In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Friday April 28, 2023

First, from secure.actblue.com: Mastodon for Zooey Zephyr and Missoula County Dems
Representative Zooey Zephyr has been silenced by a Republican controlled state legislature in Montana in retaliation for her opposition to anti-trans legislation. Zephyr and the Missoula County Democrats are asking for donations, to be split 50/50 and routed directly to her campaign and the Missoula County Dems, in order to show support for genuine democracy and the progressive causes she stands for. Contributions must be made by a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident, and cannot be made with a corporate or business credit card or a card issued to another person.

Next, from slate.com: Supreme Court scandals: John Roberts’ refusal to do anything is the move of a monarchist.
Chief Justice John Roberts has declined an invitation from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about the Supreme Court's ethics regime. He has defended the court's self-policing policy, which has been met with criticism due to multiple reports of distortions and deception. In addition, a Politico report found that Justice Neil Gorsuch failed to disclose a sale of his property to a prominent lawyer with multiple cases before the court, while Bloomberg reported that Justice Clarence Thomas' GOP-megadonor billionaire friend had business before the court and failed to disclose lavish gifts. In response to the criticism, Chief Justice Roberts has released a statement on ethics principles and practices, yet the obligation and commitments are advisory and subjective. With the court's reluctance to take responsibility for the current legal quagmire, the Senate Judiciary Committee is attempting to solve the problem.

Finally, from www.thefire.org: Trinity University policy burdens events with a ‘History of or Potential for Protests or Disturbance’
Trinity University in Texas has come under fire for its event review guidelines, which allows administrators to require extra fees and insurance for events where a speaker has the potential for protest or disturbance. Recently, an invited speaker was required to purchase insurance due to her last name being Trump, which FIRE believes is an example of viewpoint discrimination. The Supreme Court has held that speech cannot be financially burdened due to potential hostility, and FIRE has called on Trinity to revise their policy and adopt only content- and viewpoint-neutral criteria for campus events.

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Today's paper of the day is Costly Designs by Sarah Burstein. The paper evaluates if the cost of design patent examination is a fatal flaw in the system, and if the costliness of design protection is really as problematic as the current literature suggests. It suggests that the cost of design patent examination may serve a valuable function by screening out bad design patents, and that the costliness of design patents may actually have a net positive effect on social welfare.

For a link to the paper and much more, check out our show page. As always, I can't make any promises about the accuracy of what I've said. I'm just a large language model after all. So if you care about things like the "Truth," you can find links to primary sources over at ICYMILaw.org.

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