Federal District Court

Coal mining in Wyoming will take a major hit as a result of a U.S. Department of Interior plan to cease future leasing of coal mines in the nation's most productive coal mining basin. The decision casts a spotlight on the presidential election.

June 4, 2024 - Irvin Dawid

Mystery surrounds the decision by the Biden administration to not ask for an immediate stay of an unanticipated district court ruling to vacate the CDC's masks-on-transit rule. Two days later they appealed as coronavirus cases increase nationwide.

April 26, 2022 - The New York Times

A Trump-appointed U.S. district judge in Florida voided the Biden administration's mask mandate that applied to plane, train and bus travel. It had just been renewed by the CDC on April 13 and was due to expire on May 3.

April 19, 2022 - The Washington Post

Health care workers in New York will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reject hearing an appeal brought by workers who had sought a religious exemption. Also, an update on the federal vaccine mandate.

December 20, 2021 - The New York Times

The vaccine mandate that applies to federal contractors included in President Biden's COVID plan announced in September to slow the Delta surge was halted by a federal judge in Kentucky. That's the third requirement to be paused, leaving only one.

December 5, 2021 - Lexington Herald-Leader

Last month, a court stayed Biden's large private employer mandate that requires workers to be vaccinated or test-and-mask. On Tuesday, a federal district court judge stayed the vaccine mandate that applies nationwide to most health care workers.

December 1, 2021 - The New York Times

The American Civil Liberties Union stepped into the nation's masking debate in K-12 schools on the side of parents of students with disabilities. They won the first round in the U.S. Southern District Court of Iowa. Mask mandates are permitted again.

September 20, 2021 - Des Moines Register

The Supreme Court rejected a request brought by students to block Indiana University from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations. Students, faculty, and staff are required to be fully vaccinated by August 15.

August 16, 2021 - USA Today

Eight college students have filed a lawsuit on June 21 against Indiana University's requirement that students, staff and faculty be vaccinated against COVID-19. The state attorney general supports the students.

June 28, 2021 - CNN

If vaccines provide the means out of the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and opposition threaten to prolong it. Battles over public health are being fought in courtrooms and statehouses like in Ohio, where a 'vaccine choice' bill is being considered.

June 15, 2021 - The Columbus Dispatch

The plaintiffs in one of the nation's first court cases over employer-required COVID vaccinations are among the heroes of the pandemic—nurses fighting to remain unvaccinated. Houston Methodist Hospital suspended unvaccinated employees on June 6.

June 10, 2021 - JD Supra

A revised U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule makes it more difficult to submit claims of housing discrimination when a landlord's decisions is influenced by a third-party tenant screening service.

October 1, 2020 - The Markup

The U.S. Justice Department has intervened in a lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs challenging Hawaii's mandatory two-week quarantine for travelers arriving on the island state. The Trump-appointed judge did not react favorably.

June 29, 2020 - Politico

Conflicts between church and state are being decided in state and federal courts as governors act to protect their constituents from the coronavirus while religious institutions and their supporters seek exceptions from social gathering restrictions.

May 24, 2020 - The Oregonian

A legal battle is being waged between the coal-exporting states of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana and coastal cities in California, Oregon, and Washington that pits the power of local land-use authority against the protection of interstate commerce.

March 16, 2020 - Los Angeles Times

A week after the Orange County city of Costa Mesa filed a restraining order against the federal government and the state of California over the use of a state-owned facility as an isolation site for coronavirus patients, the feds dropped the plan.

March 4, 2020 - Daily Pilot (Los Angeles Times)

A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 22 found that the chalking of tires by parking enforcement officers on public streets is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

April 29, 2019 - The New York Times

The Bakersfield Office of the Bureau of Land Management released an environmental study that is the basis for undoing a 2013 de facto moratorium on fracking on federal lands in California. The Supplemental EIS triggers a 45-day public comment period.

April 28, 2019 - San Francisco Chronicle

Once again, the president's efforts to undo his predecessor's environmental legacy were thwarted by a court ruling. In this case, the Interior Department's failure to conduct an environmental review of a Trump executive order ran afoul of NEPA.

April 23, 2019 - The New York Times

The nation's sole truck-only tolling program survived its first lawsuit after a federal judge dismissed litigation brought by the American Trucking Associations, ruling that the proper venue was state court. ATA believes it is unconstitutional.

March 27, 2019 - Transport Topics