Appellate

  • June 23, 2026

    High Court Tosses Rastafarian's Haircut Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ended a Rastafarian's bid to hold Louisiana prison guards responsible for allegedly violating his religious rights by forcibly shaving off his dreadlocks, ruling a law aimed at preventing religious discrimination at state and local levels can't be used to sue government officials in their individual capacities without their consent.

  • June 23, 2026

    Justices Say Cisco Can't Be Sued Under Alien Tort Statute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Ninth Circuit was wrong to reinstate an Alien Tort Statute suit alleging that Cisco helped the Chinese government's allegedly unlawful crackdown on the Falun Gong religious movement, saying federal courts lack authority to create causes of action for alleged violations of international law.

  • June 23, 2026

    Justices Back Parole For Charged Green-Card Holders

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday held that green-card holders with pending criminal charges should be paroled rather than admitted into the country when returning from abroad.

  • June 23, 2026

    Justices Say Mich. Tax Sale Allowed Under Constitution

    A Michigan county did not violate the U.S. Constitution when it took the title of a home over a tax debt, then sold the home at a low price and refunded only that amount to the homeowner, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, agreeing with the Sixth Circuit on merits but remanding the case back to that court to address procedural questions.

  • June 23, 2026

    Justices Clear Path For Exxon Damages Claim In Cuba Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court found Tuesday that a federal law allowing U.S. victims of property seizures by the Cuban government to seek damages automatically abrogates the sovereign immunity of state-owned entities targeted in such cases, clearing a path for Exxon Mobil Corp.'s bid for some $1 billion in damages.

  • June 22, 2026

    7th Circ. Won't Unblock Fla. Gender Care Suit Amid Appeal

    A split Seventh Circuit on Monday refused to pause an Illinois federal judge's preliminary injunction blocking the lawsuit from Florida's attorney general targeting medical groups' policies on youth gender-affirming care while the Sunshine State official appeals.

  • June 22, 2026

    Uber Must Produce Docs In Cal/OSHA Probe Of Driver's Death

    A California appeals court has ordered Uber to comply with a state workplace safety agency's request for information regarding an Uber Eats driver's fatal fall, ruling the agency was acting within its authority and can demand records regarding whether the worker could be considered an employee.

  • June 22, 2026

    Can Unread Emails Trigger Arbitration? 9th Circ. Airs Doubts

    Medical supplies giant Thermo Fisher Scientific pressed a Ninth Circuit panel Monday to agree that the company's repeated emails about litigation waivers should send an ex-employee's proposed class action to arbitration, but the judges repeatedly questioned why no one simply asked if the worker saw the emails.

  • June 22, 2026

    Jury Instruction Undercut Self-Defense Claim, Fla. Court Says

    A Florida appeals court has overturned a man's convictions and sentence for third-degree murder and attempted felony murder, finding that a jury instruction made it impossible for him to successfully mount a self-defense argument after he killed a man during a botched drug deal.

  • June 22, 2026

    Md. Voters Can't Weigh In On Data Center Zone, Judge Rules

    Voters in Frederick County, Maryland, will not be able to have a say on a data center development zone, a state judge ruled in an order docketed Monday, agreeing with developers that under the county's charter, an ordinance is not a law subject to referendum.

  • June 22, 2026

    Texas Asks Justices To Keep App Store Law In Force

    The Texas attorney general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state law requiring app stores to block minors from downloading apps without parental consent to remain in effect, arguing Monday that a lower court "committed several errors" in pausing the measure.

  • June 22, 2026

    NJ Appeals Court Affirms U-Haul Win In Atty Slip-And-Fall Suit

    An attorney who slipped while exiting a moving truck, falling on his face and breaking bone and teeth, cannot undo a jury verdict for U-Haul, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Monday, saying the lower court properly rejected his bid for a pretrial win.

  • June 22, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Allied Need Not Cover 'Beer Olympics' Injury

    A man who claims that he was paralyzed in an auto crash caused by alcohol provided to guests at a "Beer Olympics" party cannot recover from the host homeowners' insurance provider, the Fourth Circuit ruled on Monday, saying the policy's motor vehicle exclusion bars coverage.

  • June 22, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Court Affirms $3M Award In Equity Dispute

    The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a $3 million award to a former employee of a wealth management company, saying Monday that enough evidence supported a jury's finding that CIG Capital Advisors deliberately misled the plaintiff about his ownership status and diverted revenue to hide profits.

  • June 22, 2026

    FCC Turns Away Effort To Repeal News Distortion Rules

    After dismissing an advocacy group's petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider how it enforces its rules against news distortion, agency staff told the D.C. Circuit Monday that it should not grant the advocates' request to force the agency's hand.

  • June 22, 2026

    7th Circ. Clears Hartford In Wire Fraud Coverage Fight

    An Illinois agency that administers financially distressed insurers' estates was correctly denied coverage of its own insurance claim stemming from fraudulent emails that caused employees to wire nearly $7 million away from the agency purportedly at the financial chief's direction, the Seventh Circuit ruled.

  • June 22, 2026

    Sodexo Can't Wipe Out Worker's Nicotine Fee Suit

    A California federal judge refused to toss a Sodexo worker's proposed class action alleging the global food services company wrongly charged nicotine-using employees $1,200 more a year for health insurance, opening discovery on allegations that a wellness program implementing the surcharge didn't meet all federal requirements.

  • June 22, 2026

    Full DC Circ. To Rehear Halt Of Alien Enemies Contempt Probe

    The full D.C. Circuit on Monday vacated a split panel ruling halting U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's criminal contempt inquiry into the Trump administration's Alien Enemies Act removals last year, agreeing to rehear the matter.

  • June 22, 2026

    9th Circ. Doubts California City's Ban On Off-Site Pot Ads

    A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubts Monday about an ordinance in Perris, California, banning off-site advertising by cannabis dispensaries, noting that the city collects taxes on cannabis sales and questioning the city's assertion that cannabis use is illegal under federal law.

  • June 22, 2026

    Xinuos Says Judge Wrongly Recast IBM Copyright Fight

    A software company told a Second Circuit panel Monday that a New York federal judge had wrongly used her own arguments to recharacterize its copyright infringement claim against IBM into a time-barred ownership claim and give IBM a win.

  • June 22, 2026

    Atty's Bid To Void Wrongful Firing Award Revived

    A Florida appellate court revived an attorney's attempt to invalidate a nearly $353,000 award handed to a former employee in her wrongful termination case, ruling that the lawyer was entitled to challenge the judgment without satisfying the stay requirements under the state's Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. 

  • June 22, 2026

    Mich. Court OKs Conviction Of Man Who Filmed Traffic Stop

    A self-described First Amendment auditor who filmed a traffic stop has had his obstruction conviction upheld by a Michigan appeals court, which ruled that the right to record police did not allow him to ignore officers' lawful commands to keep a safe distance.

  • June 22, 2026

    Board Says Asylum Was Properly Denied In Light Of DUIs

    The Board of Immigration Appeals said an immigration judge reasonably denied a Cameroon man's bid for asylum based on multiple driving under the influence convictions, despite granting his application for withholding of removal to the African country.

  • June 22, 2026

    Colo. Appellate Court Says A Fist Is Not A 'Bludgeon'

    The Colorado Court of Appeals held for the first time that a fist cannot be a "bludgeon" or "simulated bludgeon" under a state law on menacing, reversing a defendant's felony menacing conviction in a split decision.

  • June 22, 2026

    Plaintiffs Ask 11th Circ. To Unfreeze Cruise Voyeurism Suits

    A group of plaintiffs suing Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. with allegations that one of its crew members covertly filmed them for his own gratification asked the Eleventh Circuit on Monday to undo a stay on related cases and affirm an order denying Royal Caribbean's bid to bring the cases to arbitration.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • 4th Circ. Ruling Will Rewrite Class Action Litigation Strategies

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union is the first from a federal circuit court to hold that motions to strike are inappropriate vehicles for challenging class allegations at the pleading stage, invalidating a tactic that had been used for decades, says Jim Francis at Francis Mailman.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

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    James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Opinion

    5th Circ.'s Abortion Pill Order Is Shaky On Multiple Grounds

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent order in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone, seems to turn federalism upside-down, and is also questionable for several other reasons, says Gregory Curtner at Curtner Law.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 5 Takeaways From Justices' Subpoena Fight Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in First Choice v. Davenport fortifies a line of First Amendment associational privacy cases stretching back nearly 70 years, and ensures that organizations subject to government demands for donor information have a meaningful federal forum in which to defend their constitutional rights, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • Md. Justices' State Climate Tort Ban May Shape National Path

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    The Maryland Supreme Court’s recent ruling that federal law preempted state-level deceptive marketing tort claims brought by several municipalities could offer the U.S. Supreme Court a road map to use in the pending Suncor Energy v. Boulder County case to exclude states from the business of regulating global emissions, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • What Justices Are Focusing On In 'Skinny Label' Patent Case

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    Though Hikma v. Amarin appears to be a patent dispute that could reshape inducement doctrine in the pharmaceutical context, oral argument suggests the U.S. Supreme Court may treat this as primarily a pleading-stage dispute, with important unresolved questions lurking beneath the surface, says Shashank Upadhye at Upadhye Tang.

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