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Judge sub during bench trial violated double jeopardy
HONOLULU — The Supreme Court of Hawaii vacated the conviction of a driver charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant after a judge was replaced mid-trial. The state’s high court found that substituting a new judge during a bench trial after evidence had already been heard violated the driver’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy.
‘Sacred duty of the lawyer’
ABERDEEN, Miss. — A federal court in Mississippi sanctioned four attorneys, two on each side of a city contract dispute, for improper use of artificial intelligence. All four lawyers are kicked off the case. Fines range from $1,000 and $3,500, and the two out-of-state attorneys are barred from practicing in the Northern District of Mississippi for two years. The court quotes that technology “can produce words” but it “cannot attach sincerity, truth, or responsibility to what it writes. That remains the sacred duty of the lawyer.”
Scholarship for Black students must be reconsidered
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court found the University of Iowa’s suit seeking to modify the terms of a scholarship gift was improperly dismissed. A Black professor left a scholarship bequest to the university in gratitude for the school educating him during the Jim Crow era, establishing a scholarship for “Black students majoring in the physical sciences, preferably chemistry.” The terms of the scholarship must be dissected upon remand since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions that universities could not use race-based preferences in admissions. The school may not simply repurpose it for first-generation students, however, and “an advocate for the donor’s intent” must be involved in the modification process.
Retaliatory arrest for filming police?
PORTLAND, Maine — A federal court in Maine partially denied two police officers’ motions to dismiss First Amendment claims brought against them by a man who “frequently films police conducting public arrests in and around Brunswick, Maine.” It would be reasonable to find that the man was arrested on one occasion in part because he was filming. An officer told him, “You’re getting a citation today for being on a limited access highway as a pedestrian. You’re out on 295 filming.”
Apple faces data privacy claims from 6M+ Illinois users
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A federal court in Illinois granted class certification to a class of Illinois Apple users who say the tech giant violated biometric privacy laws by collecting and possessing their biometric data without their consent through the “People” album in the photos app. The court estimates the potential class size numbers over 6 million and that Apple’s uniform code of conduct unites the claims.
Sanctions for Southwest Airlines reversed
DALLAS — Texas federal judge Brantley Starr announced he will not pursue further civil or criminal contempt against Southwest Airlines after the Fifth Circuit overturned a controversial sanctions order requiring three Southwest Airlines attorneys to receive “religious liberty training” from the right-wing Alliance Defending Freedom.
Cosmetics retailer faces privacy action
CHICAGO — A federal court in Illinois declined to dismiss a consumer’s proposed class action against M.A.C. Cosmetics accusing the retailer of violating the Illinois Biometrics Information Privacy Act through its virtual makeup try-on technology. The consumer plausibly alleged the retailer collected scans of her facial geometry through in-store and online virtual try-on features without providing the required disclosures or obtaining her written consent.
Sentence for horrific murder vacated
NEW ORLEANS — An appeals court in Louisiana affirmed the murder conviction of a man whose minor children testified that their father fatally shot a neighbor during an argument, then asked them to shoot him so he would not face consequences. When they refused, he asked his daughter and son to stab the victim; the son did so before later putting the knife in the victim’s hand. Because the man was not represented by counsel at his resentencing hearing, his sentence of life imprisonment is vacated.
Unemployment benefits wrongly denied
HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court found that a part-time airport guide was wrongly denied unemployment benefits after she was fired for refusing to sign a revised handbook and had two customer service complaints against her. These circumstances do not amount to misconduct that would disqualify her from benefits.
Nebraska forfeits in-state tuition extension to noncitizens
OMAHA, Neb. — A federal court in Nebraska approved a consent judgment between the U.S. government and Nebraska, ruling the state’s law extending eligibility for in-state tuition benefits to those in the U.S. without authorization violates the Supremacy Clause and are invalid.
Florida lawsuit enjoined for bad-faith filing
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal court granted the American Academy of Pediatrics a preliminary injunction blocking a Florida enforcement lawsuit that accused the nonprofit pediatricians’ organization of deceptive trade practices, racketeering and antitrust violations based on its advocacy for gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The academy plausibly alleged Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the suit to punish and suppress its protected speech. The Florida complaint contains significant misrepresentations of the academy’s policy statements, rests on a weak theory that its medical guidance constituted commercial speech and appears to have been brought in bad faith without a reasonable expectation of success.