Appellate

  • July 20, 2026

    Top Gov't Contracting Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    Federal courts in the latter half of 2026 are expected to decide if the Trump administration overstepped by designating Anthropic a supply chain risk to national security and whether the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions pass constitutional muster, potentially affecting the government's ability to tackle fraud.

  • July 20, 2026

    Meet The Attys Vying For Position 1 On The Wash. High Court

    A civil rights litigator who left a top role at the Washington state attorney general's office last fall to step in for a retiring state Supreme Court justice is vying this election season to retain the seat for the next two years, drawing opposition from a Ballard Spahr LLP tax attorney and a longtime family law practitioner.

  • July 17, 2026

    Full 3rd Circ. Wipes Out New Jersey Assault Weapons Ban

    The full Third Circuit on Friday held that New Jersey's decades-long ban on semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, though some judges said the way the weapons are now being used as well as recent technological advances couldn't have been foreseen by the Constitution's framers.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Tosses Child Sex Abuse Conviction Over Bad Search

    A Ninth Circuit panel threw out the conviction of a man who pled guilty to recording himself raping his 7-year-old daughter in Washington, saying Friday that officers discovered the videos on his computer after going beyond the bounds of an unrelated search warrant.

  • July 17, 2026

    US Seeks Toss Of Arbutus Patent Suit Over Moderna Vaccine

    The federal government asked the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Friday to dismiss much of a patent suit against it by Arbutus Biopharma tied to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, saying the court couldn't hear the bulk of the case because Arbutus and Moderna reached a multibillion-dollar consent judgment that is subject to appeal.

  • July 17, 2026

    Deutsche Bank Can Pursue Billionaire Vik Over $243M Order

    A Connecticut appeals court on Friday revived a Deutsche Bank lawsuit against billionaire Alexander Vik, concluding that the bank's prior litigation loss did not bar a second lawsuit accusing Vik and his daughter of disrupting a Norwegian software company's share sale designed to partially satisfy a $243 million English court judgment.

  • July 17, 2026

    4th Circ. Bars Salvadoran Woman's Bid To Cancel Removal

    A split panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled Friday an El Salvador woman granted temporary removal relief did not have an immigration "status" and was therefore ineligible to seek to stop her deportation, breaking with precedent in the Fifth and Ninth circuits.

  • July 17, 2026

    Split DC Circ. Halts Block Of DOD Escort Rule

    A divided D.C. Circuit panel has paused a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Defense's policy that reporters must be escorted whenever they're in the Pentagon.

  • July 17, 2026

    Pipeline Worker Engaged In Interstate Commerce, Court Says

    A Texas appeals court ruled that Energy Transfer LP cannot compel the family of a man who died in a pipeline explosion to arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, finding Thursday that the FAA did not apply to his employment contract because he engaged in interstate commerce.

  • July 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Sends Sprinter's Gatorade Doping Suit To NY Court

    The Second Circuit on Friday deferred the appeal by a track athlete claiming Gatorade supplied him with tainted gummies to a New York state appeals court to determine whether his complaint is covered by state tort or contract law.

  • July 17, 2026

    Mass. Court Tosses Evidence After Bodycams Show Coercion

    Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said a gun and drugs found in a car after police repeatedly searched and pressured the driver for the key must be thrown out as evidence in a case that one of the justices, in a concurrence, says highlights the value of police-worn body cameras.

  • July 17, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Review Reversal In $18M Penile Implant Case

    The full Federal Circuit said Friday that it won't review a panel decision that mostly undid a California federal jury verdict that awarded $18.3 million to International Medical Devices Inc. in a trade secret case about penile implants.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

  • July 17, 2026

    Del. High Court Says Jarkesy Doesn't Extend To State Cases

    The Delaware Supreme Court has declined to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Jarkesy holding to a state securities fraud suit arising from an administrative enforcement action brought by the state's Investor Protection Unit, finding there are no similar common-law cases requiring the right to a jury trial.

  • July 17, 2026

    Mich. Panel Says Restitution Doesn't Cover Memorial Jewelry

    A western Michigan man convicted of manslaughter cannot be required to reimburse a victim's family for memorial jewelry purchased after the victim's death, a Michigan appellate panel has ruled, holding for the first time that such items do not qualify as "actual funeral and related services" under the state's restitution laws. 

  • July 17, 2026

    DC Circ. Vacates Benghazi Attack Leader's 'Lenient' Sentence

    A D.C. Circuit panel vacated a lower court's 28-year sentence of a Libyan national accused of orchestrating the deadly 2012 attacks against a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, agreeing with the government that his sentence is "unreasonably lenient."

  • July 17, 2026

    6th Circ. Won't Rehear Mark Cuban-Backed FINRA Challenge

    A Sixth Circuit panel has declined to grant a full rehearing of a constitutional challenge of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's in-house disciplinary proceedings brought by the owner of a financial consulting company that had support from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Bar Town From Killing Errant Forest Tax Break

    A Connecticut municipal assessor did not have the authority to terminate a property tax break for forest use that was erroneously granted, the state Supreme Court said Friday, suggesting that state lawmakers could clarify the law on the matter.

  • July 17, 2026

    Ex-FDIC, CFPB Chiefs Back Colo. In 10th Circ. Rate Law Case

    Two former members of the FDIC's board of directors, one of whom also led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, filed an amicus brief urging the Tenth Circuit to uphold a panel's ruling reinstating a Colorado law intended to curb high-cost lending in the state that a lower court initially shot down.

  • July 17, 2026

    Fla. Justices Uphold ISIS-Radicalized Teen's Sentences

    The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that a double life without parole sentence handed down to a juvenile convicted of murder who was radicalized by ISIS propaganda on the internet does not violate state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent forbidding mandatory life sentences for young people.

  • July 17, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs Maximum Prison Term For Trump Tax Leaker

    The D.C. Circuit has upheld the maximum prison sentence handed down in the case of an IRS contractor who pled guilty to leaking President Donald Trump's tax returns, along with thousands of others, ruling Friday that the punishment was "reasonable."

  • July 17, 2026

    6th Circ. Says Cops Had Reason To Search Felon's Home

    A Sixth Circuit panel has rejected a convicted felon's appeal seeking to suppress evidence from a search that found three firearms and contraband in his house, saying police had a reasonable suspicion that he was hiding criminal activities at the house.

  • July 17, 2026

    BIA Says Girl's Foster Care Risk Can't Block Dad's Removal

    The Board of Immigration Appeals disagreed that a 6-year-old girl could face "exceptional hardship" in foster care after her Guatemalan father was deported, when he could just take her along instead, overturning a cancellation of removal an immigration judge granted.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Uphold Nonprofit Center's Renovation Plan

    The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday said a nonprofit cultural center was legally clear to have renovated a building on its nearly 80-acre New Canaan property, finding a town zoning appeals board in 2019 correctly denied neighbors' challenges to a permit obtained from a zoning enforcement officer.

  • July 17, 2026

    Medical Groups Urge 1st Circ. To Back Vaccine Panel Freeze

    The American Academy of Pediatrics and other public health organizations on Friday defended before the First Circuit a Massachusetts judge's decision to block Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine policy committee appointments, countering claims that the judge overreached.

Expert Analysis

  • Resolving The Conflict In 2nd Circ. Foreign Discovery Rulings

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    The Second Circuit recently issued two seemingly inconsistent decisions regarding the federal statute that permits U.S. discovery for purposes of a foreign proceeding, but the unifying feature appears to be the broad scope for district court discretion under Section 1782, say attorneys at Katsky Korins.

  • How 2nd Circ. Gave Loper Bright Real Force In SEC Cases

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Amah offers one of the first clear indications of how courts will operationalize Loper Bright, signaling that long-standing SEC enforcement theories resting on ambiguous definitional provisions are now subject to more rigorous judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

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    In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, the U.S. Supreme Court must resolve an urgent question: whether freight broker selection in trucking accidents is categorically protected — meaning unreasonable safety decisions are insulated from liability — or subject to accountability under traditional negligence principles, says Amanda Demanda at Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers.

  • 2 Strands Of Patent Law In High Court's 'Skinny Label' Case

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    Amarin v. Hikma, which is set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court this month, highlights the distinction between two different strands of intellectual property law — analogizing a patent to either a property deed or a home, says Jonas McDavit at Spencer West.

  • Justices' Geofence Ruling May Test 4th Amendment's Future

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Chatrie v. U.S. whether law enforcement may use geofence warrants to compel Google to disclose location history data, the ruling is likely to become an important statement about the future of Fourth Amendment law in data-driven investigations, says Duncan Levin at Levin & Associates.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    In the first quarter of 2026, New York's banking developments were headlined by initiatives to expand oversight of financial institutions and strengthen consumer protection laws, including a new framework for buy now, pay later lenders, a sweeping debt collection rule and a revised corporate self-disclosure program for financial crimes, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Seeking A Policy Fix As Merger Reporting Fight Continues

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    A recently announced request by the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice for public comment on the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger reporting requirements, as litigation challenging the commission's updated requirements continues, suggests the government's willingness to address how best to support modern merger enforcement without unduly burdening filing parties, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Axed Trade Secret Award Cautions Against Bundling Damages

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Trinseo v. Harper, vacating a $75 million jury verdict for trade secret misappropriation due to a bundled damages model, offers a strong reminder to apportion damages so a jury can award a nonspeculative figure when it credits only some alleged secrets, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • 2 Rulings Poke Holes In Mandatory Restitution Framework

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Ellingburg v. U.S., as well as the Third Circuit’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Abrams, provide criminal defense practitioners with new tools to challenge Mandatory Victims Restitution Act orders, and highlight several restitution-related issues that converged in the recent prosecution of former Frank CEO Charlie Javice, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Pivotal 6th Circ. Ruling Threatens Decades Of NLRB Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Brown-Forman v. National Labor Relations Board fundamentally challenged the NLRB's long-standing practice of establishing policies through adjudication rather than formal rulemaking, giving employers and unions a new avenue to procedurally attack the vast majority of its rules, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • How Justices' GEO Ruling Resets Gov't Contractor Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent GEO Group v. Menocal decision, holding that government contractors cannot immediately exit cases via interlocutory appeals, may increase litigation costs, strengthen plaintiffs' leverage in settlement negotiations and dampen the government's ability to attract bids on high-risk or sensitive projects, say attorneys at Wiley.

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