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A New Mexico trial starting today could force Meta to change how Facebook and Instagram operate in the state amid claims it failed to protect young users. How we got here
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta in 2023, alleging the company misled families about platform safety and enabled the sexual exploitation of minors. A jury in March found Meta violated the state’s consumer protection law and ordered $375 million in damages. The upcoming bench trial will address whether Meta’s conduct amounts to a public nuisance and what remedies should follow.
Why it matters
The case is the first in which a court is being asked to order a social media company to change how its platforms operate under a public nuisance theory. New Mexico is seeking potentially billions of dollars in damages and sweeping injunctive relief, including limits on minors’ access, algorithm changes, and the appointment of an independent monitor. If the judge sides with the state, the ruling could influence similar lawsuits nationwide, where states, school districts and families are pressing claims that social media platforms have harmed young users and seeking both damages and court-ordered reforms.
Diana Novak Jones has more here. |
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SCOTUS: The U.S. Supreme Court will issue orders in pending appeals.
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Immigration: The Trump administration will urge the 1st Circuit to overturn a ruling by a lower-court judge holding that its policy of subjecting people arrested by immigration authorities to mandatory detention without the option of bond hearings is unlawful. Read the appellants opening brief.
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Health: Dog rescue organizations will urge the 1st Circuit to strike down a CDC regulation that was issued in 2024 that bans puppies that are six months old or less from entering the United States, even if they come from Caribbean islands that the CDC has declared to be rabies-free.
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Government: The Trump administration will seek to persuade the 2nd Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked DOJ subpoenas seeking information about two cases New York Attorney General Letitia James pursued, including one against President Trump.
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Immigration: A trial is scheduled to kick off in a lawsuit brought by a Peruvian immigrant over conditions in an ICE detention facility in Lower Manhattan.
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Gaming: Massachusetts' highest court will consider whether to bar prediction market operator Kalshi from letting state residents bet on sports through its online platform, after the state's attorney general accused it of running afoul of gaming regulators. Kalshi will urge the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to overturn a trial court judge's injunction, which has been on hold pending the appeal.
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Judiciary: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will consider whether to impose a public reprimand on a Massachusetts judge who was criminally charged during the first Trump administration with helping a migrant avoid arrest by an immigration agent at her courthouse after a judicial disciplinary hearing officer concluded she was unaware of the plan to help the man escape.
- IP: Kanye West will go on trial in California over claims that a pre-release version of his song "Hurricane," which appeared in his 2021 album "Donda," unlawfully incorporated music from four other musicians. West has been the subject of several other lawsuits over alleged sampling without permission, most of which have settled.
- Crime: Britney Spears will face a hearing in Ventura County Superior Court after her arrest on suspicion of DUI.
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SCOTUS: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is scheduled to speak at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas with its president and CEO, Shilo Brooks.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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That’s how much U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Kang in San Francisco ordered Lenden Webb, managing partner of Southern California-based Webb Law Group, to pay in fines after a junior attorney filed an AI -assisted court brief containing a false case citation. While emphasizing that the responsibility for such errors extends to supervising lawyers, the judge also ordered Webb to complete training on supervising attorneys and the ethical use of AI. Read more here.
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