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Today: Federal judge reopens Trump's IRS self-settlement case and orders response by June 12 on allegations of fraud on the court. Supreme Court sends Alabama congressional map case back to lower courts after Louisiana v. Callais ruling while Alabama passes new map eliminating one majority-Black district. NIST inspector general finds National Vulnerability Database backlog grew from 13,000 to 27,000 unprocessed vulnerabilities due to mismanagement and wasted $200,000 duplicating CISA's work.
Trump IRS Settlement Case Reopened for Fraud Investigation
Judge Kathleen Williams reopened the case where President Trump sued his own IRS demanding $10 billion and then settled with himself. Williams ordered Trump to file a response by June 12, 2026 addressing whether the parties colluded, whether the dismissal was based on deception, and whether the court was the victim of fraud. The judge noted in a footnote that the IRS prepared a memorandum outlining ways to challenge Trump's claims but the DOJ settled anyway. Another footnote flags Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's hands-on involvement in an addendum that may conflict with DOJ policies requiring compromises to be "specifically limited to the immediate subject matter of the claim which was in fact compromised."
Alabama Congressional Map Dispute Returns to Lower Courts
The Supreme Court sent Alabama's congressional map case back to lower courts for reconsideration following Louisiana v. Callais. A three-judge federal panel had ruled on May 26 that Alabama's 2023 map "intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution" and ordered use of a court-drawn map. Alabama then passed a new law allowing special primary elections for affected districts if courts restore the 2023 map. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissented from the remand order, arguing the lower court's finding of intentional Fourteenth Amendment discrimination was "independent of, and unaffected by, any of the legal issues discussed in Callais."
Louisiana Enacts New Congressional Map Eliminating Majority-Black District
Louisiana lawmakers approved a new congressional map on Friday following the Supreme Court's April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that struck down the state's existing map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The new map eliminates one of Louisiana's two majority-Black districts and creates an additional Republican-leaning district. Louisiana delayed its May 16 House primaries to allow time for redistricting. This is likely the last state legislative map implemented before the 2026 election as primary season is well underway nationwide.
John Deere Faces Second Class Action for Monopolizing Repair
Christy Webber Landscaping of Chicago filed a class action in the Northern District of Illinois in mid-May alleging John Deere "abuses its monopoly power" to force equipment owners to use Deere dealers for repairs and purchase replacement parts at "artificially inflated prices." The lawsuit alleges Deere makes tools, manuals, and parts hard to obtain to eliminate competition from independent repair providers. This follows a separate class action that John Deere settled for $99 million and an ongoing FTC lawsuit. The company is also facing eight state right-to-repair laws, none of which have been enforced despite continued anticompetitive behavior. A 2023 memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation promising repair access was "largely performative" and designed to block state reform efforts.
Supreme Court Rejects Broad Compassionate Release for Conviction Challenges
In Fernandez v. United States and Rutherford v. United States, the Supreme Court held that federal defendants cannot use the compassionate release statute to challenge the validity of their convictions or to obtain release based on nonretroactive sentencing changes. Justice Amy Coney Barrett's majority opinion (joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh) ruled that allowing conviction challenges through compassionate release would circumvent procedural and substantive limits on habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, which has a one-year statute of limitations and does not permit relitigation of rejected claims. Barrett emphasized that "extraordinary and compelling reasons" must be "most unusual" and "far from common," and a reason is not compelling if "Congress has channeled it through the postconviction statutes." Justice Jackson dissented in Fernandez, arguing the statute confers broad discretion on district judges.
Federal Prosecutor Exits After Receiving James Comey Case
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Petracca was removed from the James Comey case and at least three other cases after being assigned the prosecution by U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The case attempts to convert protected speech (Comey's "8647" comment) into a true threat against the sitting president. Petracca had contemplated leaving the Department of Justice altogether but remained a DOJ employee after taking a week off. Federal prosecutor Timothy Severo was swapped in as lead counsel. The case follows a failed first prosecution attempt led by Trump's former insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan.
Supreme Court Grants First Step Act Case on Halfway House Time Credits
The Supreme Court granted review in Maxwell v. United States, a case involving whether an inmate's claim regarding application of time credits for accelerated transfer to a halfway house or home confinement under the First Step Act can be brought as a habeas petition. William Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years for his role in a scheme to take over a Texas mortgage company. The district court dismissed his 2022 application for lack of exhausted administrative remedies. The Fifth Circuit held he should have brought a federal civil rights lawsuit instead. The case will be argued in the 2026-27 term.
Meta, TikTok, Snap, YouTube Settle School Social Media Addiction Bellwether
Meta Platforms, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube settled a bellwether social media addiction lawsuit filed by the Breathitt County School District. Settlement terms were not disclosed. The case was one of multiple lawsuits filed by school districts alleging social media platforms designed addictive features that harmed student mental health and disrupted educational environments.
Class Action Settlements Available
Three consumer class action settlements are currently open for claims: WISP data privacy settlement for customers who purchased products on hellowisp.com between February 1, 2018 and September 9, 2025; $775,000 Menards Performax and Masterforce bonded abrasive wheel settlement for replacement wheels or cash; and $3.8 million FCA US unpaid overtime settlement for current and former hourly employees. CleanChoice Energy also faces a new class action lawsuit in Illinois alleging price gouging and deceptive pricing practices for alternative retail electricity.
NIST Vulnerability Database Backlog Reaches 27,000 Due to Mismanagement
The Commerce Department inspector general released a report finding NIST's National Vulnerability Database (NVD) backlog grew from 13,000 unprocessed vulnerabilities in February 2024 to over 27,000 by end of 2025, "undermining the NVD's utility and public trust." Poor planning by NIST led to the crisis after NIST stopped paying contractors in February 2024. NIST pledged to process 6,200 vulnerabilities per month by September 2024 but acknowledged it had no plan to reach that goal and historically never processed more than 5,000 monthly. NIST failed to coordinate with CISA's Vulnrichment program launched in May 2024, resulting in duplicated work in at least 21,000 instances and wasting approximately $200,000. The agencies at one point hired the same contractor for identical work. The inspector general found NIST's severity scores only match independent assessors 12% of the time and recommended NIST reduce scoring efforts to save $800,000 over two years. NIST and the Commerce Department never responded to an April 2024 open letter from 50 cybersecurity professionals sent to Congress flagging the backlog.
NSA Appoints New Cybersecurity Leadership
The National Security Agency selected David Imbordino as chief of its cybersecurity directorate with Holly Baroody as deputy, and Bruce Jones as head of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. Imbordino most recently led the directorate in an acting capacity. Baroody is an NSA senior official in the United Kingdom and former top civilian at U.S. Cyber Command. Jones is a career NSA technical and operational leader. The appointments follow a year-long leadership vacuum and thousands of career personnel exits after Trump administration pressure to reduce workforce. The Collaboration Center works with 1,900 private sector entities on network defense. The White House postponed an executive order in May that would have made NSA responsible for classified evaluations of frontier AI models after last-minute lobbying by tech industry leaders.
Federal Government Targets "Anti-Technology Extremists"
U.S. law enforcement agencies including the New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau are creating a new category called "anti-technology extremists" in response to backlash against AI. A report from the bureau states: "The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City." The term "anti-tech violent extremism" does not appear in any public domestic extremism reports from DHS or FBI, suggesting this is a new surveillance category. The policy shift applies law enforcement surveillance typically used on terrorist groups to individuals expressing concerns about AI technology deployment and its societal impacts.
Lawfare Analysis on FISA Section 702 Reform
Alex Joel proposed a hybrid model for FISA Section 702 oversight in which the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court plays a more targeted role in U.S. person queries, rather than requiring warrants for all queries or maintaining the status quo. Joel argued the debate is not as polarizing when framed beyond the binary choice. One case has ruled in favor of a warrant requirement while other cases found warrants are not required. Joel contended lawmakers should consider options for enhancing civil liberties protections through FISC involvement while maintaining intelligence effectiveness.
Lawfare Examines Jihadist Expansion in West Africa
Alexander Palmer analyzed how al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) launched a major offensive on April 25, 2026 against the Malian government alongside the Azawad Liberation Front, killed Mali's defense minister, established a blockade of Bamako, and now controls vast swathes of the country including positions near the capital. Palmer warned the region could be headed toward state collapse, prolonged Sahel instability, or emergence of a new global terrorism hub if current trends continue. Palmer recommended policymakers plan for scenarios ranging from a trans-national terrorist hub to a frozen conflict.
EFF Welcomes New Executive Director Nicole Ozer
The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced Nicole Ozer as its new Executive Director effective June 2, 2026. Ozer previously served as inaugural executive director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco and founding director of the Technology and Civil Liberties Program at ACLU of Northern California from 2004-2025. Ozer's achievements include spearheading passage of the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (nation's strongest electronic surveillance law requiring warrants for government access to electronic information), the Reader Privacy Act (requiring a "super warrant" for government access to reading records), and a model law for local democratic oversight of surveillance systems that inspired 25 laws protecting 17 million people. Ozer litigated NSA cases with EFF and developed multi-year campaigns to strengthen anti-surveillance policies of major technology companies. Ozer succeeds Cindy Cohn, EFF's executive director since 2015, who is leaving to return to courtroom litigation.
African Data Protection Laws Block International Agreements
Jane Munga examined how African data protection laws have allowed governments to block or reshape international health and biometric data-sharing agreements that conflict with domestic law. Kenya's High Court suspended a $2.5 billion bilateral health agreement with the United States in December 2025, citing Kenya's Data Protection Act of 2019 and Digital Health Act of 2023. Ghana and Zimbabwe each halted negotiations over comparable health data agreements citing concerns grounded in domestic data governance frameworks. Munga contended that while effective as defensive legal architecture, African states should further leverage these laws to negotiate agreements protecting their economic interests in the long-term value generated by their data.
Vulnerability management: Transition from NIST NVD to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and Vulnrichment program as primary vulnerability prioritization sources until NIST clears its 27,000-item backlog and establishes sustainable processing (inspector general report released June 1).
Class action exposure: E-commerce and subscription businesses should audit data privacy compliance, hourly employee overtime calculations, and pricing disclosure practices following three new open settlements (WISP, FCA US, Menards) and CleanChoice Energy pricing lawsuit.
Conviction challenges: Federal inmate advisory programs must update compassionate release guidance to reflect Fernandez and Rutherford holdings that conviction challenges and nonretroactive sentencing changes cannot support release motions (circumvents 28 U.S.C. § 2255 limits).
Redistricting compliance: Organizations with voter access programs in Alabama and Louisiana should review how Louisiana v. Callais and new congressional maps affect Section 2 enforcement strategies and voter registration documentation before 2026 elections.
AI policy advocacy: Organizations engaged in AI policy criticism or research should implement enhanced communications security and understand that law enforcement fusion centers are now classifying AI dissent as potential extremism (New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report May 2026).