Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: April's Most Notable Oral Arguments

By Jeff Overley

April is the coolest month, at least for appellate aficionados, featuring numerous important arguments with famous litigants, including U.S. senators, delivery apps Grubhub and Uber Eats, impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs, prediction platforms Kalshi and Robinhood, and a political giant known as the Velvet Hammer.

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Analysis

Justices' Cox Decision Fuels Debate Over DMCA's Relevance

By Ivan Moreno

The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision last week shielding Cox Communications from contributory copyright liability and wiping out a massive piracy verdict against the internet service provider has sparked a debate over how much the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provision still matters.

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High Court Appears Skeptical Of Trump's Birthright Order

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court seemed dubious Wednesday of President Donald Trump's attempt to limit birthright citizenship, with the majority of justices struggling to see how the administration's argument was supported by the constitutional text. 

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9th Circ. Nixes 3-Strikes Enhancement In Meth Conviction

By Parker Quinlan

The Ninth Circuit has ordered that a new sentence for drug trafficking be given to a man who successfully argued in a self-filed motion that his attorney failed to challenge a sentence enhancement for career offenders.

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7th Circ. Says Ill. BIPA Amendment Applies Retroactively

By Hailey Konnath

The Seventh Circuit held Wednesday that a liability-limiting amendment to Illinois' biometric privacy law applies to every lawsuit pending at the time the amendment took effect, ruling that the amendment is only a procedural change to the law and, therefore, must be applied retroactively.

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9th Circ. OKs Injunction On DHS Protest Conduct, With Limits

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed First Amendment protections for journalists, legal observers and protesters in a case brought by individuals injured by U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers during Los Angeles-area immigration raid protests, but said a preliminary injunction issued by a California federal judge had to be narrowed.

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Trump Announces Texas, Ohio, Florida Judicial Picks

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced four judicial nominees for Texas, Ohio and Florida. 

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Judiciary Seeks More Security Funding Amid Threat Surge

By Courtney Bublé

Court security is a top concern for the federal judiciary in its recently released budget request for fiscal 2027.

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17 State AGs Challenge EPA's Repeal Of Coal Plant Air Regs

By Rachel Riley

Attorneys general from Illinois and 16 other states urged the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to undo the Trump administration's recent rollback of Biden-era caps on mercury and other toxins in air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, warning the loosened standards threaten public health and the environment.   

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DC Circ. Asked To Vacate FERC Pipeline Extension Approval

By Ganesh Setty

Environmental advocacy organizations have taken their challenge over a $524 million natural gas pipeline extension to the D.C. Circuit, seeking to vacate an amended certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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CFPB Seeks Green Light To Shed Half Of Staff In New Plan

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked the D.C. Circuit to let it proceed with a new plan to lay off roughly half of its remaining staff, arguing this latest downsizing proposal moots concerns that led to a lower-court injunction freezing efforts to slash its workforce.

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Fed. Circ. Tosses Attorney's Appeal To Win Back Fee Award

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit has rejected an attorney's appeal challenging a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs order to return attorney fees he'd won in a disability case after the VA later determined they were unreasonable, finding that no appellate jurisdiction exists.

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Fed. Circ. Finds Puradigm Gave Up Air Purifier Patent Claim

By Adam Lidgett

Air purification technology company Puradigm lost its bid to bring back its lawsuit accusing a group of related competitors of infringing one of its patents, after the Federal Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a Texas federal court's finding that the accused products couldn't have been infringed.

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Analysis

3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In April

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit argument calendar for this month includes Centripetal Networks' appeal of a decision clearing Cisco of infringing cybersecurity patents after a multibillion-dollar award was thrown out, as well as Ecobee's challenge to an $11.5 million infringement verdict involving smart thermostats.

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2nd Circ. Says No Atty Conflict For Convicted Payday Lender

By Emily Sawicki

The Second Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a district court's conviction of a payday lender on racketeering, money laundering and fraud claims, rejecting the lender's argument that his conviction must be vacated because, while his trial was underway, his court-appointed counsel cooperated with the same prosecutors' office in an unrelated case.

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Khalil Seeks Bove's 3rd Circ. Recusal Over Ex-DOJ Roles

By Lauren Berg

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident targeted for deportation, asked a Third Circuit judge, U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove, to recuse himself from en banc review of a decision allowing for Khalil's detention, saying Wednesday the judge was likely involved in decisions related to the case while at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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4th Circ. Upholds Prior Settlement Bars Clear Touch TM Suit

By Adam Lidgett

The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday ruled that it won't undo a lower court's decision tossing interactive technology products company Clear Touch Interactive Inc.'s federal intellectual property claims against a former reseller, saying the case was blocked by an earlier settlement agreement between the parties.

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5th Circ. Panel Weighs BP Retirees' Pension Suit Win

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel wanted to know what specific misrepresentations BP Corp. North America Inc. made to about 7,000 retirees that caused them to think they were getting a sweeter retirement deal than they got, asking Wednesday which misrepresentations were the most "obvious."

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8th Circ. Upholds 37-Year Resentence After Murder Count Cut

By Parker Quinlan

The Eighth Circuit Wednesday upheld two consecutive 18-and-a-half-year sentences for a man convicted for his role in a robbery, finding that even though one of the charges was vacated, he is still eligible for the same amount of time for the remaining charges.

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9th Circ. Revives Aya Health Arbitrations In Nurses' Wage Suit

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday reversed a district court ruling that voided arbitration agreements between Aya Healthcare Services Inc. and more than 250 employees, ruling that the lower court erred when it used the individual findings of two arbitrators to nix the agreements entirely.

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Brief

9th Circ. Says Judge Likely Overreached In No-Bond Ruling

By Britain Eakin

The Ninth Circuit has stayed a California federal judge's ruling vacating a Board of Immigration Appeals decision stripping immigration judges of authority to grant release on bond, finding the district court likely exceeded its authority in doing so.

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10th Circ. Debates Presuit Conduct In $60M Bad Faith Fight

By Zach Dupont

A Utah health provider's bad faith claim against its insurer over coverage of a lawsuit stemming from a woman's fatal liposuction surgery which resulted in a $60 million judgment at trial is back before the Tenth Circuit, with a three-judge panel hearing argument Wednesday regarding if the bad faith claim against the insurer can be heard by a jury.

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11th Circ. Backs Order To Fix Fla. System For Disabled Kids

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit upheld an injunction finding Florida's institutionalization of children with complex medical conditions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, ruling in a split opinion that a lower court mostly didn't abuse its discretion with ordering reforms. 

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NY Appellate Court Orders Hearing In Murder Evidence Fight

By Elizabeth Daley

A man sentenced to up to life in prison for a 2016 burglary that led to one man's death should have had the chance to argue that evidence seized during his arrest was taken illegally, a New York state appeals court said, ordering a hearing on the issue.

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Texas Panel Agrees Atty Misused Client List, Cuts $6M Award

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas appeals panel upheld a jury's finding that a Houston attorney misappropriated another Houston lawyer's client materials, but reduced a $6 million judgment by more than $4.7 million and ordered the lower court to determine how to deal with the remaining award, if any.

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Wolfgang Puck Gets A Chance To Exit Cookware Injury Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida appellate court on Wednesday reversed dueling trial court rulings in a suit over an allegedly defective Wolfgang Puck-branded pressure cooker, saying an evidentiary hearing is required to determine whether the celebrity chef and his company can be hauled into a Florida court.

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Fla. Panel Revives Hurricane Damage Suit Against Insurer

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Florida state appellate panel on Wednesday revived a condominium association's suit challenging an insurer's coverage denial for Hurricane Irma damage, finding that the trial court wrongly disregarded allegations that the insurer intentionally delayed its coverage determination to skirt the statute of limitations.

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Split Pa. Justices Rule No Deception In Ricoh's 'Silence'

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Vendors in Pennsylvania are liable for "deception by omission" only if they had a duty to alert consumers about a potential product defect, a split Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in a suit against the maker of Pentax cameras alleging that it should have disclosed a shorter product lifespan than customers might have expected.

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Pa. Court Says 1 Fire Set Equals 1 Arson-Property Sentence

By Elizabeth Daley

A man sentenced to up to 15 years for setting his ex-girlfriend's home on fire must be resentenced, a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel ruled unanimously Tuesday, agreeing that he should only have faced one count of arson endangering property since he only set one fire.

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Mass. Cannabis Businesses Say Repeal Bid Misleads Voters

By Sam Reisman

A coalition of Massachusetts cannabis business owners Wednesday challenged the constitutionality of a proposal to repeal retail marijuana legalization at the ballot box this November.

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Determining When Engineered Biologics May Be Patentable

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Regenxbio v. Sarepta, concluding that engineered cells with DNA from different organisms are not patent-ineligible natural phenomena, raises questions surrounding what framework courts will use to evaluate the patent eligibility of engineered biologics moving forward, says Robert Frederickson at Goodwin.

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State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

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Series

Pa. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

The first quarter of 2026 brought several consequential developments for Pennsylvania financial institutions, including the state banking department's first assessment overhaul in 10 years, a bill prohibiting interchange fees on card transaction sales taxes and a federal appeals court's upholding of a $52 million enforcement action, say attorneys at Gross McGinley.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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