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Good morning. Minority scholarships, residencies and other college programs are facing a growing number of legal challenges from an anti-affirmative action group, emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court. Plus, the justices extended the block on an order curbing the Biden administration’s social media contacts; a New York federal judge slashed a fee award for work on a landmark gun-rights case; and U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is due in court this week to face corruption charges. Lots to unpack on this first Monday after summer’s end. Let’s jump in.
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More than a dozen civil rights complaints have been filed this year challenging the legality of universities offering minority scholarships, summer study and residency programs to promote racial diversity, our colleague Joseph Ax writes. The challenges are part of a growing campaign against diversity initiatives after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June barred colleges and universities from considering race in admissions.
The nonprofit group Equal Protection Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, headed by Cornell University clinical law professor William Jacobson, filed the complaints with the U.S. Education Department’s civil rights office. Jacobson said the education department has asked the group for more information but has not indicated whether it will launch formal investigations.
The latest complaint accused Western Kentucky University of violating civil rights law by offering scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students available only to minority applicants. Other targets include a minority scholarship at Kansas State University and a residency program for Black filmmakers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Diversity initiatives elsewhere are facing challenges. Some groups, including one founded by former Trump administration officials, have challenged corporate diversity policies. Another group has sued law firms Perkins Coie and Morrison & Foerster over fellowships they offer to promote diversity.
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- Starting in February, law graduates taking the California bar will pay 26% more to sit for the attorney licensing exam. The California bar’s board approved a slate of admission fee increases that is expected to generate an additional $7.9 million annually for the organization, which is facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. The cost of the exam will go from $796 to $1,000 for law graduates. (Reuters)
- Norfolk Southern’s lawyers at Skadden and Troutman Sanders were denied legal fees after defeating freight rail rival CSX’s antitrust lawsuit in Virginia federal court. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Davis ruled that the relevant state law did not make fees presumptive. CSX is appealing the dismissal of its case claiming its rival has curbed competition at a critical Atlantic marine terminal. (Reuters)
- A Massachusetts cannabis company must bargain with a union that lost an election to represent its workers, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled in the first decision to apply a major recent ruling by the agency. Administrative Law Judge Andrew Gollin in Boston said I.N.S.A. Inc fired union supporters and engaged in an array of other unlawful conduct leading up to a 2022 election, rendering the chances of a fair vote unlikely. (Reuters)
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That’s the legal fee award won by attorneys for the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association and two gun owners at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year expanding the scope of Second Amendment rights. Lawyers from Kirkland, Bradley Arant, Cooper & Kirk, and Kathleen McCaffrey Baynes Esq PLLC had asked the court to award more than $1.2 million in fees and costs to plaintiffs for about 1,621 hours of work over several years. Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes in Syracuse said 22 of the firms’ 23 lawyers who worked on the case had submitted hourly rates that were out of step for her district. The court approved significantly lower amounts.
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Fenwick & West, the law firm accused of helping onetime crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried defraud FTX customers, defended its conduct in a court filing on Thursday night, arguing that it merely provided “routine legal services” to the now-shuttered crypto exchange. Alison Frankel details the firm’s motion to dismiss a civil suit by FTX customers who allege that Fenwick abetted alleged fraud by FTX insiders – and explains how the firm’s new filing could impact Bankman-Fried’s upcoming criminal trial.
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“This is not the situation I wanted to be in.”
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- The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and other trade groups that challenged a federal government program giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices face a deadline to respond to the government’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit. In the lawsuit, PhRMA, the National Infusion Center Association and the Global Colon Cancer Association said the drug price negotiation program was unconstitutional. The government has said the lawsuit was filed too early, as it was brought before any negotiations took place.
- Defense lawyers for Donald Trump are due to respond in D.C. federal court to a request from U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith that a judge impose limits on statements from the former U.S. president in the case over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Prosecutors said Trump “has an established practice of issuing inflammatory public statements targeted at individuals or institutions that present an obstacle or challenge to him.” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was asked to order “narrow” limits on Trump’s statements outside of court. Trump has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to begin in March.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- On Tuesday, the founders of Fearless Fund, a venture capital fund devoted to funding Black women-owned businesses, will urge a federal judge in Atlanta to dismiss a lawsuit by a conservative activist accusing it of racial discrimination. The lawsuit was filed by a group founded by Edward Blum, a prominent affirmative action opponent who led the successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the consideration of race in college admissions to promote diversity. The Fearless Fund’s leaders and its lawyers pledged to fight the lawsuit.
- On Wednesday, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear arguments over the state’s Republican-backed six-week ban on abortions, which has been blocked for over a year. The court will consider whether Republican Attorney General Dave Yost can appeal a temporary block on enforcement, and if the abortion clinics that challenged the law have standing.
- On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces a court deadline to ask a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from Walt Disney Co accusing him of retaliation for the entertainment company’s opposition to a state law on classroom sexuality instruction. Disney sued the Republican governor in April, claiming he was “weaponizing” state government in retaliation for the company’s criticism of a law that banned classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity with younger children. Disney’s lawsuit came after state lawmakers passed legislation ending Disney’s virtual autonomy in central Florida.
- On Friday, Nancy Abudu, President Joe Biden’s newly-confirmed pick to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, will be formally sworn in during an investiture ceremony. Abudu, a lawyer for the nonprofit advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center, is the first Black woman to serve on the 11th Circuit.
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- The EEOC sued United Parcel Service for alleged disability discrimination, claiming in a lawsuit in Illinois federal court that the delivery firm refused to hire deaf or hearing-impaired individuals as drivers. UPS said it is modifying driver training for those who are deaf and hard of hearing and would start accepting certain regulatory exemptions in January. Gibson Dunn represents UPS. (Reuters)
- A LGBTQ student group did not have an inherent constitutional right to hold a charity drag show on West Texas A&M University’s campus over the objections of the school’s president, who deemed such performances “misogynistic” and mocking of womanhood, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled. Kacsmaryk said it was far from clear that drag shows were covered by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment’s protections for free expression. (Reuters)
- The Biden administration and environmental groups are appealing a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling that ordered an expansion of the sale of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department and groups including the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of appeal after U.S. District Judge James Cain said the Biden administration had to include additional acreage. (Reuters)
- Donut chain Dunkin’ sued an e-cigarette maker in Brooklyn federal court, accusing its “Vapin’ Donuts” products of violating the chain’s trademark rights. The lawsuit said Singh Handicraft uses branding that is “nearly identical” to Dunkin’s on disposable vaporizers shaped like an iced coffee cup and a glazed donut, with a logo in the same “distinctive orange and pink color scheme and rounded font.” (Reuters)
- Meta was sued in California federal court by staffing and tech-services company Metabyte, which accused the social-media giant of violating its trademark rights. Metabyte said in its complaint that the company formerly known as Facebook would cause confusion among consumers with its new Meta name. (Reuters)
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- Schulte Roth & Zabel hired New York-based partner Michael Didiuk in the firm’s investment management regulatory and compliance group. Didiuk was previously at Perkins Coie. (Reuters)
- Jones Day added Braden McCurrach as an M&A and private equity partner in the firm’s corporate practice in New York. He was previously at Cadwalader. (Jones Day)
- Greenberg Traurig added Phoenix-based litigation partners Laura Sixkiller and Kate Benveniste from DLA Piper. Sixkiller focuses on securities, and Benveniste focuses on real estate. (Greenberg Traurig)
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