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REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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The potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. would raise First Amendment legal concerns, which legal experts said would set up a showdown with the social media company over free speech protections.
A proposal to force TikTok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance to sell the platform, or be banned, has alarmed civil rights advocates, TikTok and users of the app, all of whom could sue to block the proposal if it becomes law. The bill’s promoters have argued it has nothing to do with speech but merely regulates a commercial activity.
Legal experts said opponents of the law could argue it infringes free speech by preventing users from expressing themselves and businesses from using the app to promote their products. TikTok has already beaten back a similar attempt to ban its use in Montana, although the state is appealing that ruling in the 9th Circuit.
Read more:
• Explainer – Will TikTok be banned in the US and what is next for the bill?
• US Senate not moving to fast-track House bill for TikTok divestiture
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- U.S. law firms leased a record total amount of office space in 2023, commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield said, signaling the legal industry’s relative bullishness on in-person work since the pandemic. The U.S. legal sector leased nearly 16.9 million square feet last year, more than any prior year and up from about 14.8 million in 2022.
- Five law schools accredited by the American Bar Association posted first-time bar pass rates below 50% in 2023, new data show. Cooley Law School, which has campuses in Michigan and Florida, had the lowest first-time pass rate last year at 37.25%.
- U.S. Senate Republicans pushed the federal judiciary to rethink a new policy designed to curb the practice of “judge shopping” used by conservative litigants to steer cases challenging President Joe Biden’s agenda to judges perceived as sympathetic. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hoped the U.S. Judicial Conference would reconsider the “half-baked” policy it adopted on Tuesday designed to ensure that cases challenging federal and state laws are randomly assigned judges.
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Does the creation of a “fake park” justify the government seizure of private land slated for an unpopular commercial use? Two 2nd Circuit judges ruled on Wednesday that even though the developers of a hardware store plausibly alleged that the Town of Southold dreamed up the idea of a passive-use park as a pretext for seizing their land and blocking their store, it’s not the job of federal courts to scrutinize the motives of legislatures that appropriate land for public use – including the creation of a park. In a fiery dissent, a third judge said his colleagues had created a split with several state supreme courts. Alison Frankel has the story.
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“A nonresident who has been discriminatorily denied a job in New York City or State loses the chance to work, and perhaps live, within those geographic areas.“
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—Judge Madeline Singas of the New York Court of Appeals in an opinion in which the court found New York City and state laws banning workplace discrimination cover people who are applying for jobs in New York but live elsewhere. The seven-member court’s unanimous ruling came in a lawsuit by a former D.C.-based Bloomberg reporter who was denied a job in New York. The state’s top court said refusing to hire or promote someone to a job in New York for discriminatory reasons has an impact in the city or state and is covered by their anti-bias laws “because that is where the person wished to work.”
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- Federal prosecutors are expected to tell U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan how much time they think Sam Bankman-Fried should serve in prison for his conviction last year in what the U.S. has called one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. Lawyers for the FTX crypto exchange founder have asked Kaplan to impose a sentence of about five to six years behind bars. Bankman-Fried’s sentencing is scheduled for March 28.
- The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue at least one opinion today, according to the court’s calendar. The justices also are meeting for their private conference, where they will review petitions and decide whether or not to take up some cases.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied former Donald Trump’s request to dismiss a criminal case that charges him with illegally holding onto classified documents after leaving the White House. The ruling came just hours after a hearing in which his lawyers argued that the central charge in the case is improperly vague.
- JPMorgan has been fined $348.2 million by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over its inadequate program to monitor firm and client trading activities for market misconduct. The Fed said the misconduct occurred between 2014 and 2023. A bank spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who claims he invented bitcoin, is not the pseudonymous inventor of the cryptocurrency, a judge at London’s High Court ruled. Wright has long claimed to have been the author of a 2008 white paper, the foundational text of bitcoin, published in the name “Satoshi Nakamoto.”
- The Sierra Club sued to challenge new rules issued by the SEC requiring public companies to report climate-related risks, arguing they do not go far enough to protect investors. The lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit said SEC arbitrarily stripped the final version of the rules of requirements for companies to disclose information about their “Scope 3” emissions, which are indirect emissions by suppliers or customers.
- A U.S. bankruptcy judge ordered the arrest of William Cameron Morton, a hedge fund manager who allegedly helped Indian education technology startup Byju’s hide $533 million from its lenders. Morton could not immediately be reached for comment.
- Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling convinced a 2nd Circuit panel that its use of the phrase “Red Gold” in advertising does not infringe a jeweler’s trademark in the “Red Gold” name. The court upheld a decision that Breitling did not violate Solid 21’s rights.
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- McDermott is expanding its white-collar defense team in New York and D.C. with the addition of seven lawyers from Orrick, including partners Guy Singer, Anne Murray, Kelly Newsome, Franklin Monsour Jr and Caitlin Sheard. The firm also brought on D.C.-based Sagar Ravi, former chief of the complex frauds and cybercrime unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. (Reuters)
- Katten Muchin Rosenman hired New York-based partner Kevin Broughel, who was previously co-chair of Paul Hastings’ securities litigation practice. (Reuters)
- Steptoe brought back Kate Jensen in D.C. as a partner in its government affairs and public policy practice. She most recently was corporate counsel at Amazon Web Services. (Steptoe)
- Bradley Arant hired Charlotte-based IP partners Henry Ward and Samantha Skains-Menchaca. They arrive from Moore & Van Allen, where Ward served as co-head of the trademark practice. (Bradley)
- Kirkland hired investment funds partner Martín Strauch in D.C. He previously was at Fried Frank. (Kirkland)
- Vedder Price added finance and transactions partner Jason DuVall in Dallas. He most recently was at Dorsey & Whitney. (Vedder Price)
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Family law cases are rife with many emotional and legal complexities. One factor that is often the root of family law issues, and something that can significantly sway their outcome, is addiction, writes David Steerman of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg. Whether an individual is actively struggling with addiction or is in remission, the addictive behavior and related repercussions can have far-reaching implications for family court proceedings.
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