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Hints Of A New High Court Majority Emerge In Trump Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of President Donald Trump's bid to keep frozen nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding gave court watchers a glimpse of a coalition majority that could end up thwarting some of the president's more aggressive and novel attempts to expand executive power.
March 17, 2025
Wash. AG Backs Tribe's $400M Trespass Win Against BNSF

The state of Washington has said the Ninth Circuit should uphold a trial judge's ruling that BNSF Railway Co. owes nearly $400 million for years of illegally running oil cars across tribal territory, arguing in an amicus brief the railroad must be held accountable for perpetuating "a pattern of disregard for the sovereignty of Native people."
March 17, 2025
Calif. Panel Sides With Tribe In Hotel Construction Fight

A California appeals panel has sided with a Native American tribe in its decision to reverse a lower court ruling and invalidate the city of Clearlake's approval of a hotel project on tribal land, finding that the city failed to comply with a state environmental law.
March 17, 2025
Full 7th Circ. Won't Revive Suit Over Late Medicaid Payments

The full Seventh Circuit has answered the "enormous question" of whether a Chicago hospital can sue the state of Illinois to force the managed-care organizations it contracts with to make timely Medicaid payments, concluding the hospital doesn't have a federal right to prompt payments for fear of turning federal trial courts into "de facto Medicaid claims processors."
March 17, 2025
9th Circ. Judge Urges Review Of Asylum Credibility Precedent

The Ninth Circuit on Monday declined to review an Indian national's bid to revive an asylum claim deemed noncredible, with one judge calling on the court to revisit precedent that restricts immigration judges' ability to reject questionable asylum claims.
March 17, 2025
Split 9th Circ. Won't Halt Federal Workers Reinstatement Order

A divided Ninth Circuit panel on Monday denied the Trump administration's bid for an immediate administrative stay of a California district court order requiring reinstatement of some probationary federal workers fired from six agencies, with the majority saying a pause "would disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head."
March 17, 2025
Colo. Justices Reject Bid To Toss Election Defamation Suit

Colorado's justices have rejected petitions from President Donald Trump's campaign and conservative media personalities arguing that a former Dominion Voting executive's defamation suit should be tossed under a state anti-SLAPP law, according to an en banc order Monday declining to review the case.
March 17, 2025
Vague Settlement Can't Free Insurer From Asbestos Claims

An insurer that says its policies' limits were exhausted while paying over $5 million toward an asbestos injury settlement on behalf of BNSF Railway failed to show it actually went over its limits, a Texas appeals court found.
March 17, 2025
Union, Green Groups Fight EPA Bid To Redo Biden TSCA Rule

Labor unions and green groups are asking the D.C. Circuit to reject the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's bid to reconsider a Biden-era rule that strengthened regulations to assess chemicals' health and environmental risks.
March 17, 2025
2nd Circ. Sends Amazon Wage Question To Conn. Justices

The Second Circuit asked Connecticut's top court Monday to weigh in on whether employees are owed pay for their time spent undergoing post-shift anti-theft screenings, saying the state's justices have not yet provided guidance on this matter.
March 17, 2025
FERC Grid Upgrade Fight Has DC Circ. Judges Flummoxed

D.C. Circuit judges appeared to struggle Monday with how to determine ownership of new grid upgrades needed for a Michigan solar farm as they consider a transmission company's challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to grant it sole ownership.
March 17, 2025
NJ Justices Take On Nonclients' Malpractice Case Against Atty

The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to an appellate court decision tossing part and keeping part of a malpractice suit brought against an estate attorney by plaintiffs who were never his clients.
March 17, 2025
Georgia Justices Urged To Revive Trump Election Charges

Prosecutors argued that the Georgia Supreme Court should reinstate certain criminal charges against President Donald Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others alleging interference in the 2020 presidential election, saying lower courts wrongly dismissed the charges because of the indictment's purported lack of detail.
March 17, 2025
DOL Urges 5th Circ. To Keep Contractor Wage Hike Ruling

Former President Joe Biden had the authority to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors through a presidential executive order, the Trump administration's U.S. Department of Labor said, urging the full Fifth Circuit to leave in place a panel's decision backing the wage hike.
March 17, 2025
4th Circ. Tosses HOA Closing Fees Suit

The Fourth Circuit tossed a North Carolina property owner's proposed class action alleging that a property management company unlawfully charged excessive closing fees when she sold two properties.
March 17, 2025
NC Appeals Court Leaves Judge's Ballot Challenge To Panel

The full North Carolina Court of Appeals has shot down Democratic Justice Allison Riggs' request for an en banc hearing of her Republican challenger's suit seeking to throw out more than 60,000 ballots cast in their race for a seat on the state's highest court, leaving the dispute for a panel to decide first.
March 17, 2025
High Value Dubious In $23M Easement Dispute, 11th Circ. Told

A partnership that claimed a $23 million tax deduction for a conservation easement donation failed to consider the lack of market demand for a potential quarry it used to justify the land's high value, the U.S. government told the Eleventh Circuit.
March 17, 2025
Jordan's Race Team Defends NASCAR Injunction To 4th Circ.

A pair of stock car race teams including one owned by Michael Jordan urged the Fourth Circuit not to vacate a lower court's injunction allowing them to keep competing in NASCAR races while they pursue antitrust claims against the league, arguing NASCAR's "overblown rhetoric" against the order falls flat.
March 14, 2025
Justices Set Deadline In Birthright Citizenship Injunction Row

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday gave states and organizations challenging President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship until early next month to address Trump's request for the high court to limit three federal judge's injunctions that preliminarily blocked the order's implementation across the U.S.
March 14, 2025
4th Circ. Lets White House Anti-DEI Efforts Proceed

The Fourth Circuit on Friday lifted a temporary injunction blocking President Donald Trump's administration from implementing the bulk of his executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, though each judge on the panel had differing views on the matter.
March 14, 2025
ExxonMobil Brings $14M Clean Air Act Suit To High Court

ExxonMobil on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn both a "radically divided" en banc Fifth Circuit's opinion upholding $14.25 million in air pollution penalties as well as a decades-old high court ruling concerning redressability, saying it was being made to pay penalties environmental group plaintiffs won't even receive.
March 14, 2025
11th Circ. Again Upholds Fla. Ban On Under-21 Gun Sales

Florida's law banning sales of firearms to anyone under 21 is constitutional, a divided Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday on en banc review, finding that America's 18- to 20-year-olds have had their gun rights checked since the nation's founding.
March 14, 2025
Antitrust Questions Earn Belt Line Deal A Deep Dive

The Surface Transportation Board isn't going to let Norfolk Southern get away with calling its attempt to procure the remainder of a rail line a minor transaction, since it's been locked in antitrust litigation over the control of that line for years, according to an order Friday that deemed the transaction "significant."
March 14, 2025
9th Circ. Axes Dershowitz Sanction, Clarifies 'Of Counsel' Law

The Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected Alan Dershowitz's arguments that his First Amendment rights shield him from being sanctioned for filing frivolous election-related litigation as "for counsel" representing Republican Arizona candidates, but the panel nevertheless reversed sanctions against Dershowitz since it's the first time the circuit has clarified the law.
March 14, 2025
Ga. Panel Says COVID-Era Legal Shield Blocks Amputee's Suit

A divided Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday said a trial court should have dismissed a wrongful amputation suit against a Marietta hospital, holding that the patient who lost his right leg after being admitted for COVID-19 symptoms could not beat the legal immunity granted to the hospital by a pandemic-era state law.
March 14, 2025
Fed. Circ. OKs Apple's Patent Board Win In Beacon Dispute

The Federal Circuit on Friday signed off on a ruling from the patent board that wiped out all of the claims Apple challenged in a patent covering location-tracking beacons that was asserted against a software protocol developed for iPhones and iPads.

Editor's Picks

12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
How Reshaped Circuit Courts Are Faring At The High Court

Seminal rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court's latest term will reshape many facets of American society in the coming years. Already, however, the rulings offer glimpses of how the justices view specific circuit courts, which have themselves been reshaped by an abundance of new judges.
Law360's Guide To Biden's Judicial Picks

FINAL UPDATE January 14, 2025 | President Joe Biden put 235 lifetime judges on the federal bench which added to the courts' professional and demographic diversity — a sharp break from former President Donald Trump, whose confirmed judicial nominees were 84% white and 76% male.

Expert Analysis

1st Circ. iMessage Ruling Illustrates Wire Fraud Circuit Split

The First Circuit’s recent decision that text messages exchanged wholly within Massachusetts but transmitted by the internet count as interstate commerce spotlights a split in how circuits interpret intrastate actions under the federal wire fraud statute, perhaps prompting U.S. Supreme Court review, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy

This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
Justices' Revival Ruling In Bias Suit Exceeds Procedural Issue

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Waetzig v. Halliburton allowed the plaintiff in an age discrimination lawsuit to move to reopen his case after arbitration, but the seemingly straightforward decision on a procedural issue raises complex questions for employment law practitioners, says Christopher Sakauye at Dykema.
Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry

The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.
A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.
Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary.
Pleading Rules At Stake In High Court Hamas Banking Case

While a case between victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and a Lebanese bank, recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, appears to ask a narrow question of which civil procedure rules apply to requests to reopen final judgments, how the justices rule could drastically change pleading strategies for future plaintiffs, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.
What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB

Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.
6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.
NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.
Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.
Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.
Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.