The federal District Court in Rhode Island (Melissa R. DuBose) has temporarily enjoined the Trump Administration from enforcing new anti-diversity, equity and inclusion provisions in grants to help support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and individuals without stable housing.

A putative class action of donors to the American Red Cross and a claim by an alleged beneficiary of a contract with USAID have been dismissed by a federal District Court in Florida.  The Court has found that neither the donors nor the beneficiary have standing to challenge the actions of the Red Cross in providing relief in Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010.

In a case that started nearly six years ago, the Tax Court has denied 501(c)(4) social welfare exemption to a Texas homeowners’ association on the ground that it provides services primarily to its members and not to the general public.

The federal District Court in Rhode Island (Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr.) has issued a temporary restraining order to force the Trump Administration to make funds available for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (”SNAP”) despite the governmental shutdown.

The Tax Court has finalized the excess benefits taxes and penalties due from a former Pennsylvania state senator who was previously convicted criminally on 137 counts of fraud, obstruction of justice and willfully aiding or assisting in filing false tax returns.   The excess benefit taxes were due on benefits he had improperly obtained from a charity for which he was considered a “disqualified person.”  (See Nonprofit Issues^®, Vol. XXXI, No. 3).

The federal District Court in Massachusetts (William G. Young), in “perhaps the most important [case] ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court,” has held that non-citizen students lawfully present in the United States have the same free speech rights as American citizens and cannot be arrested and deported because of pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel speech or association.