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.
A Magistrate Judge in the federal District Court of Oregon has recommended that a nonprofit organization be permitted to continue its suit against two former employees and their new business entity for misusing the nonprofit’s donor lists and other trade secrets and disclosing confidential information obtained while they worked for the organization. The judge has rejected motions to dismiss claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with economic relationships, defamation, and breach of the duty of loyalty.
More than half of all 501(c) public charities filing a full Form 990 tax information return with the Internal Revenue Service in 2022 had assets of less than $1 million, according to statistics released by the IRS recently.
The federal District Court for the Northern District of California (Susan Illston) has temporarily restrained the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and a variety of federal departments from implementing Reduction in Force notices issued to implement layoffs during the governmental shutdown.
The Court said the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO and other plaintiffs are likely to win in their case and would suffer irreparable harm if the RIF notices were carried out without a full hearing.
The federal District Court in Illinois (April M. Perry) has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the deployment of National Guard troops from Texas in Chicago. The Court has said that it is likely the state of Illinois and the City of Chicago will prevail on their claims that the action would violate the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act.
