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In Jack Daniel's v. VIP Products, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a chewable "Bad Spaniels" dog toy shaped like a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey violated Jack Daniel's trademark rights. VIP claimed its dog toy was First Amendment free speech under the Rogers test—which protects unauthorized trademark use if the use is artistically relevant and not explicitly misleading. But the Court unanimously rejected VIP's argument and held that Rogers does not apply when the challenged mark [...]

KEY POINTS Courts will now interpret federal statutes without being required to accept an agency's "permissible" interpretation of an ambiguous statute. The Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise independent judgment when deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority. Courts may still give persuasive weight or "careful attention" to an agency's views about ambiguous statutes, but the court must decide the best reading of the statute and resolve the ambiguity. SUMMARY THE CHEVRON DOCTRINE [...]

The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an order which will allow the Biden administration to withhold $4.5 million of federal funding from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. This decision is one in a wave of cases that has flowed from Dobbs, which eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, involving disputes over state abortion restrictions and federal grants. Federal money is distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") to [...]