Power

Gavel Drop: States Go to Bat for Net Neutrality

And the U.S. Supreme Court says it will consider President Trump's travel ban and blocks the redrawing of North Carolina's political districts.

More than 20 state attorneys general sued the Federal Communications Commission to restore net neutrality rules that prevent cable companies from gatekeeping internet content. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Welcome to Gavel Drop, our roundup of legal news, headlines, and head-shaking moments in the courts.

More than 20 state attorneys general sued the Federal Communications Commission to restore net neutrality rules that prevent cable companies from gatekeeping internet content.

The Becket Fund is representing the student group Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) in suing the University of Iowa for religious discrimination after the university revoked the group’s on-campus privileges for denying a leadership position in the organization to a gay student. The organization required those holding such positions to agree to an anti-LBGTQ statement.

Transgender students filing civil rights complaints against their schools with the Department of Education (DOE) are reportedly being told the DOE will not assist them in their complaints, according to HuffPost. We at Rewire wrote about it here.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order blocking the redrawing of North Carolina’s congressional voting maps, probably delaying the case until it issues a key ruling on gerrymandering in Gill v. Whitford, a case about partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

And in more news from the high court: It granted certiorari in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit case regarding the constitutionality of Trump’s travel ban, which targets immigrants from six primarily Muslim countries.

As Trump plans to enshrine discrimination against LGBTQ people, here’s an example of what that might look like: A gay couple received pamphlets about Satan and “evil desires” instead of the wedding programs they had ordered for their ceremony. Vistaprint, the popular online company from whom they ordered the programs, said that a “third-party fulfiller” was responsible, and that it would launch an investigation.

Louisiana’s governor and attorney general are fighting for control over a lawsuit that the state filed against opioid manufacturers. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards thinks the state health department should handle it. Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry thinks his office should handle it. So much drama.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that residents of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands don’t have a right to absentee vote based on their former state of residence even though residents of other American territories—the North Mariana Islands and American Samoa—do have that right. That’s not fair: Even astronauts cast their ballots while in space.