In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Saturday May 6, 2023

First, from www.washingtonpost.com: Leonard Leo directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’ - The Washington Post
This evening we have news that conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's wife, Virginia Thomas, to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work, with the stipulation that her name not be included in the paperwork. Leo instructed Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit and use the money to pay Thomas, and the same year, the nonprofit filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case. Leo's statement does not address whether he had arranged other work for Ginni Thomas or how much money he directed to her in total from the nonprofit. Legal experts are divided on whether Thomas should have recused himself from the case.

Next, from www.notesfromcalicomanor.com: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Turn Toward Tyranny - Notes from Calico Manor
The US Supreme Court has been criticized for its recent decisions and the irregular appointment of three justices by the Republican President. Chief Justice John Roberts has recently declined to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Supreme Court ethics reform, and has defended the justices' lack of a binding code of ethics. The Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen has been particularly controversial, invalidating New York's 117-year-old state licensing system and introducing a new presumption in favor of constitutional protection for individual possession and carry. This has been characterized as a turn towards tyranny, as defined by John Locke in Anglo-American law, and a potential threat to our government.

Finally, from www.nytimes.com: Justice Dept. Intensifying Efforts to Determine if Trump Hid Documents - The New York Times
The Justice Department has intensified its investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents. Prosecutors have obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for him at Mar-a-Lago and have issued a wave of new subpoenas in order to develop a fuller picture of how the documents were stored and who had access to them. Through subpoenas and grand jury testimony, the DOJ is seeking to determine if Trump attempted to hide any documents after the DOJ issued a subpoena last May. In addition, the DOJ has subpoenaed several Mar-a-Lago employees and Trump Organization records in order to obtain more surveillance footage.

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Today's paper of the day is CBD and Gluten-Free: Compliance Challenges and Regulatory Action in New Areas of Food and Drug Law by Christine Abely. The paper examines the challenges of regulating new areas of food and drug law and promoting industry compliance, by using two case studies: the U.S. regulation of cannabidiol (CBD) products and that of gluten-free items. The paper suggests best practices and recommendations for regulatory action in these areas, as well as how companies can anticipate and react to changing law. The paper ultimately suggests a more robust agency enforcement strategy in order to better promote consumer 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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