Good morning. Today could be the day the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision on the future of Roe v. Wade, while its operations are still closed to the public and conducted behind a recently- installed 8-foot security fence. Plus, Walgreens wants the D.C. Circuit to revive its DQ case against its former counsel at Crowell & Moring, and DQ — as in Dairy Queen — lost a fight over the "Blizzard" name. It’s the first day of summer, so get outside if you can!
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All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court as the country awaits a decision on the future of abortion rights, a ruling that could come down as early as today. But as consequential as the case is, the court has heard arguments, debated the merits of them and reached its conclusion in a courthouse that is closed to the public and behind a huge security fence, writes Lawrence Hurley. Though other federal government buildings have reopened since their pandemic-related closures, the high court hasn’t. And while it has live-streamed arguments, the court is not live-streaming the reading of opinions or dissents. Instead, rulings are simply posted online. Read more about the changes at the court as it weighs some of the most critical cases in recent memory. |
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Walgreens’ lawyers have urged the D.C. Court of Appeals to revive a key part of a professional misconduct claim that the retail pharmacy giant brought last year against Crowell & Moring, one of its former law firms that now represents an adversary in arbitration. Walgreens contends its bid to disqualify Crowell belongs in court, not the pending arbitration. Crowell has denied violating attorney ethics rules. (Reuters)
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The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s Ginsburg-Scalia Fellowship is an eight-week dinner lecture series for law students working as summer associates at Washington, D.C. law firms. Named for the famous friendship between the late Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it aims to promote civility and collegiality in the legal profession and in intellectual discourse. (Reuters)
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Peter Navarro, a former adviser to then-President Donald Trump, has brought on lawyers John Rowley and John Irving to defend him on federal misdemeanor charges over his refusal to provide testimony or documents to the U.S. House panel investigating the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro, who previously said he was planning to defend himself, pleaded not guilty last week. (Reuters)
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That’s how many years 7th Circuit Judge Michael Kanne, who died Thursday, had served on the bench during his career. Kanne, who was 83, started his judicial career in 1972 as an Indiana Circuit Court judge, then moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in 1982. Former President Ronald Reagan nominated him to a spot on the 7th Circuit in 1987. Read more about Kanne’s career.
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Reuters video journalist Alex Cohen gives you an early view of the week ahead in legal news. Watch the video. And to hear what’s coming up this week, listen to Tom Rowe’s Audio Lookahead.
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"The restoration of trust will hopefully follow."
—California State Senator Tom Umberg, chair of the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, who said the public needs the State Bar of California to refocus its budget on attorney discipline. Umberg introduced amendments to the State Bar of California’s annual funding bill that would do away with programs focused on legal industry innovation in favor of improving its disciplinary system. Read more about the shift.
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The U.S. House Jan. 6 Committee investigating the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol resumes its public sessions, as panelists examine a range of issues, including the pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence faced to block the certification of Joe Biden’s win. The committee last week heard from former Pence counsel Greg Jacob, who has since returned to O’Melveny, and from retired U.S. appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig. Jacob and Luttig, an informal Pence advisor, testified that Pence — despite Trump’s assertions to the contrary — lacked unilateral power to overturn the election results. The panel did not immediately identify its next slate of witnesses.
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The Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit will hear a bid by Chevron, Exxon, Shell and other oil companies to force the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, to pursue a lawsuit claiming they fueled climate change in federal rather than state court. David Frederick of Kellogg Hansen will argue for the energy companies and will face Matthew Brinckerhoff of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel for the city. Last month, the 1st Circuit, based in Boston, ruled against an effort from Chevron and other companies to force state and local governments to pursue their climate-change claims in federal court. That appeals court said Rhode Island’s lawsuit belonged in state court. State courts are generally considered a more plaintiff-friendly venue.
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A Michigan prisoner will be sentenced after pleading guilty to sending threatening letters, including one to a federal court that he claimed contained anthrax. The sentencing of Nathon James Zink, 35, comes amid heightened attention to threats posed to judges more broadly. Federal judges were the target of more than 4,500 threats and other inappropriate communications last year, the head of the U.S. Marshals Service said earlier this year. Zink faces eight to 10 years in prison, based on the U.S. sentencing guidelines, court records in his case show. His lawyer told the court Zink “was frustrated, isolated and suffering from mental illness. He did not intend to truly hurt anyone.” The case is before U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou in the Western District of Michigan.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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On Wednesday, lawyers for Donald Trump ally Sidney Powell will ask a Dallas court to dismiss an ethics complaint from the Texas bar accusing her of professional misconduct for her role in failed lawsuits contesting the 2020 presidential election. Powell’s lawyers, including Robert Holmes in Dallas, have called the ethics allegations “baseless” and argued the case infringes constitutional rights to free speech. The bar’s lawyers contend "an attorney's speech rights within the confines of litigation are not absolute." Other lawyers in former Republican President Trump’s orbit, including Rudy Giuliani, are also facing bar regulatory actions tied to lawsuits that claimed pervasive fraud marred the election.
- A non-jury trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday before Senior Judge Charles Lettow of the Washington D.C.-based
U.S. Court of Federal Claims in a contract lawsuit that Gilead filed in 2020 against the U.S. government over HIV drug development. Gilead’s lawyers at WilmerHale, including Ronald Machen, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, allege the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control breached contracts with the drugmaker by obtaining and asserting patents related to its HIV preventive drug
Truvada. Lettow in December 2020 denied the government’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit. Walter Brown of the DOJ’s commercial litigation branch is representing the government. The trial is scheduled to run to July 1.
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On Friday, a pretrial hearing is scheduled in Atlanta federal court in the U.S. government’s case against Gee-Kung Chang, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology charged in 2021 with conspiring with a researcher at ZTE to bring Chinese nationals to the U.S. to work for the company using a type of visa meant for work and study at universities. Chang has pleaded not guilty. Earlier this month, his defense lawyer, Brian Kelly of Nixon Peabody, filed a legal challenge to the indictment. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg in Atlanta.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state's constitution does not include a "fundamental right" to abortion, reversing its own finding four years ago and reviving a law requiring women to wait 24 hours after an initial appointment before getting an abortion. The ruling came as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to overturn the protections for abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade and leave it to the states to decide whether to allow it. (Reuters)
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Revlon got the OK from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones to borrow $375 million with plans to use the funds to shore up supply chain problems that would otherwise imperil the cosmetic maker's sales during the Christmas season. Revlon, which says it is down to its last $6 million in cash, filed for bankruptcy protection with help from Paul Weiss’ Paul Basta. (Reuters)
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A federal judge ruled against Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway after finding that its company Dairy Queen cannot stop office products distributor W.B. Mason from selling "Blizzard" bottled spring water. Despite the “iconic” status of Dairy Queen’s Blizzards, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson said that there wasn’t evidence to show that consumers were confused about the products. (Reuters)
- The 9th Circuit ordered the EPA to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, poses an unreasonable risk to humans and the environment. The ruling sided with several environmental, farmworker and food-safety advocacy groups represented by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Reuters)
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K&L Gates added Nikolaos Peristerakis as a Brussels-based antitrust partner from Linklaters. (K&L Gates)
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Mitchell Sandler brought on Liana Prieto as a financial services partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Prieto formerly was general counsel to the bank holding company Luther Burbank. (Mitchell Sandler)
- Alston & Bird said real estate finance and investment partner Lauren Scarantino joined the firm’s New York office. She earlier practiced at Blank Rome. (Alston)
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