Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

U.S. tax authorities will be barred from pursuing claims against Donald Trump, his family members or his companies, under an agreement to halt the President’s $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” into Trump and “related or affiliated individuals,” including his family, trusts and “related companies, affiliates and subsidiaries,” a one-page document signed only by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says. The document did not bear the signature of any representative of the IRS or any current Trump lawyers. The agreement applies to “tax returns filed before the effective date” of Monday’s settlement, according to the document. John Koskinen, the former IRS commissioner from 2013 to 2017, said the expanded settlement set a “terrible precedent,” and “It makes you wonder what the President has to hide in those tax returns. He’s apparently been actively trading in the stock market and, since he knows a lot more about situations than the average investor, he’s probably generated significant taxable earnings . . . Not auditing his returns is the same as giving him an easy way to, in effect, receive money from the government.”

 

Financial Times

Politico

Reuters

The Guardian

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has said the Supreme Court risks being seen as political following the court's decision allowing Louisiana to move quickly to use new maps after the court struck down a majority-Black district and weakened the Voting Rights Act. “Public confidence is really all the judiciary has,” she said at a talk before the American Law Institute in Washington, D.C. “Everyone believes the court system is outside the political sphere. I think that means it's incumbent on us to do things, to act in ways that shore up public confidence,” Jackson said. She has become a frequent dissenter from the decisions of the conservative majority court.

 

U.S. News

Workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles are prepared to strike if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is present during World Cup matches next month. The UNITE HERE Local 11 union, representing about 2,000 hospitality employees, is demanding assurances that ICE agents will not be there. "ICE should have no role in these games," said Isaac Martinez, a stadium cook, at a protest outside the venue. "We do not want to live in fear coming to work, or fear being detained going home . . . If we do not reach an agreement, my colleagues and I are ready to strike."

 

France 24

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear a case examining whether employees of federally funded public educational institutions can privately sue under Title IX for sex discrimination in the workplace, a decision that could significantly expand or limit legal protections for school employees nationwide. The case centers on two former Georgia university employees: MaChelle Joseph, a former women’s basketball coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Thomas Crowther, a former art professor at Augusta University. Both allege they were treated unfairly under Title IX-related proceedings and challenged adverse employment actions taken against them. Joseph was fired in 2019 after filing complaints alleging that the women’s basketball program received fewer resources than the men’s team. Crowther’s contract was not renewed in 2021 following allegations of inappropriate classroom conduct and sexual harassment made by students.

 

The Hill

Reuters

The Supreme Court has said a closely watched Native American voting rights ruling needs to be reconsidered after the high court weakened the Civil Rights-era law. The justices ordered lower courts to take another look at the decision that went against the tribes and undercut a key enforcement mechanism: lawsuits from voters and advocacy groups. Lenny Powell, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said the move was the right call, and pledged to "keep fighting to ensure that Native voters have the ability to vote and effect change in their communities."

 

The Baltimore Sun

NPR reports on how officials in California have been grappling with an epidemic of silicosis, an irreversible lung disease, among U.S. countertop workers. Some countertops are made out of "quartz," a composite that mixes quartz mined from quarries with binders and pigments. Compared to granite or marble, manufactured quartz contains far more of the mineral silica. Silica dust can cause lung damage if it is breathed in. Officials have tracked over 550 sickened workers, almost all Hispanic men; most of the cases have emerged over the last few years. More than 30 workers have died, and over 50 have had lung transplants. On May 21, a workplace safety board in California will vote on whether the state should ban the cutting of high-silica quartz countertop material.

 

NPR / National Public Radio

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a complaint against the Chicago History Museum, alleging that the museum violated federal labor laws by retaliating against employees who voted to unionize in April 2025. According to the complaint, the museum's former president, Donald Lassere, and former HR head, Shatierra Parks, engaged in retaliatory actions, including firing and disciplining employees involved in union activities. "It's illegal to retaliate against workers for exercising their freedom to form a union," said Roberta Lynch, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 31, the union representing the employees. The museum must respond to the complaint by May 29.

 

Chicago Sun Times

The White House plans to unveil a framework for trading tokenized or ​digital versions of securities, according to people familiar with the matter, who said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ​is expected to release an "innovation exemption" for ​tokenized stocks as soon as this week. Bloomberg reports that the SEC is inclined toward a decision to allow the trading of tokens that do not have the backing or consent of the public companies whose shares they track, the people said. These “third party” tokens would be tradeable on decentralized crypto platforms, though not all such instruments would necessarily carry the same benefits as normal stocks, such as voting rights or dividends.

 

Bloomberg

Kieran Kieckhefer has joined Latham & Watkins as a partner in its intellectual property litigation practice in the Bay Area. She specializes in complex intellectual property disputes, serving as first chair in various cases, including patent and trade secrets litigation. Kieckhefer's expertise spans the technology sector, particularly in semiconductor manufacturing, robotics, and AI. She previously worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

 

Bloomberg Law

A Chinese court has ruled that companies cannot dismiss employees or reduce their salaries solely because artificial intelligence (AI) can perform their tasks. The case involved a quality control manager who was demoted and had his salary cut after AI was implemented. The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court said that AI deployment does not constitute a valid reason for termination under Chinese labor law, and employers must explore reskilling and alternative roles instead of using AI as an excuse for layoffs. Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies China’s technology and industrial policy, said there were indications of a shift in Beijing’s approach to job losses caused by AI. “Previously, Chinese policymakers seemed to downplay these risks. Official messaging on AI focused on the new jobs that AI was creating . . . Now we see more language from Beijing about addressing unemployment related to AI.”

 

Bangkok Post

The Guardian

The Philippine government has called on the Supreme Court to deny Senator Ronald Dela Rosa's petition to stop his arrest after the issue of a warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on claims of crimes against humanity. The Office of the Solicitor General said the government's executive branch can enforce the ICC arrest warrant, and that it does not require a corresponding warrant of arrest issued by a Philippine court. Dela Rosa was named "co-perpetrator" in the crimes against humanity case of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, and maintains the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.

 

ABS-CBN

Straits Times