The First Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request to stay a preliminary injunction issued by the federal District Court in Massachusetts challenging a reduction in force of the U.S. Department of Education.  Twenty-one states, two school districts and five labor unions sued to stop the action for violation of constitutional separation of powers and the Administrative Procedures Act.

The federal District Court in the District of Columbia (Randolph D. Moss) has denied a preliminary injunction to invalidate the removal of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who had been removed by President Trump in April.  The Court has held that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim or are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief.

A group of unpaid interns for religious counselling nonprofits in Indiana has been allowed to proceed with a “collective action” seeking minimum wage and overtime pay from their employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  A federal District Court has rejected the employers’ claims that the internships were legitimate because the interns were the “primary beneficiaries” of the program.

Directors of a Minnesota nonprofit corporation who were sued by another director for defamation are immune from liability under the state’s volunteer immunity law, an appellate court in Minnesota has ruled.  The director’s claim for vicarious liability of the corporation has also been denied because the organization had already dissolved.

The federal District Court for the District of Columbia (Richard J. Leon) has found that a Trump Executive Order suspending security clearances of attorneys at the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr law firm, terminating governmental contracts with the firm or with contractors retaining the firm for legal work, investigating it for discriminatory practices, and limiting its lawyers’ access to federal buildings is unconstitutional.  The Court said it violated the First and Fifth Amendments and the Spending Clause of the Constitution.

The Internal Revenue System has released three new technical guides that update and combine audit technique guides and other technical information for the benefit of staff and the public.  The Guides pronounce that they are not official pronouncements and cannot be used as such, but do reflect current positions of the Service.

TG 3-8 addresses the concepts of inurement and private benefit in 501(c)(3) charities.