Reuters Legal

Some of Donald Trump's allies are assembling proposals to curtail the Justice Department's independence and turn the nation's top law enforcement body into an attack dog for conservative causes, nine people involved in the effort told Reuters. If successful, the overhaul could represent one of the most consequential actions of a second Trump presidency given the Justice Department's role in protecting democratic institutions and upholding the rule of law. It would also mark a dramatic departure from the department's mission statement  which identifies ‘independence and impartiality’ as core values. Trump, who has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges by the Justice Department, has vowed on the campaign trail to overhaul the agency if he wins the presidential election on Nov. 5 and pledged to use it to pursue his own opponents, including Democratic President Joe Biden. Read the detailed report: https://reut.rs/4dGMX0z

Americans are divided on whether women should have to see a doctor in person before receiving abortion pills, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found, as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to reimpose that restriction on medication abortion. But broad bipartisan majorities opposed the idea of allowing states with abortion bans in place to block access to the procedure in certain emergency cases when it is needed to protect the mother's health, at issue in another case before the court. The findings come as the court is preparing to rule on its highest-profile abortion cases since 2022, when the justices overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the national right to abortion. Some 50% of respondents in the May 7-14 survey said they supported an in-person doctor visit requirement for abortion medication, while 33% said they opposed that rule. 17% said they were unsure. Read more here ➡️ https://reut.rs/4asQwEJ 

A retired teacher has pleaded guilty to threatening in obscenity-filled voicemails to harm a federal judge in Florida who had rejected a challenge to the state's so-called ‘don't say gay’ law restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Stephen Thorn pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court in Tampa to a single threat charge related to five voice mails he left on Oct. 24, 2022 with the judge's chambers in Orlando after he read a news story about a ruling she issued, prosecutors said on May 16. He faces up to five years in prison. The prosecution comes amid a sharp rise in threats to federal judges nationally. Serious threats against federal judges rose to 457 in fiscal year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, from 224 in fiscal 2021, the U.S. Marshals Service says. Read more: https://reut.rs/44OYBlN 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision safeguarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the nation's consumer finance watchdog, earned plaudits from supporters of robust federal regulation. But their praise for the court may prove short-lived. Moderna wins patent case in Europe against Pfizer, BioNTech over COVID shot; Judge to rule on Alec Baldwin bid to avoid 'Rust' trial; Complaint dismissed against Trump hush-money judge who donated to Biden, and more on the trial in your week in review. Subscribe to The Afternoon Docket: https://reut.rs/4aVlZjE #legal

Did Tesla bully Holland & Knight to squelch a friend-of-the-court brief by a Delaware law professor who was also a consultant at the firm?  When that accusation surfaced earlier this week in a filing by retired University of Delaware professor Charles Elson, Elson said Holland & Knight told him in an email about Tesla’s purported threat to pull its work from the firm if Elson filed an amicus brief criticizing Tesla’s plan to reinstate CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package in a new shareholder vote. Elson didn’t include the email in his original filing, but Alison Frankel has now seen it. On its face, Frankel says, it seems to back Elson’s account — but in a late-breaking twist, Holland & Knight told Frankel that it included an 'incorrect' account in the email. Read @Alison Frankel’s column for more: https://reut.rs/3yljb1h

Donald Trump's lawyers at his New York criminal trial have portrayed his estranged former fixer Michael Cohen as a liar and Trump-hater who acted alone to pay off a porn star, but legal experts say prosecutors have largely backed up his testimony with the accounts of others, phone logs and other hard evidence. Trump's onetime lawyer, Cohen testified for the prosecution this week that Trump directed him to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet before the 2016 election about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter. He testified that Trump then approved a plan to fudge records to cover up the deal. During cross-examination, defense lawyer Todd Blanche sought to undermine Cohen's credibility, portraying him as a turncoat falsely implicating his former boss out of spite. Although prosecutors failed to fully corroborate Cohen's versions of his one-on-one conversations with Trump, they largely established Trump was aware of the scheme, portraying him as a micromanager of his family business and finances, said Professor Rebecca Roiphe at New York Law School. Read more about the case: https://reut.rs/44IEuWB

The SCOTUS on May 16 upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding mechanism in a challenge brought by the payday loan industry, handing a victory to President Joe Biden's administration and a setback to the agency's conservative critics. The 7-2 decision, authored by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, reversed a lower court's ruling that the CFPB's funding design violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution called the 'appropriations clause' giving Congress the power of the purse. The agency draws money annually from the Federal Reserve instead of from budgets passed by lawmakers. Biden called the decision 'an unmistakable win for American consumers,' touting how the agency under his administration has provided nearly $9 billion in consumer relief and is working to save Americans $20 billion annually going forward on credit card late fees, overdraft fees and other 'junk fees.' Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/3O4K9yr

#SCOTUS's decision safeguarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - the nation's consumer finance watchdog - earned plaudits from supporters of robust federal regulation. But their praise for the court may prove short-lived. Powered by its 6-3 conservative majority, the court has emerged in recent years as something of an ally in what has been called the 'war on the administrative state,' a longstanding conservative effort to weaken federal agencies that regulate key aspects of American business and life. The court on May 16 upheld the CFPB's funding mechanism - drawing money annually from the Federal Reserve rather than from budgets passed by Congress - in a challenge by the payday loan industry, handing a win to President Joe Biden's administration and a setback to the agency's conservative critics. Despite that ruling, pending decisions in cases that the justices heard during their current term, which began in October, could substantially curb federal agency powers in areas ranging from finance to fish conservation. Those rulings are expected by the end of June. John Kruzel has more: https://reut.rs/3ULqLtB #legal #legalnews #government

Donald Trump's lawyers at his New York criminal trial have portrayed his estranged former fixer Michael Cohen as a liar and Trump-hater who acted alone to pay off a porn star, but legal experts say prosecutors have largely backed up his testimony with the accounts of others, phone logs and other hard evidence. The California bar shelved a plan to develop its own bar exam that can be administered online, a change the financially struggling organization projects would save as much as $4 million a year. Did Tesla bully Holland & Knight to squelch a friend-of-the-court brief by a Delaware law professor who was also a consultant at the firm? SCOTUS on May 16 upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding mechanism in a challenge brought by the payday loan industry, handing a victory to President Joe Biden's administration and a setback to the agency's conservative critics. Here's your Legal File: #legal #legalnews #legalindustry #litigation

The U.S. blocked imports from 26 Chinese cotton traders or warehouse facilities as part of its effort to eliminate goods made with the forced labor of Uyghur minorities from the U.S. supply chain. The companies are the latest additions to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List that restricts the import of goods tied to what the federal government has characterized as an ongoing genocide of minorities in China's western Xinjiang region. U.S. officials believe Chinese authorities have established labor camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any abuses. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/3O4K9yr