XTO Energy, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, sued Energy Transfer LLC on Monday in a Texas state court for breach of contract involving disputed fines related to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The lawsuit claims that Energy Transfer pipeline operators charged XTO unnecessary fines and revoked production volume credits when a series of events outside [...]

Arkansas legislators voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that will ban transgender minors from receiving gender-confirming treatments within the state, overcoming the governor’s veto. The Arkansas bill is the first such law to pass in the US. House Bill 1570, otherwise known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, prevents Arkansas physicians from [...]

Texas and Louisiana filed suit against the federal government Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleging that immigration authorities declined to take custody of convicted individuals who could be subject to deportation. According to the lawsuit, the government’s action violates federal law and the US Constitution. In Texas, when [...]

Harvey Weinstein on Monday appealed his sexual assault conviction, asking the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division to throw out his conviction and grant a new trial. Weinstein was sentenced in March 2020 to 23 years in prison for assaulting a former production assistant and for raping another woman. Weinstein has also faced other allegations [...]

A class action lawsuit was filed Monday in the Western District of New York accusing the Rochester Police Department (RPD) of racist practices and a “pattern … of using excessive force.” Plaintiffs include residents of the city of Rochester, New York, who have been subjected to excessive force by the RPD within the last year, [...]

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday issued an administrative order directing the chief equity officer to “mitigate the impact of new voting restrictions imposed by Senate Bill 202” on Atlanta residents. This is the latest action in a growing response to what President Joe Biden called “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” SB 202, [...]

Tennessee filed an emergency request on Monday asking the US Supreme Court to reinstate a 48-hour mandatory waiting period for abortions pending appeal. The law was challenged by several doctors and a medical center on behalf of their patients. US District Judge Bernard Friedman held in October that the waiting period was unconstitutional, following “five [...]

The US Supreme Court granted review Monday in Brown v. Davenport, a case that will decide how harmless error review is applied in federal habeas petitions. The case arises out of a Michigan court that shackled a criminal defendant during a trial. State courts concluded that shackling him violated the Constitution, but that the error [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by New York state residents claiming that the World Health Organization (WHO) negligently responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the complaint filed last April, plaintiffs alleged that the WHO failed to “properly monitor the response [...]

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on Monday vetoed a state bill prohibiting medical treatment for transgender youth, calling it “a vast government overreach.” HB1570, titled the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, bans healthcare professionals from providing gender transition procedures to youth under 18 years old, even with parental consent. Among other treatments, it covers puberty [...]