Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

The Supreme Court will today hear a challenge to Mississippi’s rules for counting mail-in ballots. The Republican National Committee and Mississippi’s state G.O.P. are challenging a law that allows state officials to count ballots that have been postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to five business days later. The justices must decide whether federal laws setting a date for an Election Day prohibit state lawmakers from putting in place their own rules to allow for late-arriving ballots to be counted. The case focuses on a statute passed by Mississippi lawmakers in 2020, during the pandemic. The state law allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received within five business days of the election. 

 

The Hill

CNN

New York Times

Reuters

The Trump administration has issued a legislative framework for a single national policy on artificial intelligence that aims to create uniform safety and security guardrails around the nascent technology while preempting states from enacting their own AI rules. "We need one national AI framework, not ​a 50-state patchwork,” Michael Kratsios, science and technology adviser to Trump, told The Daily Signal. "And I think one of the ​key provisions of it that will make it all work and come together is really focusing on the bipartisan consensus around protecting America’s ‌children." Daniel Cochrane, a tech policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, said the preemption could stymie states in addressing harms that “would endanger our kids and disable responsible AI governance essential for human flourishing . . . States remain the American people’s first and best line of defense against Big Tech.” 

 

CNBC

The Daily Signal

Reuters

Supermicro co-founder Wally Liaw and two others working for the company have been charged in New York for allegedly violating U.S. export controls by smuggling $2.5bn of Nvidia’s AI chip servers to Chinese customers. The trio allegedly "conspired to sell billions of dollars'" worth of technology to buyers in China by faking documents and using dummy equipment to slip past audits, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Super Micro said it had placed Liaw, the firm's Senior Vice President of Business Development, and Steven Chang, a sales manager, on leave. It also said it had terminated ties with Willy Sun, who was a contractor. "The conduct by these individuals alleged in the indictment is a contravention of the company's policies and compliance controls, including efforts to circumvent applicable export control laws and regulations," the firm said.

 

Fortune

Financial Times

BBC News

David Handler, a former top banker at Centerview Partners, will get a second chance to argue that the elite M&A boutique owes him hundreds of millions of dollars in “vested rights” when he left to start a rival firm. A lower court erred in its decision to dismiss Handler’s claims that Centerview’s founders defrauded him, the Delaware Supreme Court said in a 22-page opinion reviving the case.

 

Bloomberg Law

Financial Times

A jury has concluded that Elon Musk ​defrauded Twitter investors when ‌he disparaged the company in 2022 in ​an attempt to ​acquire the social media network ⁠for a lower ​price than his original $44bn bid. Jurors in federal ​court in San ​Francisco found on Friday that ‌Musk ⁠intentionally misled Twitter shareholders when he tweeted the social media ​platform, which ​was ⁠later renamed X, had too ​many fake accounts ​and ⁠tried to back out of the deal. Mark Molumphy, a lawyer for the investors, said he believes the damages will amount to $2.6bn. “This case is much bigger than Twitter, this case goes right to the heart of Wall Street and what’s been going on in recent years,” observed Joseph Cotchett, Molumphy’s partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. “It’s a great example of what you cannot do to the average investor.”

 

Bloomberg

The California Department of Education has filed a lawsuit against Oakland USD, alleging it failed to address multiple complaints of antisemitism on its campuses. The lawsuit, initiated in early March, follows complaints from Jewish advocacy groups regarding pro-Palestinian materials and curricula. The department seeks a court order to compel the district to implement corrective actions outlined in a January 23 decision, which included condemning antisemitism and consulting Jewish organizations for training. District officials have requested additional time to comply with these directives. Additionally, two Jewish advocacy groups have sued the state, claiming it has allowed antisemitic harassment to persist in California public schools. 

 

Los Angeles Times

White House border czar Tom Homan has said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be deployed to airports across the country Monday to assist TSA officers with security at entrances and exits where lines have been particularly long in recent weeks. Hundreds of thousands of homeland security workers, including from the TSA, U.S. Secret Service and Coast Guard, have worked without pay since Congress failed to renew DHS funding last month. In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Homan said that he is devising a plan with Tedd Lyons, acting director of ICE, and Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting administrator for TSA, to determine where agents would best fit at airports across the nation. Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA agents and other federal workers, said the agents' deployment presented security concerns for passengers. “Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe . . . They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”

 

Chicago Sun Times

NBC News

Politico

U.S. ⁠Health ⁠and Human Services ​chief ‌counselor Chris Klomp ‌has said ⁠the government has ​begun to read-in ​pharmaceutical companies on ⁠efforts to ⁠write ⁠into law ​President Donald Trump's ​most-favored-nation ⁠deals, in a move aimed at ⁠aligning U.S. prescription drug costs with ⁠those of peers.

 

U.S. News

The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have published proposals to relax capital requirements for Wall Street banks which could potentially unleash billions of dollars for lending, share buybacks and dividends. Top regulatory officials appointed by President Donald Trump say rules imposed following the 2008 financial crisis have grown ​to be too onerous and are hindering lending and the economy. Proposed changes to the "Basel III" and "GSIB surcharge" rules, alongside ‌tweaks to banks' annual "stress test" health checks, will calibrate capital in line with real risks, while still keeping the financial system safe, the officials  said. “These changes would strengthen our overall capital framework, which would remain robust under the new regime,” Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said. Fed governor Michael Barr was the sole dissenting vote on the proposals. “I fear that, if this much weaker version of Basel III is adopted in the U.S., it could trigger a race to the bottom on standards, harming the global financial system,” he said.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

William Buckley, an employment lawyer at Auckland, New Zealand based law firm Edwards Sluiters, has reported a rise in employees using AI to draft workplace correspondence during disputes. Buckley noted that while AI can help to organize thoughts it can also escalate issues prematurely. Concerns about the accuracy of AI-generated content are growing amid instances of misstatements and fabricated citations. Buckley emphasized that while AI can assist in drafting, it should not replace professional legal advice, as understanding legal obligations remains crucial during disputes. “We have seen AI-generated correspondence that misstates legal tests, incorrectly summarises court decisions, or even cites cases that do not exist,” he said.

 

LawFuel

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is encouraging workers to work from home to combat soaring oil prices and impending fuel shortages caused by the conflict in the Middle East. The world's energy watchdog has made 10 recommendations to help households and businesses prepare for protracted disruption to energy markets, including reducing highway speed limits by at least 10 kilometers per hour, and avoiding ​air travel if other means of transport are available. "Today's report provides a menu of immediate and concrete measures that can be taken ​on the demand side by governments, businesses and ​households ⁠to shelter consumers from the impacts of this crisis," said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

 

NL Times

Reuters

The Guardian