Appellate

  • August 17, 2026

    Experts See Looming Legal Disputes Over FCC Party Balance

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to ditch case law shielding independent federal agency members from presidential removal is unlikely to resolve ongoing controversy over White House control of the Federal Communications Commission, experts said Monday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Moderna, Arbutus Clash On Gov't Venue For Vax IP Claims

    Moderna Inc. has accused Arbutus Biopharma Corp. of turning a government contractor indemnification law "upside down" by arguing the COVID-19 vaccine supplier must face infringement litigation, while Arbutus says the government is wielding that relationship to dodge liability in two separate courts.

  • August 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Wonder If Murder Witness Had A Deal

    A divided Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that it needs more information before it can decide whether to grant a man's habeas corpus petition that argues prosecutors in his murder case misled a jury about a key witness's leniency agreement.

  • August 17, 2026

    NJ Justices Let Murder Defendant Undo Global Guilty Plea

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday ruled a defendant in separate felony murder and armed robbery cases must be allowed to withdraw his global guilty plea after evidence used in both cases was suppressed on appeal.

  • August 17, 2026

    USPTO Backs Double Patent Policy Squires Wants Reviewed

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold the rejection of a Sanofi patent application for double patenting, days after USPTO Director John Squires said in a separate case that the policy rationale underlying both disputes should be reconsidered.

  • August 17, 2026

    Happy Egg Breaks 'Pasture Raised' False Ad Class At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday threw out class certification of California and New York consumers accusing the company behind the Happy Egg brand of deceptively labeling egg cartons with promises that its hens are "pasture raised on over 8 acres."

  • August 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Statute Mandates Central Valley Contract Switch

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had no duty to complete environmental reviews before it converted dozens of water service contracts for the Central Valley Project in California in a process intended to help fund storage improvements.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mass. Justices Reject Injured Roofer's Negligent Hiring Suit

    Massachusetts' top court said Monday that state law does not recognize a negligent hiring claim when it is lodged by a subcontractor's worker against the general contractor and tossed a suit seeking to hold the contractor liable for a roofer's nearly fatal fall.

  • August 17, 2026

    10th Circ. Skeptical Of Gov't In Rwandan Refugee Appeal

    The Tenth Circuit on Monday pushed back against the U.S. government's contention that a Rwandan woman can't seek judicial review of its decision to terminate her refugee status during a rehearing of the woman's challenge of the termination. 

  • August 17, 2026

    Kalshi Loses Bid To Block Conn. Enforcement

    A Connecticut federal judge has denied a bid from KalshiEX to keep offering sports contracts while it pursues an appeal before the Second Circuit, finding the prediction market's arguments for a stay had already been rejected by the court and that it has not shown it is likely to win on appeal.

  • August 17, 2026

    Attorneys Skeptical Of Trump's 11th Circ. Appeal Of IRS Case

    Six attorneys who weighed in on President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service told a Florida federal court Monday that he hasn't demonstrated that he will prove that its ruling that the settlement from the suit lacked a legitimate controversy violated due process.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Panel Says Notice Rule Doesn't Bar Workers' Bias Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel has refused to dismiss sex discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation claims by Wayne County Community College District police employees, ruling that the college is a local political subdivision and not subject to the Court of Claims Act's notice requirement.

  • August 17, 2026

    Medtech Group Faults Fed. Circ. Trade Secret Timing Rule

    A medical technology trade group and a University of Texas law professor are urging the full Federal Circuit to revisit a decision that wiped out Insulet Corp.'s trade secret win against EOFlow Co. Ltd. after finding the suit untimely, reversing a $452 million jury verdict that had been reduced to $59.4 million.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Asked To Ban Ten Commandments In Texas Schools

    Two dozen families on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's decision allowing Texas to require public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, arguing the decision "egregiously" ignores several of the high court's religious freedom precedents.

  • August 17, 2026

    10th Circ. Won't Rehear Okla. Death Row Gender Bias Claim

    The Tenth Circuit will not reconsider its decision upholding convicted murderer Brenda Andrew's death sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court revived her claim that the use of sexualized and gender-stereotyped evidence at trial violated her constitutional rights.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Court Won't Revisit Pot-Smell Basis For Car Search

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has again affirmed that the smell of cannabis can serve as the basis of a police search, noting that the court had already weighed in on the issue in a similar case earlier this year.

  • August 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Public Can Film Police And Their Stations

    The Second Circuit said Monday it has joined "a growing chorus of our sister circuits" in finding a constitutional right to record law enforcement activity in public, as well as police buildings, but still turned away a self-described First Amendment auditor's lawsuit over his arrest while filming the exterior of a Connecticut police station.

  • August 17, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Royal Caribbean 401(k) Fund Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit reversed a win on Monday for Royal Caribbean in a suit from cruise ship workers who alleged they lost 401(k) savings because of shoddy target-date investment funds, holding that a lower court erred in handing the cruise company an early win in a challenge to the prudence of their investment management.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Won't Reconsider Verizon's $47M FCC Fine

    The U.S. Supreme Court is not interested in reconsidering how it worded its June opinion upholding the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties, despite Verizon arguing that the ruling left it between a rock and a hard place concerning the $47 million fine it already paid.

  • August 17, 2026

    Chattah Can't Serve As Acting Nevada US Atty, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that Nevada's top prosecutor was not put in place lawfully and was barred from overseeing the criminal cases giving rise to the appeal, the latest state where courts have shut down attempts by the Trump administration to fill U.S. attorney vacancies without Senate confirmation.

  • August 17, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Waiver Applicants Aren't Shielded From ICE

    Federal immigration regulations do not prevent the government from deporting an unlawfully present noncitizen who is married to a U.S. citizen and is seeking to avoid being statutorily barred from reentering the country amid the green card process, the Fourth Circuit ruled.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Gov. Nixes GOP Bill To Let Chief Justice Suspend Judges

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Monday vetoed a bill that would allow the chief justice to suspend trial court judges under investigation by the Tar Heel State's judicial watchdog, criticizing lawmakers as "playing politics" with the judiciary.

  • August 17, 2026

    Georgia DA Wants A Say In Trump Election Case Fee Battle

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is urging a Georgia appellate court to undo an order blocking her from intervening in a bid by President Donald Trump and others to recoup $16 million in legal fees in a dismissed election interference case, saying her office has a significant financial interest at stake.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Homeowner Qualifies For Exemption, Court Rules

    A Michigan homeowner who lived in the state while her husband lived in Washington state is eligible for a principal residence exemption despite filing a nonresident return for one year, a panel of the Michigan Appeals Court ruled. 

  • August 17, 2026

    Biotech Asks 1st Circ. To Undo Red Cross Antitrust Immunity

    A biotech firm asked the First Circuit on Friday to undo a district court decision granting the American Red Cross immunity from antitrust allegations, arguing the blood donation giant was wrongly deemed an "instrumentality" of the U.S. government even though it functions as an independent corporation.

Expert Analysis

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Nielsen Appeal Tests Antitrust Limits Of Pricing And Bundling

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    In Cumulus v. Nielsen, the Second Circuit is considering a structural pattern in which a monopolist exploits upstream market power to foreclose downstream competition, which could potentially offer broad insight into how courts will assess exclusionary bundling and pricing defenses under antitrust law, says Luke Hasskamp at Bona Law.

  • 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.

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