Mass. Judge, On Stand, Denies Helping Immigrant Evade ICE

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts judge accused of approving a plan to let a man elude immigration officers by letting him leave the court through a back door seven years ago testified Thursday that was not her intent when she granted a request to let him speak with an attorney in a courthouse lockup.

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Trump's Deployment Of National Guard Illegal, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday granted California's request for a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's order sending the National Guard into Los Angeles, calling the president's actions "illegal" and unconstitutional, but the decision was quickly paused by the Ninth Circuit.

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DOJ Sues NY Over Law Blocking ICE Arrests At Courthouses

By Madison Arnold

The federal government slapped New York with a lawsuit Thursday challenging the state's policies that block immigration officials from arresting individuals near its state courthouses.

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Stranded Asylum-Seekers Sue Trump Over Border Closure

By Britain Eakin

A proposed class of asylum-seekers stranded in Mexico has sued the Trump administration, arguing there is no legal basis to shut down the southern U.S. border to people who are entitled under U.S. law to apply for asylum when they arrive in the U.S. or at the border.

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DHS Tightens Rules On Info Disclosure, Medical Exam Validity

By Britain Eakin

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued two policy updates this week, one changing how the agency will disclose derogatory information when it intends to issue an adverse decision, and another reversing course on how long medical exams are valid.

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Brief

DHS Begins Sending Termination Notices To Parolees

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday said it has started sending termination notices to people granted temporary residency and work authorizations through a parole program the Biden administration launched for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

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DOJ Picks Proceed Despite Worry Over Honoring Court Orders

By Courtney Bublé

Two nominations for top positions in the U.S. Department of Justice were voted out of committee on party lines on Thursday.

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Brief

Harvard Researcher Held By ICE Over Specimens Released

By Julie Manganis

A Harvard Medical School researcher and Russian national who has been detained by U.S. immigration authorities since February, when frog embryo specimens were found in her luggage at Logan Airport, was released from custody Thursday while she awaits trial on a smuggling charge.

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Texas Man Gets 11 Years In Cross-Border Transport Case

By Matthew Perlman

A Texas federal court has sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for helping lead a violent conspiracy to monopolize the transport of used vehicles and other goods from the U.S. through Mexico for resale in Central America.

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Judge Won't Halt Immigration Registration Rule During Appeal

By Joyce Hanson

A D.C. federal judge on Thursday denied advocacy groups' request for an injunction as they appeal a ruling that upholds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new registration form for unauthorized immigrants, finding that they have not shown that they will suffer irreparable harm without the injunction.

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Feds Urge 1st Circ. To Allow End Of Immigrant Parole Program

By Rae Ann Varona

The Trump administration Wednesday urged the First Circuit to lift a district court's block on the federal government from rescinding temporary Biden-era removal protections from more than 500,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan immigrants, saying the U.S. Supreme Court already hinted that the order was a mistake.

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9th Circ. Says Brazilian Didn't Get Fair Shake In Asylum Request

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Ninth Circuit has revived a Brazilian woman's asylum claim, saying neither the Board of Immigration Appeals nor an immigration judge appropriately considered how the danger she faced in her home country stopped her from practicing her religion freely.

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Attacks On Judicial Independence Tend To Manifest In 3 Ways

Attacks on judicial independence now run the gamut from gross (bald-faced interference) to systemic (structural changes) to insidious (efforts to undermine public trust), so lawyers, judges and the public must recognize the fateful moment in which we live and defend the rule of law every day, says Jim Moliterno at Washington and Lee University.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Landing The Most PTAB Work

By Theresa Schliep

Intellectual property powerhouse Fish & Richardson again secured the top spot on a list of firms appearing in the most trials over the past three years in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Google Fights MDL Plaintiffs' Sanctions Bid Over Lost Chats

By Emily Sawicki

Google is pushing back on a request for sanctions that a slew of advertisers and publishers have brought in their antitrust lawsuit over the company's advertising placement technology, saying the plaintiffs have not shown Google hid evidence amid the "mountains" of electronically stored information it provided.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Proctor On Civility, Civil Rules

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

R. David Proctor, chief judge of the Northern District of Alabama, is a leader within the federal judiciary. He's both assigned and presided over multidistrict litigation. He may write a nationwide rule governing third-party litigation funding. And he's gained internet fame for ordering two attorneys to eat lunch together.

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Avenatti Sheds 3 Years After 9th Circ. Orders Resentencing

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge on Thursday resentenced disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti to just over 11 years in federal prison for filching millions of dollars from his clients' settlement funds, reducing a 14-year sentence overturned by the Ninth Circuit and leaving Avenatti with about eight years left after time served.

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Calif. Sues Trump Over 'Wildly Partisan' EV Waiver Repeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The California attorney general and 10 other states sued the Trump administration in federal court Thursday, minutes after President Donald Trump signed resolutions repealing California's Clean Air Act waiver that allowed the state to establish its own vehicle emissions standards, slamming the resolutions as unconstitutional, irrational and "wildly partisan."

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Interview

Ex-Interior Secretary Salazar On 'Coming Home' To WilmerHale

By Aebra Coe

Former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who served as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Obama administration and most recently as ambassador to Mexico during the Biden administration, returned this month to WilmerHale's Denver office, which he founded in 2014.

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Justices Say Habeas Claims Can't Be Added After Judgment

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a prisoner may not add new claims to a habeas corpus petition once a final judgment is issued, cementing strict limits on repeat habeas filings prescribed by federal law.

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Justices Limit FTCA Defense In FBI Raid Case

By Chart Riggall

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Constitution's supremacy clause cannot shield the federal government from Federal Tort Claims Act suits, in the process reviving a Georgia woman's claim over an FBI raid aimed at a gang member but mistakenly carried out at her home.

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Analysis

Rising PTAB Filings Follow Surge In Patent Cases

By Theresa Schliep

The number of petitions filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ticked up last year, following a similar increase in federal court litigation and suggesting that activity at the board has somewhat stabilized, according to a new report.

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Weinstein Sex Abuse Trial Ends After Mixed, Partial Verdict

By Pete Brush

Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse retrial ended Thursday with a Manhattan jury failing to reach a verdict on a count alleging the movie mogul raped an actress, one day after he was convicted of forcing sex on a production assistant and cleared on a third charge.

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