Disney v. DeSantis
Now that the year-long war of words between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney has landed in the courts, the Republican leader might find his verbal barbs directed at the entertainment giant coming back to bite, legal experts said. When DeSantis’ attorneys head to court they’ll see a familiar face, if not always a welcome one. The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, has struck down several laws that defined DeSantis’ conservative political agenda, including statutes that sought to limit the speech of college professors, curtailed protests and restricted voting access.
SCOTUS
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the Constitution’s First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on platforms like Facebook and Twitter and mulled the legality of a state’s property tax “windfall.” The court declined to hear a computer scientist’s challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to issue patents for inventions his artificial intelligence system created, and it rebuffed appeals by Exxon and Chevron in climate cases. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee called on U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to provide details about the top court’s ethics practices after Roberts declined to attend a hearing on reports that raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.
Legal job market
The law school class of 2022 graduated into a strong entry-level hiring market, landing legal jobs at a higher rate than their predecessors in 2021 and 2019—the last cohort before COVID-19 temporarily pushed down new lawyer hiring. Will 2023 be as strong? Reuters crunched the ABA’s new employment numbers to determine which law schools had the highest employment rates.
Musicians in court
A trial over claims that Ed Sheeran owes a share of profits from his hit “Thinking Out Loud” for copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” kicked off this week. Sheeran played the chord progression to the song and sang a few of the words on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court. Earlier in the week, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton instructed the seven-member jury that no dancing was allowed. Meanwhile, the heirs of Gap Band members Robert and Ronnie Wilson dropped their lawsuit against BMG Rights Management over royalties from Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s 2014 hit song “Uptown Funk.”
