Google illegally monopolized online advertising markets, US judge rules
Federal judge deals blow to tech giant and paves way for government to break up company’s advertising products https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/17/google-illegal-monopoly-ad-tech #uslaw #uspol #competition

In November, Missouri voters approved an amendment to the state's constitution that provided the right to reproductive freedom, legalizing abortion. Yesterday, the House Republicans voted to essentially repeal that, making abortion illegal in Missouri again, with limited exceptions. Here's more from St. Louis Public Radio.

https://flip.it/hvixH7

"What we saw today at the White House should shock every American who cares about our system of checks and balances and the rule of law," said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America's Voice, an immigration advocacy nonprofit, in a statement. She said the decision not to return Abrego Garcia violates the Supreme Court's ruling to bring him back.

"All of this is a reminder why immigration is the tip of the spear for Trump's larger assault on key pillars of our democracy and why what's at stake should alarm Americans of all political persuasions," she added.

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/14/nx-s1-5364502/trump-bukele-el-salvador-deportation

Meta and the FTC face off in court over monopoly claims https://www.npr.org/2025/04/14/nx-s1-5358436/meta-ftc-antitrust-trial-opening-arguments #facebook #antitrust #meta #uslaw #uspol

"A new Kansas law and a Florida bill outline policies backed by abortion opponents that critics see as moves toward giving embryos and fetuses the same rights as the women carrying them."

https://apnews.com/article/florida-kansas-abortion-fetal-personhood-reproductive-rights-91672d650d79c596efdc8030bd975aca

A US immigration court has ruled that a peaceful protest for #Palestinian rights is a national security risk justifying #deportation.
https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-protester-ruling-deport-fd9e80583af3109d7de0a5264e79ea61

#MahmoudKhalil "isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at #Columbia."

Major legal question for today:

Can this officially published and recorded executive order be countermanded by an unofficial mere Truth Social post?

https://whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/

Because if it cannot, the higher #tariffs over the 10% rate are in fact still in effect. There has been no countermanding formal executive order and it is now just past 17:00 EDT.

In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out the order of District Judge James Boasberg, who blocked removal of Venezuelans to El Salvador without legal process under the Alien Enemies Act. The government had previously indicated that deportations would immediately resume if Boasberg's order was lifted. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her dissent: "We are just as wrong now as we have been in the past, with similarly devastating consequences. It just seems we are now less willing to face it,” adding: "At least when the Court went off base in the past, it left a record so posterity could see how it went wrong,” citing the notorious ruling that allowed government confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II. Here's more from NBC.

https://flip.it/8B1dZ6

Good take by @harvard_law profs Nikolas Bowie and Benjamin Eidelson:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/04/opinion/harvard-antisemitism-trump/

"#Harvard has suffered real legal setbacks in recent years, including a major [#SCOTUS] loss on affirmative action, and some stakeholders may be leery of another public fight…But a 400-year-old institution should be making decisions with a time horizon of centuries, not news cycles. Making a principled stand now — with the law squarely on its side — is the single best thing Harvard could do to earn its continued place as a symbol of genuine excellence, free inquiry, and commitment to the public good. Filing suit would also enhance Harvard’s legal position going forward, as any retaliation by the administration would be an even clearer violation of the First Amendment."

The latest #LegalEagle video is a bit political, so I'm not going to hyperlink to it.

But there's an amusing little moment when Devin Stone mispronounces Worcester, one of the litigants in Worcester v. Georgia, a landmark case from the 1830s, as "wur chester".

The New England pronunciation — Samuel Worcester came from Vermont. — is the same as ours.

Good points from Richard Thompson Ford, Stanford Law prof:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/gutting-dei-wont-save-us
(#paywalled)

"As lawyers across the political spectrum agree, the government cannot make giving up a constitutional right a condition of funding…Civil-rights laws do not permit the executive branch to run an extortion racket by withholding funding approved by Congress and then dictating terms for its return. Quite the opposite: Civil-rights laws require a careful, program-specific assessment to identify any violations, after which the Department of Education must give notice of its concerns and try to secure voluntary compliance. Only if such efforts fail may the department begin enforcement proceedings, which require it to submit a report to Congress 30 days before withholding funding. Even then, funds may only be withheld from the specific programs that violated the law. For example, the government can’t withhold grants from a medical school because of violations in the history department, much less, as in the case of Columbia, suspend a host of unrelated grants and contracts because of vaguely defined violations."

#Academia #DEI #Funding #Trump #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter

"In what may have been a first, #Trump pardoned a #corporation. The company to earn that distinction was a #cryptocurrency exchange sentenced to a $100 million fine for violating an anti-money laundering law."
https://theintercept.com/2025/04/02/trump-pardons-corporation-bitmex-crypto/

Comment by @rickclaypool of #PublicCitizen: "Putting corporate pardons on the table strengthens Trump’s corrupt and authoritarian power over corporations. This has the potential to trigger a lobbying frenzy for any corporation that has faced federal enforcement.”

"A lawsuit filed against Apple in California this week accuses the company of violating the state's false advertising law and other consumer laws, by intentionally misleading customers into thinking that they are purchasing digital e-books from the Apple Books app in perpetuity, when instead they are only purchasing revokable licenses to the books."
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/02/apple-books-licensing-lawsuit/

PS: I'm glad to see this suit. Note that the question is not whether owning is better than licensing, or whether buyers should own rather than merely license the digital books they pay for. The question is whether Apple accurately described the situation in its ads.