Appellate

  • September 01, 2026

    11th Circ. Sends Coal Workers' Race Bias Suit To Trial

    The Eleventh Circuit reinstated a suit Tuesday from two Black workers who claimed a coal company fired them out of race bias, stating the court can't overlook evidence that a white worker fired the same day for the same conduct was allowed back while the Black employees remained terminated.

  • September 01, 2026

    Former In-House Atty May Take Whistleblower Claim To Trial

    An Illinois state appellate panel has revived a whistleblower claim a medical device company's former in-house counsel lodged alleging he was fired for refusing to "hide or park" money in the intellectual property division's budget, while upholding the company's early win on other claims.

  • September 01, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Emory In Worker's Age Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a win for Emory University in a dispute with a former administrator who claimed she was fired due to her age, saying she waived her challenge by not objecting to a magistrate judge's report and didn't meet the heightened standard for plain error review.

  • September 01, 2026

    NLRB Urges Full DC Circ. To Respect Its Policy Views

    The National Labor Relations Board urged the full D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to rethink a recent panel decision limiting the court's regard for the agency's legal positions in a vigorous defense of the board's policymaking power after the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped a sweeping deference doctrine.

  • September 01, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Rejects Biden-Era Entry Rule

    A now-expired Biden-era rule limiting asylum eligibility for noncitizens entering from the southern border ran afoul of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Ninth Circuit ruled, noting the INA allows noncitizens to seek asylum regardless of how they entered.

  • September 01, 2026

    10th Circ. Revives Aviation Workers' Arbitration Fight

    The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court ruling exempting aviation customer service workers from arbitration, finding Tuesday that the lower court misread the Supreme Court's framework for determining when workers fall outside the Federal Arbitration Act by focusing on individuals rather than their job class as a whole.

  • September 01, 2026

    Machine Guns, Silencers Aren't Protected By 2nd Amendment

    A self-described "alt-right" conservative podcaster cannot have his firearms convictions overturned because a federal law banning machine guns does not violate his Second Amendment rights, the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.

  • September 01, 2026

    Mich. Court Upholds City In Worker Racism Retaliation Suit

    A split Michigan Court of Appeals panel rejected whistleblower and civil rights claims filed by a former employee of a Detroit suburb, finding insufficient evidence to show a connection between a city councilman's alleged racist comments and her firing.

  • September 01, 2026

    Orgs Say 401(k) Forfeiture Suit Ignores Fed. Regulations

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an employer benefit advocacy group urged the Second Circuit to back the dismissal of a suit claiming a marketing company illegally used forfeited 401(k) funds to pay for plan contributions, stating the practice has been allowed by decades-old federal regulations.

  • September 01, 2026

    Justices Asked To Again Tackle SEC Disgorgement

    A Florida-based broker-dealer is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear another case targeting the disgorgement powers of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the court "left open" a question about victim identification after it last ruled on the issue earlier this year.

  • September 01, 2026

    NC Bar Defends Discipline Of Former Judge To Top Court

    The North Carolina State Bar's decision to punish a former judge for actions he took while on the bench is not an attack on judicial independence, the bar argued in urging the state's top court not to take up an appeal challenging an order of discipline against him.

  • September 01, 2026

    11th Circ. Rules Qui Tam Provisions Don't Violate Constitution

    The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday held that the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions do not violate the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution, maintaining private citizens' ability to sue entities on behalf of the United States for allegedly defrauding the federal government.

  • September 01, 2026

    FCC Tells Justices To Keep Campaign Ad Pricing 'Status Quo'

    The Federal Communications Commission has joined a call for the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Fourth Circuit order blocking it from extending discounted television and radio advertising rates to committees that buy spots in coordination with political candidates, urging the justices to maintain the "status quo," despite allegedly inconsistent characterizations of the norm. 

  • September 01, 2026

    Fired FTC Commissioner Joins NYU Law Center As Sr. Fellow

    Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the former Federal Trade Commission commissioner whose firing led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the president's power to fire members of independent agencies, announced on Tuesday that she is headed to New York University School of Law for the next chapter of her legal career.

  • September 01, 2026

    Image Search Technology Raises New Copyright Questions

    Technology that can uncover decade-old online images is testing the practical limits of copyright’s discovery rule, as courts weigh reasonable diligence against the reality that sophisticated search tools still miss infringement and defendants may no longer possess records proving authorization.

  • September 01, 2026

    Temporary Tariffs Exceeded Trump's Power, Fed. Circ. Told

    President Donald Trump illegally based his temporary tariffs on the misapplication of a law allowing the president to address balance-of-payment deficits, two businesses told the Federal Circuit, pushing the court to preserve a U.S. Court of International Trade ruling against the tariffs.

  • September 01, 2026

    NJ College Absolved Of Gender Bias For Not Reinstating Prof

    A New Jersey federal jury sided with The College of New Jersey over a professor who alleged the college's finance department was run like an old boys' club, finding the college did not discriminate or retaliate against the professor over her reappointment.

  • September 01, 2026

    5th Circ. Judge Hints Court Order With AI Errors Can't Stand

    A Fifth Circuit judge wanted to know why a panel should keep intact a court order blocking an anti-DEI Mississippi law that contained artificial intelligence hallucinations, asking whether the judges could confidently find that made-up citations did not ultimately sway the district court's decision.

  • August 31, 2026

    6th Circ. Splits On Tenn. Social Media Age-Verification Law

    A split Sixth Circuit panel said a lower court should have blocked Tennessee's age-verification law for social media platforms while an internet industry group challenged the statute, finding the group had shown it would be harmed by compliance costs and the loss of free speech liberties.

  • August 31, 2026

    Tesla Asks 9th Circ. To Decertify 'Full Self-Driving' Ad Class

    Tesla urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to decertify classes of Tesla buyers who accuse the company of making false and deceptive promises about the capabilities of their "self-driving" electric vehicles, arguing that there's no proof showing all class members viewed the alleged misstatement at issue on Tesla's webpage.

  • August 31, 2026

    Texas Court Sends Oxy Carbon Capture Claims To Arbitration

    A Texas appellate court has revived Occidental Petroleum's attempt to arbitrate a multimillion-dollar dispute stemming from a project to deploy a technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in Australia, saying a tribunal in British Columbia must decide for itself whether it has jurisdiction.

  • August 31, 2026

    EPA Sued Over Herbicide Challenged As Likely Carcinogen

    Environmental organizations urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to review the Trump administration's recent approval of a herbicide, trifludimoxazin, that critics describe as a likely carcinogen that could pose risks to wildlife and human health.

  • August 31, 2026

    3rd Circ. Says History Backs NJ Telehealth License Rule

    The Third Circuit on Monday upheld New Jersey's requirement that out‑of‑state physicians obtain a state medical license before consulting with in-state patients via telemedicine, concluding that the rule fits a centuries‑old tradition of regulating medical practice and does not trigger strict First Amendment scrutiny.

  • August 31, 2026

    9th Circ. Won't Rehear Eye Drop Antitrust Suit Despite Dissent

    A forceful dissent from a pair of Ninth Circuit judges wasn't enough to keep the full appellate court from letting stand a panel decision preserving wholesalers' district court win accusing the maker of Clear Eyes drops of illegal price discrimination favoring Costco.

  • August 31, 2026

    Jones Day Vet Returns After 'Intense' Run In High DOJ Post

    An appellate attorney who fought some of the second Trump administration's biggest legal battles — involving immigration, the environment, spending conditions and more — is rejoining Jones Day after more than a year in the U.S. Department of Justice's top ranks, the firm announced Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • How Justices Stayed Off The Geofence In Location Data Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Chatrie v. United States decision reaffirms Fourth Amendment protections for location data but avoids more complicated questions about geofence warrants, say attorneys at Adams Duerk.

  • Remote Work Rulings Show ADA Fights Hinge On Process

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    Two opposite outcomes in recent Fifth Circuit and D.C. federal court cases underscore that the legality of denying employees' disability accommodation requests for remote work depends less on broad policy and more on how it's applied, says Paul Sweeney at Ice Miller.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

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    Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

  • How Pfizer Won Fed. Circ. Patent Dispute By 1 Carbon Atom

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    The Federal Circuit's recent refusal to revive a patent in Enanta Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer over an alleged typo creating a one-atom difference in a COVID-19 treatment application hands defendants a template for potentially converting a triable fact question into an early dispositive ruling, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • What To Know Before Justices Rule In Title IX Employee Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Title IX protections extend to employees alleging sex discrimination in Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which could have significant implications for higher education institutions and their employees, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Highlights The Cost Of Incorrect Inventorship

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Fortress Iron v. Digger Specialties, affirming that a fencing company's patents were invalid due to a missing co-inventor, is a reminder that confirming correct inventorship should be a critical part of every patent invalidity workup, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.

  • Future Of Fed Independence Shaky After Justices' Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. Cook preserved the Federal Reserve's formal independence but could invite the president to remove board members with just modest protections, leaving the central bank's autonomy uncertain and potentially setting up fresh clashes over other agencies, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Chicago.

  • Series

    Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter brought several notable financial services law developments to Michigan, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on state tax foreclosures, progress on a money transmission modernization bill package, and continued legislative momentum on cryptocurrency and mortgage lending, say attorneys at Dykema.

  • Justices' Ruling Alters Playing Field For State Subpoena Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport will spark more federal court challenges to state subpoenas, but procedural defenses will block some merits decisions, so plaintiffs must carefully time and manage parallel federal and state proceedings, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Looking At Drake's Diss Track Appeal Through An IP Lens

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    Though Drake's pending Second Circuit appeal over UMG's promotion of Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is formally about defamation, it shows that IP considerations can help identify records showing how a work traveled, which may guide courts when deciding context, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

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