Montana
State Supreme Court declares 2021 abortion restrictions unconstitutional
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access, including a ban beyond 20 weeks of gestation.
The measures approved by Republican lawmakers in 2021 had been blocked since a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them that year. While the case was pending, voters passed an initiative that enshrined the right to abortions in the Montana Constitution.
Justices said in Monday’s ruling that the state constitution included a “right to be left alone” and have access to abortions. They said that right was not affected by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a half-century of nationwide abortion rights.
The Montana laws also included a prohibition against telehealth prescriptions of abortion medication, a 24-hour waiting period after giving informed consent, and a requirement for providers to give patients the option of viewing an ultrasound or listening to the fetal heart tone. Planned Parenthood of Montana challenged the measures.
Justices cited a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution’s right to privacy includes a woman’s right to obtain an abortion before the fetus is viable from the provider of her choice.
The state argued that the 1999 ruling was wrongly decided and has tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to get the Montana Supreme Court to overturn it. The Legislature in 2023 passed another slate of bills seeking to limit abortion access.
Last year’s initiative to make abortion a constitutional right in the state passed with backing from 58% of voters.
An anti-abortion group called the Montana Family Foundation on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the voter-approved initiative. The group claims voters who registered on Election Day were denied the chance to fully review the initiative because the ballot included only a summary. The full text was in a pamphlet mailed to registered voters.
New York
Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement
NEW YORK (AP) — Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI.
Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute “endless unauthorized copies” of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me.
“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,” the companies state in the complaint.
The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation.
Midjourney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as “kind of like a search engine” pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet.
He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity.
“Can a person look at somebody else’s picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?” Holz said. “Obviously, it’s allowed for people and if it wasn’t, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it’s sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it’s fine.”
Major AI developers don’t typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law.
The studio’ case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms — such as OpenAI, Anthropic — in San Francisco and New York.
Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.
Oregon
Dozens of states sue to block the sale of 23andMe personal genetic data without customer consent
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia on Monday filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court seeking to block the sale of personal genetic data by 23andMe without customer consent. The lawsuit comes as a biotechnology company seeks the court’s approval to buy the struggling firm.
Biological samples, DNA data, health-related traits and medical records are too sensitive to be sold without each person’s express, informed consent, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news release about the lawsuit. Customers should have the right to control such deeply personal information and it cannot be sold like ordinary property, it said.
23andMe customers use saliva-based DNA testing kits to learn about their ancestry and find long-lost relatives. Founded in 2006, the company also conducted health research and drug development. But it struggled to find a profitable business model since going public in 2021. In March it laid off 40% of its staff and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Eastern District of Missouri, raising concerns about the safety of customer data.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said last month it aimed to buy the company for $256 million. Regeneron said it would comply with 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable law. It said it would process all customer personal data in accordance with the consents, privacy policies and statements, terms of service, and notices currently in effect and have security controls in place designed to protect such data.
A court-appointed, independent consumer privacy ombudsman was due to examine the proposed sale and how it might affect consumer privacy and report to the court by Tuesday.
Iowa
Satanic Temple accuses state officials of religious discrimination
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Satanic Temple Iowa on Tuesday filed a complaint accusing state officials of discriminating against the group because of its members’ religion, having denied them access to the state Capitol building for a December holiday display and event.
The group’s holiday observances garnered national attention in 2023 after a Mississippi man destroyed their Iowa Statehouse display depicting the horned deity Baphomet, which was permitted in the rotunda along with a Christmas tree and other religious holiday installations.
The Satanic Temple Iowa’s application for a display and event in December 2024 was denied, a decision that the organization says violated its members’ constitutional rights and Iowa civil rights law.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that state Capitol policies reflect the potential impact on children and families, given that they routinely visit the public building and spaces around it.
“This satanic event, which specifically targeted children, would have been harmful to minors and so it was denied,” Reynolds said.
A message seeking comment was left with the state’s Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the use of public space in the Iowa Capitol, and whose director, Adam Steen, is named on the complaint.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed the complaint with Iowa’s civil rights office Tuesday on behalf of Mortimer Adramelech, minister of Satan for the Iowa Satanic Temple congregation. Rita Bettis Austen, ACLU Iowa’s legal director, said the complaint with the civil rights office is the first step required before a legal claim of discrimination under Iowa civil rights law can be filed in court. The state’s ACLU chapter hopes the complaint will be enough for state officials to reverse course.
The ACLU of Iowa also filed a lawsuit in April after Reynolds’ office withheld or redacted requested records related to the Satanic Temple’s display and event, citing executive privilege.
Founded in 2013, the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple says it doesn’t believe in Satan but describes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism. It is separate from the Church of Satan, which was founded in the 1960s.
The complaint references a decision by Steen to deny the group’s application because obscene materials and gratuitous violence are not permitted in the building that regularly hosts children of all ages.
Steen told the group the costumes they proposed for the event included sticks that could be “used as weapons on children” and “positions the event to be harmful to minors.”
The Satanic Temple alleges that was an “absurd, unfounded concern” used to justify the denial and that their application specified the event would be family friendly. The complaint cites open records that the organization says make it clear the governor’s office and Steen were meeting at the time to prepare a response.
“The simple truth is the State of Iowa does not want to allow Satanists to enjoy the same access to the Iowa State Capitol as other ‘mainstream’ religions, in particular Christianity, and in particular during the Christmas holiday season,” the complaint reads.
Arizona
Former lawmaker indicted on charges that he forged nominating petitions
PHOENIX (AP) — A former Republican lawmaker in Arizona has been indicted on charges that he forged signatures on his nominating petitions for his 2024 reelection campaign.
Austin Smith represented an Arizona House district in the suburbs northwest of Phoenix for one term before dropping his reelection bid in April 2024 when questions arose about signatures on his nominating petitions. He also resigned at the time as a leader of the conservative group Turning Point Action.
In campaign literature, Smith voiced support for a Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County that ultimately ended without producing proof to support President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.
The indictment released Tuesday by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office charges Smith with four felonies, including one count of fraudulent schemes, and 10 misdemeanor counts of illegally signing election petitions.
The Associated Press left a voice message and email with Smith seeking comment.
Last year, he cast the allegations as a coordinated attack by Democrats that was “silly on its face,” but said he would drop out to avoid racking up legal bills.
Smith had been a senior director of Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of the youth organizing group Turning Point USA, which has become a major force in Arizona Republican politics.
State Supreme Court declares 2021 abortion restrictions unconstitutional
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access, including a ban beyond 20 weeks of gestation.
The measures approved by Republican lawmakers in 2021 had been blocked since a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them that year. While the case was pending, voters passed an initiative that enshrined the right to abortions in the Montana Constitution.
Justices said in Monday’s ruling that the state constitution included a “right to be left alone” and have access to abortions. They said that right was not affected by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a half-century of nationwide abortion rights.
The Montana laws also included a prohibition against telehealth prescriptions of abortion medication, a 24-hour waiting period after giving informed consent, and a requirement for providers to give patients the option of viewing an ultrasound or listening to the fetal heart tone. Planned Parenthood of Montana challenged the measures.
Justices cited a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution’s right to privacy includes a woman’s right to obtain an abortion before the fetus is viable from the provider of her choice.
The state argued that the 1999 ruling was wrongly decided and has tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to get the Montana Supreme Court to overturn it. The Legislature in 2023 passed another slate of bills seeking to limit abortion access.
Last year’s initiative to make abortion a constitutional right in the state passed with backing from 58% of voters.
An anti-abortion group called the Montana Family Foundation on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the voter-approved initiative. The group claims voters who registered on Election Day were denied the chance to fully review the initiative because the ballot included only a summary. The full text was in a pamphlet mailed to registered voters.
New York
Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement
NEW YORK (AP) — Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI.
Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute “endless unauthorized copies” of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me.
“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,” the companies state in the complaint.
The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation.
Midjourney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as “kind of like a search engine” pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet.
He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity.
“Can a person look at somebody else’s picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?” Holz said. “Obviously, it’s allowed for people and if it wasn’t, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it’s sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it’s fine.”
Major AI developers don’t typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law.
The studio’ case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms — such as OpenAI, Anthropic — in San Francisco and New York.
Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.
Oregon
Dozens of states sue to block the sale of 23andMe personal genetic data without customer consent
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia on Monday filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court seeking to block the sale of personal genetic data by 23andMe without customer consent. The lawsuit comes as a biotechnology company seeks the court’s approval to buy the struggling firm.
Biological samples, DNA data, health-related traits and medical records are too sensitive to be sold without each person’s express, informed consent, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news release about the lawsuit. Customers should have the right to control such deeply personal information and it cannot be sold like ordinary property, it said.
23andMe customers use saliva-based DNA testing kits to learn about their ancestry and find long-lost relatives. Founded in 2006, the company also conducted health research and drug development. But it struggled to find a profitable business model since going public in 2021. In March it laid off 40% of its staff and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Eastern District of Missouri, raising concerns about the safety of customer data.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said last month it aimed to buy the company for $256 million. Regeneron said it would comply with 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable law. It said it would process all customer personal data in accordance with the consents, privacy policies and statements, terms of service, and notices currently in effect and have security controls in place designed to protect such data.
A court-appointed, independent consumer privacy ombudsman was due to examine the proposed sale and how it might affect consumer privacy and report to the court by Tuesday.
Iowa
Satanic Temple accuses state officials of religious discrimination
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Satanic Temple Iowa on Tuesday filed a complaint accusing state officials of discriminating against the group because of its members’ religion, having denied them access to the state Capitol building for a December holiday display and event.
The group’s holiday observances garnered national attention in 2023 after a Mississippi man destroyed their Iowa Statehouse display depicting the horned deity Baphomet, which was permitted in the rotunda along with a Christmas tree and other religious holiday installations.
The Satanic Temple Iowa’s application for a display and event in December 2024 was denied, a decision that the organization says violated its members’ constitutional rights and Iowa civil rights law.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that state Capitol policies reflect the potential impact on children and families, given that they routinely visit the public building and spaces around it.
“This satanic event, which specifically targeted children, would have been harmful to minors and so it was denied,” Reynolds said.
A message seeking comment was left with the state’s Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the use of public space in the Iowa Capitol, and whose director, Adam Steen, is named on the complaint.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed the complaint with Iowa’s civil rights office Tuesday on behalf of Mortimer Adramelech, minister of Satan for the Iowa Satanic Temple congregation. Rita Bettis Austen, ACLU Iowa’s legal director, said the complaint with the civil rights office is the first step required before a legal claim of discrimination under Iowa civil rights law can be filed in court. The state’s ACLU chapter hopes the complaint will be enough for state officials to reverse course.
The ACLU of Iowa also filed a lawsuit in April after Reynolds’ office withheld or redacted requested records related to the Satanic Temple’s display and event, citing executive privilege.
Founded in 2013, the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple says it doesn’t believe in Satan but describes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism. It is separate from the Church of Satan, which was founded in the 1960s.
The complaint references a decision by Steen to deny the group’s application because obscene materials and gratuitous violence are not permitted in the building that regularly hosts children of all ages.
Steen told the group the costumes they proposed for the event included sticks that could be “used as weapons on children” and “positions the event to be harmful to minors.”
The Satanic Temple alleges that was an “absurd, unfounded concern” used to justify the denial and that their application specified the event would be family friendly. The complaint cites open records that the organization says make it clear the governor’s office and Steen were meeting at the time to prepare a response.
“The simple truth is the State of Iowa does not want to allow Satanists to enjoy the same access to the Iowa State Capitol as other ‘mainstream’ religions, in particular Christianity, and in particular during the Christmas holiday season,” the complaint reads.
Arizona
Former lawmaker indicted on charges that he forged nominating petitions
PHOENIX (AP) — A former Republican lawmaker in Arizona has been indicted on charges that he forged signatures on his nominating petitions for his 2024 reelection campaign.
Austin Smith represented an Arizona House district in the suburbs northwest of Phoenix for one term before dropping his reelection bid in April 2024 when questions arose about signatures on his nominating petitions. He also resigned at the time as a leader of the conservative group Turning Point Action.
In campaign literature, Smith voiced support for a Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County that ultimately ended without producing proof to support President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.
The indictment released Tuesday by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office charges Smith with four felonies, including one count of fraudulent schemes, and 10 misdemeanor counts of illegally signing election petitions.
The Associated Press left a voice message and email with Smith seeking comment.
Last year, he cast the allegations as a coordinated attack by Democrats that was “silly on its face,” but said he would drop out to avoid racking up legal bills.
Smith had been a senior director of Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of the youth organizing group Turning Point USA, which has become a major force in Arizona Republican politics.
