A federal court on Monday dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook, dealing a major setback for the agency’s complaint that could have resulted in Facebook divesting Instagram and WhatsApp.

“Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebook’s contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency’s Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed,” reads the filing from U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “The FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claims -- namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking (PSN) Services.”

The court dismissed the complaint, not the case, meaning the FTC could file its complaint once again.

In the filing, the court states that the FTC did not prove Facebook maintains a monopoly.

“The Court agrees that the first — the possession of monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking Services (as defined by the agency) — is not adequately pleaded here,” the filing reads. “No more is needed to conclude that the Complaint must be dismissed.”

Marijuana’s popularity boom in red states isn’t breaking through with conservatives on Capitol Hill, pinching an already narrow path to federal legalization.

A growing number of Republican senators represent states that have legalized recreational or medical cannabis — six approved or expanded marijuana in some form just since November. But without their support in Congress to make up for likely Democratic defectors, weed falls critically short of the 60 votes needed to advance legislation.

Montana’s Steve Daines and South Dakota’s Mike Rounds, both Republicans, said they don’t support comprehensive federal cannabis reform, no matter what voters back home voted for.
“I oppose it,” said Daines, who is otherwise a lead sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, which would make it easier for the cannabis industry to access financial services, such as bank accounts and small business loans. “The people in Montana decided they want to have it legal in our state, and that's why I support the SAFE Banking Act as well — it’s the right thing to do — but I don't support federal legalization.”

DENVER (AP) — A man who intervened in a shooting that killed a police officer near Denver was shot and killed by a responding officer while holding the suspect's AR-15, police said Friday.

Johnny Hurley, who has been described by police as a hero who prevented further bloodshed, shot suspect Ronald Troyke on Monday after Troyke gunned down Arvada Officer Gordon Beesley with a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun.

After shooting Beesley twice, Troyke shot out the windows of police cars in the city's downtown district, returned to his truck to get an AR-15 and was confronted by Hurley, who shot him with a handgun. When an officer arrived, Hurley was holding Troyke's AR-15 and the officer opened fire, police said.

With support from both Democrats and Republicans, Candace Jackson-Akiwumi was confirmed on Thursday to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 7th Circuit. Before her confirmation, every judge on that federal court was white.

The highly influential U.S. courts of appeals, or circuit courts, are just below the Supreme Court and serve as the final arbiter on many federal cases. Nominated by President Joe Biden, Jackson-Akiwumi will be the only person of color serving on the 7th Circuit Court, which has jurisdiction over Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Jackson-Akiwumi’s confirmation also marks only the second time a Black woman has ever served on this particular court of appeals. Ann Claire Williams was the first Black judge on the court, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Jackson-Akiwumi will fill the vacancy left by Judge Joel Flaum. The 7th Circuit is also the court that launched Justice Amy Coney-Barrett, who, nominated by then president Donald Trump, was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2020 after the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Coney-Barrett is thought to have extreme views—analysis from 538 of her time on the 7th Circuit found she was one of the most conservative justices, especially on civil rights issues.

Oregon Democrats had finally secured total control of redistricting for the first time in decades.

Then, just months before they were set to draw new maps, they gave it away.

In a surprise that left Democrats from Salem to Washington baffled and angry, the state House speaker handed the GOP an effective veto over the districts in exchange for a pledge to stop stymieing her legislative agenda with delay tactics. The reaction from some of Oregon's Democratic House delegation was unsparing: “That was like shooting yourself in the head,” Rep. Kurt Schrader told POLITICO. Rep. Peter DeFazio seethed: “It was just an abysmally stupid move on her part.”

Yet what happened this spring in Oregon is just one example, though perhaps the most extreme one, of a larger trend vexing Democratic strategists and lawmakers focused on maximizing the party’s gains in redistricting. In key states over the past decade, Democrats have gained control of state legislatures and governorships that have long been in charge of drawing new maps — only to cede that authority, often to independent commissions tasked with drawing political boundaries free of partisan interference.

Supporters of these initiatives say it's good governance to bar politicians from drawing districts for themselves and their party. But exasperated Democrats counter that it has left them hamstrung in the battle to hold the House, by diluting or negating their ability to gerrymander in the way Republicans plan to do in many red states. And with the House so closely divided, Democrats will need every last advantage to cling to their majority in 2022.

“We Democrats are cursed with this blindness about good government,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a Democratic state that will nonetheless see its congressional map drawn by a newly created independent commission.

A federal court granted a preliminary injunction against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its conditional sail order that has shut down the cruise industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday is part of a larger lawsuit brought by the state of Florida that contends the CDC has overstepped its authority through its orders that have limited cruise lines’ ability to return to business.

By granting the injunction, the court deemed that Florida was likely to succeed in the overall case on its merits, demonstrating the state would be harmed if the order continues, but also sent both the state and CDC back to mediation.

A three-judge panel for the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause does not apply to the U.S. territory of American Samoa, reversing a lower-court ruling.

Why it matters: American Samoa, which was annexed by the U.S. in the early 1900s and is home to more than 50,000 people, is one of the only places in the country where birthright citizenship does not apply. Many people in the territory hope it remains that way, while others desire automatic citizenship.

CIRCUIT COURT

MYRNA PÉREZ
Nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit


Myrna Pérez is the director of the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. Ms. Pérez joined the Brennan Center in 2006. She has also been a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School since 2016. She previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law from 2013 to 2015. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Ms. Pérez was a Civil Rights Fellow at Relman, Dane & Colfax, a civil rights law firm in Washington, D.C., from 2005 to 2006. Ms. Pérez served as a law clerk for Judge Anita B. Brody on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2004 and for Judge Julio M. Fuentes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 2004 to 2005.

Ms. Pérez received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2003, her M.P.P. from Harvard Kennedy School in 1998, and her B.A. from Yale University in 1996. Prior to law school, she was a Presidential Management Fellow, serving as a policy analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office on issues including housing and health care.


DISTRICT COURTS

SARAH A. L. MERRIAM
Nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut


Judge Sarah A. L. Merriam has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Connecticut since 2015. Previously, she served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Connecticut from 2007 to 2015. Judge Merriam worked on political campaigns in Connecticut from 2006 to 2007. She was an associate at the Connecticut-based law firm Cowdery, Ecker & Murphy from 2003 to 2006. Judge Merriam served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Meskill on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2002 to 2003 and for Judge Alvin Thompson on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut from 2000 to 2002.

Judge Merriam received an LLM from Duke Law School in 2018, her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2000, and her B.A. from Georgetown in 1993.


SARALA VIDYA NAGALA
Nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut


Sarala Vidya Nagala is the Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut, a role she has held since 2017. Ms. Nagala joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2012, and has served in a number of leadership roles in the office, including as Hate Crimes Coordinator. Previously, Ms. Nagala was an associate at Munger, Tolles, & Olson in San Francisco, California from 2009 to 2012. She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Susan Graber on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2008 to 2009.

Ms. Nagala received her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 2008 and her B.A. from Stanford University in 2005.


OMAR A. WILLIAMS
Nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

Judge Omar A. Williams has served as a Superior Court Judge in Hartford, Connecticut since 2016. In that role, Judge Williams has served on the New England Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative, the Sentence Review Division, and the Wiretap Panel. He was previously a Superior Court Judge in New London from 2014 to 2016. Prior to his appointment as a state court judge, Judge Williams was an Assistant Public Defender for the State of Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services from 2003 to 2014.

Judge Williams received his J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School in 2002 and his B.A. from the University of Connecticut in 1998.


JIA M. COBB
Nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia


Jia M. Cobb is a partner at Relman Colfax, where she has practiced since 2012. Her plaintiff-side litigation practice focuses on fair housing, disability discrimination, employment discrimination, and cases at the intersection of civil rights and criminal justice. Ms. Cobb taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law in 2011 and was a faculty member at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop in 2010 and 2011. Prior to her time in private practice, Ms. Cobb served as a trial attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia from 2006 to 2012. She began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Diane Wood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 2005 to 2006.

Ms. Cobb received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 2005 and a B.A. from Northwestern University, magna cum laude, in 2002.

It was supposed to be Triller time. But scratch that.

On Saturday night, stars were set to come out in full force for what was being billed as “Miami’s first full open seating event post-COVID” at the newly renamed loanDepot park (formerly Marlins Park).

But alas, the pandemic’s not over, people. The Triller Fight Club Event, a rap concert and 12-round match headlined by NYC’s Teofimo Lopez vs. “Ferocious” George Kambosos Jr., of Australia, will now take place later this summer.

The reason? Fox Sports 640 radio host Andy Slater tweeted Tuesday afternoon that Lopez tested positive for COVID-19.