LJC In The News
Farmers Challenge ‘Swampbuster’ Law for Locking up Their Land
(E & E News | Politico)—Conservative lawyers are asking a federal court to strike down a wetlands conservation law that they say unconstitutionally blocks farmers from using their property without compensating them for their loss. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...
Opinion: The Federal Government Is Taking Advantage of Farmers Via One Law, and We’re Suing to End It
(Daily Caller)—When the government takes your land to build a road, highway or create a park, you get paid. That’s because while the government has the power of eminent domain—that is, the power to take private property for public use—the Fifth Amendment requires that it compensate you for any land...
Iowa Farmer Challenging Constitutionality of ‘Swampbuster’ Provision
(Center Square)—An Iowa man is challenging a decades-old provision that designates a portion of his land as “wetlands” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and prevents its use. The nonprofits Liberty Justice Center and the Pacific Legal Foundation are filing a lawsuit on behalf of Iowa farmer Jim Conlan, owner...
Opinion: A Campaign Against School Choice Prompts Criminal Charges
(Wall Street Journal)—Texas Republican voters sent a clear Super Tuesday message to opponents of education freedom within their party. Ten incumbents who are against school choice were either defeated or forced into runoffs in their primary elections. The results are a clear example of ballot-box accountability for career politicians who...
Jewish Attorneys Sue Union over Dues after Pro-Palestine Stance
(Law360)—A public defenders union violated the First Amendment by forcing two Jewish attorneys who oppose its pro-Palestine rhetoric to continue paying dues, the New York City-based attorneys claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, naming the city and their employer as defendants as well. Arnold Levine and Allen Popper said...
Jewish Legal Aid Lawyers Sue NYC Union over Criticism of Israel
(Reuters)—Two Jewish legal aid lawyers who represent indigent defendants in New York City filed a lawsuit on Thursday claiming that being forced to pay dues to their union after it accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing and genocide” in Gaza violates their constitutional rights. Their lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, against...
NYC Public Defenders Sue over Paying Union Critical of Israel
(Bloomberg Law)—A pair of Jewish public defenders in New York City sued to stop paying money to their union because it made statements related to the Israeli-Hamas war that they consider antisemitic. The public defenders’ lawsuit filed Thursday argues for a novel extension of the US Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling...
Criminal Indictments Filed Against Denton ISD Administrators
(Center Square)—Criminal charges have been filed against two Denton Independent School District administrators after the ISD was sued by the Texas Attorney General’s Office in February for allegedly committing “illegal electioneering” using taxpayer money. Denton ISD was the first of seven ISDs sued by the Texas attorney general. On Feb....
Grand Jury Indicts Two Texas School Principals Accused of Electioneering
(Epoch Times)—Two Texas elementary school principals have been criminally charged following allegations of electioneering before the Republican primary elections last month. Jesus Lujan, 33, and Lindsay Lujan, 36, a married couple who are principals at Borman and Alexander Elementary Schools in Denton Independent School District, were indicted separately by a...
Tennessee Court Advisory Board Will Look at Alternate Juror Dismissal Timing
(The Center Square)—The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure listened to a proposal to keep alternate jurors on even after deliberations begin in a criminal case during its Friday public meeting. Circuit Court Judge Russ Parkes said the proposal came so cases did not have to be...
SEC Pauses Climate Disclosure Rule, Cites Litigation ‘Complexities’
(E & E News | Politico)—The Securities and Exchange Commission paused its new climate disclosure rule Thursday, a move that could give companies “breathing room” amid a pitched legal and political battle over the first-of-its kind federal regulation. In a letter to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the...
Texas School Officials Indicted for Criminal Electioneering, Face Jail Time and Fine If Convicted
(The Lion)—A husband and wife employed by a local school district have been criminally charged after allegations of illegal electioneering in a recent Texas school election. Lindsay and Jesus Lujan, who each work as principals for the Denton Independent School District (ISD), were indicted separately by a grand jury in...
Meta Falsely Links Pro-Parent School Board President to Child Abuse Images
(The Federalist)—The Californians at the center of one of the biggest parents’ rights fights in the nation right now were targeted last month when Meta falsely associated searches of their names with a warning about “child sexual abuse.” President of Chino Valley Unified School District Sonja Shaw was one of...
BREAKING: Local ISD Officials Indicted for Electioneering
(Dallas Express)—Two senior school administrators in Denton County have been indicted for using a school email platform in an alleged electioneering scheme. The indictments of Denton ISD Alexander Elementary principal Lindsay Luján and her husband Jesus Luján, the principal of Borman Elementary, stem from emails they allegedly sent out in...
Tennessee Court Advisory Commission Forced to Livestream Friday Meeting
(The Center Square)—The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure will livestream its 9 a.m. Friday quarterly meeting in compliance with a federal court order to make the meetings public. The meetings have been forced open after a March 2023 preliminary injunction in a lawsuit from The Center...