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Good morning. Wisconsin justices are calling for a probe after an apparent leak in an abortion rights case at the state high court. The development came on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court briefly posted, and quickly pulled down, an order in a key reproductive rights case. Plus, Texas just unveiled its plan to adopt a new bar exam; Morrison & Foerster will end its Miami lease for a “flexible” alternative; and Google wants to question Texas in the state’s biometric privacy case. In court today, Rite Aid will ask a judge to approve its restructuring plan. Happy Thursday!
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A rally ahead of last year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Wisconsin’s highest state court is expected to agree to hear a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood asking it to recognize a right to abortion in the state, according to an unpublished draft decision that news site Wisconsin Watch obtained, our colleague Brendan Pierson reports. Wisconsin law allows parties to ask the court to take cases interpreting the state constitution without first going to a lower court.
The apparent leak came on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court briefly posted a draft order in which it appeared poised to allow abortions for medical emergencies in Idaho for now. The Supreme Court said the post was inadvertent and that the justices’ ruling in the case “will be issued in due course.” The court heard arguments in April. The posting came two years after the draft of a blockbuster ruling rolling back abortion rights was leaked in advance.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler in a statement said the seven-member court was “shocked” by the leak in the Planned Parenthood case and had asked law enforcement to open an investigation to identify the source. “The seven of us condemn this breach,” she said. Wisconsin Watch also reported that the court, which has a 4-3 liberal majority, is expected to deny a bid by anti-abortion groups to intervene but to allow them to file a brief opposing the lawsuit.
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- Morrison & Foerster will not continue to maintain a traditional office in Miami, five years after announcing its first hires in the city. A Morrison Foerster spokesperson told Reuters that the San Francisco-founded firm will “transition to a flexible office space model” after its lease in a downtown Miami skyscraper expires at the end of 2024.
- Roberta Kaplan, who represented writer E. Jean Carroll in her defamation lawsuits against former Donald Trump, is leaving the law firm that bears her name to start a new one. Kaplan was one of the founding partners of Kaplan Hecker & Fink, which she formed in 2017 after 25 years at Paul Weiss. Her new firm will be named Kaplan Martin.
- Texas is poised to begin using the new national bar exam in July 2028, but officials are giving the public the opportunity to weigh in before that change is official. Texas would become the largest state to date to reveal its plans for the overhauled national bar exam. It has the fourth-largest number of bar examinees, behind New York, California and Florida.
- Texas asked a state judge to block Google from questioning the state and its legal team in their lawsuit accusing the Alphabet unit of unlawfully collecting biometric privacy data of millions of Texans without consent. Google said it wants to depose Texas on topics that include liability and penalties.
- Schulte Roth lost its bid to litigate a former client’s legal fee lawsuit in Texas federal court. In a ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said the lawsuit filed by investment fund Invictus Special Situations Master should be returned to Texas state court, where the privately held fund filed it in February. Schulte claims the fund still owes $4.1 million, but the fund is disputing that it is bound by the terms of the engagement agreement.
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That’s around how much Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier, will forfeit to settle civil forfeiture cases over his role in the 1MDB bribery and embezzlement scandal. The DOJ said the forfeited assets include a luxury Paris apartment and works by Claude Monet and Andy Warhol. Low still faces criminal money laundering and bribery conspiracy charges in Brooklyn over 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund also known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad. U.S. and Malaysian authorities have said more than $4.5 billion was looted from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015, with some money sent to offshore bank accounts and shell companies linked to Low.
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Saba Capital, the hedge fund led by prominent investor Boaz Weinstein, has been on a year-long campaign to oust BlackRock trustees from several investment funds with roughly $10 billion in assets. So far, Saba hasn’t managed to muster enough votes to win control — but it says that’s because BlackRock’s illegal election rules serve to entrench the trustees it appointed when the asset manager created the funds. Alison Frankel reports on two new court rulings that seem likely to prolong this fight.
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“They saw him for what he was:
a two-faced politician hungry for power.“
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—U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan federal court, sentencing former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez to 45 years in prison for his conviction on drug and firearm offenses. Castel said the sentence should send a message to well-educated, seemingly personable defendants who may believe they are insulated from prosecution, our colleague Luc Cohen writes. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while defense lawyers said a 40-year term, the mandatory minimum under federal law, was enough. The sentence means Hernandez, 55, will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, unless his expected appeal succeeds.
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- The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue at least one opinion today in argued cases, and again on Friday, as the term moves toward its end. Decisions are due in major cases including one that involves Donald Trump’s claim of presidential immunity from prosecution and another that focuses on the doctrine called “Chevron deference“ that long has bolstered federal regulations against legal challenges. The justices also are weighing whether to approve OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement.
- U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court will hold an initial conference in the blockbuster antitrust lawsuit the DOJ filed in May with a group of states seeking to break up entertainment industry giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster unit. Live Nation has blasted the lawsuit as meritless and vowed to fight it. Former longtime plaintiffs lawyer Bonny Sweeney is lead counsel for the government. Live Nation and Ticketmaster have turned to teams of lawyers from Latham and Cravath.
- Friend-of-the-court briefs supporting TikTok are due in the D.C. Circuit in the company’s fight to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban it. TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in their lawsuit argue that the law runs afoul of First Amendment free speech protections and other U.S. constitutional provisions. The law gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- A U.S. Supreme Court ruling for a former mayor accused of bribery could make it harder for federal prosecutors to bring corruption cases against state and local officials. The justices ruled 6-3 to reverse a lower court’s decision that had upheld the corruption conviction of the former mayor in Indiana of accepting $13,000 from a truck company that received more than $1 million in contracts during his time in office.
- A group of 26 state attorneys general led by West Virginia and Kentucky are challenging the Biden administration’s new fuel economy rules, calling the requirements unworkable and saying they would force automakers to build more electric vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month finalized tighter vehicle fuel economy rules through 2031 that are significantly less stringent than first proposed.
- Financial regulators in 25 states settled with cryptocurrency investment platform Abra and its CEO for operating without required state licensing. As part of the deal, Abra last year agreed to stop accepting crypto from U.S. Abra Trade account customers into its products and services, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors said, after agreeing to stop making cryptocurrencies available for buying and trading.
- Tennessee’s attorney general asked the federal government to take over an investigation into an attempt to auction off Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate, a spokesperson said. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced last month that his office was investigating whether any fraud had been carried out. The spokesperson said it became apparent that “this was a matter best suited for federal law enforcement.”
- Northern Dynasty Minerals said two Alaska native village corporations sued the EPA for its veto against the Canadian miner’s proposed Pebble mine in the state’s southwest region. The lawsuit follows one the company brought in March against the EPA’s 2023 decision to prohibit the discharge of mining waste in Alaska’s Bristol Bay over concerns the materials would degrade the watershed and harm vital fishing ecosystems.
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- Thompson Hine absorbed California litigation firm Conkle, Kremer & Engel, adding partners John Conkle, Eric Engel, Mark Kremer, Zach Page, Evan Pitchford and Amanda Washton to a new Los Angeles office. (Thompson Hine)
- Paul Hastings will bring on a 12-lawyer team in Paris from litigation and investigations firm Antonin Lévy & Associés. Partners Antonin Lévy, Ophélia Claude and Joris Monin de Flaugergues focus on white-collar defense and investigations. (Paul Hastings)
- Womble Bond Dickinson hired tax partner Phyllis Guillory in Houston. She previously was at Chamberlain Hrdlicka. (Womble)
- London-founded firm Kennedys added Chad Pasternack, who advises on insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, as a partner in Fort Lauderdale. He previously was at Cozen O’Connor. (Kennedys)
- Winstead brought on real estate partner Luis Murguia in Dallas from Fried Frank. (Winstead)
- Bradley hired financial services and government enforcement partner Bob McGahan in D.C. He joins from Nelson Mullins. (Bradley)
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