A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw |
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U.S. Republicans are pressing to swiftly renew a key foreign surveillance authority, setting up another high-stakes debate over privacy, oversight and political leverage. Here’s what to know: |
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House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump administration intelligence chiefs are urging a “clean” renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, arguing that past reforms are working as intended.
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Intelligence leaders, including the heads of the CIA, FBI and NSA, privately briefed congressional leaders this week, though details of the discussions were not disclosed.
- Section 702 allows surveillance of foreigners abroad using U.S.-based data, but has long drawn bipartisan criticism because it permits warrantless searches of Americans’ communications.
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While some former opponents now support renewal, others are seeking leverage or further reforms, with privacy advocates warning that recent changes failed to meaningfully curb domestic surveillance risks. Read more here.
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Follow-up: Yesterday, I highlighted that a group of federal judges was expected to speak out publicly against a rising level of threats directed toward them and their colleagues. Here’s our story on that event. |
- SCOTUS: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings in argued cases.
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Banking: Capital One will ask U.S. District Judge Roy Altman in Miami to dismiss a lawsuit by President Trump and other Trump plaintiffs accusing the financial services company of debanking them by closing several accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump in January filed a similar lawsuit against JPMorgan.
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Government: The Trump administration faces a deadline in the D.C. Circuit to file its opening brief challenging a Washington federal judge’s February ruling that blocked the Pentagon from reducing Senator Mark Kelly's retired military rank and pension pay as punishment after he urged troops to reject unlawful orders.
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Government: Anthropic, which is suing the Trump administration over its partial blacklisting from Pentagon contracts, faces a Friday deadline to reply to the government's opposition brief. The AI lab is asking U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco for a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon's decision, which came after Anthropic refused to lift restrictions on its technology being used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance.
- Election: The DOJ faces a 5 p.m. ET deadline to file additional briefing in its bid to ward off Fulton County, Georgia's challenge to the FBI's seizure of 2020 election ballots.
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Venezuela: Lawyers for ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro are due to file a reply brief over their legal fees dispute ahead of a hearing next week.
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Criminal: A status conference is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano in New York in the case of Mark Anderson, a Minnesota man accused of impersonating an FBI agent at the Metropolitan Detention Center and claiming he had a court order for the release of inmate Luigi Mangione
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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A U.S. Senate committee on Thursday voted to advance the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin to become homeland security secretary, even as the committee's Republican chairman criticized Mullin and voted against him.
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UPenn asked the 3rd Circuit to reject law professor Amy Wax’s bid to revive her discrimination suit, saying a lower court judge rightly denied her racial bias claims when he dismissed her case in August. Read more here.
- Legal data company Relativity, which develops cloud-based software using AI to help legal teams analyze data and handle investigations, compliance, and other legal use cases, filed for an IPO in the U.S. Read more here.
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