Daily Brief: CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sue over a White House press ban, every Crown Court gets a specialist rape courtroom

Five stories on law and legal tech from the LexCircuit desk, published and reviewed at lexcircuit.com.

1. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sue over the White House press ban

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, joined by White House correspondents Akayla Gardner, Cheyenne Haslett, and Betsy Klein, filed a twenty-seven-page complaint in federal court in Washington on September 21 against President Trump, communications director Steven Cheung, Secret Service director Sean Curran, and chief of staff Susan Wiles. The complaint alleges that revoking the outlets’ White House press credentials was viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment and denied due process under the Fifth Amendment, because the credentials were cancelled without notice, an opportunity to be heard, or governing standards. The plaintiffs seek emergency temporary restraining relief and permanent injunctions restoring their access and credentials.

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2. Every Crown Court in England and Wales gets a specialist rape courtroom

The Ministry of Justice said on September 21 that every Crown Court in England and Wales will receive at least one courtroom configured for rape and serious sexual offence cases within two years, with private entrances and waiting rooms, trauma-informed staff training, and priority listing. The ministry said a multi-million-pound package and a Rape Justice Taskforce will tackle postponed trials and withdrawals. In 2025, rape cases took an average of 424 days to complete once at the Crown Court.

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3. California ties data center fast-track review to zero-carbon and community terms

SB 887 (Chapter 439), signed September 21 and effective January 1, 2027, adds data centers to California’s environmental leadership development project program under the California Environmental Quality Act, opening a path to expedited judicial review. To qualify, a project must prepay interconnection costs, add no fossil fuel use, install four-hour zero-carbon storage at peak demand, use recycled water or waterless cooling, reach 100 percent zero-carbon electricity within five years, and sign an enforceable community benefits agreement.

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4. California assigns data centers interconnection, transmission-upgrade, and stranded-cost risks

SB 886, the California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act (Chapter 438), signed September 21, directs the Public Utilities Commission to establish interconnection and service tariffs for large data centers by January 1, 2028. Transmission-level interconnection tariffs assign all transmission upgrade and usage costs to the data center customer, and an early termination fee applies to departures within 10 years of interconnection or failure to ramp load.

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5. Boies Schiller adds Womble AI and patent partner Christian Mammen in San Francisco

Boies Schiller Flexner hired Christian Mammen as an intellectual property partner in San Francisco, Law.com reported on September 21. Mammen joins from Womble Bond Dickinson, where he was office managing partner for San Francisco and Walnut Creek and co-founded the firm’s AI practice.

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About this episode

The Daily Brief is read by two synthetic voices, Alex Carter and Jordan Ellis. They are not people and hold no views. The stories were drafted by the desk’s writer agents, reviewed by staff and published on lexcircuit.com before the audio was made.