Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey brought an amended complaint Tuesday against Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, who controls the company, alleging their culpability in Massachusetts opioid deaths. Healey alleges in the Commonwealth’s complaint that the Sackler family used their company Purdue Pharma to systematically target Massachusetts for opioid sales leading to the deaths of [...]

A number of abortion providers filed suit against Pennsylvania on Wednesday in hopes of overturning a state law that prohibits coverage of the procedure by Medicaid. The groups, which include Planned Parenthoods within Pennsylvania and the Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, filed their complaint seeking declaratory judgement and injunctive relief from the law, in order to [...]

US President Donald Trump signed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act on Wednesday to compensate federal employees who have not received any pay as a result of the current government shutdown. “Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in [...]

The Inspector General of the General Services Administration (GSA) released a report Wednesday finding that the GSA chose to ignore the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution in its 2017 review of Trump International Hotel’s lease. The report does not specifically address potential Emoluments Clause issues, but instead focuses on the decision making process of the [...]

The US Supreme Court wrapped up its January sitting with two oral arguments Wednesday morning.  At issue in Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania is whether a plaintiff must use up state court remedies prior to bringing a Fifth Amendment takings claim. In this case, the township, after finding burial markers on the petitioner’s land, said that the [...]

Special Agent Jeffrey Weiland on Tuesday filed a 31-page declaration in DC District Court to support finding that Paul J. Manafort, Jr.‘s testimonial statements in the DC grand jury last year were false. The 31-page document is a redacted version due to the law regarding grand jury secrecy. The information in the document, which is [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday denied Apple’s appeal of a patent infringement case involving VirnetX. The ruling upholds a $302.4 million jury verdict, which has since ballooned to $439.8 million after adding interest, costs and additional damages. The court entered the judgment pursuant to Federal Circuit Rule 36, which allows [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday denied a motion from the National Treasurer Employees Union (NTEU) to force the federal government to pay employees working without pay during the ongoing shutdown. The motion included statements from two federal workers who are having financial trouble continuing to work since [...]

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo issued an order Monday rendering the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017 void. Graffeo determined that the Memorial Preservation Act was unconstitutional in his resolution of Alabama v. Birmingham, a case that arose in August 2017 when Birmingham city officials requested the removal of the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument from Linn Park. Then-mayor [...]

The New York State Assembly passed two bills on Tuesday protecting transgender and gender non-conforming individuals from discrimination and banning “conversion therapy.” The first bill, Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), protects individuals from discrimination based on gender identity or expression. The bill adds gender identity and expression to the list of classes protected against discrimination in [...]