Strike 2 For Ga. Baseball Player's Eligibility Bid Against NCAA

By David Steele

A Georgia federal judge declined to restore the eligibility of a University of Georgia baseball player Friday, saying that the NCAA's "five-year rule" preventing him from playing this season was "not commercial in nature" and thus didn't violate antitrust law.

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Analysis

Trump Admin's NIL Guidance Isn't Law, But Is A Title IX Threat

By David Steele

When President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Education recently rescinded late Biden-era guidance instructing that upcoming revenue distribution to college athletes should follow Title IX laws protecting equal opportunity for women, legal experts told Law360 it came as little surprise — but also carried very little legitimate legal force.

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Judge Stays Mountain West Exit-Fee Suit For Settlement Talks

By Elaine Briseño

A Denver judge on Friday paused an antitrust case from three universities against the Mountain West Conference over its exit fees, after the parties indicated they were in talks to possibly resolve the lawsuit.

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7th Circ. Says It's Too Early To Mull Fired ISU Coach's Suit

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit panel says it lacks the jurisdiction to consider if a lower court rightly denied dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an ex-Illinois State University football coach who claims he was unlawfully fired for posting an "All Lives Matter" sign on his office door, because the district judge postponed a decision on the school officials' qualified immunity argument.

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Off The Bench

Off The Bench: Trans Ban Recusal Bid, Wemby Spat, Fox Suit

By Alex Lawson

In this week's Off The Bench, a Colorado federal judge won't recuse himself from a case centering on a transgender athlete over his pronoun use, the sale of a high-profile Victor Wembanyama jersey will go forward despite feverish litigation and a sprawling harassment suit against Fox Sports is shuffled from federal to state court.

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Ex-USF Ballplayers In Uphill Battle For Sex Harassment Cert.

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge said Friday she is unlikely to certify a class of potentially hundreds of ex-University of San Francisco baseball players in a case alleging that former coaches created a sexually abusive environment, but agreed to hold her decision to review additional information on the claims.

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Litigant Funding Co. Has No Claim To NFL Concussion Deal

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A special master overseeing the NFL's concussion settlement fund told a Pennsylvania federal court in a filing made public Friday that a company that funds litigants' healthcare expenses was correctly denied money from the fund because the rights assigned to it by former players' doctors counted as "prohibited assignments," not the liens the company claimed they were.

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NFL Alums Say Vaccine Fund Misuse Claims Should Fail

By Chart Riggall

The National Football League's largest alumni organization has hit back at a lawsuit that accused it of forcing a biotechnology company out of a COVID-19 vaccine outreach program, arguing Thursday that no underlying contract exists on which to stake the suit.

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Feds Say Tribes Can't Block New Oregon Casino

By Ali Sullivan

The federal government and an Oregon Native American tribe are pushing back on a bid from three other tribes to block the operation of a new casino in Oregon, telling the D.C. Circuit that the tribes filed their emergency motion improperly and are likely to lose on the merits of their case.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds Former Flag Football League Exec

By Rose Krebs

Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired an attorney with experience as a high-level executive for a sports league and teams, including the American Flag Football League and the Houston Roughnecks, now of the United Football League, to expand its sports law practice.

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Analysis

Presidents v. Courts: Lincoln, Trump & Judicial Power Limits

By Jeff Overley

Amid fears of President Donald Trump disobeying judges with impunity, debate has focused on famous instances of officials defying the U.S. Supreme Court. But some of the clearest insights into America's handling of White House disregard for courts exist in relatively obscure cases from the Civil War era, when unprecedented presidential actions provoked extraordinary responses from the judiciary — and underscored the limits of its powers.

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NYC Bar Slams Trump's Order On Covington Attys

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association has joined the chorus of legal groups decrying President Donald Trump's order suspending security clearances held by Covington & Burling LLP attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith, calling it an "improper use of government power."

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Ex-Commerce Official To Chair Gibson Dunn Sanctions Group

By James Mills

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP is creating a new sanctions and export enforcement practice group and bringing in a former U.S. Commerce Department official as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office to lead it.

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Ex-White House Cyber Pro Joins Sidley As DC Privacy Partner

By Tracey Read

The former chief of staff at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director has returned to the private sector as a Sidley Austin LLP privacy and cybersecurity practice partner in Washington, the firm said Thursday.

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WH Appeals After Watchdog Chief Is Permanently Reinstalled

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel was illegal, finding that the federal employment watchdog can only be ousted for cause.

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Dems Claim DOJ Atty's 'Quid Pro Quo' Violated Ethics Rules

By Dorothy Atkins

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee senior members lodged ethics complaints against acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, accusing the recently appointed Bove of violating ethics rules by allegedly pushing prosecutors to drop criminal bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a "quid pro quo" deal with President Donald Trump.

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Group Blasts Judge's Call For Women In Contraception MDL

By Carolina Bolado

A judicial organization dedicated to fighting "leftist lawfare" filed a complaint Thursday against the Florida federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, claiming that her comments about women needing to be represented in the MDL leadership show an impermissible bias.

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Roc Nation Aims To Get Out Of Buzbee Conspiracy Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation has asked a Texas federal court to let it exit a lawsuit that claims Roc Nation conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee in retaliation for an abortive lawsuit Buzbee filed accusing the rap star of rape.

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GOP Rep. Reintroduces The JUDGES Act

By Courtney Bublé

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee's courts panel has reintroduced a bill to create 66 new and temporary federal judgeships, which former President Joe Biden vetoed at the end of last year.

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Up Next At High Court: Gun Violence Liability & Nuclear Waste

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to consider Mexico's attempt to hold gun manufacturers and distributors liable for cartel-related gun violence and a nuclear waste site dispute that could determine who can challenge future agency actions.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

While many companies are removing diversity language from their public websites, a new survey shows that about half of its respondents do not plan on changing their DEI programs. And the general counsel for the new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy golf league talked about his love of the sport and the legal work involved in the new venture.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP and Kontnik Cohen LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held that cases dismissed voluntarily can later be eligible for special judicial relief and reopening, even if a statute of limitations would typically block the lawsuit.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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