Here are highlights from recent activities in the federal courts:  

• Nominated by President Biden, Judge Robert Ballou of the District Court for the Western District of Virginia ordered the FDA to reconsider restrictions on the commonly used, safe abortion medication, Mifepristone. He found the restrictions to be “arbitrary and capricious” given that previously, the FDA found it to be safe and effective.

• Back in June, Judge Leo Sorokin of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts overturned the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee for H-1B visa workers hired outside of the US. This visa allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign workers with specialized knowledge or skills. On appeal the First Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and won’t stay the district court judge’s ruling. 

• In a 2-1 vote, a panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift the injunction preventing the Trump administration from implementing its restrictive mail-in voting Executive Order in 23 states. Judge Joshua Dunlap, nominated by President Trump and opposed by NCJW and many other groups, was the dissenting vote. The appeals court decision keeps in place an injunction issued by Judge Indira Talwani (nominated by President Obama) of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

• Another District Court for the District of Massachusetts judge, Judge Brian Murphy (nominated by President Biden), is maintaining Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Ethiopian migrants while he considers new claims they have made. His colleague, Judge Patti Saris (nominated by President Obama) is doing the same for TPS holders from South Sudan, and Judge Matthew Kennelly (nominated by President Clinton) of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has extended TPS for Burmese migrants through August. In its decision this term, the US Supreme Court allowed the administration to end TPS for Haitians and Syrians, but lawyers for TPS holders in the cases above are making a different argument.