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Weekly Briefs: SCOTUS approval rating plummets;…

News Roundup Weekly Briefs: SCOTUS approval rating plummets; Trumps lose deposition appeal

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 27, 2022, 1:44 pm CDT

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SCOTUS approval rating drops 10 percentage points

Only 44% of the public approves of the way that the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job, according to a Marquette University Law School poll. The survey was conducted soon after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the right to abortion. The approval rating was 54% when the poll was last conducted in March. (Law.com, Marquette University poll release)

Trump, 2 children must give depositions, appeals court says

A New York appeals court has ruled that former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump must give depositions in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil probe of the Trump Organization’s business practices. The Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday. The court said a separate criminal investigation didn’t bar the depositions in the civil case, noting that parties in a deposition can invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating themselves. (Reuters, CNN, the New York Times, the New York attorney general’s press release, the May 26 decision)

Nominee would be first Chinese American on DC Circuit

President Joe Biden has nominated U.S. District Judge Florence Y. Pan of the District of Columbia to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Pan would replace Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will be joining the U.S. Supreme Court. If Pan wins confirmation, she will be the first Chinese American on the D.C. Circuit, according to the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. A second nominee to the D.C. Circuit, Supreme Court short lister Judge J. Michelle Childs of the District of South Carolina, received bipartisan support from the Senate Judiciary Committee when it voted 17-5 Thursday to advance her nomination to the full Senate. (The Washington Post, Roll Call)

Ex-casino mogul settles suit against civil rights lawyer

Former casino mogul Steve Wynn has settled his defamation lawsuit against civil rights lawyer Lisa Bloom, according to Wynn’s lawyer Todd Bice. Wynn sued over Bloom’s press release claiming that he leered at dancers who were forced to wear only bras and underwear during rehearsals. Bice told Law360 that the settlement calls for Bloom to issue a retraction. (Law360)

Twitter will pay $150M for privacy violation

Twitter has agreed to pay $150 million in civil penalties to settle allegations that it used consumers’ private information to help companies with targeted advertising. The misuse of the information violated Twitter’s 2011 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, the government had alleged. (Law360, Reuters)

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