Minimum Competence

We have an interesting this day in colonialism, I’m sorry legal, history today: on May 19, 1848 Mexico ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ending the Mexican–American war and ceding about half of Mexico’s territory to the United States. The treaty did not explicitly list the territories to be ceded and avoided addressing the disputed issues that led to the war, such as the validity of Texas'...

We have a regretful this day in legal history today, which is the flipside of yesterday’s anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education . Plessy v. Ferguson , widely regarded as a low watermark for the court and the origin of the “separate but equal” doctrine overturned in Brown was decided on this date in 1896. The case involved a Louisiana state law that permitted segregation by race, providing for...

We have an important “this day in legal history” entry for today. On this day in 1954 the Supreme Court held, in Brown v. Board of Education , that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. The case overturned the previous doctrine of “separate but equal” that had been established by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The case was brought by Oliver Brown, whose daughter was d...

We have an interesting this day in legal history entry for today, on this day, May 16, in 1868 President Andrew Johnson was acquitted in his impeachment trial. President Johnson was Abraham Lincoln’s running mate in the 1864 election and was a sop to the south – prior to sharing a ticket Lincoln had never met him. After the Civil War, President Johnson clashed with Congress over the reconstruction...

We have a fun this day in legal history entry for today, on this day, May 15, in 1911, the US Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act, holding that Standard Oil’s monopoly “unduly” restrained trade. The ruling resulted in breaking Standard Oil up into 34 independent companies. These companies became known as the "baby Standards." The breakup aime...

The federal government has ended COVID-19 border restrictions known as Title 42, which blocked many migrants at the border with Mexico. These restrictions have been replaced with a new asylum regulation aimed at deterring illegal crossings. However, legal challenges have been filed against the new asylum bars, with advocates arguing that they violate U.S. laws and international agreements. The new...

U.S. News & World Report has released its new law school rankings after a boycott by nearly one-third of law schools and a three-week delay due to data problems. Changes in the methodology of the publication led to notable shifts among elite law schools and significant movement among many schools further down on the list. The changes increased the weight of employment outcomes and bar passage rate...

Apple has lost its lawsuit against Corellium, a company that provides virtual iOS devices for security research purposes. The court ruled that the use of Corellium’s CORSEC simulator falls under copyright law’s fair use doctrine. This means that third-party virtual iOS devices are allowed and Apple cannot stop it. The ruling allows security researchers to run virtual desktops and OSs for research...

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow to provide a detailed account of any gifts or payments made to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family. The request comes as a battle over the high court's ethics intensifies. The senators asked the Texas real estate magnate to disclose any items of value, pointing out that man...

It appears law firm financials are heading in a positive direction. The Thomson Reuters Institute's Law Firm Financial Index rose 14 points in the first quarter of 2023, marking the first increase since Q2 2021. The index found that billing rate growth remained healthy, up almost 6% over the past year, and law firm direct expenses grew more slowly in Q1. Practices such as litigation and labor and...

Update 7/10/24 : This piece has been updated to reflect the overturning of Chevron under Loper . Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Chevron deference was a crucial principle in administrative law which was established after a landmark Supreme Court case, Chevron U.S....

The US Supreme Court is set to clarify the burden-shifting framework for whistleblowers in a case involving a former UBS Securities research strategist. The case hinges on whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires whistleblowers to show that their former employer fired them with retaliatory intent or if it is sufficient to prove that the protected disclosure was a contributing factor to the decision...

Thanks for reading Minimum Competence! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I truly appreciate your readership. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a new rule that requires hedge funds to share significant investment losses with regulators in near real-time. This marks a significant shift for an industry that is known for its secrecy and is expected...

The Chevron doctrine is a legal principle that has been in place since a Supreme Court decision in 1984. It states, in sum, that when Congress passes a law that is unclear or ambiguous, the courts should defer to the interpretation of that law made by the relevant federal agency responsible for administering it. The doctrine has been used in countless cases and has provided support for agencies to...

A Senate panel is set to hold a hearing on Tuesday to scrutinize ethics concerns relating to US Supreme Court justices, following revelations about luxury trips and real estate transactions involving members of the nation's top judicial body. None of the nine justices will appear at the hearing, but lawyers and academics versed in the subject will provide testimony. The news outlet ProPublica has...

JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to acquire First Republic Bank in a government-led deal after it was seized by regulators. The transaction will see the acquisition of around $173bn of First Republic’s loans, $30bn of securities and $92bn in deposits. The deal makes JPMorgan even larger, and critics have said it will likely lead to consolidation in the financial industry. The transaction is expected...

This week we’re looking at the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which just died in the Senate when, on Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked a measure that would have allowed it to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it needed. For those unaware, the way a motion to invoke cloture works is after cloture is invoke...

An Ohio prisoner, Joshua Turner, has filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern over his alleged exposure to chemicals from the February derailment of a freight train operated by the company in East Palestine, Ohio. The lawsuit claims that his rights under the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution were violated, seeking compensation for health concerns, including respiratory issues and skin rashes....

Disney has filed a lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis alleging that he has been using the government's power to damage the company amid a prolonged dispute over a contentious classroom bill. The complaint claims that DeSantis orchestrated a campaign to penalize Disney, which now threatens the corporation's business. This escalates the lengthy fight between DeSantis, who is expected to b...

The US Supreme Court will consider whether Hennepin County's seizure of a woman's Minneapolis condo over unpaid taxes contravened her constitutional rights. Geraldine Tyler had moved out of her home to a senior community when she ran up a tax bill of around $15,000. The county sold the property for $40,000 but refused to give Tyler the surplus. She argues that the action amounts to a Fifth Amendme...

Apple has won its antitrust appeals court battle with Epic Games over its App Store policies, according to the opinion issued by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court largely upheld the district court’s earlier ruling in favor of Apple, which restricted app distribution on iOS devices to the App Store, requiring payments to go through its own processor while preventing developers from...

JPMorgan Chase, the largest financial institution on Wall Street, reportedly requires its workers to give six months' notice before being allowed to leave for another job. A JPMorgan employee posted on the social media platform Blind, which allows career professionals anonymity, that the lengthy notice period may result in a new job offer being rescinded. The worker claims to earn around $400,000...

Update 4/21 1:42PM: Jury found Tesla Autopilot did not fail in the crash. A California state court jury is deliberating in what appears to be the first trial related to a crash involving Tesla's Autopilot partially automated driving software. Justine Hsu, a resident of Los Angeles, sued Tesla in 2020, alleging defects in the design of Autopilot and the airbag and seeking more than $3 million in da...

Old Dominion Freight Line, a transport company facing a federal lawsuit over alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), distributed a one-page waiver to its employees to sign voluntarily, releasing the company from the statute’s obligations. This move follows the state Supreme Court’s Cothron v. White Castle decision, which expanded the potential for huge damages...

Fox News has reached a $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, following accusations that the network had ruined Dominion’s business by airing claims that its machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against Republican Donald Trump. Fox still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology co...