The congressional map approved by California voters to boost the number of House Democrats was upheld Wednesday by a divided federal court, which said they were legally drawn for political purposes and not as an act of racial discrimination, as Republicans contended.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, yesterday overruled its own precedent establishing that unpreserved claims raised for the first time on an appeal of a criminal judgment may be considered de novo if they raise pure questions of law, saying the carve-out to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure, rule 52, which specifies that only “[a] plain error…may be considered,” contravenes U.S. Supreme Court guidance and the statute’s plain terms.

A federal judge Wednesday heard arguments in the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging California’s new law prohibiting ICE agents and other police officers from wearing masks on duty. The judge asked how ICE agents operated without masks in years past, and questioned why California peace officers were exempted from the law. A ruling in closely-watched case could come as soon as this week.

(Subscription required) California Court of Appeal Justice Eileen Moore encouraged attorneys to screen clients for military service, highlighting how PTSD and moral injuries can affect legal representation across family, civil, and criminal cases.