The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld the decision that removed Roy Moore from his position as chief justice, reports AL.com.

Moore was suspended over his administrative order against the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Reporter Kent Faulk writes that Moore can’t appeal the ruling to the federal courts because there are no federal issues at stake.

“Moore also said he would reveal early next week for any plans he may have to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who was appointed to replace Jeff Sessions who is now U.S. Attorney General,” according to Faulk.

Read the AL.com article.

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A review of 10 trademark databases shows that President Trump’s enterprise has 157 trademark applications pending in 36 countries, reports The New York Times.

This business enterprise poses legal and moral perils to the president, even though that business now is run by his two sons. A team of constitutional lawyers and ethics lawyers brought litigation arguing that the Constitution prohibits the president from accepting any economic benefit, including trademark approvals, from foreign governments, write Sharon LaFraniere and Danny Hakim.

“The legal question is whether new foreign trademark registrations and other transactions between Mr. Trump’s businesses and foreign governments violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution,” according to the Times. “The clause prohibits federal officials from accepting ‘any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state.’”

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In an interview with The New York Times, Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, remains mystified by the circumstances of his firing by the Trump administration, saying he had never been told why President Trump changed his mind about wanting him to stay on.

He characterized his ouster as an example of the chaos that has defined some of the administration’s decisions: “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence, when it comes to personnel decisions and executive actions, that was in people’s minds when this out-of-the-blue call for everyone’s resignation letter came.”

Bharara also disclosed that Trump, after having asked him to remain in his post, telephoned him three times, raising concern that such calls could run afoul of strict Justice Department protocols, write Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum.

Read the NYT article.

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A provision of the “energy independence” executive order signed by President Trump is so broad in scope that legal experts say it could affect numerous government responsibilities far beyond those that deal directly with energy and climate change, according to a post by Climate Central.

Under the order, federal agencies must review all of their actions that have the potential to “burden” both the development and use of domestic fossil fuels and nuclear energy in the U.S., writes Bobby Magill.

“For example, it could affect the speed with which the government permits oil and gas drilling, how much information about energy development the government provides to the public, and other decisions federal employees make on a daily basis,” Magill explains. “It may also affect the willingness of the government to allow wind and solar development to go forward because more use of renewable energy could lead to less use of fossil fuels.”

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Senate Democratic opposition to Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee swelled Friday as Democrats neared the numbers needed to block Judge Neil Gorsuch with a filibuster, reports the Associated Press.

“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans against changing Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch anyway — a rules change that could prove momentous for the Senate and would allow all future Supreme Court nominees to get on the court regardless of opposition from the minority party,” write Mary Clare Jalonick and Erica Werner.

Democrats worry that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could respond to a Democratic filibuster by changing Senate rules to allow  a simple majority to determine the nomination, rather than requiring a minimum of 60 votes.

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President Trump has named Makan Delrahim, a former government antitrust enforcer and corporate lobbyist, to lead the Justice Department’s review of mergers and acquisitions, The New York Times reports.

Companies are hoping that the new Republican administration will be more permissive with mergers than the Obama administration was, writes Cecilia Kang. Trump’s predecessor blocked dozens of blockbuster deals over the past eight years, including AT&T’s bid for T-Mobile in 2011 and Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable in 2015.

“Mr. Delrahim, who serves as legal counsel to the president, will be quickly tested in his new position by AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner, which is set to be reviewed this year. Other mergers under review include Dow Chemical’s bid for Dupont and Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto,” Kang writes.

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With Democrats outnumbered in Congress, a coalition of blue state attorneys general has emerged as the strongest resistance to Donald Trump’s conservative agenda, according to an article published by Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Together they’ve notched back-to-back victories against Trump’s two attempts to instill a travel ban against several Muslim-majority nations. They now hope to build on that success to form a united front against Trump’s expected efforts to roll back financial and environmental regulation, plus the GOP’s planned repeal of Obamacare,” says the article, written by Erik Larson, Esmé E Deprez and Kartikay Mehrotra.

They quote Bob Shrum, a veteran Democratic strategist who teaches political science at the University of Southern California, who says that by notching wins against Trump, state AGs can help make up for Democrats being in the minority in Congress

Read the Bloomberg Businessweek article.

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Omega Advisors Inc. founder Leon Cooperman must face a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the billionaire investor reaped more than $4 million in illegal profits after conversations with a company insider, a judge ruled in rejecting his request to throw out the case, according to a Bloomberg report.

A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled that the SEC had produced a “plausible claim for insider trading” and set a trial for November. The judge also dismissed claims that Cooperman failed to file required reports about his beneficial ownership of stocks of eight public companies.

Reporters Chris Dolmetsch and Patricia Hurtado write that the case will ultimately test the SEC’s novel theory that outsiders are liable for trading on inside tips even if they received the information before agreeing not to use it.

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A Dallas attorney says Texas may have to ask for permission to change election laws after a panel of federal judges ruled the maps drawn for three congressional districts violate federal statutes, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

The judges found the maps used for the congressional districts covering parts of South and West Texas intentionally discriminated against minority voters by either violating the U.S. Constitution or the Voting Rights Act.

Constitutional law attorney David Coale of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst says the decision means that Texas may face a rare remedy referred to as a “bail-in,” which could lead to requiring prior federal approval of any changes to district lines.

“The issue here is not so much what the court said about these districts, since none of them were actually used in an election. It’s whether Texas’ process for drawing districts was so flawed that the federal government has to take over.”

Texas can appeal the ruling before early May, but that will mean more uncertainty and added delay to an already complicated case, adds Coale.

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Reforms in the U.S. tax code proposed by President Donald Trump and Republican Congressional leaders could have significant implications for the energy industry in the U.S., and worldwide, according to an article published on the website of Hogan Lovells.

Authors of the article are Washington partners Jamie Wickett, John Stanton and Robert Glennon.

“Full expensing of capital expenditures and a reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 20 percent or 15 percent will on balance significantly reduce the tax cost of doing business in the U.S.,” they write. “On the other hand, the loss of the deduction for net interest expense proposed in the Blueprint — will raise the cost of debt in the U.S.”

Also, “The ability for U.S.-based corporations to repatriate profits from foreign subsidiaries on a tax free basis (after paying a one-time tax on all accumulated earnings and profits of foreign subsidiaries) should significantly increase the incentive for these companies to repatriate cash and use it to make U.S. investments (or perhaps to pay down debt or pay dividends).”

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New York will seek to question top Exxon Mobil Corp. executives under oath as part of a probe into the accuracy of the company’s statements about climate change after discovering an email alias used by former Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Tillerson, now U.S. Secretary of State, used the name Wayne Tracker for his secondary internal email account at Exxon, created for sending the most sensitive messages to and from company board members, including communications about the risks associated with climate change, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday,” writes reporter Erik Larson.

Carl Barnes, a former corporate general counsel who’s a lawyer at Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton PC, told Larson that someone in Exxon’s general counsel’s office knew or should have known about the alias account.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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The House is poised to pass three bills this week championed by industry that may tilt the civil litigation process in favor of business in thousands of cases each year, reports Bloomberg BNA.

The far-reaching bills address class actions, asbestos cases and attorneys who file “frivolous” suits, writes Bruce Kaufman.

The fast-track approach is deemed essential to give the bills time to advance in the more-deliberative Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome an almost certain filibuster.

The bill rewrites class-action practice, aids defendants striving to keep cases out of plaintiff-friendly state courts, punishes attorneys who file dubious claims, and seek to put new limits on settlements entered into by the Department of Justice and the EPA. They also would require more disclosures by asbestos victims who seek compensation from bankruptcy trusts.

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Reuters is reporting that Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp has agreed to pay $892 million and plead guilty to criminal charges for violating U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran and North Korea.

“A five-year investigation found ZTE conspired to evade U.S. embargoes by buying U.S. components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran,” explains reporter Karen Freifeld. “In addition, it was charged in connection with 283 shipments of telecommunications equipment to North Korea.”

“With this action, we are putting the world on notice. Improper trade games are over with,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters Tuesday. According to a CNBC report, he called ZTE’s actions “a brazen disregard for our laws.”

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Reuters is reporting that a U.S. Justice Department probe into a phony accounts scandal at Wells Fargo & Co. is asking whether executives hid details from the company board and regulators as the problem grew over years, sources familiar with the review said.

Patrick Rucker reports that the move could result in criminal charges against bank employees involved.

“Officials are seeking to find out if executives shared everything they knew about the phony accounts to the Wells Fargo board of directors and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the lead regulator for national banks,” Rucker reports. “Even if executives are not charged with criminal misconduct, they could face civil penalties including fines or a ban from the banking industry. Wells has already fired some executives and clawed back portions of their pay.”

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Bloomberg BNA is reporting that a package of far-reaching bills to overhaul the civil litigation process, long cherished by business and derided by consumer groups, is likely to win approval from President Trump if it reaches his desk.

Republicans are moving a batch of business-friendly bills through the House. An example is legislation calling for business-backed litigation measures, colloquially known as “tort reform.” Sherman “Tiger” Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, told Bloomberg BNA that prospects for enactment fo the legislation are “certainly better than they’ve been since 2008.”

But backers of such legislation caution against reading too much into Trump’s comments on the bills, writes reporter Bruce Kaufman.

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Worker’s rights opinions written by Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, are often sympathetic but coldly pragmatic, and they’re usually in the employer’s favor, according to a review conducted by the Associated Press.

“A review of dozens of employment cases he heard in his decade on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reveals a focus on texts and a fondness for scrutinizing definitions of words in legislation and the Constitution. Conservatives herald his strict approach. Many liberals say it too often results in workers losing out,” write AP reporters Denise Lavoie and Michael Tarm.

The federal appeals court judge has sided with employers 21 out of 23 times in disputes over the U.S. pensions and benefits law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA. He sided with the majorty in all 21 cases.

Read the AP article.

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The U.S. Treasury Department said it will extend its search for criminals who seek to launder money by buying U.S. real estate, according to a Reuters report.

The U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has had in place a rule that ordered  title insurance companies to report to authorities all-cash purchases in parts of California, Texas, Florida and New York.

“The agency said since imposing the original order in January 2016, it has found 30 percent of these cash real estate transactions involve a person who had previously been reported to authorities for suspicious financial activities,” Reuters reports.

The extension will keep the rule in place for a further 180 days.

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A group of law professors from around the country has filed a professional misconduct complaint against White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, a graduate of George Washington University Law School who was admitted to the D.C. Bar in 1995, reports The Washington Post.

In their letter, the professors wrote that Conway should be sanctioned for violating government ethics rules and “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

“The 15 professors, who specialize in legal ethics, cite several incidents, including a television interview in which Conway made the ‘false statement that President Barack Obama had “banned” Iraqi refugees from coming into the United States for six months following the “Bowling Green Massacre,” ’ and the use of her position to endorse Ivanka Trump products,” writes Sari Horwitz.

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The generic drug industry has come under fire the last couple of years because of staggering price increases, but now generic drug executives can expect to face tougher legal repercussions, reports MedCity News.

The efforts come in the wake of a 500 percent hike in the generic price of the EpiPen and the 5,400 percent jumpin the price of Daraprim for the treatment of potentially deadly parasite infections, writes Johanna Mayer.

In November 2016, Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc. sued two of its former executives, Jeffrey Glazer and Jason Malek, using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). And in December 20 states sued six companies, including Heritage, after a major antitrust investigation by the state of Connecticut.

“Experts predict that these diverse types of lawsuits could ignite a legal domino effect,” Mayer writes. “They also suspect that, as cases like these develop, they’ll expand to touch multiple prongs of the pharmaceutical industry, such as wholesale manufacturers and pharmacies.”

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Despite what President Trump promised about simplifying the tax code when he was on the campaign trail, tax simplification isn’t a simple task, writes Charles Delafuente of The New York Times.

In his article, Delafuente writes, “It is unlikely that changes in the tax code would affect tax returns that must be filed this year, which cover last year’s income and deductions.”

He discusses major items that are under discussion in Washington and that may affect tax returns, including tax rates, itemized deductions, mortgage interest and real estate deductions, filing status, standard deduction, personal exemptions, carried interest, dependent-care deductions, and many more.

Read the NYT article.