A left-wing group is trying to disqualify outspoken Trump supporter Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano from the state governor’s race because he allegedly participated in an “insurrection” against the U.S. government by supporting the former president’s reelection bid. Recent polling shows Mastriano has the lead—garnering 19 percent support—in the field of 9 candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor of the Keystone State, according to a poll Eagle Consulting Group conducted of 502 likely GOP primary voters from April 7 through April 9, PennLive reports. The primary election is May 17. The current governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, is term-limited. Attorney General Josh Shapiro is running … Continue reading Left-wing group tries to disqualify Republican frontrunner in PA governor’s race on ‘insurrection’ grounds

The admissions policy of a top-notch magnet school in Virginia isn’t discriminatory toward Asian American students and isn’t attempting to achieve “racial balancing,” the Fairfax County School Board told the Supreme Court in response to an emergency application. The emergency application in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, court file 21A590, was filed on April 8 and directed to Chief Justice John Roberts in his capacity as the high court’s overseer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Parents originally sued, claiming a revised admission policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), which is … Continue reading School board tells Supreme Court TJ High School admissions policy doesn’t discriminate against Asian Americans

Israeli spyware developer NSO Group is urging the Supreme Court to recognize it as a foreign government agent, a move it says would give it immunity under U.S. laws restricting lawsuits against foreign countries. NSO’s leading software product, Pegasus, allows operators to clandestinely surveil a suspect’s mobile phone—access contacts and messages, as well as the built-in camera, microphone, and location history. NSO says it deals only with government law enforcement agencies and that all sales are approved by the Israeli Defense Ministry. It refuses to identify its clients. WhatsApp parent Facebook, which renamed itself Meta Platforms Inc., filed suit against NSO in 2019, … Continue reading Israeli spyware maker NSO Group asks SCOTUS for sovereign immunity: Foreign firm hopes to block lawsuit by WhatsApp and Meta

The Louisiana Court of Appeal has reinstated the state’s lawsuit against a Mark Zuckerberg-funded nonprofit that flooded Democrat-controlled jurisdictions with election administration grants and, in the process, may have skewed election results. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, said the ruling was a major victory for election integrity. “Our law is clear: No individual, including Mark Zuckerberg, should supersede the people’s elected representatives,” Landry said in a statement. “Our elections should never be for sale; private money should not fund our elections.” The thinking behind the lawsuit is that the millions of dollars doled out by the left-leaning Chicago-based Center for Technology and … Continue reading Louisiana appeals court reinstates AG’s suit re Zuckerberg bucks

At the urging of an election integrity group, a federal judge ordered Pennsylvania to hand over records showing the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had allowed foreign nationals to register to vote for decades. The order came the month after a federal court ruled that Illinois violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, when it refused to provide the same group access to the state’s voter roll, as The Epoch Times reported. NVRA provides that election officials must allow inspection of all records related to the maintenance of the voter rolls. Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District … Continue reading Federal judge orders Pennsylvania to produce records for foreigners registered to vote

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of a New York man suing police for malicious prosecution to relax the legal standard for bringing such lawsuits in federal courts, overturning the tougher prevailing standard. The case is Thompson v. Clark, court file 20-659. The high court agreed March 8, 2021, to consider the case and heard it Oct. 12, 2021. The respondents are four New York Police Department (NYPD) officers: Pagiel Clark, Paul Montefusco, Phillip Romano, and Gerard Bouwmans. The officers raided the home of petitioner Larry Thompson, a U.S. Navy veteran living in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his wife. … Continue reading Supreme Court rules for Navy veteran, makes it easier to sue for malicious prosecution

A homeless 66-year-old grandmother is suing a New England city for “home equity theft” after her home was seized for a tax debt and sold but her equity in the property was not refunded to her. The legal action takes aim at what some call “home equity theft,” which is widespread in Massachusetts, according to the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a public interest law firm that is representing the woman free of charge. PLF says it is committed to ending home equity theft across the country. The legal complaint (pdf) in the case, Foss v. City of New Bedford, was filed March 29 … Continue reading Homeless grandmother sues Massachusetts city over ‘home equity theft’

The Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by 8–1 on March 31, limiting when federal courts have jurisdiction to confirm or vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act. The case is Badgerow v. Walters, court file 20-1143. Oral arguments were heard on Nov. 2, 2021. The majority decision, joined by seven justices, was written by Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Stephen Breyer was the sole dissenter. According to Kagan’s opinion (pdf) in the case, petitioner Denise Badgerow was a financial adviser for REJ Properties, a firm run by respondent Greg Walters and two others. Her contract … Continue reading Supreme Court reins in federal courts’ ability to handle arbitration disputes

A businesswoman in Hawaii is suing the Biden administration for hurting her business by banning swimming with spinner dolphins, a popular tourist and therapeutic activity that generates a living for many residents of the 50th U.S. state. Spinner dolphins are called such because “they are often seen leaping and spinning out of the water,” even “up to seven times … before falling back into the water,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported. The legal problem is that the low-level federal bureaucrat in the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) who issued the new regulation had no authority under the U.S. Constitution to … Continue reading Feds sued for banning swimming with dolphins, hurting Hawaiian economy

The Supreme Court seemed sympathetic during oral arguments on March 29 to a former Texas state trooper who claims his former employer violated a federal anti-discrimination law for veterans by refusing to accommodate him after he was injured in the Iraq War while serving as a U.S. Army reservist. The Biden administration previously urged the court to reject the case, but switched sides during oral arguments, arguing that a Texas intermediate appellate court was wrong to strike down the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Acct (USERRA) as unconstitutional. The lower court held the cause of action created by USERRA was unconstitutional … Continue reading Supreme Court sympathetic to Texas state trooper who wants job back after Iraq War burn-pit injury

The Supreme Court agreed on March 28 to review a voter-approved law in California that bans the sale of pork in the state from hogs raised anywhere in the world unless the animals were raised in a space that exceeds industry norms—a rule that U.S. pork producers say imposes massive new costs on out-of-state farmers. The case is National Pork Producers v. Ross, court file 21-468. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) describes itself as an agricultural organization representing the interests of the $26-billion-per-year U.S. pork industry. Among its members are pig farmers, as well as the entire pork chain and associated businesses, … Continue reading Supreme Court to hear case about California’s tough new rules on pork production

Milwaukee’s acting mayor, former mayor, and city clerk have been accused of being involved in an election bribery scheme for accepting election-assistance money from a Mark Zuckerberg-funded activist group in the 2020 election cycle, according to a legal complaint filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin was heavily litigated and is being investigated by the state legislature. Wisconsin Republicans claim the election process was corrupt and fraud-ridden and have proposed decertifying the results, even though they admit that doing so would not remove Joe Biden from the presidency. The legal action comes after 16 states have enacted … Continue reading Milwaukee officials sued in Zuckerberg-related election bribery case

The Supreme Court has sided with a Texas death row inmate who wants his personal pastor to be present, praying, and in physical contact with his body during the administration of the lethal drugs that will end his life. The justices voted 8–1, finding that John Henry Ramirez, 37, was likely to succeed on his claim that Texas’s restrictions on religious touch and audible prayer in the execution chamber violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Seth Kretzer, Ramirez’s attorney, praised the ruling. “The Supreme Court clarified that the rule of law is as ubiquitous as God. Both exist everywhere and … Continue reading Supreme Court sides with convicted murderer in Texas seeking ‘comfort of clergy’ at execution

A Chinese manufacturer should not be allowed to use the U.S. legal system to compel production of evidence in a private arbitration taking place overseas, the Supreme Court heard March 23 in a case fast-tracked from a federal appeals court. The Supreme Court’s decision in the case may help to determine the reach of the complex civil discovery process available in U.S. courts. The case, ZF Automotive US Inc. v. Luxshare Ltd., court file 21-401, was heard together with a similar case, AlixPartners v. Fund for Protection of Investor’s Rights, court file 21-518. Livonia, Michigan-based ZF Automotive manufactures automotive parts … Continue reading Supreme Court urged not to let Chinese firm use U.S. courts in German arbitration