Biden’s nominees face opposition, California state bar’s 'snitch' rule, Mckool Smith’s co-founder leaves and Montana’s TikTok ban ??
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?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here are today's top legal stories:
The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's nominee Nancy Abudu, to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She will be the first Black woman to serve on the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit.
Abudu, a lawyer for the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) legal advocacy group, was confirmed on a 49-47 vote.
Abudu's nomination drew strong Republican opposition, and she faced a new obstacle when Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, broke ranks to oppose advancing her nomination.
Manchin was the lone Democratic vote against Abudu. Biden's Democrats hold a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate.
In other news, former New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney asked U.S. President Joe Biden to withdraw his nomination to the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals amid opposition from both Democrats and Republicans.
Some Democrats questioned a brief that Delaney signed defending a since-repealed New Hampshire law requiring parental notification before their minor child has an abortion. Delaney told senators he had "extremely limited involvement" in the case, which was litigated while he was the state's deputy attorney general.
In the letter to Biden, Delaney said he believes "it is appropriate for me to withdraw my name from consideration for this position to advance the important work of the federal judiciary."
Lawyers in California may soon be required to report professional misconduct by their peers and colleagues—as do attorneys in every other state.
The State Bar of California's board of trustees voted for a new ethics rule mandating that lawyers report fraud, misappropriation of funds, and other criminal acts or conduct that reflect adversely on lawyers' "honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness" by fellow attorneys.
The board recommended the new so-called "snitch rule" to the California Supreme Court, which has the final say on adoption.
California has more lawyers than any other state, and nearly 200 submitted comments opposing the rule. Some argue that the rule would overwhelm the state bar's disciplinary system with complaints and that it would inhibit the lawyer and client relationship.
Comments submitted from non-attorneys were overwhelmingly in favor of the change and argued that the rule would disincentivize engaging in misconduct and that fellow lawyers are in a better position to recognize potential misconduct.
McKool Smith co-founder Mike McKool has left the national trial law firm in order to represent an unnamed new client, he said.
Dallas-founded McKool Smith initially tried to take on the new matter but discovered it would create business conflicts with existing clients, said David Sochia, the firm's managing principal and chairman.
McKool said he opted to leave the firm instead and take on the case himself.
"At my age, how many great cases am I going to be offered?" said McKool, who is 73. "It was something that was so compelling, it was hard for me to turn my back on."
McKool co-founded McKool Smith in 1991. The firm now has 130 lawyers spread across Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban Chinese-owned TikTok from operating in the state to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China, making it the first U.S. state to ban the popular short video app.
Montana will make it unlawful for Google and Apple's app stores to offer TikTok within the state but will not impose any penalties on individuals using the app. The ban is to take effect Jan. 1, 2024 and is almost certain to face legal challenges.
Five TikTok users in Montana who create content posted on the app filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the state's new ban on the Chinese-owned platform.
The TikTok users argue the state seeks to "exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress." The suit said users believe the law violates their First Amendment rights.
While blocking apps by geography is not unheard of, the Montana law is notable for doing so at the state level, upending a single-market approach Apple?and Alphabet's Google?have long been able to use for their U.S. app stores.
Learn how Montana could enforce a TikTok ban.
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Commercial Real Estate Broker
1 年The Linkedin post below about credit unions from a criminal attorney explains and gives support to what I previously posted here about the Credit Union Cartel, the Profiteers of Tax-Exempt Banking.?See my story at https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/14221041/
Commercial Real Estate Broker
1 年Did you know that credit unions who are exempt from paying federal taxes so the rest of us have to pay more, are (in the case of San Diego County Credit Union), also having their employees sign confidential agreements with provisions (see below) stating that (in return for payment) they agree to not raise allegations of that credit union's wrongdoing with governmental agencies, and then using their mutual insurer (i.e., CUNA Mutual, owned by ~5,000 other credit unions) to fund and direct attorneys as officers of the court to perpetrate extrinsic and other fraud on the court schemes in state and federal courts to conceal it?? The confidential agreement referenced above was filed in federal court (for a case currently pending in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California as case no. 22-CV-01962) and is now public record. See https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/14221041/ or https://www.scribd.com/user/465774540/Tax-the-Credit-Unon-Cartel?