In today’s news and commentary, a federal judge pressed DOJ lawyers to define what constitutes an “illegal” DEI program, a D.C. district court restores collective bargaining rights for Voice of America workers, Rep. Jared Golden secures enough support to force a House vote on restoring federal workers’ union rights, and Peco Foods prevails in ERISA challenge over 401(k) forfeitures.
Earlier this week, a Chicago federal judge pressed a Justice Department attorney to define what the Trump administration means by “illegal” DEI programs in recently updated homeland security grant conditions. The exchange came in a lawsuit brought by Chicago, New York, and several other municipalities, which argue that the new conditions unlawfully tie emergency-management funds to compliance with politically motivated and “inscrutably vague” funding restrictions. According to Bloomberg, Judge Manish Shah posed a series of hypotheticals, including whether a city HR manual that protects transgender workers from termination based on gender identity would violate those conditions. Although the Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on transgender status, DOJ attorney Patrick Johnson replied that he could not answer “hypotheticals about what would be illegal DEI,” and that “the only clarity required” is that cities “can’t operate programs that are illegal DEI” if they wish to receive funding. In their complaint, the cities highlight this legal...
An international group of plaintiffs sued Meta Platforms, Inc. alleging that the company has made false claims about the privacy and security of its WhatsApp chat service. Meta has made so called “...