Supreme

• CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, and Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan will join thousands of people across the country in focusing on the importance of civic education during Civic Learning Week , March 11–15, 2024.
• Justices Sotomayor and Barrett will engage in a conversation for the Civic Learning Week National Forum at The George Washington University on Tuesday, March 12, at 1 p.m.
• Secretary Cardona and Archivist Shogan will engage in a fireside chat at the forum's closing reception at The National Archives, March 12, at 6:30 p.m.
• This year's theme, "2024 and Beyond: Civic Learning as a Unifying Force," focuses on the need to make civics a national priority and a means to combat polarization.

• DALLAS, Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Andrea La'Verne Edney was installed as National President of the American Board of Trial Advocates at the organization's annual National Board Meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Jan. 27.
• At her law firm, she is the Chair, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee of Butler Snow in the Ridgeland, Mississippi office.
• In her remarks to the National Board, Ms. Edney borrowed from Amanda Gorman, who was the youngest person to deliver a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration.
• Ms. Edney is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers.

• The government of Mexico is suing U.S. gun-makers for their role in facilitating cross-border gun trafficking that has supercharged violent crime in Mexico.
• To understand why, let’s begin with some background about the federal law that protects the gun industry from civil lawsuits.

Gun industry immunity

• Importantly, there are limits to this immunity shield.
• Mexico’s lawsuit alleges that U.S. gun-makers aided and abetted illegal weapons sales to gun traffickers in violation of federal law.

Mexico’s allegations

• Mexico also points to industry marketing that promises buyers a tactical military experience for civilians.
• In short, Mexico claims that illegal gun trafficking isn’t just an unwanted byproduct of the industry’s design choices, marketing campaigns and distribution practices.
• Instead, according to the lawsuit, feeding demand for illegal weapons is central to the industry’s business model.

The next legal steps

• In January 2024, a federal appeals court in Massachusetts decided that Mexico’s allegations, if true, would deprive the gun-makers of immunity, and it sent the case back to trial court.
• Mexico now needs to produce evidence to prove its allegations that the industry is not only aware of but actively facilitates illegal gun trafficking.
• For their part, the gun-makers have asked the trial judge to put the case on hold while they pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

High stakes for the industry

• Even if the case were to settle for much less, a victory by Mexico would provide a template for a wave of future lawsuits that could change the way the gun industry operates.
• Similar theories about dangerous product designs, irresponsible marketing and reckless distribution practices in opioid litigation have transformed the pharmaceutical industry.

Timothy D. Lytton has provided expert consulting services to law firms representing gun violence victims.