New & Noteworthy - June 2, 2025

Featured Book: The Bluebook Twenty-Second Edition: A Uniform System of Citation, Harvard Law Association (2025).

The Bluebook 22nd edition is now live online and available to the federal judiciary at https://www.legalbluebook.com/. Features new to the online edition include: a searchable Index, page numbers corresponding to the print book, and filter tools to quickly access abbreviations. Print copies for chambers will not be ordered until July. If you have not yet registered for an online account, please click on this link and fill out the form for the “Free Trial Sign Up” using your court email address. This will create an account that will last for the duration of your time at the court. For noteworthy changes to the 22nd edition of the bluebook, read the preface. Please contact your librarian with any questions.

Split 9th Circ. Won't Unblock Trump's Gov't Overhaul (Law360) "A split Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to lift a California federal judge's preliminary block of President Donald Trump's executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, handing a win to a coalition of unions, nonprofits and cities that argue the order exceeded the president's authority. The three-judge panel's majority, in a 34-page order, denied the Trump administration's emergency motion for a stay pending its appeal of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston's [N.D. – CA] preliminary injunction blocking an executive order directing federal agencies to prepare for 'large-scale reductions in force' and to suggest components that could be entirely eliminated."  See also: Appeals Court Keeps Block on Trump Administration’s Downsizing of the Federal Workforce (Politico). 

Trump Administration Seeks Reversal of Injunction Preserving Legal Services for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (Daily Journal) "Trump administration attorneys are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a decision by a San Francisco district judge that blocked it from terminating funding for legal services by nonprofit organizations to unaccompanied minor children in the immigration system and to stay the ruling in the meantime. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, an appointee of President Joe Biden, granted a preliminary injunction April 29 enjoining federal government agencies 'from withdrawing the services or funds provided by the Office of Refugee Resettlement ... under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 and [the Office of Refugee Resettlement's] Foundational Rule.'" 

Wholesalers Take Rejected 5-Hour Energy Suit to 9th Circ. (Law360) "Family-owned wholesalers want the Ninth Circuit to take a look at a recent ruling that said while they were able to show the maker of 5-Hour Energy committed price discrimination by offering Costco disproportionate promotions, they weren't able to show that discrimination hurt them. They filed their notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Thursday, a day after U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall [C.D. – CA] amended her findings of fact and conclusions after taking a Ninth Circuit-mandated second look at the previous ruling to determine whether the family-owned wholesalers behind the lawsuit proved competition with Costco Wholesale Corp." 

6 Argument Sessions Bias Attorneys Should Watch in June (Law360) "Here, Law360 looks at six argument sessions discrimination attorneys should have on their radar.... In the Ninth Circuit, the state of Washington on Tuesday will attempt to upend an injunction that blocks it from enforcing a state anti-discrimination law against a Christian organization that wants to hire only coreligionists. The state is appealing a November order by U.S. District Judge Mary K. Dimke [E.D. - WA] issuing a preliminary injunction that blocked enforcement of the Washington Law Against Discrimination against Union Gospel Mission of Yakima, Washington, to target its hiring practices." 

'Humongous' Apple Must Face Boosted 186M Antitrust Class (Law360) "A California federal judge on Friday granted App Store users' request to amend their class definition in a yearslong antitrust fight against Apple, rejecting Apple's argument that the changes unfairly add millions of new members and noting that the 185.9 million-member class stems from the fact Apple is 'humongous.' U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled from the bench at the end of a hearing in Oakland, California, on a request by the certified class to modify the class definition to eliminate iPod Touch purchases and to impose a $10 lifetime spending threshold to class members rather than requiring Apple IDs." 

Peet's Coffee, AddShoppers Beat Cert. Bid in Privacy Suit (Law360) "A California federal judge refused to certify a proposed class action alleging AddShoppers and Peet's Coffee illegally tracked visitors' browsing activities to send targeted advertising emails, ruling Thursday that the named plaintiffs' claims are not typical of the groups they want to represent, since they did not receive emails about any products. In a 19-page order issued May 29, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California rejected a class certification motion filed by named plaintiffs Miguel Cordero and Abby Lineberry accusing AddShoppers and Peet's Coffee of violating privacy laws by monitoring and gathering people's web activities across the web." 

A San Diego Juror Received an Apparent Spam Text. Could It Upend a Hostage-taking Murder Verdict? (San Diego Union-Tribune - may not be accessible to all readers; please ask your librarian for a copy) "The text message lit up Juror No. 1’s phone after she had gone home on the night of closing arguments in a six-day trial in San Diego federal court.... After a brief exchange, the juror concluded it was spam and deleted the conversation. But checking her trial notes during deliberations the next day, Juror No. 1 began to second-guess her conclusion that the messages were junk.... Juror No. 1, whose identity the court has kept anonymous along with all other members of the jury in the case, decided to 'get a second opinion' from some of her fellow jurors.... Last month, U.S. District Judge William Hayes took the rare step of calling the jurors back into court nearly two months after they convicted Brian Alexis Patron Lopez on multiple charges related to the slaying of a San Diego teenager in Tijuana." 

Privilege Battle Brews in Apple-Epic Dispute (Daily Journal) "A battle over a federal magistrate judge's discovery ruling erupted between Apple Inc. and Epic Games Inc. on Friday. Both sides filed dueling motions, asking a federal district judge to intervene in their ongoing attorney-client privilege dispute over documents related to Apple's compliance with a 2021 injunction. Specifically, Friday's motions center on U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson's May 15 rulings on 23 discovery objections raised by both parties. In that order, Hixson expressed some frustration writing, 'The parties have made literally hundreds of filings related to their objections to the special masters' determinations.' Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc., 4:20-cv-05640-YGR (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 13, 2020.)" 

NSO Wants New WhatsApp Hack Trial After Meta's $168M Win (Law360) "Israeli spyware developer NSO Group has asked a California federal judge for a new trial to determine damages for installing spyware on 1,400 phones using Meta-owned WhatsApp, saying the punitive damages portion of a roughly $168 million award was egregious and revealed the jury's 'general hostility' toward the company. After a judge found NSO Group Technologies Ltd. liable for computer fraud and breach of contract, a jury in Oakland, California, convened for a week in May and awarded Meta Platforms Inc. $167.25 million in punitive damages and around $445,000 in compensatory damages." 

California AI Company Slammed with Class Actions Over Health Care Data Breach (The Recorder) "AI-powered software company Serviceaide was hit with at least six class actions in California federal court this month after a cyberattack allegedly exposed the protected health information of nearly half a million patients of one of its clients, Catholic Health System Inc., in violation of HIPAA protections. All six complaints, which alleged that Serviceaide failed to prevent or adequately disclose a data breach that occurred between Sept. 19, 2024, and Nov. 5, 2024, and exposed the health data of 483,126 people, were filed on May 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California." 

Rethinking Motions Panel Rules in Age of Trump 2.0 Litigation (National Law Journal) "Motions panels in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and other federal appellate courts have been busy over the last few months resolving a stream of emergency relief requests in challenges to President Donald Trump’s policies.... So what can courts do if there's an abnormally high workload for rotating motions panels? Duke University law professor Marin Levy raised the question in a BlueSky post last month, suggesting that some circuits might consider reducing the time a panel sits to offset a heavy workload." 

Defense Lawyers Face Months Without Pay as Federal Funds Dry Up (Bloomberg) "Court officials have warned the defender services program will no longer have the funds to pay attorneys, appointed by federal courts to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford representation, for their work over the last few months of this fiscal year. They attribute the upcoming suspension to underfunding by Congress. The judiciary expects to pay these lawyers on what’s known as the Criminal Justice Act panel back once it receives next fiscal year’s funds, beginning on Oct. 1. Using money from next fiscal year to back-pay this year’s expenses could tee up another funding lapse, depending how much is appropriated." 

Strong Stock Market Drives May 2025 TSP Performance Surge (FedSmith) "Encouraging inflation data and an enthusiasm for stocks in the tech sector helped fuel stock market returns in May which propelled last month’s TSP performance. The S&P 500 was up more than 6% in May while the C Fund, based on the S&P 500 index, was up 6.29% for the month. This was the best month for the C Fund since November 2023."