Military Atty Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regulations

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal judge won't stop a military attorney from being appointed to prosecute a civilian accused of assaulting federal immigration officers, despite finding that the appointment violates binding U.S. Department of Defense regulations.

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Maduro Gets June Court Date After US Relents On Atty Fees

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday directed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to return to court in June, after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, reached an apparent agreement with the Trump administration to access Venezuela government funds for their legal fees.

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GAO Says Navy Can't Limit Contract Proposal Revisions

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Navy unreasonably prevented offerors from revising their technical proposals after it removed a requirement from a contract solicitation to support the Navy's emergency ship salvage material system, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.

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Fintech Cos., States Split On Scope Of Prediction Market Regs

By Aislinn Keely

Fintech platforms have told the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission that few events should be off-limits for trading as the agency crafts rules for prediction markets, while tribes, consumer groups and states are calling on the agency to ban sports markets altogether as off-label gambling.

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Pilots' Union Seeks FCC Focus On Safety In Drone Boost

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission must ensure that its drive to spur the drone industry's growth does not jeopardize air travel safety, the country's largest airline pilots' union has told the agency.

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FCC Says Crackdown Killed 3M Listings For Risky Devices

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission says its effort to stop e-commerce platforms from selling devices that pose "dangerous" security risks has stamped out more than three million retail listings in six months.

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Brief

FCC Grants Limited Extensions For 'Rip And Replace' Work

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission is handing out a few extensions for companies that are struggling to meet their deadlines for the agency's "rip and replace" program, which funds the replacement of Chinese technology, but it said it won't shift any more deadlines.

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Construction Co. Seeks $2.9M Over Lejeune Build Delays

By Ganesh Setty

A construction company has accused a demolition subcontractor in North Carolina federal court of delaying facility construction for more than 1,000 days at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune training base, seeking roughly $2.9 million in damages.

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Aviation Staffing Co. Used Per Diem To Dodge OT, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

An aviation staffing company paid its avionics technicians the same hourly rate for all hours worked, including overtime, and disguised the scheme using fake per diem payments, a proposed collective and class action filed in Georgia federal court alleges.

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Engineer Says Carnegie Mellon Stole Credit For AI Inventions

By Matthew Santoni

A software developer claims that Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute is falsely laying claim to his creations related to artificial intelligence security and privacy, allegedly despite an earlier determination that he'd invented the concepts in his spare time.

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Brief

Red Hill Fuel Leak Settlement Gets Judge's Backing

By Tom Lotshaw

A Hawaii federal magistrate judge said a settlement reached for 176 minor plaintiffs with claims in litigation over water contamination stemming from jet fuel spills at the U.S. Navy Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in the Aloha State should be approved.

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Protest Over Army Sole-Source Contract Untimely, GAO Finds

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a challenge to the U.S. Army's temporary sole-source contract to provide intelligence support services after the military branch paused its original award, finding the protester's arguments on the temporary contract untimely or premature.

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Skadden Adds Former Collins Aerospace GC In Boston

By Christine DeRosa

The former general counsel for Collins Aerospace has returned to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, where he worked earlier in his career, the firm said Monday.

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2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

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Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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DOJ Apology For Hidden Warrant Not Satisfying For Judge

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security criticized for releasing a noncitizen with an alleged overseas warrant for homicide, was dissatisfied with an assistant U.S. attorney's apology for not disclosing the warrant to the court beforehand.

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Wash. Bar Task Force Spotlights Atty Mental Health Issues

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Bar Association wellness survey of roughly 900 members found that nearly 10% said they experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harm in the past year, and about 20% expressed concerns about their alcohol consumption, a task force reported to bar leadership on Saturday.

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Lewis Brisbois Gets Ex-Paralegal's Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Adrian Cruz

A Florida state judge determined that a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has to arbitrate her claims accusing the firm of defamation and costing her a job at another firm.

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Sinema Pans 'Gross Distortion' By Ex-Guard's Wife In Tryst Suit

By Abigail Harrison

Former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday doubled down on her contention that a North Carolina federal court lacks jurisdiction over a lawsuit alleging she destroyed a marriage by sending lascivious texts to her ex-security guard.

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Analysis

DOJ's In-House Detention Legal Aid Plan Is MIA

By Courtney Bublé

A year ago, U.S. Department of Justice officials said the government would be taking over a program historically run by nonprofits to provide legal orientations and referrals for pro bono representation for adults in immigration detention facilities. But those involved in the program say the Trump administration hasn't taken any steps to run the program.

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2nd Circ. Raises Concern Over Challenge To NY US Atty's DQ

By Stewart Bishop

A Second Circuit panel on Monday voiced concern over the U.S. Department of Justice's argument that a now-former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving lawfully when he subpoenaed the New York Attorney General's office over a pair of cases disfavored by President Donald Trump.

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Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

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Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

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Longtime South Fla. Federal Judge James King Dies At 98

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a Nixon appointee who spent more than half a century on the federal bench and helped shape the Southern District of Florida, died Saturday at the age of 98.

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Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

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