ABA Journal

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Law school diversity persists after affirmative action ban, new ABA report finds

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-conscious affirmative action policies did little to impact the makeup of 2024’s first year law students, according to the 2024 Standard 509 Information Report data overview from the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.



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TikTok asks SCOTUS to block law that would shut down app

TikTok has asked the Supreme Court to block a federal law that would shut down the wildly popular platform in the United States next month unless the company divests from Chinese ownership.



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Texas AG sues out-of-state doctor over mail-order abortion pills

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued a New York doctor this week for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a suburban Dallas woman in violation of Texas law—setting up the first major legal challenge to “shield laws” enacted by some Democratic-led states to protect doctors providing abortion access after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.



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Supreme Court begins online lottery for seating, upending DC ritual

Waiting in line to attend hearings at the Supreme Court is a distinctly D.C. ritual. Some people camp out overnight for big cases. Others pay professional line standers to hold their place to witness a historic ruling. But that will be changing a bit as the court takes another step into the internet age.



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Congress has passed a bill to add more US judges; will Biden veto it?

A bill that would create dozens of new federal judgeships across the country received final approval in Congress on Thursday morning, setting up a likely veto from President Joe Biden even as his administration pushes to confirm his final nominees to fill existing judicial vacancies.



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Biden commutes nearly 1,500 sentences in 'largest single-day grant of clemency'

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes, the White House said in a statement Thursday, describing it as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”



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Meet the lawyer who created the food nutrition label

It is hard to imagine any lawyer whose work has been seen by more people—or, for some, more derided. While the ubiquitous nutrition label is now taken for granted, getting it onto products wasn’t so simple. It called for creative legal maneuvering. Peter Barton Hutt shared his recipe with the ABA Journal, as well as a place to get a great hot dog.



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After failed AG bid, Gaetz will host TV show

Former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), president-elect Donald Trump’s failed choice for attorney general, plans to host a new show on the conservative network One America News starting next year.



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Justice Department IG seeks new protections on seizing communications of lawmakers, journalists

The Justice Department during Donald Trump’s first presidential term used concerning and surreptitious tactics to obtain communications from members of Congress, their staffers and news reporters as prosecutors investigated public leaks of sensitive government information, according to a report released Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general.



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What laws could Trump invoke to fast track deportations?

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to invoke a 1798 law known as the Alien Enemies Act to remove noncitizens he says are part of a “migrant invasion” in the United States. And he could try to invoke a second law to get the military involved.



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