanimously elected New York managing partner Gregory Katz to be the firm’s new managing partner. The vote comes after more than 100 lawyers left the firm to join a spinoff firm founded by Jeffrey Ranen, the former national vice chair of labor and employment at the firm, and John Barber, the former chair of the firm’s employment practice. A couple days after the exodus, founding partner Robert Lewis stepped down from his role as chairman and the firm dissolved its executive committee in favor of an expanded management committee.
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REUTERS/Mike Segar/Illustration
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That’s how much Johnson & Johnson has set aside to resolve state consumer protection actions over its talc products, according to the bankruptcy plan filed by subsidiary LTL Management. The plan, filed in New Jersey bankruptcy court, details how the company intends to pay different types of cancer victims in a bankruptcy settlement. J&J, which has said that its talc products are safe and do not cause cancer, is attempting for a second time to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits in bankruptcy and prevent new cases from coming forward in the future.
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The SEC offered its most detailed public response to date to critics from the crypto industry on Monday, arguing in an appellate brief that the agency should not be rushed into formal rulemaking for digital assets and should instead be free to continue to police crypto through individual individual enforcement actions. You will probably not be surprised, writes Alison Frankel, to hear that the SEC’s crypto critics are not appeased by the new brief. Frankel delves into the agency’s latest arguments – which sound a lot like the arguments it has been making for years in crypto cases – and explains why critics contend the new brief is more evidence that U.S. regulators are squandering an opportunity to shape a burgeoning, trillion-dollar industry.
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“If one of us is not free to celebrate ‘Taco Tuesday,’ then none of us are free to celebrate ‘Taco Tuesday.’ ”
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—Yum Brands’ Taco Bell, which filed petitions with the USPTO to cancel two smaller competitors’ federal trademarks on the phrase “Taco Tuesday.” Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar in New Jersey owns the trademark in its home state, while Wyoming-based chain Taco John’s owns it in the rest of the country. “We’re the little guy here,” and larger companies have tried to “steamroll us because we came up with a good idea,” Gregory’s Restaurant owner Gregory Gregory told Reuters. Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel said in a statement, “I’d like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday® is best celebrated at Taco John’s®.” Taco Bell said it isn’t seeking damages, just “reason and common sense.”
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- A U.S. Senate subcommittee on the courts will hold a hearing on the federal judiciary’s handling of ethics issues, after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ failure to report gifts from GOP donor Harlan Crow. The subcommittee is led by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the lead sponsors on a bill called the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, which would create a binding code of ethics for the court and increase disclosure requirements for the justices. Watch the hearing here.
- Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov, who was convicted of killing eight people in an Islamic State-inspired truck attack on a Manhattan bike path in 2017, is expected to be formally handed a sentence of life in prison without parole. A federal jury tasked with deciding whether Saipov should receive the death penalty deadlocked in March. Saipov is expected to be housed at Colorado’s Supermax facility, the most secure U.S. federal prison.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Wells Fargo & Co has agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defrauding shareholders about its progress in recovering from a series of scandals over its treatment of customers. Shareholders had accused Wells Fargo of overstating how well it was complying with consent orders and an asset cap governing its operations, and said the bank’s market value fell by more than $54 billion as the shortcomings became known. The bank denied wrongdoing, and said it settled to eliminate the burden and cost of litigation. (Reuters)
- The DOJ announced charges in five cases involving alleged efforts to steal technology to benefit China, Russia and Iran, including a former Apple engineer accused of targeting the company’s technology on autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China. The former Apple engineer, identified as 35-year-old Weibao Wang, formerly resided in Mountain View, California, and was hired by Apple in 2016, according to an April indictment unsealed on Tuesday. (Reuters)
- The D.C. Circuit rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging federal approvals needed to construct a $39 billion project that would move natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope across the state. Environmental groups sued in 2020, claiming the pipeline bisecting the state would “wreak havoc” on Alaska’s wildlife and the climate, but the appellate court said FERC’s review of plans for the state-run project satisfied the National Environmental Policy Act requirements to take a hard look at environmental impacts. (Reuters)
- The Federal Circuit sided with General Electric, Ikea Supply and Home Depot in rejecting a request by the University of California to block imports of light bulbs that allegedly infringe its patents. The court affirmed the U.S. International Trade Commission’s decision that the companies’ light bulbs did not include a key element of the university’s patented technology. (Reuters)
- Vice Media received court permission to borrow $5 million to fund its bankruptcy, saying it will use the money in part to pay freelancers and prepare the company for a sale. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Mastando at a hearing in Manhattan said he would allow Vice to borrow additional money from its existing senior lenders, a group that includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital. (Reuters)
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- Boies Schiller Flexner said it hired Kazakh government attorney Almat Madaliyev as a partner in its London and New York offices. He previously served as the vice minister of justice for the Kazakh government, representing the central Asian former Soviet Republic in investor-state disputes and commercial transactions. (Reuters)
- Blank Rome hired nine attorneys from Akerman, including partners Craig Weiner, Lisa Coyle, Reena Jain and Massimo D’Angelo. The group is joining Blank Rome’s commercial litigation group, and D’Angelo will co-chair the real estate industry group. (Blank Rome)
- Akerman added partner Anne Levin-Nussbaum to its renewable energy and electric power practice, based in New York. Levin-Nussbaum was previously with Mintz. (Akerman)
- Seward & Kissel picked up partner David Baron in New York. Baron, who was previously with Hogan Lovells, will be part of Seward’s employment law group. (Seward)
- Cozen O’Connor added tax partner Christopher McLoon in the firm’s Philadelphia office from Nutter McClennen. (Cozen)
- Employment law firm Jackson Lewis added three partners from Ogletree Deakins. Christian Keeney, Patricia Matias and Alis Moon join the firm in Orange County, California. (Jackson Lewis)
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Private equity investors interested in the healthcare industry should ask specific questions to uncover compliance issues before moving forward with any investment, write Darren Skyles, Catherine Buck and Patrick LaRue of Frost Brown Todd. Here are the questions they say need to be answered.
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