The US Supreme Court on Monday limited new trials for felons convicted for being in possession of a firearm, limiting the retroactive application of its 2019 decision Rehaif v. United States. The issue in Greer v. United States involved 18 USC §922(g), the federal law prohibiting felons from possessing firearms. Under the 2019 decision in Rehaif, the [...]

The Biden administration announced Friday that it intends to restore environmental protections to the Tongass National Forest. This would reverse a Trump administration rule that allowed logging and road construction in over half of the forest. According to the US Forest Service, the Tongass is the “largest intact temperate rainforest in the world.” More than [...]

The US Supreme Court held on Monday that sentence reduction under the First Step Act is available only if an offender’s prior conviction for a crack cocaine offense triggered a mandatory minimum sentence. In 2018 Congress passed the First Step Act, which made previous sentencing reforms that reduced the sentencing disparity to 18 to 1, retroactive. Under [...]

A federal judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit Saturday by 117 hospital employees who sued Houston Methodist over its requirement that all employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The hospital employees who refused to be vaccinated were placed on unpaid suspension on Monday. The employees were told that they would be fired if they were not [...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed executive orders (here and here) on Friday to lift emergency restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. As of June 15, restrictions including such as physical distancing and capacity limits will be lifted as cases and deaths from coronavirus continue to decrease. Of the 58 Californian executive orders related [...]

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) added 12 individuals, entities and vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list Thursday for funding Houthi efforts in Yemen. In a press release, the Treasury said that the newly designated persons were engaged in a smuggling operation. The effort was led by [...]

US Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Friday that the department’s internal watchdog will be investigating illegal data seizures by the Trump administration. The Trump administration allegedly secretly seized phone data from House Democrats in 2018 when the administration was aggressively cracking down on leaks regarding Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. The [...]

The US Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that “reckless” crimes qualify as violent felonies for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). The ACCA mandates a 15-year sentence for those persons found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm who have been convicted [...]

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Wednesday issued an executive order highlighting the state’s “commitment to creating clean energy jobs increasing economic opportunities, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the expansion of offshore wind power.” Executive Order 218, “Advancing North Carolina’s Economic and Clean Energy Future with Offshore Wind,” formally introduces North Carolina’s first-ever targets [...]

The New York State Assembly approved the Gender Recognition Act Thursday, which, if approved by the governor, will provide for the “sex designation of M, F, or X as certified by the applicant , with no additional documentation required.” In addition to creating a gender-neutral designation for applicants’ sex, the bill provides that an individual [...]