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Good morning. Lawyers from Cahill Gordon are representing Elon Musk’s X social media platform in a case challenging a new California content moderation law. Plus, the 5th Circuit narrowed an injunction against the Biden administration over agency leaders’ efforts to fight misinformation; LSAT glitches persist; and Burford Capital sees a “complete win” in a multibillion-dollar fight. Coming up: Google will head to trial this week in D.C. in a blockbuster antitrust case, and the Biden administration’s drug-price negotiation program faces a key hearing. Thanks for reading!
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REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Lawyers from Cahill Gordon, including veteran First Amendment defenders Floyd Abrams and Joel Kurtzberg, are representing Elon Musk’s X Corp in a lawsuit challenging a new California law that imposes transparency rules for social media companies. The law, known as Assembly Bill 587, says X and certain other companies must publish their policies for policing disinformation, harassment, hate speech and extremism.
AB 587 requires social media companies with at least $100 million of gross annual revenue to issue semiannual reports that describe their content moderation practices, and provide data on the numbers of objectionable posts and how they were addressed. X, the social media platform once known as Twitter, said the law violates its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and California’s state constitution, our colleague Jonathan Stempel reports.
The Anti-Defamation League and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) have documented increases in the volume of hate speech on X targeting Jews, Black people, gay men and trans people since Musk took over the social media platform. In August, a legal team at White & Case representing X sued the CCDH in federal court, accusing it of encouraging advertisers to pause investment on the platform.
Cahill’s Kurtzberg is co-chair of the firm’s First Amendment and media litigation practice. Abrams, a senior counsel, was on the team that defended the New York Times in the “Pentagon Papers” case. Musk and X have leaned on a host of firms for litigation work, including Quinn Emanuel, Morgan Lewis and Reid Collins & Tsai.
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- LSAT takers encountered technical glitches last week, the second time in two months that examinees have faced such problems. The Law School Admission Council, which administers the test through an electronic platform, said that some test takers had been disconnected from the exam as a result of a program outage but that the problem had been quickly resolved. (Reuters)
- A 2nd Circuit panel appeared open to reviving a lawsuit that said Connecticut’s adoption of an anti-harassment and discrimination professional rule for lawyers was unconstitutional. Judges on the panel pressed attorneys for two Connecticut lawyers — who claim their speech is being chilled by the rule — and Connecticut bar officials on what kind of speech lawyers would be prohibited from making under the rule. (Reuters)
- Louisiana investment company Western Bankers Capital sued Utah law firm Kirton McConkie and one of its partners over claims the company relied on the lawyer’s opinion letters to sell stock but wound up the target of an SEC complaint after the sale. A spokesperson for Kirton McConkie declined to comment on the litigation. (Reuters)
- The University of Arizona’s law school licensed the administration of its alternative law school admission program to Aspen Publishing. Aspen, known for its legal textbooks and study aids, acquired an exclusive five-year license to run JD-Next, an 8-week series of online legal courses that culminates in an exam. (Reuters)
- Spencer Fane will absorb California-based corporate law firm Pahl & McCay, adding 15 lawyers in San Jose and Santa Monica effective Oct. 1. (Reuters)
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That’s how much Argentina owes to minority shareholders of YPF arising from the government’s 2012 seizure of a majority stake in the oil and gas company, a Manhattan judge found. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in favor of Burford Capital, which funded the litigation brought by shareholders Petersen Energia Inversora and Eton Park Capital Management, and according to court papers was entitled to a respective 70% and 75% of their damages. Argentina, which is in dire financial straits, had sought to pay no more than $4.92 billion. Burford called the decision “a complete win.”
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- In Austin federal court, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright will hold a hearing in a lawsuit from book publishers challenging a new Texas state law that bans “sexually explicit” books from public schools. Albright recently issued a preliminary injunction, and the defendants — including the chair of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and others — want the order paused while they head to the 5th Circuit appeals court to challenge it. The lawsuit asserted that the legislation “compels plaintiffs to express the government’s views, even if they do not agree,” in violation of the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
- Sam Bankman-Fried and federal prosecutors face a deadline to propose questions to screen prospective jurors in the FTX founder’s Oct. 2 trial. The parties also face a deadline to respond to each other’s motions about excluding testimony from expert witnesses to be called by the other side. Bankman-Fried last week lost his bid to be freed immediately from a Brooklyn jail so he could prepare better for his criminal trial over the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta will preside over opening statements in the DOJ and state attorneys general antitrust trial accusing Google of abusing its market dominance for search engines. The government alleges Google paid billions of dollars to Apple and others in order to make Google’s search engine the default, which harmed competitors. Lawyers for Google at Williams & Connolly argue their client competed lawfully for its distribution contracts and that it has not violated “exclusionary” conduct restrictions in antitrust law. Several Apple executives are expected to testify.
- Also on Tuesday, a 5th Circuit panel will hear arguments in biotechnology company Illumina’s challenge to an FTC order requiring the divestiture of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail. San Diego-based Illumina, represented by Cravath, is appealing an April 3 FTC order that said the company’s $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail will curb competition in the cancer-testing market. Illumina has denied the allegations. The appeals court agreed to expedite its consideration of the case.
- On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins in San Jose will hear arguments in a lawsuit seeking to compel Alphabet’s Google to turn over information to plaintiffs’ lawyers about the company’s deal with the NFL to carry the “Sunday Ticket” package of televised football games. Lawyers representing classes of residential and commercial business subscribers of Sunday Ticket filed the lawsuit to get information for their antitrust case against the NFL. The NFL has denied the plaintiffs’ claims that the program’s price is artificially high.
- On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission will meet in an open meeting to discuss a variety of topics. The agenda includes an item addressing “stealth advertising” in digital media. “The Commission will vote on whether to release a staff perspective and recommendations on the blurring of advertising and content on digital media and how it affects kids, including teens,” the FTC said.
- On Friday, lawyers for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups will argue in Ohio federal court for a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden administration’s prescription drug price negotiation program. The plaintiffs’ case is among others from various major drug companies that also are challenging the program. The business groups are represented by lawyers from King & Spalding and Porter Wright. U.S. District Judge Michael Newman in Dayton will hear arguments. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law last year, allows Medicare to negotiate prices for some of its most costly drugs
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- Kroger said it would sell 413 grocery stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers in an effort to get regulatory approval for its nearly $25 billion takeover of smaller rival Albertsons. Kroger will get about $1.9 billion in cash for the store divestitures. The company said it may need C&S to purchase up to an additional 237 stores in certain geographies to get regulatory nod for the deal, which is on track for an early 2024 close. (Reuters)
- Alaska sued the Biden administration over its decision to reverse a Trump-era policy that had opened vast swaths of the largest U.S. national forest, the Tongass, to logging and mining. The lawsuit, filed in Alaska federal court, claims the decision by the USDA earlier this year to restore protections for 9.37 million acres of the southeastern Alaska forest undermines the state’s economy by prohibiting timber harvests and mining for essential minerals. (Reuters)
- Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s onetime chief of staff, lost his bid to take the Georgia state criminal case against him to U.S. court in Georgia. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied Meadows’ request to move his case, an early win for Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors. Meadows was charged in August with Trump and 17 others with conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. (Reuters)
- Freight rail giant Westinghouse Air Brake was sued by rival Progress Rail, a division of construction equipment company Caterpillar, for alleged anticompetitive practices that have cost rail users higher prices. McGuireWoods is on the team for Progress Rail in its lawsuit in Delaware federal court seeking to force its competitor to divest its 2019 acquisition of GE Transportation. (Reuters)
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- David Patton, the top federal public defender in New York who has represented high-profile terrorism defendants facing U.S. charges, will join litigation firm Kaplan Hecker in November. (Reuters)
- Steptoe hired white-collar partner Andrew Adams, former head of a DOJ task force targeting Russian oligarchs for aiding the country’s war in Ukraine. Adams will be based in New York. (Reuters)
- Manatt hired healthcare partner Eric Gold in Boston. Gold most recently was chief of the healthcare division at the Massachusetts attorney general’s office. (Manatt)
- Dykema added Michael Word as an intellectual property partner in Chicago. Word joins the firm from Mayer Brown. (Dykema)
- McGuireWoods hired partner Todd Beaton in New York in the firm’s securities enforcement and regulatory group. Beaton was previously a chief counsel at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. (McGuireWoods)
- Goodwin brought on Joshua Cook as a San Francisco-based technology practice partner. He arrives from Proof Holdings, where he was president. (Goodwin)
- Lewis Roca added San Francisco-based partners Matthew Blackburn and Evan Boetticher in the firm’s intellectual property and litigation practice groups. They were previously at Sullivan Blackburn Pratt.
- Allen Matkins hired Stuart Block as a San Francisco-based partner in its land use, environmental and natural resources group and co-leader of its contaminated sites practice. He previously co-founded and led Stice & Block. (Allen Matkins)
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