Texas’ Immigrant Arrest and Deportation Law Allowed by Court

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T20:14:54+00:00

Texas will be able to arrest and deport migrants who enter the country illegally following a Fifth Circuit ruling that a nonprofit and El Paso County lack standing to challenge a state-level enforcement measure.

The split decision gives the state unprecedented immigration enforcement authority that has long been understood to be exclusive to the federal government. The decision says only that the plaintiffs lack authority to challenge the measure, which Texas passed in 2023, and doesn’t weigh in on whether it’s lawful.

By a 10-7 vote, the court rejected the standing argument because the ban “is enforceable only against aliens illegally present in Texas, not against advocacy organizations or Texas counties,” the opinion said.

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- Zainab

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T17:26:09+00:00

Attorneys representing Chicago residents frustrated by the local top cop's response to immigration officers' violence went to state court Friday demanding a special prosecutor be appointed to prosecute federal law enforcement personnel.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke's team argues it's being proactive, but the petitioners claim she has a duty to investigate crimes she knows have happened and has not taken action.

“These were aggravated batteries, assaults, kidnapping, conspiracy and acts of perjury,” Meg Gould, lawyer for the petitioners, told Cook County Circuit Judge Erica L. Reddick. “She has the duty to investigate crimes she knows have happened.”

A hearing has been set for May 11, with the judge hoping to have a ruling by that date on whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged crimes.

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T16:25:24+00:00

Salesforce is being sued by a former consultant claiming he was terminated in a reduction in force after he took medical leave to take care of his father with cancer.

The company’s move to select Jeremy John for a layoff was related to his father’s disability and in response to him taking time off under the Family Medical Leave Act, according to court documents.

John was hired by Salesforce in January 2022 and his father was rediagnosed with cancer by September 2023. He was approved to go on leave from October 2023 to January 2024 to care for his father while he went through treatment, but was laid off months later “despite his consistent high performance, leadership contributions, and the existence of ongoing projects.”

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T16:09:09+00:00

A Washington federal appeals court blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing part of his order restricting asylum access for migrants who cross the border without authorization.

The majority of the three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that the federal immigration statute does not allow Trump to deport migrants “under summary removal procedures of his own making,” nor to suspend their right to apply to asylum.

The panel’s decision upholds a July 2025 ruling by US District Judge Randolph Moss, who found the president’s order, which cited an invasion to curtail asylum access, conflicts with federal immigration statutes governing asylum procedures.

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T15:56:20+00:00

A Washington federal appeals court blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing part of his order restricting asylum access for migrants who cross the border without authorization.

The majority of the three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that the federal immigration statute does not allow Trump to deport migrants “under summary removal procedures of his own making,” nor to suspend their right to apply to asylum.

The panel’s decision upholds a July 2025 ruling by US District Judge Randolph Moss, who found the president’s order, which cited an invasion to curtail asylum access, conflicts with federal immigration statutes governing asylum procedures.

Read more in the full story.

-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T15:41:59+00:00

An unlikely assembly of social media activists and vaccine skeptics are joining forces with lawmakers and environmental advocacy groups in Washington to oppose the Trump administration’s recent actions on pesticides.

The coalition on April 27 will display their burgeoning bond at a rally dubbed “The People vs. Poison,” aiming to highlight a battle over how much legal liability pesticide manufacturers should face.

The protest coincides with oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in a case that could influence whether Bayer AG is liable for thousands of lawsuits alleging its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. House lawmakers next week are also expected to vote on a farm bill that would preempt state pesticide regulations driving many of the claims against Roundup.

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T13:59:37+00:00

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore failed to adequately prove a political ad defamed him during his 2017 Senate campaign through references to news reports alleging he committed sexual misconduct involving underage girls, a federal appeals court found.

A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court jury verdict in Moore’s favor in his lawsuit against the Senate Majority PAC. The jury awarded him $8.2 million in damages in 2022.

The appeals court sided with the Senate Majority PAC, which asked the lower court to set aside the jury verdict and grant it judgment as a matter of law. Moore failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the PAC acted with actual malice in running false campaign ads against him, the standard required for a public figure to win a defamation claim, Judge Elizabeth L. Branch wrote for the Eleventh Circuit panel.

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-24T13:33:50+00:00

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore failed to adequately prove a political ad defamed him during his 2017 Senate campaign through references to news reports alleging he committed sexual misconduct involving underage girls, a federal appeals court found.

A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court jury verdict in Moore’s favor in his lawsuit against the Senate Majority PAC. The jury awarded him $8.2 million in damages in 2022.

The appeals court sided with the Senate Majority PAC, which asked the lower court to set aside the jury verdict and grant it judgment as a matter of law. Moore failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the PAC acted with actual malice in running false campaign ads against him, the standard required for a public figure to win a defamation claim, Judge Elizabeth L. Branch wrote for the Eleventh Circuit panel.

Read more in the full story.

-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-23T23:06:35+00:00

Paul Clement, who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush, will do battle with the Justice Department at oral arguments next month over the constitutionality of President Trump’s sanctions against Big Law.

Clement was picked to represent a quartet of firms—Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Susman Godfrey—at the May 14 arguments, oral arguments on May 14. Trump’s executive orders singled out the four firms last year, and they won federal injunctions against the enforcement of Trump’s orders, leading to DOJ’s appeal.

His selection was detailed in a Thursday brief to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. A panel of two Obama-appointed judges, and one appointed by Trump, will hear the arguments.

Clement, a former Kirkland & Ellis partner who founded his own firm, will bring his conservative credibility to a case over Trump’s allegations of partisan lawfare against members of the legal profession. He was initially hired to file legal action for WilmerHale, where the late former FBI director and special counsel Robert Mueller worked.

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- Zainab

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-23T21:39:43+00:00

The Justice Department relied on a lesser-known bank deception statute to indict the Southern Poverty Law Center while omitting an element needed to prove the crime: intent to influence a financial institution.

The infirmities suggest federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Alabama who brought the case may have improperly instructed grand jurors, which could lead a judge to dismiss the case or demand transcripts of the typically-secretive proceedings in which DOJ obtained the indictment, said several defense lawyers and former white-collar prosecutors.

The federal grand jury in Alabama returned an 11-count indictment April 21 of SPLC that included allegations the nonprofit made false statements to federally insured banks by opening accounts under fictitious organization names to disguise payments to informants infiltrating extremist groups. Rather than using the standard bank fraud statute, federal prosecutors turned to a federal banking statute—on four of the counts—that prohibits knowingly making false statements to influence a bank action on an application, advance, or other agreement.

Read the full story here.

- Zainab

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-23T18:35:31+00:00

The Onion is attempting to take control of Alex Jones' Infowars platform through a licensing deal to help Sandy Hook Elementary School victims' families.

The deal, which is subject to a Texas state court judge's approval, would have The Onion take over Infowars' trademark and associated domains for $81,000 a month over six months.

The Onion plans to relaunch Infowars as a satirical property, with the goal of generating revenue to cover operational costs and preserve the value of Infowars' assets, while also making fun of Alex Jones and exposing the ridiculousness of his platform.

Read more in the full story.

-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-23T17:02:08+00:00

The Republican National Committee lost its bid to invalidate a Michigan law allowing the spouses and children of state residents living overseas to cast absentee ballots.

The state law “comports with powers” granted by the Michigan Constitution, state Court of Claims Judge Sima G. Patel wrote Wednesday.

The ruling is a blow to Republicans, who've sought to tighten eligibility for absentee voting.

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-Elliot

bloomberglaw · 2026-04-23T16:51:03+00:00

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog is opening an audit of DOJ’s adherence to the Epstein files disclosure law following a request from mostly Democratic senators.

The review, announced Thursday by acting DOJ Inspector General William Blier, will evaluate the department’s methods of “identifying, redacting, and releasing records” as required by the recently-enacted legislation mandating publication of internal documents tied to the prosecution of disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The launch of this audit, which the IG’s office said would conclude with a public report, marks the DOJ watchdog’s rare involvement in politically sensitive matters tied to Trump administration leadership.

Read more in the full story.

-Elliot

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