The federal District Court of Minnesota (Patrick Schlitz) has said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has violated 96 specific court orders across 74 different cases, according to published reports.  The Chief Judge made the comment in cancelling a contempt hearing for interim head of ICE Todd M. Lyons recently after the agency complied with a court order to release a wrongfully detained person.

The federal District Court in the District of Columbia (Amir H. Ali) has issued a preliminary injunction against the Office of the President and a variety of other federal agencies from using the summary revocation of security clearances to penalize lawyers from representing people adverse to it.  “The Constitution forbids government officials from using their power to retaliate against people for their speech, and that is so even when the speech is critical of the government,” the Court said.

What definition of tax-exempt status applies to determine whether property is exempt from real estate and other taxes when the definition of qualification is changed while the case is pending during litigation?

An appellate court in Virginia has held that the new definition should be considered and that the trial court should reconsider the case pursuant to the Legislative amendment.

A nonprofit school’s agreement to pay a contractor only its insurance proceeds to repair hurricane damage does not vitiate its claim against the insurance company for damages. A federal District Court in Florida has held that the contractor’s willingness to benefit the school does not relieve the carrier of its obligation.

A federal District Court in Washington (Ricardo S. Martinez) has issued a preliminary injunction to stop cutbacks in Head Start funding and efforts by the federal Office of Head Start from enforcing anti-diversity, equity and inclusion Executive Orders issued by President Trump.

The Court has found that the cutbacks violate the Congressional purposes of the Head Start program and that the agencies would face irreparable harm in having to follow the anti-DEI provisions in the Executive Orders.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals (opinion by Kermit V. Lipez) has affirmed a Massachusetts District Court decision voiding efforts by the National Institutes of Health to cap administrative fees on “indirect costs” on NIH grants at 15%.  (See Nonprofit Issues^®, Vol. XXXV, No. 2). The cases were brought by 22 states, five medical associations, and 16 higher education associations and universities.

A taxpayer who donated “high end cycling EQ apparel” that he claimed was worth $188,563.50 has been denied a charitable contribution deduction on the whole gift because he failed to follow the substantiation requirements set out in Treasury regulations.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently resumed the issuance of group exemptions for tax-exempt entities after suspension of the process for more than 5 years.

One would expect that the answer to this question would be clear by now.  But, at least in California, it is not a settled issue, and an appellate court has attempted to establish a new standard by which to determine the answer.