Less than 1 : AM Edition, July 7

This morning on Less than 1: investors clear a key hurdle in their fraud suit against Steve Ballmer and Joseph Sanberg over a collapsed carbon-offset startup, and the 9th Circuit hands California a win in the fight over gas appliances. Also: Justices Kagan and Barrett will testify before Congress for the first time since 2019, an AI startup CEO's secret guilty plea in a law firm insider trading scheme is unsealed, and the Supreme Court allows Texas to enforce its app store age-verification law while a First Amendment challenge proceeds. Stories mentioned in this episode: Justices Kagan and Barrett on tap to testify on Capitol Hill next week https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/07/congress/scotus-to-congress-00988557 AI startup CEO pleaded guilty in US to trading on insider tips from lawyers https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ai-startup-ceo-pleaded-guilty-us-trading-insider-tips-lawyers-2026-07-07/ Supreme Court won’t block Texas from enforcing a law requiring age verification for app downloads https://apnews.com/article/texas-age-mobile-app-verification-law-supreme-court-362137cccb26fc5f5dfbb71fb2b2f3db?