Supreme Court won’t hear X’s appeal over warrant

The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear an appeal from the social media platform X over a search warrant prosecutors obtained in the election-interference case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their reasoning and there were no noted dissents.

The company, known as Twitter before it was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, says a nondisclosure order that blocked it from telling Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The company also argues Trump should have had a chance to exert executive privilege. If not reined in, the government could use similar tactics to invade other privileged communications, their lawyers argued.

Two nonpartisan electronic privacy groups also weighed in, encouraging the high court to take the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, though, say the company never showed Trump had used the account for official purposes so executive privilege wouldn’t be an issue. A lower court also found that telling Trump could have jeopardized the ongoing investigation.

Justices reject appeal from ‘Pharma Bro’

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Martin Shkreli, who was once dubbed “Pharma Bro” after jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug.

Shkreli appealed an order to return $64.6 million in profits he and his former company reaped after monopolizing the market for the medication and drastically increasing its price. His lawyers argued that the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is typical, and there were no noted dissents.

Prosecutors, though, said the company had agreed in a settlement to pay $40 million, and because Shkreli masterminded the scheme he should bear responsibility for repaying profits.

“This win reinforces how our state’s tough anti-fraud laws help protect New Yorkers and ensure bad actors cannot abuse their power, wealth, or influence,” she said in a statement.

Thomas Huff, a lawyer for Shkreli, said the decision was disappointing. But he also said the high court could yet overturn a lower court decision that made the $64 million penalty order possible even though Shkreli hadn’t personally gotten the money.

Insurers argue for a 42% hike in North Carolina

With many western North Carolina residents still lacking power and running water from Hurricane Helene, a hearing began Monday on the insurance industry’s request to raise homeowner premiums statewide by more than 42% on average.

A top lieutenant for Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey opened what’s expected to be multiple weeks of witnesses, evidence and arguments by attorneys for the state Insurance Department and the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies seeking the increase.

In over 2,000 pages of data filed last January, the Rate Bureau sought proposed increases varying widely from just over 4% in parts of the mountains to 99% in some beach areas. Proposed increases in and around big cities like Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro are roughly 40%.

Across 11 western counties that were hit hard by Helene, including Asheville’s Buncombe County, the requested increase is 20.5%. The percentages are based on insurance payouts of years past and future claims projections.

Compiled from Associated Press reports.