Saving face

Good morning!

A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against a group of pro-Palestinian activists whose November 2024 protest at a West Orange synagogue turned into a bloody melee.

The lawsuit was particularly notable because the feds used a statute called the FACE Act, largely created to protect those going into abortion clinics from violent threats, and used it to threaten the protesters, who the administration claimed were violently disrupting a religious service.

But Judge Katharine Hayden, a Clinton nominee, ruled that the protester defendants were either not stopping a religious observance, not inciting violence, or not even accused of any violent activity.

“The FACE Act does not impose liability for disruptive, offensive, or hostile advocacy,” Judge Katharine Hayden ruled.

The Trump administration’s lawsuit came after Essex County prosecutors charged two Jewish men who were at the synagogue and alleged they were the aggressors. One of them, who called the charges meritless, was pardoned by then-Gov. Phil Murphy in January.

Read more from Nikita Biryukov.

Trenton: Democratic lawmakers are looking for the state to gain more control over energy regulation with the creation of a Department of Energy. An Assembly panel on Monday discussed this and another bill aimed at stripping the state Board of Public Utilities of some of its powers. Brian Lipman, director of the state Division of Rate Counsel, warned lawmakers that the bills’ focus on renewable energy could be problematic because renewable energy development is expensive and the bills contain no guardrails to insulate ratepayers from those costs. “It is unclear who is going to be looking to make sure that these projects are within the realm of affordability,” Lipman said.

Benefits: Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Monday accepted billionaire Mark Cuban’s offer to help fix the State Health Benefits Program mess. I’m not sure what anyone is expecting from this partnership, but my guess is Sherrill and Cuban have one or two photo ops before Cuban is chased out of Trenton by the CWA.

Health: Also on Monday, a separate Assembly committee heard a bill that would further restrict lay people from calling themselves nurses. It can already get you fined if you pretend to be a registered nurse, advanced practice nurse, or licensed practical nurse, but the bill advanced Monday would add the generic term “nurse.”

Election: President Trump, who has previously alleged that mail-in voting is a tool of voter fraud, is now urging Republicans to cast their votes by mail this November as his Republican Party seeks to hold onto control of Congress. Trump goes back and forth on this issue, at times urging his supporters to vote by mail and other times calling the practice “inherently corrupt.”