US Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) filed a motion on Wednesday asking US District Judge Sidney Stein to dismiss charges that he allegedly conspired to act as a foreign agent of Egypt. The motion to dismiss relates to an indictment filed in October that accused Menendez of supporting the interests of several businessmen and the Egyptian [...]

The US Appeals Court for the Eleventh Circuit found on Wednesday that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis violated a local prosecutor’s First Amendment rights under the US Constitution when he suspended the prosecutor for refusing to enforce state laws surrounding access to reproductive health. The case has now been sent back down to the trial court [...]

The US House Homeland Security Committee held its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The hearing was initiated by House Republicans who accused Mayorkas of failing to follow immigration law and of violating the public trust as border crossings have reached record levels. Chairman Mark Greene (R-TN) of the Homeland [...]

A federal judge in Alabama ruled on Wednesday that the state can proceed to use nitrogen gas in the execution of Kenneth Smith. Smith has been on death row since he was convicted of murder in 1988. Smith is currently scheduled to be executed on January 25. He was previously scheduled to be executed on [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday from a California man challenging a $23,000 traffic impact fee levied in exchange for a building permit. Placerville, California resident George Sheetz challenged a decision from El Dorado County under the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment—specifically a provision known as the Takings Clause. The dispute between Sheetz and [...]

LGBTQ rights group Lambda Legal announced a lawsuit Monday seeking to block enforcement of a Louisiana ban on gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth. The civil rights organization prepared the lawsuit, along with the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation of Harvard Law and a Louisiana law firm, on behalf of five Louisiana minors and [...]

The US Department of Labor enacted a final rule Tuesday designed to safeguard workers from misclassification as “independent contractors” rather than “employees.” The new labor rule provides greater clarity for classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Generally, the FLSA guarantees employees minimum wage compensation, time-and-a-half for any overtime hours worked, and protections against [...]

US District Chief Judge Peter D. Welte ordered a new joint North Dakota legislative district for two Native American tribes on Monday. The Tribes successfully argued that a map created through redistricting in 2021 violated the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. The latest ruling confirmed that the 2021 state redistricting legislation diluted their voting [...]

Former US president Donald Trump filed to dismiss state-level criminal charges by asserting immunity claims in an election interference case on Monday. In seeking to have the Georgia judge dismiss the case, Trump asserts that his indictment is unconstitutional because he was acting in his official presidential capacity, which exempts him from being prosecuted. In [...]

US District Judge John F. Walter denied a motion by Raymond Chan, former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, on Friday to dismiss a series of charges in a sprawling public corruption indictment. Chan faces a 12-count federal indictment on RICO, bribery, honest services and false statements. The indictment includes charges that, while in [...]