Amit Mehta

Stories

Judge overturns DOE clean energy grant cancellations tied to states' votes

Presiding over the grant termination cases

A federal judge ordered the Department of Energy to restore $82.1 million in clean energy grants it cancelled in October 2025. Judge Amit Mehta ruled the cancellations violated the Constitution's equal protection guarantee because they singled out grantees in states that voted for Kamala Harris.

Updated 3 days ago

Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust suits over Google AI search

Rule Changes

Dismissed both suits on 2026-09-30

A federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits from Chegg and Penske Media, the owner of Rolling Stone and Variety, over Google's AI Overviews. Judge Amit Mehta ruled the publishers never struck a deal with Google—they only had an expectation that indexing their content would bring search traffic, and an expectation is not an agreement.

Updated 7 days ago

Clean energy project cancellations sweep the US after federal rollback

Rule Changes

Issued stipulated judgments finding DOE grant cancellations illegal

Since January 2025, companies and the federal government have cancelled or downsized 216 large-scale clean energy projects across the US. The abandoned projects represent $68.2 billion in capital investment and 468,000 jobs that are no longer supported, according to analysis by BW Research for the clean energy group E2.

Updated Sep 26

Google search monopoly case enters appeals phase

Rule Changes

Presiding over case; issued liability and remedies rulings

Google has paid Apple roughly $20 billion per year to be the default search engine on iPhones and Safari. In August 2024, a federal judge ruled this arrangement—and similar deals with Samsung and others—constituted an illegal monopoly. Now both sides are appealing: the Department of Justice wants Google broken up, while Google wants the entire case thrown out.

Updated May 27

Notable Quotes

"The Court enters judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. This is a final, appealable judgment." — October 2026 ruling

from Judge overturns DOE clean energy grant cancellations tied to states' votes · Updated 3 days ago

"Defendants freely admit that they made grant-termination decisions primarily — if not exclusively — based on whether the awardee resided in a state whose citizens voted for President Trump in 2024." — January 2026 ruling

from Judge overturns DOE clean energy grant cancellations tied to states' votes · Updated 3 days ago

Plaintiffs have pleaded only that they have an 'expectation' that Google will send them search traffic if they make their content available for free. But an expectation is not an agreement. It is simply how a general search engine works.

from Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust suits over Google AI search · Updated 7 days ago

The court is bound to apply the law only as it is written, not how the court or any party believes it ought to be.

from Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust suits over Google AI search · Updated 7 days ago

Divestiture of Chrome would be 'incredibly messy and highly risky,' citing Chrome's reliance on Google's technical systems, infrastructure, and engineering personnel.

from Google search monopoly case enters appeals phase · Updated May 27