Washington
ACLU sues DoD school system over banning race- and gender-related books
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Department of Defense’s school system for children of military families, asserting that the removal of race- and gender-related books and curricula violated students’ First Amendment protections against government censorship.
The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in northeast Virginia said the Department of Defense Education Activity nixed educational materials in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January.
Trump’s order forbids the school system from “promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating ... un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories” connected to race and gender.
Books ranging from Harper Lee’s “ To Kill a Mockingbird “ and Khaled Hosseini’s “ The Kite Runner “ to “ Hillbilly Elegy “ by Vice President JD Vance have since been stripped from some schools’ library shelves, according to the ACLU. Authorities within the school system also purged curricular materials such as a chapter on sexuality and gender for an Advanced Placement psychology course, and readings about immigration for fourth- and fifth-grade classes, according to the suit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 12 students from six families who attend schools in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan.
“I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity,” Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children, said in a statement published by the ACLU of Virginia.
Outside of changes to the department’s prekindergarten through 12th-grade educational programs, there have also been shifts at military colleges and universities. Roughly 380 books were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library in April.
Officials have also been told to assess the stacks at Army and Air Force libraries to find books related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Mississippi
DOJ dismisses pay discrimination lawsuit against Mississippi Senate
The Department of Justice on Tuesday voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against the Mississippi State Senate over allegations that the legislative body paid a Black attorney less money than her white colleagues.
Court documents did not specify a reason for the dismissal, and a Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office helped defend the Senate in the litigation. MaryAsa Lee, a spokesperson for Fitch, told Mississippi Today in a statement that the “state is pleased” with the dismissal.
Kristie Metcalfe, who is Black, worked as a staff attorney for the Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 to November 2019. Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000, while other Senate staff attorneys were paid $95,550 to $121,800, according to the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the office draft legislation and handle other legal questions for the individual 52 senators.
According to court documents, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated Metcalfe’s claims and found reasonable cause that the state discriminated against her based on race.
Current Gov. Tate Reeves was the leader of the Senate when he served as lieutenant governor from January 2012 until January 2020, the bulk of the period during which Metcalfe worked in the Senate.
The state in court briefings did not dispute that Metcalfe was paid less than her white colleagues. But it argued that Metcalfe was exempt from federal civil rights laws and that the lawsuit shouldn’t proceed because of a litigation freeze implemented by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Department of Justice initially filed the lawsuit last year in the waning days of former President Joe Biden’s administration. After Trump took office, his Justice Department ordered the Civil Rights Division to halt most of its work and review its current cases.
Washington
Judge: Unions’ lawsuit over DOGE access to Labor Department systems can move forward
A federal judge says he won’t dismiss a lawsuit from labor unions seeking to block Elon Musk’s team from accessing systems at the Labor Department.
The labor unions say that allowing Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access the systems violates the federal Privacy Act because they contain medical and financial records of millions of Americans. They also contend DOGE doesn’t have the legal authority to direct the actions of congressionally created agencies like the Department of Labor.
In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates said those claims could move forward in court. But some other, more specific arguments made by the unions — including that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department violated health care privacy laws by allowing DOGE access — were dismissed by the judge.
The federal Privacy Act generally prohibits an agency from disclosing records about a person to another agency, unless the person has first given written permission.
“This Court is the first to admit that seeing someone’s name and SSN in the 648th row of a spreadsheet is ‘different in kind’ from peeping into someone’s bedroom window,” Bates wrote. Still, he said, Congress enacted the Privacy Act to protect the privacy of people identified in federally maintained systems, so that individuals could trust their information would be accessed only by those employees with a valid need to see it.
“As a result, an intrusion upon that sphere — even if the sphere literally encompasses only one row of millions in a dataset — amounts to an injury similar to the intrusion upon other private spheres, such as one’s home,” Bates wrote.
Bates also said the case is likely to undergo a lot of “twists and turns” before it is resolved.
“This is a dynamic case undergirded by a set of facts evolving before the Court’s eyes,” he wrote.
DOGE has also accessed other government databases, including at the Education Department, Treasury, IRS and Social Security Administration, and multiple lawsuits have been filed in response.
Texas
Developer at center of Paxton’s impeachment sentenced to supervised release, $1M fine
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A real estate developer, whose relationship with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was at the center of the Republican’s historic impeachment trial in 2023 and a recently-ended federal corruption investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to five years’ supervised release and fined $1 million for lying to a financial institution.
Nate Paul, 38, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to serve four months’ home confinement at night, but he is allowed to leave for work and other appointments during the day. Paul had faced up to six months in prison under a previous plea agreement.
Paul’s attorney, Gerry Morris, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas declined comment.
Paul was accused by federal prosecutors of overstating his assets and understating his liabilities while seeking loans in 2017 and 2018.
Paul had claimed that federal investigators acted improperly when they raided his Austin home in 2019. He later sought help from Paxton, and the relationship and dealings between the two men played a prominent role in state lawmakers impeaching Paxton, who was later acquitted in the Senate.
Paxton has long denied wrongdoing and was not mentioned in federal indictments against Paul.
A close ally of President Donald Trump, Paxton is now running for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary against Sen. John Cornyn.
A separate federal criminal investigation of Paxton over his relationship and dealings with Paul was quietly ended by President Joe Biden’s administration in late 2024 with no charges. Paxton has called that investigation a “bogus witch hunt.”
Earlier this month, a state district judge awarded more than $6 million to four former Paxton aides who were fired in retaliation for reporting allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from Paul.
Idaho
Wrongful death notice filed for family of boy shot by police officers
A California law firm notified the city of Pocatello, Idaho, on Wednesday of its intention to file a federal wrongful death lawsuit on the behalf of the family of Victor Perez, a 17-year-old boy with intellectual disabilities who was shot multiple times by four police officers.
Perez, who was described by his family as nonverbal and autistic, was inside a fenced yard holding a kitchen knife on April 5 when a neighbor called police. Four officers arrived and lined up outside the fence, three with handguns and one holding what appeared to be a shotgun, and told him to drop the knife. As Perez started to stand up, they began shooting.
Perez underwent several surgeries, with doctors removing nine bullets and amputating his leg, before tests showed that he lacked brain activity. He was removed from life support on Saturday.
“They can’t justify the shooting by saying he was a danger to anyone,” lawyer Ben Nisenbaum told The Associated Press after his Oakland, California, law firm filed the administrative claim against the city of Pocatello. “He wasn’t going after anyone. The officers just lined up and opened fire.”
The claim was filed on the behalf of Luis Alicea, Perez’s grandfather and guardian; Wanda Alicea, his mother; Monica Perez, his sister; and Ana Vazquez, his aunt. Nisenbaum said they plan to name the city, police chief and the four officers when they filed the lawsuit in federal court.
The administrative claim, which is a precursor to the lawsuit, says the officers used excessive force against Perez and his family has “suffered emotional distress caused by witnessing the negligent conduct of the involved officers.”
Pocatello City Clerk Konni Kendell did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Messages sent to Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The names of the officers have not been released. They were placed on administrative leave, and decisions about whether charges should be filed will be made after an independent investigation by the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce led by the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said he has agreed to review the taskforce’s findings to determine whether charges should be filed. He said he made that decision at the request of the county prosecuting attorney.
“As with all such matters, the Office of the Attorney General will conduct a thorough and impartial review once the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce completes its investigation,” Labrador said in a news release. “Given the seriousness of the matter and the ongoing investigation, our office will not be making further public comment at this time.”
Nisenbaum said Perez’ movements before the shooting were consistent with someone who was physically disabled, “not some superman who would bound over the fence at them.”
“We hope the investigation being conducted by the Idaho Attorney General recognizes the obvious: These officers criminally failed at their jobs and should be held to account for their actions in criminal court,” he said.
ACLU sues DoD school system over banning race- and gender-related books
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Department of Defense’s school system for children of military families, asserting that the removal of race- and gender-related books and curricula violated students’ First Amendment protections against government censorship.
The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in northeast Virginia said the Department of Defense Education Activity nixed educational materials in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January.
Trump’s order forbids the school system from “promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating ... un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories” connected to race and gender.
Books ranging from Harper Lee’s “ To Kill a Mockingbird “ and Khaled Hosseini’s “ The Kite Runner “ to “ Hillbilly Elegy “ by Vice President JD Vance have since been stripped from some schools’ library shelves, according to the ACLU. Authorities within the school system also purged curricular materials such as a chapter on sexuality and gender for an Advanced Placement psychology course, and readings about immigration for fourth- and fifth-grade classes, according to the suit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 12 students from six families who attend schools in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan.
“I have three daughters, and they, like all children, deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity,” Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children, said in a statement published by the ACLU of Virginia.
Outside of changes to the department’s prekindergarten through 12th-grade educational programs, there have also been shifts at military colleges and universities. Roughly 380 books were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library in April.
Officials have also been told to assess the stacks at Army and Air Force libraries to find books related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Mississippi
DOJ dismisses pay discrimination lawsuit against Mississippi Senate
The Department of Justice on Tuesday voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against the Mississippi State Senate over allegations that the legislative body paid a Black attorney less money than her white colleagues.
Court documents did not specify a reason for the dismissal, and a Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office helped defend the Senate in the litigation. MaryAsa Lee, a spokesperson for Fitch, told Mississippi Today in a statement that the “state is pleased” with the dismissal.
Kristie Metcalfe, who is Black, worked as a staff attorney for the Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 to November 2019. Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000, while other Senate staff attorneys were paid $95,550 to $121,800, according to the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the office draft legislation and handle other legal questions for the individual 52 senators.
According to court documents, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated Metcalfe’s claims and found reasonable cause that the state discriminated against her based on race.
Current Gov. Tate Reeves was the leader of the Senate when he served as lieutenant governor from January 2012 until January 2020, the bulk of the period during which Metcalfe worked in the Senate.
The state in court briefings did not dispute that Metcalfe was paid less than her white colleagues. But it argued that Metcalfe was exempt from federal civil rights laws and that the lawsuit shouldn’t proceed because of a litigation freeze implemented by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Department of Justice initially filed the lawsuit last year in the waning days of former President Joe Biden’s administration. After Trump took office, his Justice Department ordered the Civil Rights Division to halt most of its work and review its current cases.
Washington
Judge: Unions’ lawsuit over DOGE access to Labor Department systems can move forward
A federal judge says he won’t dismiss a lawsuit from labor unions seeking to block Elon Musk’s team from accessing systems at the Labor Department.
The labor unions say that allowing Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access the systems violates the federal Privacy Act because they contain medical and financial records of millions of Americans. They also contend DOGE doesn’t have the legal authority to direct the actions of congressionally created agencies like the Department of Labor.
In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates said those claims could move forward in court. But some other, more specific arguments made by the unions — including that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department violated health care privacy laws by allowing DOGE access — were dismissed by the judge.
The federal Privacy Act generally prohibits an agency from disclosing records about a person to another agency, unless the person has first given written permission.
“This Court is the first to admit that seeing someone’s name and SSN in the 648th row of a spreadsheet is ‘different in kind’ from peeping into someone’s bedroom window,” Bates wrote. Still, he said, Congress enacted the Privacy Act to protect the privacy of people identified in federally maintained systems, so that individuals could trust their information would be accessed only by those employees with a valid need to see it.
“As a result, an intrusion upon that sphere — even if the sphere literally encompasses only one row of millions in a dataset — amounts to an injury similar to the intrusion upon other private spheres, such as one’s home,” Bates wrote.
Bates also said the case is likely to undergo a lot of “twists and turns” before it is resolved.
“This is a dynamic case undergirded by a set of facts evolving before the Court’s eyes,” he wrote.
DOGE has also accessed other government databases, including at the Education Department, Treasury, IRS and Social Security Administration, and multiple lawsuits have been filed in response.
Texas
Developer at center of Paxton’s impeachment sentenced to supervised release, $1M fine
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A real estate developer, whose relationship with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was at the center of the Republican’s historic impeachment trial in 2023 and a recently-ended federal corruption investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to five years’ supervised release and fined $1 million for lying to a financial institution.
Nate Paul, 38, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to serve four months’ home confinement at night, but he is allowed to leave for work and other appointments during the day. Paul had faced up to six months in prison under a previous plea agreement.
Paul’s attorney, Gerry Morris, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas declined comment.
Paul was accused by federal prosecutors of overstating his assets and understating his liabilities while seeking loans in 2017 and 2018.
Paul had claimed that federal investigators acted improperly when they raided his Austin home in 2019. He later sought help from Paxton, and the relationship and dealings between the two men played a prominent role in state lawmakers impeaching Paxton, who was later acquitted in the Senate.
Paxton has long denied wrongdoing and was not mentioned in federal indictments against Paul.
A close ally of President Donald Trump, Paxton is now running for U.S. Senate in the Republican primary against Sen. John Cornyn.
A separate federal criminal investigation of Paxton over his relationship and dealings with Paul was quietly ended by President Joe Biden’s administration in late 2024 with no charges. Paxton has called that investigation a “bogus witch hunt.”
Earlier this month, a state district judge awarded more than $6 million to four former Paxton aides who were fired in retaliation for reporting allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from Paul.
Idaho
Wrongful death notice filed for family of boy shot by police officers
A California law firm notified the city of Pocatello, Idaho, on Wednesday of its intention to file a federal wrongful death lawsuit on the behalf of the family of Victor Perez, a 17-year-old boy with intellectual disabilities who was shot multiple times by four police officers.
Perez, who was described by his family as nonverbal and autistic, was inside a fenced yard holding a kitchen knife on April 5 when a neighbor called police. Four officers arrived and lined up outside the fence, three with handguns and one holding what appeared to be a shotgun, and told him to drop the knife. As Perez started to stand up, they began shooting.
Perez underwent several surgeries, with doctors removing nine bullets and amputating his leg, before tests showed that he lacked brain activity. He was removed from life support on Saturday.
“They can’t justify the shooting by saying he was a danger to anyone,” lawyer Ben Nisenbaum told The Associated Press after his Oakland, California, law firm filed the administrative claim against the city of Pocatello. “He wasn’t going after anyone. The officers just lined up and opened fire.”
The claim was filed on the behalf of Luis Alicea, Perez’s grandfather and guardian; Wanda Alicea, his mother; Monica Perez, his sister; and Ana Vazquez, his aunt. Nisenbaum said they plan to name the city, police chief and the four officers when they filed the lawsuit in federal court.
The administrative claim, which is a precursor to the lawsuit, says the officers used excessive force against Perez and his family has “suffered emotional distress caused by witnessing the negligent conduct of the involved officers.”
Pocatello City Clerk Konni Kendell did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Messages sent to Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The names of the officers have not been released. They were placed on administrative leave, and decisions about whether charges should be filed will be made after an independent investigation by the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce led by the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said he has agreed to review the taskforce’s findings to determine whether charges should be filed. He said he made that decision at the request of the county prosecuting attorney.
“As with all such matters, the Office of the Attorney General will conduct a thorough and impartial review once the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce completes its investigation,” Labrador said in a news release. “Given the seriousness of the matter and the ongoing investigation, our office will not be making further public comment at this time.”
Nisenbaum said Perez’ movements before the shooting were consistent with someone who was physically disabled, “not some superman who would bound over the fence at them.”
“We hope the investigation being conducted by the Idaho Attorney General recognizes the obvious: These officers criminally failed at their jobs and should be held to account for their actions in criminal court,” he said.
