A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/Jonathan Ernst

A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against two perceived adversaries of President Trump – FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James – ruling that the U.S. attorney he hand picked to prosecute them was unlawfully appointed.

The ruling throws out two cases Trump had publicly called for as he pressured DOJ leaders to move against high-profile figures who had criticized him and led investigations into his conduct.

Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer to Trump, was named interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September to take over both investigations despite having no previous prosecutorial experience.

The findings by U.S. District Judge Cameron McGown Currie come after both Comey and James accused the Trump DOJ of violating the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause and federal law by appointing Halligan in September. Read more from Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward.

REUTERS/Al Drago

This morning’s Daily Docket previewed a D.C. Circuit hearing in an appeal by President Trump’s administration of a judge's ruling that he unlawfully retaliated against the Associated Press because it refused in its news coverage to call the Gulf of Mexico by the president's preferred name: the Gulf of America. My colleague Jan Wolfe has an update on the arguments. 

A DOJ lawyer told the federal appeals court that Trump acted lawfully when he barred AP journalists from the White House Oval Office and other spaces, arguing that constitutional protections for press freedom are not at issue.

The three-judge panel, which included two Trump appointees, is expected to rule in the coming weeks or months. Read more.

The Group of 20 major economies scored a rare victory this weekend for multilateralism after overcoming the boycott and objections of its most powerful member, the U.S. … Novo Nordisk's closely watched Alzheimer's trials of an older oral version of its semaglutide drug failed to help slow the progression of the brain-wasting disease … U.S. and Ukrainian officials sought to narrow the gaps between them over a plan to end the war in Ukraine … Unprecedented numbers of Americans are expected to hit stores this Black Friday, but they are likely to curtail their spending as they find fewer bargains from tariff-hit retailers.