Reuters Legal

Longtime Washington appellate lawyer Hashim Mooppan has left law firm Jones Day for a post at the DOJ, where he also held senior roles during Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration. Mooppan in Trump's first term served as counselor to the U.S. solicitor general, the head of the office that represents the United States before SCOTUS and decides whether to file appeals in other federal courts. During the first Trump administration, Mooppan helped to defend the White House’s ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations. He also argued unsuccessfully against extending civil rights protections to gay and lesbian workers. Mike Scarcella has more: https://reut.rs/3RayLCV

The Association of American Law Schools urged states to not abandon their requirements that attorneys must graduate from American Bar Association-accredited law schools in order to practice. The AALS warned in an open letter on April 8 that eliminating state ABA accreditation rules would weaken public protections and limit law student and lawyer mobility. The letter from the AALS, which represents nearly all of the 197 ABA-accredited law schools, comes as the Supreme Courts of Florida and Texas are exploring whether to drop their longstanding ABA requirements for lawyer admission. Florida has the third-largest number of annual bar exam takers, followed by Texas in fourth. Those two states are home to a combined 22 ABA-accredited law schools. Find out more ➡️ https://reut.rs/4i2HJwV 

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily paused a pair of judicial orders that had shielded Democratic members of two federal labor boards from being fired by President Donald Trump https://reut.rs/43LSa4L 

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche banned DOJ attorneys from traveling to or speaking at American Bar Association events, in a memo seen by Reuters that accused the ABA of engaging in ‘activist causes’ contrary to the government's interest https://reut.rs/4iZXmGJ

A U.S. appeals court cleared the way for 18 federal agencies to once again fire thousands of employees who lost their jobs as part of President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce but were later reinstated by a judge. The 4th Circuit said the lower-court judge likely lacked the power to order probationary government employees be reinstated after finding their firings violated regulations for mass layoffs. Probationary employees typically have less than a year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal workers in new jobs. A three-judge panel in a 2-1 decision stayed the lower court's April 2 ruling, which applies to employees who live or work in Washington, D.C., and 19 states that sued over the mass firings, pending the Trump administration's appeal. Read the full story to find out more ➡️ https://reut.rs/3RHP3Du 

LIVE: Cyber Command acting director testifies before Senate panel The acting head of the National Security Agency and Cyber Command Lieutenant General William J. Hartman testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee less than one week after his predecessor was ousted. #Live #NSA #NationalSecurityAgency #CyberCommand #US #Senate #politics #Reuters #News Keep up with the latest news from around the world: https://www.reuters.com/

As most major law firms stay silent on President Trump's executive orders targeting the legal industry, some of the firms' lawyers are pushing back on their own.   More than 330 partners from the largest U.S. firms by revenue joined an online effort this week to organize potential court filings and internal discussions at their firms, which are facing a stark choice between resisting Trump or seeking peace with the administration.   Neel Chatterjee, a partner at Goodwin Procter who organized the online partner group, said in a LinkedIn post launching the effort that many partners disagreed with their employers' decisions not to back other firms hit with punishing executive orders.   Subscribe to The Afternoon Docket for more: https://reut.rs/4iQvdSd

The Trump administration has frozen over $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University while it investigates both schools over civil rights violations, a U.S. official said on April 8. The funding being paused includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defense, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to block federal funding for schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender policies. Read more: https://reut.rs/42oD7LI

U.S. judges said on April 9 they would impose new limits on President Donald Trump's attempts to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime law, after SCOTUS struck down a broad ban on such removals in another court. In Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said migrants held in parts of New York targeted for deportation using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act must be given notice and the chance to bring a legal challenge. That likely will apply to fewer than 10 people, a government lawyer said in court. In Brownsville, Texas, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez blocked any potential deportation of three Venezuelans being held in Raymondville, Texas, while he considers next steps. Luc Cohen has more: https://reut.rs/3Ea9uWH

President Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let him remove Democratic members from two federal labor boards while legal fights over the Republican president's dismissals of them play out https://reut.rs/4cpItLv