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Tech News
New Jersey's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to resolve whether states can regulate sports wagers offered through prediction markets like Kalshi. The move follows a split between federal appeals courts: the 3rd Circuit ruled such bets are federally regulated swaps outside state control, while the 9th Circuit found they are simply gambling by another name and can be blocked by states like Nevada.
A divided Supreme Court, in a 5-4 order, allowed construction to continue on President Trump's planned $400 million White House ballroom while legal challenges to the project move through lower courts. The majority found the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacked standing to sue, citing government claims the project addresses security concerns, while Chief Justice Roberts led a dissent arguing the project is likely unlawful without congressional approval.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is pushing back against a wave of lawsuits in which major rightsholders ask courts to broaden copyright protections in response to generative AI. EFF argues this mirrors past panics over VTRs, player pianos, and cameras, technologies once feared to destroy creative industries but which instead expanded them. It warns that rightsholders' 'market dilution' theory, claiming AI tools threaten creative markets simply by existing, would improperly stretch copyright law based on speculation rather than evidence.
A commentary piece argues that if corporations enjoy legal personhood under the Fourteenth Amendment, they should also face the equivalent of capital punishment for serious wrongdoing. It traces this idea to 'judicial dissolution,' citing the 1889 New York Supreme Court case that forced the North River Sugar Refining Corporation—a 17-company sugar monopoly—to liquidate for abusing its charter through price-fixing and consolidation.
After the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an FCC order that extended discounted 'lowest unit charge' TV ad rates to political parties and joint fundraising committees, the National Republican Congressional and Senatorial Committees said they will petition the Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit denied their request for an emergency stay but issued the mandate immediately, clearing the way for a Supreme Court appeal.
A tech-industry writer describes how growing awareness of social media's harms—cyberbullying, body dysmorphia, and related mental health issues seen firsthand through his wife's pediatric nursing work—led his family to restrict their children to flip phones and keep them off platforms like TikTok. He notes this reflects a broader trend among tech workers and public figures, coinciding with rising cultural pushback including Jonathan Haidt's book, national social media bans in countries like Australia, and a US Supreme Court ruling upholding age-verification laws.
The Supreme Court granted preliminary approval to President Trump's executive order restricting mail voting, allowing it to move forward even though it may not immediately alter any state's election procedures before November. The ruling has instead created widespread uncertainty for the roughly one-third of American voters who typically cast ballots by mail.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority paused a Boston federal judge's injunction that had blocked Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting in 23 states and DC, ruling the states lacked standing to sue because they couldn't prove concrete harm. The court did not rule on whether the order itself is legal, leaving that question for future litigation, while a separate nationwide injunction against the Postal Service implementing the order remains intact for now.