Alabama
Judge considers sanctions against attorneys in prison case for using AI in filings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that she is considering sanctions against lawyers with a high-priced firm hired to defend Alabama’s prison system after ChatGPT was used to write two court filings that included nonexistent case citations.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco held a hearing in Birmingham to question attorneys with the Butler Snow firm about the filings. She said there were five false citations in two filings in federal court. Manasco said that nationally, there have been broad warnings from courts about the use of artificial intelligence to generate legal filings because of the potential for inaccuracies.
Manasco said she is considering a range of sanctions, including fines. She gave the firm 10 days to file a brief with the court.
Butler Snow lawyers repeatedly apologized during the hearing.
They said a firm partner, Matt Reeves, used ChatGPT to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be “hallucinations” — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system, they said. Four attorneys signed the filings with the information, including Reeves.
“Butler Snow is embarrassed by what happened here, which was against good judgment and firm policy. There is no excuse for using ChatGPT to obtain legal authority and failing to verify the sources it provided, even if to support well founded principles of law,” firm lawyers wrote in a response to the judge.
Reeves told the judge that he alone was responsible for the false citations and that, “I would hope your honor would not punish my colleagues.”
Alabama has paid millions of dollars to the firm to defend the state prison system and its officials in lawsuits. That includes representing the state as a defendant in a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging that male inmates live in violent and cruel conditions.
The filings in question were made in a lawsuit filed by an inmate who was stabbed on multiple occasions at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. It alleges that prison officials are failing to keep inmates safe.
Manasco also questioned Bill Lunsford, head of the Butler Snow division that handles prison litigation, who signed the filings. Alabama’s attorney general has appointed Lunsford as a deputy attorney general because he represents the state in court.
Lunsford wrote in a response to the judge that he scanned over the documents before filing them but did not do a detailed review since it had been reviewed by Reeves. He told the judge that the firm has been proactive in warning lawyers about the limitations of artificial intelligence.
Washington
Institute of Peace reclaims its headquarters after court win over Musk’s cost-cutting team
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Institute of Peace retook control of its headquarters Wednesday, two days after a federal judge said the firing of its board and employees by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was illegal.
The institute’s acting president, George Moose, entered the organization’s headquarters with private security and the institute’s outside attorney for the first time since being escorted off the premises during the DOGE takeover.
Moose and most of the institute’s board were fired in March, part of the mass slashing of the federal workforce spearheaded by Musk.
The institute and many of its board members filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration soon after, seeking to prevent their removal and stop DOGE from taking over its operations. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell’s opinion on Monday reversed DOGE’s actions.
Speaking after a short examination of the headquarters, Moose said all appeared to be in order.
“We just did a quick walk-through — externally, visibly, things look to be in pretty good shape,” he said. “I didn’t see anything, any destruction, if you will, no damage that I can see that is visible.”
Moose, a former ambassador and career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, said a team of employees from human resources, technology and finance would be in the building Thursday getting the nonprofit ready to welcome back its workforce. He expected to bring back all the staff who want to return.
In an email Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly did not comment on workers returning to the building, but signaled that the administration may challenge the decision.
“President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and the rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter,” she said.
The administration filed a motion of appeal Wednesday evening and requested a stay of the judge’s ruling while that appeal is considered, arguing in part that Howell “erred” in concluding that the institution’s functions were not executive functions.
Agencies across the federal government have been slashed or dismantled by Musk’s DOGE team. Wednesday’s low-key scene at the institute’s headquarters marked a rare moment when a DOGE-targeted agency or organization has been able to begin reestablishing itself.
The judge’s ruling said the Trump administration did not have authority to unilaterally dismantle the institute, which was established by Congress in 1984 as an independent organization that would promote peace and seek to end conflicts around the world. It was operating in more than two dozen conflict zones at the time Musk’s team took it over and shut it down.
The saga began when Trump issued an executive order in February that targeted the institute and three other agencies for closure in an effort to deliver on campaign promises to shrink the size of the government. The first attempt by DOGE to take over the headquarters led to a standoff. Members of Musk’s DOGE group returned days later with the FBI and District of Columbia Metropolitan Police to help them gain entry.
DOGE installed new leadership, ordered a mass firing of nearly all the staff through their private emails, and handed over the institute’s headquarters to the General Services Administration.
The institute, concerned about liability and security of the building in the aftermath of the judge’s ruling, reached out to the government attorneys earlier this week and again on Wednesday. George Foote, the institute’s outside attorney, said the exchange was very smooth and orderly.
Moose said the goal now is to get back to the work the institute was created to do 40 years ago and “projects, ideas that are, we believe, of interest to the American people.”
Judge considers sanctions against attorneys in prison case for using AI in filings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that she is considering sanctions against lawyers with a high-priced firm hired to defend Alabama’s prison system after ChatGPT was used to write two court filings that included nonexistent case citations.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco held a hearing in Birmingham to question attorneys with the Butler Snow firm about the filings. She said there were five false citations in two filings in federal court. Manasco said that nationally, there have been broad warnings from courts about the use of artificial intelligence to generate legal filings because of the potential for inaccuracies.
Manasco said she is considering a range of sanctions, including fines. She gave the firm 10 days to file a brief with the court.
Butler Snow lawyers repeatedly apologized during the hearing.
They said a firm partner, Matt Reeves, used ChatGPT to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be “hallucinations” — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system, they said. Four attorneys signed the filings with the information, including Reeves.
“Butler Snow is embarrassed by what happened here, which was against good judgment and firm policy. There is no excuse for using ChatGPT to obtain legal authority and failing to verify the sources it provided, even if to support well founded principles of law,” firm lawyers wrote in a response to the judge.
Reeves told the judge that he alone was responsible for the false citations and that, “I would hope your honor would not punish my colleagues.”
Alabama has paid millions of dollars to the firm to defend the state prison system and its officials in lawsuits. That includes representing the state as a defendant in a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging that male inmates live in violent and cruel conditions.
The filings in question were made in a lawsuit filed by an inmate who was stabbed on multiple occasions at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. It alleges that prison officials are failing to keep inmates safe.
Manasco also questioned Bill Lunsford, head of the Butler Snow division that handles prison litigation, who signed the filings. Alabama’s attorney general has appointed Lunsford as a deputy attorney general because he represents the state in court.
Lunsford wrote in a response to the judge that he scanned over the documents before filing them but did not do a detailed review since it had been reviewed by Reeves. He told the judge that the firm has been proactive in warning lawyers about the limitations of artificial intelligence.
Washington
Institute of Peace reclaims its headquarters after court win over Musk’s cost-cutting team
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Institute of Peace retook control of its headquarters Wednesday, two days after a federal judge said the firing of its board and employees by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was illegal.
The institute’s acting president, George Moose, entered the organization’s headquarters with private security and the institute’s outside attorney for the first time since being escorted off the premises during the DOGE takeover.
Moose and most of the institute’s board were fired in March, part of the mass slashing of the federal workforce spearheaded by Musk.
The institute and many of its board members filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration soon after, seeking to prevent their removal and stop DOGE from taking over its operations. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell’s opinion on Monday reversed DOGE’s actions.
Speaking after a short examination of the headquarters, Moose said all appeared to be in order.
“We just did a quick walk-through — externally, visibly, things look to be in pretty good shape,” he said. “I didn’t see anything, any destruction, if you will, no damage that I can see that is visible.”
Moose, a former ambassador and career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, said a team of employees from human resources, technology and finance would be in the building Thursday getting the nonprofit ready to welcome back its workforce. He expected to bring back all the staff who want to return.
In an email Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly did not comment on workers returning to the building, but signaled that the administration may challenge the decision.
“President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and the rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter,” she said.
The administration filed a motion of appeal Wednesday evening and requested a stay of the judge’s ruling while that appeal is considered, arguing in part that Howell “erred” in concluding that the institution’s functions were not executive functions.
Agencies across the federal government have been slashed or dismantled by Musk’s DOGE team. Wednesday’s low-key scene at the institute’s headquarters marked a rare moment when a DOGE-targeted agency or organization has been able to begin reestablishing itself.
The judge’s ruling said the Trump administration did not have authority to unilaterally dismantle the institute, which was established by Congress in 1984 as an independent organization that would promote peace and seek to end conflicts around the world. It was operating in more than two dozen conflict zones at the time Musk’s team took it over and shut it down.
The saga began when Trump issued an executive order in February that targeted the institute and three other agencies for closure in an effort to deliver on campaign promises to shrink the size of the government. The first attempt by DOGE to take over the headquarters led to a standoff. Members of Musk’s DOGE group returned days later with the FBI and District of Columbia Metropolitan Police to help them gain entry.
DOGE installed new leadership, ordered a mass firing of nearly all the staff through their private emails, and handed over the institute’s headquarters to the General Services Administration.
The institute, concerned about liability and security of the building in the aftermath of the judge’s ruling, reached out to the government attorneys earlier this week and again on Wednesday. George Foote, the institute’s outside attorney, said the exchange was very smooth and orderly.
Moose said the goal now is to get back to the work the institute was created to do 40 years ago and “projects, ideas that are, we believe, of interest to the American people.”
