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Today: Supreme Court allows Alabama to use congressional map previously blocked for racial discrimination, vacating lower court orders and sending the case back for review. Justice Department appeals ruling that blocked RFK Jr.'s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel. Texas Attorney General sues Netflix for alleged unauthorized data collection and sharing practices with advertisers and data brokers.
Texas Sues Netflix Over Alleged Unauthorized Data Collection
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against Netflix, alleging the streaming company collected and shared subscriber data with advertisers, data brokers, and ad tech platforms without user consent. The lawsuit claims Netflix collects approximately 5 petabytes of user behavior logs daily, tracking viewing habits, preferences, device information, household networks, application usage, and location data derived from IP addresses. The complaint alleges Netflix shares this data with Experian, Acxiom, and Google Display & Video 360, and collects behavioral data from children's profiles despite marketing them as safe areas. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings stated in a 2020 earnings call that the company does not collect user data, while a 2016 conference presentation by a Netflix engineer described the company as "a logging company that occasionally streams movies." Texas seeks fines, injunctive relief to halt the alleged data collection practices, and an order to disable autoplay by default on kids' profiles.
Supreme Court Vacates Racial Discrimination Block on Alabama Congressional Map
The Supreme Court vacated lower court orders blocking Alabama's 2023 congressional map and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of its April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais. The district court had ruled after trial in 2025 that Alabama's 2023 map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment through intentional dilution of Black voters' strength. A court-appointed special master created a replacement map, which the district court ordered the state to use. Alabama's Legislature passed emergency legislation Saturday allowing a special primary election for affected congressional districts if the 2023 map is restored. Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, arguing the district court's independent finding of intentional constitutional discrimination was unaffected by Callais and that vacating the order days before the May 19 primary election would cause confusion.
Justice Department Appeals ACIP Reconstitution Ruling
The Trump administration filed an appeal of the March 16 district court ruling that blocked HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.'s reconstitution of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The district court had issued a preliminary injunction finding Kennedy violated the Administrative Procedures Act by replacing the committee's members with individuals aligned with anti-vaccine views without following proper procedure or scientific evidence. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate signed the appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which brought the lawsuit, stated it will respond and expects to prevail. The status of ACIP remains in limbo, with a March meeting postponed indefinitely and no agenda set for the scheduled late June meeting.
Supreme Court Extends Mifepristone Mail Access Order
Justice Samuel Alito extended the administrative stay blocking enforcement of a Fifth Circuit ruling that would require in-person dispensing of mifepristone. The stay, originally scheduled to expire May 11 at 5 p.m. EDT, now runs until May 14 at 5 p.m. EDT. The Fifth Circuit had ruled Louisiana has standing to challenge FDA's telehealth prescription and mail distribution rules, finding they circumvent Louisiana's abortion laws. Manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro sought the stay, arguing the Fifth Circuit's order would eliminate nationwide access to mifepristone through certified pharmacies and mail, including in states without abortion bans. Louisiana claims injuries to state sovereignty and financial costs from Medicaid bills for emergency room visits following mifepristone use.
Virginia Democrats Request Supreme Court Review of Congressional Map Ruling
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and Virginia Democrats asked the Supreme Court to allow use of a new congressional map that would favor Democrats in 10 of 11 seats. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last week that a constitutional amendment giving the General Assembly power to enact the new map was invalid because the Legislature had not followed proper procedures when placing it on the ballot. Voters approved the amendment in April by three percentage points. The filing argues the Virginia Supreme Court's ruling implicates federal law questions regarding the meaning of "election" under federal law and whether the state court impermissibly transgressed ordinary judicial review bounds. Chief Justice Roberts instructed Republican legislators who challenged the amendment to respond by 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 14.
EFF Urges Fourth Circuit to Require Warrants for Border Device Searches
EFF, ACLU affiliates, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo urging the Fourth Circuit to require a warrant for border searches of electronic devices. The case involves a U.S. citizen whose cell phone was manually searched at Dulles airport, revealing child sexual abuse material that led to conviction. The district court denied the motion to suppress evidence from the warrantless search. U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted 55,318 device searches in Fiscal Year 2025, both manual and forensic. The brief argues both search methods should require a warrant supported by probable cause because of the highly personal nature of device data, including political affiliations, religious beliefs, health conditions, and financial status. The Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments May 8.
Canada's Bill C-22 Advances Surveillance and Backdoor Authority
Canada's Bill C-22 (The Lawful Access Act) would require digital services including telecoms and messaging apps to record and retain metadata for one year and expand information sharing with foreign governments including the United States. The bill provides authority for the Minister of Public Safety to demand companies create backdoors to provide law enforcement access to data, as long as these mandates do not introduce a "systemic vulnerability," with definitions of both terms remaining unclear. Companies are prohibited from publicly disclosing these orders. The bill bans reveal of surveillance orders and can apply to both applications and operating systems. Apple and Meta have opposed the bill, and the U.S. House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees sent a joint letter expressing concern about encryption backdoors.
Colorado Kills Tech Industry Effort to Gut Right to Repair Law
Colorado's House State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee voted 7-4 to indefinitely postpone SB26-090, which would have exempted critical infrastructure from the state's right to repair law. Tech companies including Cisco and IBM had lobbied for the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously on April 2 and the full Senate on April 16. The bill used an expansive definition of "critical infrastructure" that would have neutralized most right to repair protections. Eight states have passed right to repair laws (Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington), but none have enforced their laws despite available targets.
Libraries Offer Framework for AI Governance Amid Legislative Vacuum
The Library Copyright Alliance articulated a position in 2023 that training AI models on copyrighted works generally qualifies as fair use, updated following recent court decisions in Kadrey v. Meta and Bartz v. Anthropic where judges ruled training is transformative. Libraries have developed norms for balancing collection of sensitive information with broad user access, including the 2010 ARL principles for vendor/publisher relations in large-scale digitization and Library of Congress access policies on culturally sensitive materials relating to Indigenous peoples. The Google Books cases established legal precedent that copying books to create searchable databases is fair use, enabling text and data mining research methods.