by Robert Hubbell CNN Politics, Department of Education policy targeting DEI and other race-related school programs is likely unconstitutional, judge rules. Three US District Court judges, two of whom were appointed by Trump, wrote in three separate cases that the “Dear Colleagues” letter sent bythe Department of Education to schools across the nation (a) constituted “viewpoint discrimination” under the First Amendment, (b) violated the Fifth Amendment due process guarantee, or (c) violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The three orders are set forth below: Order | NEA v. Department of Education (D. N.H.) Oral Ruling | NAACP v. Department of Education (D. D.C.) Memorandum Opinion | American Federation of Teachers v Department of Education | (D. MD). The judges relied on three different judicial approaches in enjoining the implementation of the threats in the Dear Colleague letter. The various judicial approaches are explained by the legal…

The court summarizes the plaintiffs’ allegations: D.G. began playing video games when he was six years old and at some point became addicted. Plaintiffs further allege that D.G.’s gaming has resulted in serious harm, including emotional distress, lost friends, and problems in school. When his mother tries to limit his video gaming, Plaintiffs claim that D.G. experiences withdrawal symptoms such as rage and physical outbursts that leave his mother fearful and distressed. Seeking redress, Plaintiffs sued Defendants on the theory that their design decisions and failure to disclose the dangers of their products were the cause of D.G.’s addiction and Plaintiffs’ injuries. The court dismisses Roblox, Google, and Apple from the case. Roblox’s Dismissal Section 230 ICS Provider. “Plaintiffs have alleged that Roblox hosts sixty-six million daily users on various web-connected devices, including gaming consoles, computers, and mobile devices. The Court…

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field. This week, CGFoE is at Oxford University. Our Associate Director Dr. Hawley Johnson and Senior Legal Researcher Lautaro Furfaro are visiting the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights to judge the international rounds of the 18th Annual Price Media Law Moot Court Competition and support future leaders in international law. On Tuesday, Dr. Johnson and Lautaro Furfaro held a joint session on Protecting Freedom of Expression through Comparative Case Law. They reviewed recent developments in global freedom of expression jurisprudence and presented the updated Special Collection Paper on Content…

[Electronic monitoring, secret GPS trackers, and a speck in the recesses of interstellar space.] Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice. New on the Bound By Oath podcast: In 1974, Congress added the law-enforcement proviso to the Federal Tort Claims Act to ensure that the victims of wrong-door raids by federal officers would have a legal remedy. On this episode, we talk with some folks who had a hand in getting the proviso passed into law, and we talk about the case of Martin v. United States, the wrong-door raid case that the Supreme Court will hear next week. Protestors at the Vermont statehouse sit in a circle, join arms, sing "social justice" songs, and refuse to leave. Cop applies pressure to one, triggering violent pain, during which she claims she was unable to stand. Three officers carry her out. District court: Qualified immunity. Second Circuit: Well, there's a…

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here. The Supreme Court made short work of two of last week’s first-time relists. The court granted review in United States Postal Service v. Konan to determine whether the Federal Tort Claims Act provision exempting claims arising from “the loss” or “miscarriage” of letters or postal matter extends to claims that the Post Office deliberately refused to deliver mail to an address. But the court denied review of landlord Lebene Konan’s cross-petition claiming that Postal Service employees conspired to deny her civil rights. Turning to new business: There are 116 petitions and applications scheduled for this week’s conference. The justices will be discussing two of them for a second time. First up is The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. v. Palmquist. Texas…

Earlier this month, Notre Dame Law School announced that it, along with two other organizations, has launched a new website which identifies state laws that exclude religious organizations from participating in a wide variety of social service, educational and cultural funding opportunities. The announcement says in part:The new website provides a database highlighting state statutes and regulations that prohibit religious organizations from participating in public programs on equal footing with their secular counterparts. Although the database does not express a view on the ultimate constitutionality of any particular law, its authors hope that the repository may be the first step towards identifying—and finally changing—those that do violate First Amendment rights.The website is available at this link: Religious Equality – Protecting Religious Organizations from Discrimination. The website is also now listed in the Religion Clause sidebar under…

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field. This week, CGFoE is at Oxford University. Our Associate Director Dr. Hawley Johnson and Senior Legal Researcher Lautaro Furfaro are visiting the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights to judge the international rounds of the 18th Annual Price Media Law Moot Court Competition and support future leaders in international law. On Tuesday, Dr. Johnson and Lautaro Furfaro held a joint session on Protecting Freedom of Expression through Comparative Case Law. They reviewed recent developments in global freedom of expression jurisprudence and presented the updated Special Collection Paper on Content…

QI LLC, filed a lawsuit against GP, seeking damages for breach of contract and defamation, claiming that GP failed to pay for services rendered and posted a negative online review, which was characterized as defamatory.GP responded by filing a motion to dismiss the complaint and sought attorneys' fees, costs, and punitive damages, alleging that the QI LLC’s allegations violated the anti-SLAPP law – which allows for a case to be thrown out on the grounds that the disputed subject matter involves protected speech on a matter of public concern. In response, QI LLC amended its complaint, removed the defamation claim and focused solely on the breach of contract.The Nassau Count Supreme Court ended up denying GP’s motion to dismiss the breach of contract claim and his request for attorneys' fees, costs, and punitive damages, because the amended complaint superseded the original, and thus vitiated any anti-SLAPP statute violation.On appeal, the Appellate…

Jay-Z (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)Are you interested in powerful figures getting their comeuppance against hostile lawyers while also needing a break from Trump’s tirade against Biglaw? Well, do I have the story for you! You may remember Tony Buzbee’s bold promise to go after the celebrities involves in Diddy’s freakoffs. Buzbee made an attempt at Shawn Carter’s reputation and wallet not long after. And although Buzbee’s charges against Jay-Z have dropped, Jay-Z’s decision to countersue is still putting pressure on the lawyer. Buzbee was able to get the extortion prong of Jay-Z’s countersuit dismissed, but he could really use a break from the defamation prong. No, seriously — he’s asking the judge to cut him some slack. Law360 has coverage: Counsel for personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee urged a California state judge on Tuesday to shut down Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s extortion and…

The estate of ‘ER’ creator Michael Crichton is suing Warner Brothers, claiming their new medical drama ‘The Pit’ is a derivative of ‘ER.’ IP and Entertainment attorneys Scott Hervey and Jessica Corpuz discuss this case on this episode of The Briefing. Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel or listen to this podcast episode here. Subscribe to Podcast Subscribe on YouTube

Upcoming oral arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court April 1, 2025 Nashville, Tenn. - The Tennessee Supreme Court has two cases set for its April 9, 2025, docket in Jackson, Tennessee. The two cases are related actions involving similar legal...

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field. Committed to advancing legal scholarship on freedom of expression, CGFoE is back to teaching. Last week, in collaboration with the University of Buenos Aires, CGFoE’s Team members led a class on Freedom of Expression in the European and African Regional Systems. The instructors – Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Senior Legal and Policy Consultant; Lautaro Furfaro, Senior Legal Researcher; and Juan Manuel Ospina, Senior Legal Editor – focused on the European Court of Human Rights and the African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, with comparative references to…

Plaintiffs’ lawyers have continued to bring privacy claims targeting businesses that use vendors to help provide beneficial chat features on their website, as we last reported here.  Late last year, a Southern District of California judge dismissed another set of privacy claims challenging the routine use of these vendor services by Tonal, a popular smart home gym company named as the sole defendant in the lawsuit.  Jones v. Tonal Systems, Inc., 751 F. Supp. 3d 1025 (S.D. Cal. 2024). Plaintiff Julie Jones, a California resident, claimed that she had visited Tonal’s website and used its chat feature to communicate with a Tonal customer service representative.  This chat feature allegedly incorporated an API run by another company to create and store transcripts of website visitors’ chats with Tonal’s customer service representatives.  According to the complaint, this alleged conduct constituted wiretapping, which Tonal…

As we have blogged about in the past, federal district courts have seen a tidal wave of putative class actions by website users claiming violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Cal. Penal Code § 630, et seq.  These lawsuits focus on the alleged unlawful use of website tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels, tags, and beacons, to collect and use personal information of people who visit these websites without their consent. The deluge of lawsuits has prompted courts to scrutinize CIPA claims more rigorously. As a recent example, in Smith v. Yeti Coolers, LLC, the Northern District of California dismissed with prejudice a putative class action challenging Yeti’s use of technology supplied by third-party payment processor, Adyen, to process customer purchases on its website. The lawsuit claimed that Adyen incorporated Yeti customers’ financial information into its fraud-prevention system, which it then marketed to merchants without…

As we have blogged about in the past, federal district courts have seen a tidal wave of putative class actions by website users claiming violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Cal. Penal Code § 630, et seq.  These lawsuits focus on the alleged unlawful use of website tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels, tags, and beacons, to collect and use personal information of people who visit these websites without their consent. The deluge of lawsuits has prompted courts to scrutinize CIPA claims more rigorously. As a recent example, in Smith v. Yeti Coolers, LLC, the Northern District of California dismissed with prejudice a putative class action challenging Yeti’s use of technology supplied by third-party payment processor, Adyen, to process customer purchases on its website. The lawsuit claimed that Adyen incorporated Yeti customers’ financial information into its fraud-prevention system, which it then marketed to merchants without…

As we have blogged about in the past, federal district courts have seen a tidal wave of putative class actions by website users claiming violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), Cal. Penal Code § 630, et seq.  These lawsuits focus on the alleged unlawful use of website tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels, tags, and beacons, to collect and use personal information of people who visit these websites without their consent. The deluge of lawsuits has prompted courts to scrutinize CIPA claims more rigorously. As a recent example, in Smith v. Yeti Coolers, LLC, the Northern District of California dismissed with prejudice a putative class action challenging Yeti’s use of technology supplied by third-party payment processor, Adyen, to process customer purchases on its website. The lawsuit claimed that Adyen incorporated Yeti customers’ financial information into its fraud-prevention system, which it then marketed to merchants without…

Early this month, a Northern District of California judge dismissed, with prejudice, a putative class action complaint asserting five privacy-related causes of action, concluding the “issue of consent defeat[ed] all of Plaintiffs’ claims.”  Lakes v. Ubisoft, Inc., –F. Supp. 3d–, 2025 WL 1036639 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 2, 2025).  Specifically, the Court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims under the (1) Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”); (2) Federal Wiretap Act; (3) California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) § 631; (4) common law invasion of privacy; and (5) Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution.  The two plaintiffs in this case asserted that Defendant Ubisoft, Inc., a video game company, used a third-party website pixel that allegedly collected and disclosed plaintiffs’ personal information and website activity without plaintiffs’ consent.  Ubisoft moved to dismiss,…

It was no coincidence that President Donald Trump announced on the campaign trail that he would seek to end birthright citizenship via executive order on the heels of the 125th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. For well over a century, Congress, the courts, the executive branch, and the American public have understood and adhered to the principle set forth by the Court in 1898 that U.S. citizenship is automatically conferred to anyone born in the United States (except the children of diplomats and occupying foreign powers). Trump’s Executive Order No. 14160, however, distorts the Wong Kim Ark decision, apparently in the belief that the Court’s language provides a blueprint to limit birthright citizenship only to the children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (“LPRs” or green card holders). Not so. Despite the fact that the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause does not include the words…