Judges issue conflicting abortion-pill injunctions, SCOTUS Justice Thomas defends luxury trips, US legal jobs decline, and more ??
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On Friday, a U.S. judge in Texas suspended the two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone while a legal challenge proceeds, dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States.
Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug.
The 67-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, will not take effect for one week to give the Biden administration a chance to file an emergency appeal, which the U.S. Department of Justice said it will do.
Kacsmaryk's ruling is a preliminary injunction that would essentially ban sales of mifepristone while the case by anti-abortion groups before him continues. The judge, who was appointed to the bench by Republican President Donald Trump, has not yet made a final ruling on the merits of the challenge.
The Justice Department had argued that a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in Texas would?undercut trust in the FDA , the agency that signs off on the safety of food products and drugs, and would increase the burden on surgical abortion clinics already overcrowded with women coming from states that now ban the procedure.
The appeal will go to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a conservative reputation, with more than two-thirds of its judges appointed by Republican presidents.
The next stop after the 5th Circuit would be the Supreme Court with its 6-3 conservative majority.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday defended luxury trips he has taken over decades, funded by real estate magnate and Republican donor Harlan Crow, saying he had been advised that he was not required to report this type of "personal hospitality" under federal rules.
In a statement, Thomas also said that he has always sought to comply with disclosure guidelines.
ProPublica reported on Thursday that the long-serving justice?accepted expensive trips from Crow ?over decades despite federal law requiring the disclosure of most gifts, prompting Senate Democrats to call for an investigation.
"Early in my tenure at the (Supreme) Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable," Thomas said.
For several years, questions have been raised about weak disclosure rules relating to trips and other types of gifts, as well as recusal rules for judges.
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U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges must make public more details about any free trips, meals, or gifts they receive under new regulations adopted at the urging of lawmakers and judicial transparency advocates.
The U.S. legal services sector lost 600 jobs in March, new Labor Department figures showed on Friday, marking the first monthly employment decline for the industry since September.
Legal sector jobs totaled 1,180,900 last month, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The count includes lawyers, paralegals, and other legal professionals.
Legal employment has declined by 7,000 jobs since reaching an historic high in July, Labor Department statistics show. U.S. law firms bulked up in 2021 and 2022 to take advantage of a unusually high client demand for advice on corporate deals and other legal work.
After dropping in August and September, the number of jobs in the U.S. legal sector has stayed relatively flat or risen slightly month-over-month. During the same period, several large U.S. law firms, including?Cooley ,?Goodwin Procter ,?Stroock & Stroock & Lavan ,?and?Shearman & Sterling , have laid off lawyers and staff in the face of a cooler M&A environment and faltering demand.
Last week, Silicon Valley-founded law firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian?said ?it was trimming 10% of its U.S. attorneys, paralegals, and staff. Chicago-founded Kirkland & Ellis also cut an unspecified number of attorney jobs, and firms, including Davis Wright Tremaine and Perkins Coie, have also let go of business professionals.
Jeffrey Lowe of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, told Reuters that he expects to see more law firm layoffs heading into the second quarter of the year.
A coalition of national law firms has been chosen to lead more than 30 lawsuits against railway company Norfolk Southern over the February derailment of one of its freight trains in East Palestine, Ohio, that caused hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Benita Yalonda Pearson in Youngstown, who is overseeing the litigation, chose ?New York-based Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy, Colorado-based Seth Katz of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh Jardine and Delaware-based Elizabeth Graham of Grant & Eisenhofer as interim class counsel. They will be joined by Florida-based Michael Morgan of Morgan & Morgan as co-lead counsel.
Pearson said the lawyers had already done "significant work" to identify and investigate potential claims and have the resources and experience in complex lawsuits necessary to support the 31 cases that have now been consolidated.
The judge had been?presented with ?two proposals for guiding the purported class action lawsuits stemming from the Feb. 3?crash ?of the Norfolk-operated train. One plan?proposed ?national class action firms taking the lead, and another team emphasized attorneys with local roots.
Residents and businesses in the lawsuits are seeking compensation for property damage, ongoing medical monitoring for the community, and punitive damages against the railroad company.
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