The Legal Forum welcomes letters to the editor at tramstack@gmail.com, which will be published here.
Americans Sue Iran and North Korea
For Supporting Terrorist Attacks
American victims of Middle East terrorist attacks and their families are suing Iran and North Korea in a new lawsuit filed in Alexandria, Va.
The lawsuit says Iran and North Korea should be liable after they funded, trained and provided weapons to terrorists who attacked Americans.
Normally, foreign nations are immune from lawsuits in American courts. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act creates an exception for terrorism.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia mentions 48 victims. They were killed or injured in seven incidents, such as the December 2019 rocket attack that killed an American contractor in Iraq; the Oct. 7, 2023 hostage-taking attack in Israel that resulted in several American deaths and injuries; and other terrorist assaults in Syria and Kenya.
It names groups such as al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah as being the terrorists who carried out the attacks with Iranian and North Korean support.
“Together, these Iranian terrorist sponsors and their North Korean allies participated in a global terrorist alliance led by Iran—the ‘Axis of Resistance’ — that sought to use terrorism to undermine American foreign policy,” the lawsuit says.
One victim named in the lawsuit was Stephen Troell, who worked at an English language institute in Baghdad.
In November, 2022, a group of operatives associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard allegedly surrounded Troell’s car as he drove home from work with his wife. The gunmen forced the car to a stop near the Troells’ home.
As they approached Troell, one of them shot him with an assault weapon as his wife watched from the passenger seat, according to the plaintiffs.
“He died on November 7, 2022, as a result of injuries that he sustained during the attack,” the lawsuit says.
A second American victim listed in the lawsuit was Dustin Harrison, who was killed on Jan. 5, 2020 by Al-Shabab extremists at a military base at Manda Bay, Kenya.
The case is Alkhalili, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran and Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Trump’s Order on Environmental Policy
Anticipates Conflicts with State Laws
State governments and climate activists are pledging a fight over an executive order from President Donald Trump this month that tells the Justice Department to take any action necessary to override local laws that conflict with his environmental policies.
“Many States have enacted, or are in the process of enacting, burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security,” the executive order says.
“These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy,” Trump wrote. “They should not stand.”
State officials say the 10th Amendment grants them a right to control local pollution issues. The Amendment says any rights not reserved by the Constitution to the federal government are given to the states.
Some of the strongest opposition is coming from environmentally-friendly Colorado.
Continue Reading
Latest News
Meta Chief Exec Zuckerberg Defends
Against Allegations of Monopoly Tactics
Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg testified during a trial that continues this week in a Washington, D.C., court that his company has encouraged the growth of social media but not the anti-competitive dominance alleged by the Federal Trade Commission.
The trial in the antitrust case is expected to last weeks as Meta tries to hang on to its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp social media platforms.
Federal Trade Commission attorneys argued during the opening day of the trial that Meta should be divested of Instagram and WhatsApp.
They said Meta's near monopoly on social media that extends worldwide has prevented meaningful competition that could bring better service and more options to consumers.
Federal Trade Commission lawyer Daniel Matheson said in his opening statement, “For more than 100 years, American public policy has insisted firms must compete if they want to succeed. The reason we are here is that Meta broke the deal.”
Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
Our work is as important today as it has ever been. Through your support, you can play a role in creating justice for thousands of marginalized members of our community. Together, we will dismantle injustice and pursue lasting change.
Join us! Donate & subscribe: https://www.washlaw.org/support-us
Volunteer with us: https://www.washlaw.org/get-involved/
For more information, contact Gregg Kelley at Gregg_Kelley@washlaw.org
About Us
The Legal Forum is a nonprofit news service for the Washington area's legal community that also offers attorney job listings as well as amicus briefs and grant information for charitable organizations. If you have questions, please Contact Us
Letters to the Editor
D.C. in Brief
Tort Reform Assn. Accuses D.C.'s AG
Of Conflicts of Interest in Contract Awards
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is being accused of conflicts of interest in his hiring practices by the American Tort Reform Association.
The allegations are part of a letter the association sent last week to the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee.
“Attorney General Schwalb has established a troubling pattern of awarding lucrative contracts to outside contingency fee counsel who are both political allies and former employees of his office,” the letter says. “This practice raises serious questions about the independence and integrity of the District's legal system.”
Examples listed in the letter include:
-- Edelson PC, which employs a former assistant district attorney, the letter says. The firm allegedly received contracts worth more than $195 million over two years to handle a variety of cases, including actions against Google and Meta.
-- Sher Edling and Tycko Zavareei. They were awarded a $70 million contract to target the oil and gas industry with environmental claims and climate change litigation, the letter says.
The organization also expressed concern over the hiring of a New York University School of Law State Energy and Environmental Impact Center fellow as a “Special Assistant Attorney General.” He was hired as part of a $5.6 million grant from Michael Bloomberg's philanthropic organization to litigate climate change issues.
“Government litigation should serve the best interests of constituents, not the profit-seeking motives of the trial bar or the political aspirations of a select few,” the American Tort Reform Association letter said. “Many constituents in DC have expressed frustration that the AG isn't doing enough to address crime and improve public safety.”
Elite Law Firms Capitulate to Trump
By Offering $1 Billion in Free Service
President Donald Trump has secured deals in recent days worth nearly $1 billion with big law firms that risk being driven out of business if they do not cooperate with him.
The elite firms were targeted by Trump to be shut out of federal courthouses and to lose government contracts after they represented clients who opposed his policies.
Trump blames the firms for participating in the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the legal system that led to criminal charges against him.
Other sanctions directed at the firms are the possibility of Justice Department prosecutions and the revocation of security clearances for their attorneys. Without the clearances, they cannot represent many government contractors who provide the firms with large portions of their revenue.
Five firms so far have agreed to do a total of $940 million in pro bono services for conservative causes if Trump agrees to lift his executive orders against them.
Continue Reading
Legal Briefs
We Could Use Your Help
Thousands of DC residents need a lawyer, but can’t afford one. They could be illegally evicted from their homes, lose custody of their children, experience domestic violence, and more, all because they lack legal representation.
You could make a difference. By making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, you will provide free, high-quality, zealous legal representation to low-income DC residents.
Your support could prevent homelessness, domestic violence, hunger, or family separation. In fact, if just 10 people who see this ad give $28 to Legal Aid, it will be enough to staff an experienced attorney at the courthouse for a day.
That way, DC residents like Keith King (pictured above) can get the legal representation they need to win their cases. As Mr. King put it, if it wasn’t for his Legal Aid lawyer, “I would have been homeless again.”
Here is the link to the Legal Aid website for donations: https://www.legalaiddc.org/donate-to-legal-aid/
For more information, contact Rob Pergament at Legal Aid at rpergament@legalaiddc.org