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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

FEDERAL SPENDING BOOSTS FIRMS – For signs that President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan is still a possibility, at least in some form, look no further than where law firms are making their money. According to the documents filed as part of the requirements under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act, law firms are still busy lobbying the government on behalf of clients in anticipation of new federal spending, Bruce Love reports. Such predicted spending includes not only some variation of the Build Back Better plan, but also the National Defense Authorization Act which is likely to pass later on this year. Some firms that have large lobbying practices in D.C., including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, K&L Gates, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, reported strong quarterly revenues, with many also predicting a busy second half of the year as legislative activity ramps up.

SCOTUS' PERCEPTION PROBLEM – Following a month which saw far-reaching and controversial Supreme Court rulings, the approval rating of the nation's highest court has dropped to a new low, according to a new Marquette Law School survey. Marcia Coyle reports that the survey found only 38% approve of the U.S. Supreme Court, with those having a "great deal/quite a lot" of confidence in the Court dropping to 28% this year, from 37% in 2019. Compared to three years ago, more survey respondents also believed that the Court's decisions were politically motivated, with more respondents describing it as "very conservative." Unsurprisingly in today's polarized climate, approval of the U.S. Supreme Court differed greatly depending on one's political affiliation.

11th CIRCUIT ALLOWS ABORTION BAN – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has lifted an injunction against a Georgia law that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, Katheryn Hayes Tucker reports. The unanimous ruling comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the precedent set by Roe V. Wade. Attorneys who challenged the ban took aim at the court for staying the injunction rather than waiting the normal 28-day period for the issuance of an official mandate, arguing that the court "took this action on its own, without any request from the state, and outside of the normal court procedures." In the 16-page opinion, Chief Judge William Pryor used the term "abortionists" dozens of times rather than referring to "plaintiffs" or "appellees".

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