Texas' law restricting state investments with financial firms and businesses that want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels is both "overbroad and unconstitutionally vague," a federal judge has ruled, handing a sustainability-focused business group a summary judgment victory.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Albright Axes Texas' Anti-ESG Law As Unconstitutional

By Lauren Berg

Texas' law restricting state investments with financial firms and businesses that want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels is both "overbroad and unconstitutionally vague," a federal judge has ruled, handing a sustainability-focused business group a summary judgment victory.

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PacifiCorp Urges Appeals Court To Scotch Broad Fire Liability

By Cara Salvatore

The power utility PacifiCorp argued to an Oregon appeals court Wednesday that broad-brush trial evidence and class certification issues require overturning a 2023 verdict that made the company liable to property owners for wildfires around the state on Labor Day 2020.

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EPA Can't OK Calif. Engine Emissions Rules, 9th Circ. Told

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to determine whether California's plan to set tighter emissions rules for off-road engines warranted a Clean Air Act waiver before giving the go-ahead to the Golden State, industry groups have told the Ninth Circuit.

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Q&A

Ex-NJ Enviro Chief Credits Lawyering For Successes

By George Woolston

When he departed his job as an environmental lawyer at Gibbons PC to serve as New Jersey's environmental regulator in 2018, Shawn LaTourette showed up equipped with both public service and private practice experience in navigating the Garden State's notorious pollution.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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LITIGATION

Exxon, Shell Say Oil Cos. Can't Be Sued For Wash. Heat Death

By Rachel Riley

Fossil fuel giants including Exxon Mobil and Shell pressed a Washington state judge Tuesday to toss a first-of-its-kind lawsuit over a 2021 Seattle heat wave death, saying the plaintiff family cannot use Evergreen State law to extract damages from oil corporations for harm allegedly caused by more than a century of global greenhouse gas emissions.

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NY, NJ Sue Feds Over Hudson River Tunnel Funding Pause

By Elaine Briseño

New York and New Jersey have accused the U.S. Department of Transportation of unlawfully withholding $15 billion to fund the rehabilitation of aging commuter train tunnels under the Hudson River, saying the government did not give a valid reason for the decision.

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JetBlue Hid Toxic 'Bleed Air' Fumes, Flight Attendant Says

By Abigail Harrison

JetBlue Airways Corp. is accused of engaging in a decades-long cover-up to downplay or conceal the health risks of onboard "fume events" that subject flight crews and passengers to toxic engine air, according to a flight attendant's lawsuit in North Carolina state court.

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Wash. Tribes Sue Feds Over $240M Of Salmon Hatchery Funds

By Joyce Hanson

Two tribes in Washington state have sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies on claims the government unfairly told them they weren't eligible to apply for $240 million of Pacific salmon hatchery funds under the Inflation Reduction Act.

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DEALS

Loeb & Loeb To Guide SPAC's Merger With Packaging Co.

By Sydney Price

Loeb & Loeb LLP is advising a special purpose acquisition company on its proposed combination with Taiwan-based packaging solutions company Deluxe Technology Group, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

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PEOPLE

Ex-Pentagon GC Joins Bradley Arant's National Security Team

By Jack Rodgers

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired the former legal adviser to the National Security Council, who is joining the team in Nashville, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., to work with the firm's Government Enforcement & Investigations and Defense & National Security teams, the firm announced Tuesday.

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Eversheds Sutherland Hires Paul Hastings Trial Pro

By Grace Dixon

Eversheds Sutherland announced that it has added a partner to its litigation practice group, who joins the firm from Paul Hastings LLP fresh off the heels of guiding Prologis Inc. through a three-month jury trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

New State Regs On PFAS In Products Complicate Compliance

The new year brought new bans and reporting requirements for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in half a dozen states — in many cases, targeting specific consumer product categories — so manufacturers, distributors and retailers must not only monitor their own supply chains, but also coordinate to ensure compliance, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Paul Weiss' Karp Steps Back After Epstein Email Revelations

By Hailey Konnath and Aebra Coe

Longtime Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP chair Brad S. Karp has resigned from his leadership role, the firm announced Wednesday, a move that comes after the U.S. Department of Justice released numerous emails between Karp and Jeffrey Epstein.

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Baker McKenzie To Downsize Business Professional Jobs

By Tracey Read

Baker McKenzie, which has a legal services hub in Tampa, Florida, is in the process of downsizing business professionals' jobs, a firm spokesperson confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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Ex-DLA Piper Partner Aims To Toss Claim He Raped Associate

By Jack Karp

Allegations that an ex-DLA Piper partner raped a former Boston-based associate in Delaware in 2022 should be tossed since the Massachusetts state court the case was filed in has no jurisdiction over the Delaware claim, according to the accused former partner.

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Goldstein Accountant Admits Tax Return Errors

By Jared Foretek

A star government witness and the top outside accountant for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein and his law firm admitted to making mistakes on Goldstein's tax returns and offering the grand jury erroneous testimony, under cross-examination in the U.S. Supreme Court lawyer's tax fraud trial Wednesday.

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Analysis

Clemency Was 'Broken' Long Before Trump. Can It Be Fixed?

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump has transformed what has historically been a bureaucratic process for seeking federal pardons and commutations into a more freewheeling affair with few clear rules — and no easy solutions for reform, experts say.

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Wachtel Missry Settles Liability In $26M Atty Malpractice Case

By Emily Sawicki

A dispute over who is liable for a former Wachtel Missry LLP partner's alleged exploitation of an elderly client has been settled on the eve of trial, while the Brooklyn federal judge declined to consider recusing himself despite "inadvertently" meeting with the firm's founding partner before the matter was fully put to rest.

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Ex-Fox News Host Decries Judge Pick's Arbitration Stance

By Courtney Buble

Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor and a leading advocate for ending forced arbitration of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, has come out against a federal judicial nominee for Louisiana for her past comments on the issue.

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Trump Bid To Move NY Appeal Faces 'Fatal' Error, Judge Says

By Frank G. Runyeon

A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday repeatedly aired doubts that President Donald Trump can upend the pending New York state appeal of his hush-money conviction by moving the case to federal court.

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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arnold & Porter

Ashby & Geddes

Baker McKenzie

Beveridge & Diamond

Blanchard Miller

Bradley Arant

Byrnes Keller

Ciardi Ciardi

Corr Cronin

Cravath Swaine

DLA Piper

Debevoise & Plimpton

Devers Miska Law

Edelson PC

Emery Celli

Eversheds Sutherland

FBT Gibbons

Gibson Dunn

Goldstein & Russell

Guerrero & Whittle

Hamilton Lincoln

Holland & Knight

Hueston Hennigan

K&L Gates

Latham & Watkins

Leach & Walker

Lehotsky Keller

Libby Hoopes

Lieberman Blecher

Loeb & Loeb

Morgan Lewis

Munger Tolles

Nelson Mullins

Orrick Herrington

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Pollard PLLC

Pryor Cashman

Quarles & Brady

Rosenberg Freedman

Seyfarth Shaw

Shah Litigation

Shapiro Arato

Sidley Austin

Stoel Rives

Sullivan & Cromwell

Summit Law Group

Susman Godfrey

Van Ness Feldman

Vander Stoep

Wachtel Missry

Whiteford Taylor

WilmerHale

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers

Apollo Global Management LLC

BP PLC

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Chevron Corp.

ConocoPhillips

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Democracy Forward Foundation

DuPont de Nemours Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Honeywell International Inc.

JetBlue Airways Corp.

LinkedIn Corp.

Momentus Inc.

Nasdaq Inc.

New Jersey League of Conservation Voters

New Jersey Transit Corp.

New York University

PacifiCorp

Parabellum Capital LLC

Phillips 66

Prologis Inc.

Shell PLC

Spirit Airlines Inc.

The New York Times Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alaska Department of Law

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Executive Office of the President

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Election Commission

Federal Transit Administration

Internal Revenue Service

Manhattan District Attorney's Office

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Railroad Passenger Corp.

National Security Council

New Jersey Attorney General's Office

New York Attorney General's Office

Superior Court of Massachusetts

Tennessee Attorney General's Office

Texas Attorney General's Office

Texas Legislature

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court