Appellate

  • October 25, 2024

    Gloves Come Off In Wash. High Court Race As Election Nears

    A high-powered civil litigator vying for an open seat on the Washington State Supreme Court says his municipal judge opponents' expertise is primarily relegated to traffic tickets, as that judge decries the critique as legal snobbery symptomatic of a greater disconnect in the judiciary.

  • October 25, 2024

    State AGs Back Mich.'s Immunity From Enbridge Pipeline Suit

    Nine states and the District of Columbia have told the Sixth Circuit they back Michigan state officials' arguments of sovereign immunity from a lawsuit Enbridge Energy LP filed over the state's revocation of an easement for a segment of the company's Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.

  • October 25, 2024

    SEC's Crypto Mining Case Belongs In 10th Circ., Court Hears

    A Utah man accused of defrauding crypto mining investors out of $18 million is hoping for an opportunity to have his case heard before the Tenth Circuit, arguing that the mining equipment is not a security and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should be forced to drop the suit.

  • October 25, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Man Can't Challenge Removal Over Atty Failure

    The Second Circuit on Friday denied a man's bid to reopen removal proceedings based on his former attorney's failure to submit important documents, saying the man should have provided evidence supporting his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel earlier.

  • October 25, 2024

    Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday

    In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.

  • October 25, 2024

    Mass. Panel Flips Teacher's Tenure Denial Over Family Leave

    Massachusetts' intermediate-level appeals court on Friday invalidated an arbitrator's denial of tenure to a teacher who took maternity leave during one of her first three years of teaching, ruling that the decision had wrongly penalized her for taking the protected time away from work.

  • October 25, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Immigration Board Defied Haitian's Due Process

    The Fifth Circuit has revived a bid by a Haitian man with a history of mental illness for removal protection, saying the Board of Immigration Appeals violated his due process rights when it ordered unnecessary fact-finding, flouting its own regulations.

  • October 25, 2024

    9th Circ. Dubious Of Tesla Investors' Appeal Of $12B Trial Loss

    Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Friday of Tesla investors' argument that an erroneous trial instruction improperly led a jury to reject their $12 billion claim over Elon Musk's 2018 tweets that he had "funding secured" to take the electric car giant private.

  • October 25, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Mitchell Law's Jonathan F. Mitchell

    The pantheon of U.S. solicitors general doesn't include many lawyers who've openly challenged the U.S. Supreme Court's authority or sought to undermine its landmark precedents. But there aren't many lawyers like Jonathan F. Mitchell, a crusading conservative who rescued former President Donald Trump's reelection run — and in the process positioned himself to become the government's top oral advocate.

  • October 25, 2024

    'Starting Point' Algorithm Enough To Fix Prices, DOJ Says

    The Justice Department is using the first algorithmic price-fixing case to reach an appeals court to argue that just because an algorithm only set "starting points" doesn't make its use legal, in a Ninth Circuit amicus brief backing efforts to revive a room rate lawsuit against Las Vegas casino hotels.

  • October 25, 2024

    DC Circ. Won't Block EPA Emissions Rule For Steel Plants

    A split D.C. Circuit panel has denied bids by U.S. Steel Corp. and Cardinal-Cliffs Inc. to hit pause on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule setting emission standards for integrated iron and steel manufacturing facilities.

  • October 25, 2024

    Election Records Law Needs Update, Mich. Justice Says

    The Michigan Supreme Court declined on Friday to revive criminal charges against an election worker who downloaded a copy of a voter list onto a personal thumb drive, prompting one justice to argue the law he was cleared of violating is out of touch in the digital age.  

  • October 25, 2024

    Trump Co-Defendants Stuck In Ga. State Court, 11th Circ. Says

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday rejected attempts from four co-defendants of former President Donald Trump to have their Georgia election interference cases moved from state to federal court.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ga. Atty Can't Beat Contempt Charge Over Trial Tardiness

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday rejected an attorney's argument that his due process rights were violated when he was found in contempt, finding that his tardiness to a trial — where the judge sent the jury home due to the absence of the lawyer and his client — was direct contempt.

  • October 25, 2024

    Congress Urged To Further Inspect FBI's Kavanaugh Probe

    More than 50 civil rights groups have called on members of the U.S. Congress to further investigate the Trump White House's role in restricting the FBI's investigation into sexual misconduct allegations lodged against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation process.

  • October 25, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Muldrow Reopens Asian Worker's Bias Suit

    The Ninth Circuit revived a former supply chain manager's lawsuit alleging she was demoted because she's Asian American, saying a lower court should take another look at the case based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying the standard for workplace discrimination claims.

  • October 25, 2024

    Conn. Justices Will Hear Ex-Dem Chief's Ballot Fraud Appeal

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court's refusal to let former Stamford Democratic Party chair John Mallozzi find a handwriting expert to counter testimony during criminal fraud proceedings that he had forged signatures on phony ballots in a 2015 municipal election.

  • October 25, 2024

    The Candidates In Surprise Texas Criminal Court Matchups

    Three sets of Republican and Democratic candidates are facing off next month to join the top criminal court in Texas after GOP incumbents suffered "unprecedented" primary losses amid a barrage of criticism over their earlier ruling in an election fraud case.

  • October 24, 2024

    Trump Again Argues Jack Smith's Appointment Was Illegal

    Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said a D.C. federal court should throw out prosecutors' election interference case, repeating the argument he made in the classified documents case against him in Florida and contending that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegal.

  • October 24, 2024

    4th Circ. Backs Sanctioning Firm $1M For 'Defiance' Of Court

    The Fourth Circuit on Thursday upheld a roughly $1 million sanction against the law firm of New York plaintiffs attorney Paul J. Napoli for its purportedly frivolous filings in a battle with another firm over asbestos litigation client referrals, saying the firm's misconduct was in "direct defiance" of a Maryland federal court's authority.

  • October 24, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Rejects Expert's 'Because I Said So' Testimony

    A Delaware federal jury was wrong to find Comcast infringed a NexStep "digital butler" patent, and the trial judge properly overruled it, a split Federal Circuit panel said Thursday.

  • October 24, 2024

    2nd Circ. Largely OKs Gun Control Law After High Court Order

    The Second Circuit on Thursday stood by its previous decision that largely vacated an order enjoining several of New York's gun restrictions, saying a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling the high court told it to consider on remand had "little direct bearing" on its prior conclusions.

  • October 24, 2024

    Del. Co. Tells 3rd Circ. €4.2M Award Was Properly Denied

    A Delaware investment company wants the Third Circuit to affirm a lower court ruling that refused to enforce an approximately €4.2 million arbitral award issued in a dispute over failed plans for a French medical equipment company to expand into Colombia.

  • October 24, 2024

    11th Circ. Seeks Bias Test Briefing In Fla. Trans Patients' Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit has ordered Florida health officials and transgender individuals to provide additional briefing in the state's appeal to reverse a ruling blocking its ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, directing the parties to present their positions on whether hostile discrimination analysis applies to certain classes of people.

  • October 24, 2024

    Colo. Justices Grill State On Biz Names, ID Theft Law

    Colorado Supreme Court justices pressed state prosecutors Thursday on why a man's reversed conviction for identity theft should be reinstated, saying the identity theft law's use of "name" as a type of personal information seems to suggest the law refers only to people and not corporations.

Expert Analysis

  • What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, overturning the Chevron doctrine, will have a far-reaching impact across the entire public policy life cycle, beginning with how Congress writes its laws and extending through agency implantation and judicial review, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights

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    Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • How Calif. Ruling Alters Worker Arb. Agreement Enforcement

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ramirez v. Charter Communications should caution employers that while workers’ arbitration agreements will no longer be deemed unenforceable based on their number of unconscionable provisions, they must still be fair and balanced, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor.

  • Opinion

    After Jarkesy, IRS Must Course-Correct On Captive Insurance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision has profound implications for other agencies, including the IRS, which must stop ignoring due process and curtailing congressional intent in its policing of captive insurance arrangements, says Peter Dawson at the 831(b) Institute.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

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