Latest News
House Rejects Republican Resolution to Limit Supreme Court to Nine Justices
The U.S. House voted down a proposed constitutional amendment last week sponsored by Republicans that would permanently establish a nine-member Supreme Court.
The measure would need a two-thirds majority to pass, but failed by a 212-to-206 margin.
The vote was the latest sign of an escalating partisan battle over the Court's future after President Donald Trump appointed three justices, producing a 6-to-3 conservative majority.
Leading Democrats want to increase the number of justices to 13 to reduce the risk of a long-term supermajority.
Democrats pushed the Supreme Court size issue in the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns as their frustration grew in response to conservative rulings.
Judge Rejects Trump’s Plea to Eliminate New York Criminal Conviction
President Donald Trump’s lawyers are appealing again after their latest effort to eliminate his criminal conviction in New York failed late last month.
He was convicted in May 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The underlying issue was a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose claim to a sexual encounter with Trump threatened his 2016 presidential campaign.
In July 2024 the Supreme Court ruled that the president had broad immunity from liability for his official acts. The Supreme Court’s ruling was the basis for Trump’s petition to have his criminal conviction overturned.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein denied the plea. He said falsified business records are not the same as “official acts.”
Former Stars and Stripes Staff Sue Pentagon over Firings in Free Press Dispute
Staff members at the military oriented newspaper Stars and Stripes are suing the Defense Department in a free press dispute.
They allege a violation of First Amendment rights by job terminations of journalists who advocate for editorial independence.
Their recent reporting on plunging morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln was one of the issues that set off the latest firings by Defense Department officials.
They have reported on other difficulties faced by troops previously, leading to a government move beginning last January to place restrictions on the publication’s choice of news stories.
The plaintiffs are seeking a restraining order to block the terminations.
Legal Briefs
Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Sues Justice Dept. Alleging Political Influence in Firing
Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer is suing the Justice Department, alleging she was unlawfully fired after refusing to recommend restoring actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
She is accusing the Justice Department of pressuring her to facilitate a “political favor” for a friend of President Donald Trump.
Gibson lost his gun ownership rights after a 2011 domestic violence conviction.
Oyer says she was fired by now Attorney General Todd Blanche hours after preparing a memo describing her objections. Blanche was then the acting attorney general.
Blanche denied political favoritism. He said during his confirmation hearing last month, “I had known nothing about Mel Gibson or that letter when I fired her. Nothing.”
The official reason for her termination was controversial clemency recommendations she made during the Biden administration.
Blanche said the “number of reasons” Oyer was fired included her recommendation of clemency for federal death row prisoners. Former President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people then on federal death row.
The U.S. Pardon Attorney reviews applications from convicts for presidential pardons and advises the attorney general on whether clemency should be granted to them. Some of the cases – such as pardons for Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioters – have political overtones.
Oyer served as pardon attorney from 2022 until her March 2025 dismissal.
She said any allegations that she was fired for poor job performance “materialized out of thin air.”
D.C. in Brief
D.C. Court of Appeals Reprimands Attorneys Who Submit AI-Assisted Brief
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rebuked attorneys representing a Deutsche Bank subsidiary last week after they submitted a brief containing citations to four nonexistent court cases, apparently generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The court called the episode a “cautionary tale” about the misuse of AI in legal practice and refused to accept the bank's appellate brief.
The case, Douglas v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., began as a routine appeal of a D.C. Superior Court decision in a foreclosure proceeding involving Barry Douglas, who represented himself. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., trustee for a mortgage-backed securities trust, was represented by the law firm McCabe, Weisberg & Conway LLC.
While reviewing the bank's brief, the appeals court discovered multiple authorities that judges could not locate or confirm as legitimate.
The court ordered the bank to explain why its brief should not be stricken for citing nonexistent cases that were possibly the product of AI “hallucinations.”
Attorney Loishirl W. Hall acknowledged in a response that four of the cited cases did not exist. She told the court she had used Google's generative-AI search tool to help locate legal authority but had failed to verify the citations before filing the brief.
Hall acknowledged that the citations were not legitimate legal authority.
Hall said she subsequently verified the remaining citations and pledged not to rely on AI for legal research without independently confirming the authorities. She also told the court she no longer worked for the firm.
The court said lawyers have an obligation to verify the law they present to judges, regardless of whether a citation came from a traditional research source or an AI system.
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