Today's Legal Pulse
Biden sues DOJ to block release of interview audio
President Biden filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from publishing an audio interview, arguing the release would be improper. The action has sparked political commentary, including remarks from former President Trump.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader clear final merger hurdles
DA Expects Nir Meir’s Fraud Case to Go to Trial
Former HFZ Capital executive Nir Meir is the last remaining defendant in an $86 million fraud case tied to the XI condo project. While seven co‑defendants have already taken plea deals or deferred prosecution agreements, prosecutors have been unable to secure a plea from Meir. He pleaded not guilty and is currently under home confinement, with a trial anticipated around September. A conviction could carry decades of imprisonment.
Coordinated Legal Defense Saves Costs During FBI Raids
"I called my employees and former employees and asked, 'Hey did the FBI come to raid your house today?' And five of them said yes, the FBI had come to their house at the same exact time and raided their...
SEC Pressure Silences Investors, They Resort to Signal
"Then some of my bigger investors all went silent on me, And I found out later that it was because the SEC reached out to them, and their lawyers told them not to talk to me. But some of them...
Congress Declares Open Season on Public Lands
The Senate narrowly approved a 50‑49 vote to open a national forest adjacent to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness to a copper‑nickel mining project backed by Chilean firm Antofagasta. The decision overturns a two‑decade‑old mineral withdrawal using the Congressional Review...
Sports Betting Handle Surpasses $165B, Triggers Major‑Questions Review
National sports betting handle via state regulation exceeded $165 billion in 2025, well north of the $50 billion baseline for 'significance' suggested by Judge Nelson for application of the 'major-questions' doctrine. Via @SBJ https://t.co/KpmmUeyJQ4)
Lawyer Says Prediction Markets Will Cost Nevada Billions
Prediction markets will cost Nevada billions of dollars, a lawyer on behalf of the state gaming regulators and casinos argued during a court hearing on a lawsuit brought by PMs
U.S. Supreme Court Narrows Secondary Liability in Copyright Law–Cox V. Sony (Guest Blog Post)
On March 25, 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Cox Communications cannot be held liable for copyright infringements committed by its subscribers, overturning a $1 billion jury verdict for Sony Music and other owners. The majority opinion, authored by...
Judges Question Nevada's Prediction Market Ban Authority
Judges in today's prediction market lawsuit v Nevada have also pushed back against the state's attorney; judges have question if the scope of NV's push to ban predicion markets steps on federal authority
Crypto Compliance Pro Shocked by Government Subpoenas
"I never imagined that the government would want to do something to me given all the work we put in on compliance. But in mid-2022 a few bigger coin holders told me their accounts got subpoenaed. I didn't even know...
“Conservative Judges’ Early Hiring Fuels Two-Track Clerkship System at Harvard Law”
Harvard Law School’s clerkship pipeline is fracturing as conservative federal judges begin hiring clerks months before the traditional summer season. The early‑hiring practice creates a two‑track system, giving students who secure positions early a competitive edge over peers who apply...
Legal Workaround Lets Exchanges Buy BITCLOUT via Fiat Conversion
Some crypto exchanges wanted to buy BITCLOUT tokens but they couldn't send in Bitcoin to receive the coins 😂 @nadertheory had to create a legal document saying another entity would take their fiat, convert it to bitcoin, and buy BITCLOUT for...
Court Moves To Examine Merger Of Two Local TV Conglomerates
Nexstar completed its $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, giving it control of 265 local stations that reach roughly 80% of U.S. households. The FCC granted a waiver of ownership caps without a full commission vote, and the Justice Department approved the...
Commission Adopts RTS Specifying What Constitutes an Equivalent Legal Mechanism that Ensures that a Residential Property Under Construction Is Completed...
On 16 April 2026 the European Commission adopted a delegated regulation that adds a regulatory technical standard (RTS) to the Capital Requirements Regulation. The RTS defines the prudential criteria for an "equivalent legal mechanism" that guarantees a residential property under construction will...
Pricing Discretion Doesn't Equal Antitrust Market Power
Klein (1993) is supposedly on tying. It's so much more. Holdups, market power definitions. The nugget throughout is that pricing discretion is not the same thing as antitrust market power. I'm over at @TOTMblog on this foundational paper https://t.co/uhhV5pLuDn
New Notice in a Nutshell Briefing: PRA Fines Bank and Its Parent Company £2 Million in Connection with Prudential and...
On 23 March 2026 the UK Prudential Regulation Authority issued a final notice to The Bank of London Group Limited and its parent Oplyse Holdings Limited, imposing a £2 million (approximately $2.5 million) penalty for prudential and governance failings. The regulator found the firms...
CFTC Inaction Keeps Prediction Markets Legal—Future Risk
Robinhood's lawyers argued today that the CFTC can take action against prediction markets, and because it hasn't, means they are legal. The problem, again, is that if (and, realistically, when) the CFTC has a less favorable makeup, they could simply end...
Chairman Atkins Launches 'Material Matters' Podcast
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced the launch of "Material Matters," a new podcast that offers exclusive interviews on the agency’s policy and rulemaking agenda. The inaugural episode features Commissioners Mark T. Uyeda and Hester M. Peirce discussing their careers and...
What Happened at the Supreme Court, 16 April 2026?
In November 2024, the UK Supreme Court heard a two‑day appeal by For Women Scotland challenging the Scottish Ministers’ interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 that gender identity can override biological sex. The case focused on whether a person with...
Why Donald Trump and Kash Patel Want Your Data
Congress is set to vote on a clean reauthorization of FISA Section 702, a foreign‑intelligence tool that also sweeps up the communications of millions of Americans. The Trump administration, with FBI director Kash Patel at the helm, is pushing the bill...
Consumers Get New Weapon Against Phone Call Spam
South Africa has amended the Consumer Protection Act to require all direct marketers to register with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) and cleanse their databases monthly against a national opt‑out registry. The new regime imposes an initial registration fee of...
From CCO Alone to Proving Value
Chief compliance officers (CCOs) often feel isolated because they report in findings that lack financial context. Tina Tolliver argues the solution is translating every compliance event into dollar exposure and remediation cost, creating a Risk Protection Dashboard with exposure and...
DOJ Settles Social Media Censorship Suit Over Biden-Era State Department Program
The Justice Department settled a high‑profile lawsuit alleging the State Department funded and encouraged social‑media censorship during the Biden administration. The case centered on claims that a federal misinformation program pressured private platforms to suppress protected speech, but the settlement...
Court Rulings Swing Wildly, Echoing 1980s Tyson Fight
Crazy pendulum swing going from CA3 and Arizona rulings within last two weeks to double drubbing in CA9 and Selig testimony. Feels reminiscent of a mid-1980's Mike Tyson fight.
‘Market Power in Antitrust: Economic Analysis After Kodak,’ by Benjamin Klein
Benjamin Klein’s 1993 article argues that the Supreme Court’s Kodak decision conflated hold‑up with antitrust market power. While the Court correctly identified switching costs and lock‑in, it misapplied these concepts to prove monopoly power in the aftermarket. Klein contends that...
Accountability in Automated Decisions: The Next Frontier of Tech Law
Enterprises deploying AI‑driven decision systems now face concrete accountability mandates under the EU AI Act and GDPR. Regulators require documented lifecycles, human oversight, traceable data, and contestability mechanisms, shifting responsibility from model explainability to system architecture. The article outlines a...
Free Law Project Announces Initiative to Add Digitized Scans of Case Law Volumes to CourtListener
The Free Law Project, the nonprofit behind CourtListener, announced a new initiative to digitize and upload millions of pages of case‑law opinions from 2018 onward. The effort will add high‑resolution scanned PDFs of the original volumes, complementing the existing text‑only...
Trump‑appointed Judges Show Skepticism at Prediction Market Hearing
All three judges in today's prediction market hearing are Trump appointees. All have seemed heavily skeptical of the PMs' legal arguments today.
Judge Flags Kalshi's Claim that Sports Betting Is Nationwide
Judge Bade: "Kalshi advertises 'sports betting is legal in all 50 states.' Yet another instance of Kalshi's own words being used against it.
SIFMA Welcomes SEC’s Comprehensive Review of the CAT
SIFMA announced its support for the SEC’s concept release that initiates a comprehensive review of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The trade association highlighted long‑standing calls for a public review to address CAT costs, governance, funding, and data security. SIFMA...
Judges Question Kalshi's Roulette Betting; CFTC Likely Blocks It
Federal judges push Kalshi lawyers on what would stop them from offering event contracts on the outcome of a roulette wheel; Kalshi says the CFTC likely wouldn't allow it, without giving an explanation why
Russia Caps Bandwidth, Forcing VPN Filters or Price Hikes
Russia’s fight against digital privacy escalates as internet providers agree to freeze the expansion of cross-border channels into Europe. By capping international bandwidth, authorities aim to force telecom operators to either filter VPN traffic or hike prices, making it harder...
Justice Ginsburg Cancer Treatment Leak Prosecution: Blame the Cat
The Fourth Circuit upheld the conviction of former GWU Hospital employee Russell for illegally accessing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's medical records, finding the leaked screenshot to be individually identifiable health information under HIPAA. Russell was sentenced to two years in...
Kalshi's 2024 Legal Push Thwarted by Gaming Ban
Believable. And predictable. Kalshi's 2024 admissions from the DC case and Rule 40.11's blanket ban on 'gaming' contracts have always been the double-barred achilles heel to Kalshi's legal argument. 1) Rule 40.11 bars "gaming" contracts 2) Kalshi says sports contracts = gaming
Five Ways Generative AI Is Reinventing Modern Litigation Workflows: Legal Tech Trends
Everlaw unveiled Deep Dive, a generative‑AI engine that lets attorneys pose natural‑language questions to interrogate entire document repositories. The tool interprets context, surfacing relevant communications and tying them to specific dates, turning weeks‑long keyword‑search projects into hour‑long investigations. The article frames...
Judge Nelson Leverages Kalshi’s Own Words Against It
Judge Nelson is using Kalshi's own words against it from the DC case (i.e., that Congress didn't want sports-event contracts--mirroring Judge Abelson's comments from the MD oral argument. And we know how that one turned out. Nelson is firmly in...
Hope Downs Ruling ‘Clear Win’ for Gina Rinehart, Prominent Industry Analyst Says – by Samantha Goerling and Andrew Hanlon (Australian...
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, secured a decisive court victory in the protracted Hope Downs legal battle. Justice Jennifer Smith dismissed all competing claims, including those from Rinehart’s children and the Wright family, affirming Hancock Prospecting’s ownership stake in the...
Should We Ban Teens From Social Media? The Fight That Could Change Childhood Forever
The UK Parliament voted against a blanket ban on social‑media use for under‑16s, despite mounting pressure from bereaved parents and mental‑health advocates. Across the Atlantic, recent U.S. court decisions have signaled a willingness to hold platforms accountable for youth safety....
Oh Look, The MAGA FTC Built The Censorship Industrial Complex It Was Screaming About
The Federal Trade Commission, backed by eight red‑state attorneys general, forced all five major U.S. advertising agency holding companies to cease using NewsGuard’s journalism‑rating service. The move extends a prior condition on the Omnicom‑IPG merger and is framed as an...
Judge Nelson Challenges CA3 Majority on Rule 40.11(a)(1)
Rule 40.11(a)(1) taking center stage at the oral argument, as Judge Nelson indicates that he disagrees with the CA3 majority’s analysis of that point and has PM counsel on ropes.
CFTC Shift Could Undermine Prediction Markets' Legal Standing
Much of the prediction markets' legal case is based on the idea they have authority, in part, because of the CFTC. The problem with any reliance on the CFTC is that in the next two to three years, the makeup...
Robinhood Shares Jump 10% as SEC Drops $25,000 Margin Rule
Robinhood Markets (HOOD) rallied more than 10% to $87.32 after the SEC removed the $25,000 equity minimum for day‑trading accounts. The regulatory shift is expected to lift trading volume, spark new Gold subscriptions and fuel the broker’s upcoming earnings narrative.
India Dispatch: Death of First Passive Euthanasia Patient Closes Landmark Chapter, Opens Larger Debate
Harish Rana, the first Indian patient granted court‑approved passive euthanasia, died on March 24 at AIIMS after eight years in a coma. The Supreme Court, invoking its 2018 framework, authorized withdrawal of life‑support without the usual 30‑day review, marking the...
Today’s Podcast Episode: “True Lender” Doctrine Back in the Spotlight: Key Takeaways on OppFi V. Hewlett Tentative California Superior Opinion
The Los Angeles Superior Court issued a tentative ruling in OppFi v. Hewlett, granting summary judgment to fintech lender OppFi and rejecting the California DFPI’s claim that OppFi, not its partner FinWise Bank, is the true lender. The court emphasized...
Zip Launches AI Contract Orchestration Platform, Cutting Contract Cycle Times by Over 50%
Zip introduced its AI Contract Orchestration solution, automating supplier contract review, negotiation and compliance. Early adopters report contract cycle times slashed by more than half and outside legal contractor hours cut by 50%, promising to reclaim millions of manual review...
Judge Rejects Crypto.com Claim, Boosts Nevada Regulators
Good news so far for Nevada regulators: early in today's Prediction Market hearing, federal Judge Ryan Nelson has aggressively pushed back against Crypto dot com's legal claims that sports event contracts are not sports bets
Jordan Mandates Digital ID for All Public Services, Law Takes Effect
Jordan's House of Representatives approved amendments that make digital identity compulsory for accessing any government or private‑sector service. The law, approved on April 13, introduces mandatory digital IDs, a digital mail address system and fines for missing documents, aiming to...
Elza Hayyat, Relativity: Hidden to Handled: Detecting Confidential Business Information in aiR for Review
Relativity has introduced a new Confidential Business Information (CBI) analysis type within its aiR for Review platform, leveraging generative AI to automatically surface sensitive data such as contracts, pricing models, and product roadmaps. The feature tackles the labor‑intensive, line‑by‑line review...
Montreal School Board Loses 150 Workers Under Secularism Law
Montreal’s largest school service centre, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, has terminated roughly 150 support staff who refused to remove religious symbols under Quebec’s new Bill 94. The law, adopted in October 2025, widens the province’s secularism ban from teachers...
Bitunix Gains ISO 27001:2022 Certification, Boosting Crypto Exchange Security
Bitunix, a crypto derivatives platform with over 5 million users, secured ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, confirming its formal information‑security management system. The move adds a globally recognized seal of trust to its proof‑of‑reserves model and $30 million USDC care fund, signaling heightened compliance for...
Hanzo: How to Preserve Slack and Teams Data Without Disrupting Workflows
Collaboration platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams now hold critical business conversations, files, and decision‑making context, making them subject to legal preservation obligations. When litigation, investigations, or regulatory inquiries arise, companies must retain this data as electronically stored information (ESI)...