(Subscription required) The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that trial courts must provide low-income civil litigants with an official verbatim record of court proceedings, including through electronic recording when a court reporter is unavailable. In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, the court said California's chronic shortage of court reporters cannot leave litigants who cannot afford private reporters without a meaningful record for appeal.

Governor Gavin Newsom is directing state agencies to establish an AI Cyber Defense Program, strengthen cybersecurity coordination across state government, expand AI-enabled defenses for critical infrastructure and local governments, and improve preparedness for emerging AI cybersecurity incidents.

(Subscription required) Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court order that blocked use of Perplexity’s AI shopping agent on Amazon’s website. The court said Amazon isn’t likely to succeed in showing Perplexity’s AI assistant illegally “accessed” the company’s servers under the federal Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act.

(Subscription required) Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed his top staff attorney to the Third District Court of Appeal as he rushes to fill appellate vacancies around the state in his final months in office. Sapp was one of eight appellate court appointees Newsom’s office announced Friday.