(Subscription required) The Judicial Council on Friday will consider $3.2 billion in trial court funding, a new budget strategy that drops priority rankings and millions of dollars in technology investments.

A federal judge has blocked California’s “Truth in Recycling” law, which would restrict the familiar chasing-arrows symbol to packaging that is actually recycled at meaningful rates. Industry groups hail the ruling as a free-speech victory, while environmental advocates warn it undermines efforts to curb misleading marketing. The fight comes amid sobering data: Less than 10% of single-use plastics are recycled in California, even as millions of tons of waste burden landfills, oceans and taxpayer cleanups.

(Subscription required) California’s Supreme Court on Wednesday approved use of the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam starting in July 2028, officially ending the state’s brief diversion into trying to develop its own unique lawyer-licensing test. Their order directs the state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners to create a California-specific component to “accompany” the NextGen exam starting with the July 2029 administration.

(Subscription required) The percentage of U.S. federal civil cases filed by self-represented litigants hit 16.8% in 2025, marking a jump from the 2005-2022 average of 11%, and many of these more recent pro se cases involve AI-generated filings. Experts say courts must act, or the mounting caseloads will add even more strain to a judiciary already fatigued by growing workloads and underfunding.