Good morning. The U.S. Department of Justice is wading into the litigation over abortion access with a lawsuit against the state of Idaho, testing out what it says is the first tool in its arsenal to protect reproductive rights. Plus, AbbVie’s “patent thicket” around Humira survives an antitrust challenge, and Alex Jones comes face-to-face with Sandy Hook parents. Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here. |
The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the state of Idaho over its “trigger law” that bans abortion in nearly all cases is a test of the federal government’s power when it comes to abortion access – and the first test of what Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ’s Reproductive Rights Task Force, led by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta (pictured), has flagged as a major tool for the department.
The lawsuit says Idaho’s law is preempted by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, which requires hospitals that accept Medicare funds to provide necessary medical treatment to people that arrive with an emergency medical condition. Idaho’s trigger law would make it a felony for doctors to provide abortions except in very specific circumstances, making it a potential criminal offense for doctors to heed federal law when a patient requires an abortion as treatment, the suit says.
In a speech a few days before the lawsuit was filed, Garland said enforcing EMTALA was a top Justice Department priority but noted several other routes it could take in the future to protect abortion access, including filing statements of interest and intervening in private litigation. Read more about the litigation in Idaho. |
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| Legal Leaders Case Study Compendium Volumes 1 - 4
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14 examples of how leading in-house counsel have translated governmental, technological, or regulatory developments into practical implementations tangibly improving how their organisations operate. |
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Legal Leaders Case Study Compendium Volumes 1 - 4
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14 examples of how leading in-house counsel have translated governmental, technological, or regulatory developments into practical implementations tangibly improving how their organisations operate. Case studies include: - How One Legal Department Found the Metaverse
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Corporate Legal Shared Services – A Success Story
- Reframing the narrative: from corporate shield to business partner
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Legal industry groups are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve affirmative action in college admissions, arguing that law schools need a diverse pipeline of students in order to increase the number of minority lawyers. The high court received more than 15 amicus briefs from bar associations, law students groups, and law firms in an upcoming case that could end affirmative action at colleges and universities. (Reuters)
- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said it has confirmed 75 Article III judges as of Tuesday. That means the current Senate is confirming nominees at a faster pace than under either the Trump or Obama administrations, the committee said.
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King & Spalding has brought on partner Matthew Biben, the former co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s financial institutions practice. Biben, who is based in New York, focuses on litigation and regulatory enforcement. (Reuters)
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That’s how many patents AbbVie holds on its arthritis drug Humira, a collection that the 7th Circuit said wasn’t unlawfully blocking competition from generics makers. The appellate court rejected arguments from a group of welfare-benefit plans that accused AbbVie of holding an illegal monopoly over the drug with its “thicket” of patents, with Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook asking, “What’s wrong with having lots of patents?” Read more about what the 7th Circuit said about “patent thickets.”
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The White House recently unveiled its proposed budget for programs to address public safety and criminal justice. The good news, writes Hassan Kanu, is that the White House requested money for a grant to fund pilot programs for cities to respond to emergencies with alternate responders, like medics, instead of police. However, the centerpiece of the plan is a request for $13 billion for hiring 100,000 more police officers. Kanu writes that the plan formalizes the White House’s mixed messaging on police reform and indicates that the Biden administration will not continue to pursue transformative criminal justice reforms.
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As regulators and legislators struggle to keep up with the evolving definition of crypto assets, two legal experts parse where we stand now. Watch the video. |
"Jesse was real. I am a real mom." |
–Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, testifying in a defamation suit against U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. A Texas jury is determining how much Jones, the founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, must pay for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at the Connecticut elementary school in 2012.
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Planned Parenthood will ask the Idaho Supreme Court to put the state’s law empowering private citizens to sue abortion providers on hold while a pair of lawsuits over that law and the state’s “trigger law” work their way through the courts. Idaho’s trigger law, which would make it a felony to perform an abortion unless a court rules that a woman’s life is in danger, takes effect as soon as Aug. 18. Watch the arguments here.
- The American Bar Association’s annual meeting kicks off in Chicago. This weekend, the ABA will present retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer with its ABA Medal.
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Ishan Wahi, a former product manager for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan on insider trading charges. Wahi was charged alongside his brother, Nikhil, who is also slated to make his first court appearance. Prosecutors said Ishan Wahi shared confidential information about forthcoming announcements of new cryptocurrency assets that Coinbase would allow users to trade through its exchange. Counsel for Wahi said he “is innocent of all wrongdoing.”
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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Twitter has subpoenaed dozens of the world’s largest banks, investors, and advisors involved in Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover bid, seeking information on the Tesla founder’s motivation for backing out of the deal, recent court filings show. The banks were directed to turn over all documents and communications with other lenders as well as with lawyers or advisers for Musk concerning financing, bot or fake Twitter accounts and the impact of Tesla's stock price on the deal. (Reuters)
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Tax preparer Liberty Tax Service sued the the companies behind AMC's hit crime drama "Better Call Saul" for what it says was a rip-off of its trademarks and Statue of Liberty logo in depicting the fictional "Sweet Liberty Tax Services" in a recent episode. The plaintiff seeks a halt to any infringements, plus unspecified punitive and triple damages from AMC Networks and Sony Pictures Television. (Reuters)
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Bestselling horror author Stephen King told a federal court that writers will have fewer places to shop their works if a merger between publishing giants Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster is allowed to proceed. The Justice Department is seeking to stop the $2.2 billion deal, arguing that authors would earn lower advances if two of the "Big Five" book publishers combine. (Reuters)
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The 9th Circuit rejected a $6 million pain and suffering award for a former IBM sales manager who claimed he was fired for calling out bias against a Black salesman, calling the amount “shockingly excessive.” But the court rejected the company's bid to toss out a $5 million award for economic damages. (Reuters)
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The 3rd Circuit rejected prosecutors’ bid to lengthen the prison sentence for former GSK researcher Yu Xue, who admitted to stealing trade secrets from her employer about potential cancer drugs, holding that Xue didn’t intend to cause the company a financial loss. Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year sentence for Xue, but the unanimous appellate panel allowed Xue’s original 8-month sentence to stand. (Reuters)
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The former general counsel of North American private investments at Bain Capital, David Hutchins, has jumped to Ropes & Gray. Hutchins will be a partner in the private equity practice at the firm. (Ropes & Gray)
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Dechert has added financial restructuring partners Doug Mannal and Stephen Zide from Kramer Levin. The pair are based in New York. (Dechert)
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Loeb & Loeb added Terence Wong as a partner in Hong Kong. Wong, who was previously with Winston & Strawn, will be part of the firm’s litigation department. (Loeb & Loeb)
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Chris Grogan and Steve Davis have joined Perkins Coie’s Los Angeles and Portland offices, respectively, as partners in the firm’s emerging companies and venture capital practice. Davis was previously with Davis Wright Tremaine, while Grogan is a former general counsel of technology company Honey Science. (Perkins Coie)
- Locke Lord has brought on Emily Huggins Jones as a partner in its energy and infrastructure practice group. Jones, who was previously at Squire Patton Boggs, is based in Cincinnati. (Locke Lord)
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Executives hoping to sell shares of their employer can typically avoid accusations of insider trading through the use of prearranged stock trading plans. Those plans – and trades made soon after a company implements one – have come under recent scrutiny, with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler calling such trades a “loophole” for insider trading. But those concerns haven’t borne out in court, as judges have generally regarded the trades as unsuspicious, write Alexander Drylewski, Virginia Milstead and Raza Rasheed of Skadden.
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