The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 20 that expert testimony about shaken baby syndrome is scientifically unreliable and inadmissible in two upcoming trials, a decision that comes as the long-held medical diagnoses have come under increased scrutiny. The court determined that a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, which is also known as abusive head trauma, is not generally accepted within the “biomechanical community” and is therefore not “sufficiently reliable” for admission at the trials. The 6-1 ruling deals with the trials of two men facing charges in separate cases, in which the young victims showed symptoms that have come to be associated with shaken baby syndrome. The justices, using an abbreviation for the syndrome, concluded in their lengthy decision that “there was no test supporting a finding that humans can produce the physical force necessary to cause the symptoms associated with SBS/AHT in a child." But Justice Rachel Wainer Apter, in a strongly worded dissent, said the other justices put more weight on the views of individual biomechanical engineers over the “consensus perspective of every major medical society in the world.” That, she said, includes all the medical discipline involved in the diagnosis and treatment of shaken baby syndrome — pediatrics, child abuse pediatrics, neurology, neuroradiology, neurosurgery, radiology, ophthalmology and emergency medicine. Wainer Apter also noted that every other U.S. state allows testimony in court on the syndrome and “every other court that has considered the question” has held such evidence as admissible. “No case has ever concluded that evidence of SBS/AHT is unreliable,” she wrote. “And no case has ever found its reliability sufficiently questioned to preclude its admission at a civil or criminal trial.” According to the Mayo Clinic, the syndrome is a result of forcefully shaking an infant or a toddler, which can damage or destroy a child’s brain cells and cause permanent brain damage or even death. Symptoms include bleeding around the brain, brain swelling and bleeding in the eyes. Prosecutors and medical societies say the syndrome is the leading cause of fatal head injuries in children younger than 2, with more than 1,000 cases reported in the U.S. each year, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. But defense lawyers and some in the medical and scientific communities argue that shaken baby diagnosis is flawed and has led to wrongful convictions, pointing to overturned convictions or dropped charges in California, Ohio, Massachusetts and Michigan. The state Attorney General's Office declined to comment on Nov. 20, but the Public Defender's Office hailed the decision as a “landmark” moment, saying it reflected the importance of relying on “reliable, well-supported scientific evidence” in criminal cases. "Where the science is uncertain, the stakes are simply too high to permit unsupported expert opinions to decide a person’s guilt or to justify separating children from their parents,” Cody Mason, a managing attorney in the Public Defender's Office, said in a statement.

Missouri has escalated its attempt to seize Chinese government-owned property across the United States, asking the Trump administration for help collecting on a roughly $25 billion court judgment related to the COVID-19 pandemic that Beijing has flatly rejected. Missouri is asking the U.S. State Department to formally notify China that the state intends to pursue assets with full or partial Chinese government ownership to satisfy the judgment, state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said. The move stems from a lawsuit alleging China hoarded personal protective equipment during the early months of the pandemic, harming Missouri and its residents. A federal judge ruled for Missouri earlier this year after China declined to participate in the trial, calling the lawsuit “ very absurd ” when it was filed in 2020. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier this year that its actions during the pandemic aren’t subject to U.S. jurisdiction and it doesn’t recognize the ruling. Some legal experts have cast doubt on whether Missouri can collect on the judgment, because federal law generally shields foreign nations from lawsuits in U.S. courts. Hanaway said she expects a long process. “We think the state was damaged. We want to recover,” Hanaway said. “It costs money to provide health care and other benefits to people as a result of the epidemic.” As a first step, Hanaway's office sent a letter on Nov. 19 to federal court asking it to forward copies of the judgment to the Secretary of State's Office to be served on China. She said her office is still assembling a list of Chinese properties that could be targeted. She said Missouri is focusing on properties wholly owned by the Chinese government, as well as those owned by companies in which the Chinese government has a stake. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement on Nov. 19 that China's policies and measures during the pandemic were “acts of national sovereignty and are not subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.” “The so-called pandemic compensation lawsuits fabricated by certain forces in the U.S. ignore basic objective facts and violate fundamental legal principles; they are purely malicious frivolous lawsuits and political manipulation, with extremely sinister intentions,” Pengyu said. “China firmly opposes them and will not accept any so-called default judgments.” The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case has taken an unusual path. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2022, saying Missouri couldn’t sue China or the other defendants. But an appeals court allowed one part of the lawsuit to proceed: the allegation that China hoarded personal protective equipment, such as respirator masks, medical gowns and gloves. After Chinese officials didn’t respond, Limbaugh accepted Missouri’s estimate of past and potential future damages of more than $8 billion, tripled it as federal law allows, and added 3.91% interest until it’s collected. The lawsuit was originally filed by state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Trump ally who subsequently won election to the U.S. Senate. It was carried on by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, another Trump ally who resigned in September to become co-deputy director of the FBI. Hanaway, a former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker, inherited the case when she was appointed AG by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Harvard University is reinvestigating connections between its former President Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein, a university spokesperson said on Nov. 19. The university didn't mention Summers by name, but the decision to reopen a probe follows the release of emails showing that Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary, maintained a friendly relationship with Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008. “The University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted,” spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement first reported by The Boston Globe and The Harvard Crimson. An earlier review completed in 2020 found that Epstein visited Harvard’s campus more than 40 times after his 2008 sex crimes conviction and was given his own office and unfettered access to a research center he helped establish. The professor who provided the office was later barred from starting new research or advising students for at least two years. Summers said on Nov. 18 that he’s stepping back from public commitments. His office said that includes resigning from the board of directors of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” he said in a statement. The board of OpenAI said it appreciated Summers’ contributions and perspective. Summers joined the OpenAI board in November 2023, part of an effort to restore stability at the nonprofit and bring back its CEO Sam Altman after its previous board members fired Altman days earlier. Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019, was a convicted sex offender infamous for his connections to wealthy and powerful people, making him a fixture of outrage and conspiracy theories about wrongdoing among American elites. Summers served as Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under President Clinton. He was Harvard’s president for five years from 2001 to 2006. When asked about the emails recently, Summers issued a statement saying he has “great regrets in my life” and that his association with Epstein was a “major error in judgement.”