☀️ Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today’s top legal news:
📝 US court says longstanding NLRB rule on post-merger union bargaining is invalid
A U.S. appeals court on July 21 said a decades-old National Labor Relations Board policy requiring companies that acquire other employers to bargain with their workers’ unions is unlawful, citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck a blow to federal agency powers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 decision said the so-called “successor bar” doctrine, which has existed in some form for decades and was last upheld by the NLRB in 2011, is inconsistent with federal labor law’s guarantees of employee freedom and majority rule.
The NLRB rule says that successor employers must recognize and bargain with existing unions for up to one year after acquiring a company, even when they believe a union lacks the support of a majority of workers. After that period, employers can petition to decertify a union.
A different D.C. Circuit panel hearing the case in 2024 had rejected a bid by Hospital Menonita de Guayama in Puerto Rico to strike down the longstanding doctrine. But the Supreme Court later that year told the court to reconsider in light of the high court’s major ruling curbing the deference that courts owe to agency rules interpreting ambiguous laws.
Circuit Judge Neomi Rao on July 21 said the Supreme Court ruling requires courts to instead make their own independent judgments. And in her judgment, Rao wrote, the requirement improperly interfered with workers’ ability to choose whether to be represented by unions.
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⚖️ White House lawyer confirmed to judgeship after bashing Republican senators
A White House lawyer nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on a court that hears litigation regarding trade laws and tariff policies was confirmed to the bench on July 21 after she apologized for past social media posts that attacked various senators including Republicans.
The Republican-led Senate voted 50-48 in favor of Kara Westercamp becoming a life-tenured judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade, with Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine joining with Democratic lawmakers to oppose her confirmation.
Two Republican senators did not vote, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has been hospitalized and has not been present for votes. Westercamp has previously in Twitter posts referred to McConnell as “Cocaine Mitch” and accused him of betraying Trump.
The Senate moved ahead with votes on Westercamp while McConnell was out following the July 11 death of another of her social media targets, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, whom she called “weak-ass” and “disappointing.” She had retweeted a post critical of Collins as well.
Westercamp’s Twitter posts as well as her role advising Trump on tariff policies became central topics for senators as they weighed whether she should be allowed to serve on the New York-based specialist court, which hears disputes concerning customs and international trade laws.
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💼 Democratic lawmakers press Skadden on Trump agreement, citing work on Intel equity stake sale
A group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on July 21 demanded law firm Skadden Arps provide additional details related to its deal with President Donald Trump to provide $100 million in free legal services, including information about its work advising chipmaker Intel on its sale of a nearly 10% equity stake to the U.S. Commerce Department.
The lawmakers in a letter pressed Skadden executive partner Jeremy London for documents related to its Intel work, building on their prior demands for information from law firms that made deals with Trump last year.
Intel was sued earlier this year by a shareholder who alleged that the U.S. equity deal was unlawful and coerced by the White House. The shareholder lawsuit, which is pending in Delaware federal court, said Intel was “advised by legal counsel that itself was conflicted due to its pro bono promises to the president.”
Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Adam Schiff of California and Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland said in the July 21 letter that the “significant allegations of ethical impropriety in the Intel shareholder complaint” and Skadden’s prior refusal to turn over documents “heighten our interest in understanding the details of your agreement with President Trump and any legal services Skadden has provided.”
The lawmakers asked Skadden for any and all agreements with the White House and a list of all federal agencies the firm has worked for by August 4. They’re also seeking a “detailed explanation of how Skadden’s advising of Intel in its transaction with the Trump Administration did not constitute a violation of the rules of professional conduct.”
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💻 News Corp countersues Brave for allegedly ‘scraping’ articles for AI
News Corp, facing a lawsuit by search engine Brave Software, has filed a countersuit accusing it of “flagrant theft” in distributing and selling versions of articles from the Wall Street Journal and New York Post to AI companies.
Brave had last year preemptively sued the media giant, seeking a court declaration that its practices were legal. It sued after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from News Corp, which is led by the family of Rupert Murdoch.
In a July 21 filing in the Oakland, California, federal court, News Corp said Brave’s unauthorized “covert scraping” and resale of its copyrighted articles fall “nowhere near the bounds” of legally acceptable conduct known as fair use.
“The more content Brave copies and sells, the more revenue it generates, and the less incentive AI companies have to negotiate licenses with the publishers who produced the content,” the lawsuit said. “Brave profits while publishers are cut out.”
News Corp is seeking an injunction and unspecified monetary damages, plus damages of up to $150,000 per infringement.
The competing lawsuits are part of a wave of litigation pitting publishers against technology companies that want to use copyrighted content to support AI.
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That’s all for today, thank you for reading The Legal File, and have a great day!
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