Lauren Feiner

Congress can still vote to effectively bar states from enforcing their own AI laws after what Politico calls the Senate’s “rules referee” decided it meets the criteria to be included in the bill. That slashes opponents’ hope it would be excluded through the Byrd Rule, which restricts the kind of provisions that can be included in reconciliation bills. The Senate version ties the enforcement ban to states’ ability to receive broadband infrastructure funds.

The Supreme Court sent a fax spam case back to a lower court after determining it erred in deferring to the Federal Communications Commission’s legal interpretation. After the FCC said the law didn’t cover online fax services, a lower court decertified a class of fax recipients seeking damages for receiving unsolicited ads. SCOTUS says the court should have made its own interpretation, which could be meaningful for medical professionals who still use faxes.

The bill is headed to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk and follows a similar bill passed in the Minnesota legislature. If signed, the bill would require “addictive social media platforms” to display about warnings about the potential mental health harms of using of their products. It’s a concept endorsed by former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and many state attorneys general, but has been critiqued by industry stakeholders as a violation of First Amendment rights.

The dispute between Apple and Optis Wireless Technology is headed for its third trial after an appeals court threw out a 2021 jury verdict due to faulty jury instructions, Reuters reports. The case is based on Optis’ accusation that Apple infringed on its patents for LTE standard-essential technology. The damages award has already been retried once after a judge said the jury that awarded $506 million to Optis hadn’t considered the reasonableness of the amount.

The Elon Musk-run platform alleges the Stop Hiding Hate Act “impermissibly interferes with the First Amendment-protected editorial judgments” of companies like X to decide how to moderate content. Platforms could face fines unless they disclose what X calls “highly sensitive and controversial speech,” which it says the state may not like. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals already blocked parts of a similar California law on First Amendment grounds, following a separate X challenge.

Platforms could soon have to display tobacco-like warning labels, and include links to mental health resources. It’s a concept former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy pushed for on the federal level and that many states backed. It heads to Gov. Tim Walz (D), but VP of litigation Kathleen Farley at tech industry group Chamber of Progress warns signing it would enact “a clear First Amendment violation, and Minnesota would waste millions defending it in court.”