A Montana federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a suit by youths seeking to undo President Donald Trump's energy-related emergency orders, saying that it's beyond the power of federal courts to dictate U.S. environmental and energy policy.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Judge Sinks Youths' Suit Challenging Trump Energy Orders

By Keith Goldberg

A Montana federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a suit by youths seeking to undo President Donald Trump's energy-related emergency orders, saying that it's beyond the power of federal courts to dictate U.S. environmental and energy policy.

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Meat Industry Fights To Defend Nix Of Slaughterhouse Rules

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

A meat and poultry industry group has told the Ninth Circuit it opposes green groups' challenge to the federal government's decision to rescind a Biden-era proposal that would have imposed stricter water discharge regulations on slaughtering, processing and rendering facilities.

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Colo. Urges Justices To Reject Nebraska South Platte Case

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Colorado on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to get involved in Nebraska's claims that Colorado is failing to deliver water from the South Platte River according to the terms of an early 20th-century compact.

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States Seek To Revive FEMA's Disaster-Mitigation Funding

By Ganesh Setty

A group of 22 states and the District of Columbia urged a Massachusetts federal court Wednesday to block the Trump administration's termination of a disaster mitigation program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing such authority lies with Congress.

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Hertz Must Face Investors' Claims Over EV Statements

By Emilie Ruscoe

Car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings Inc. can't completely shed securities fraud claims over its statements that it was seeing strong demand for electric cars that artificially boosted stock prices, a Florida federal judge has ruled, while also dismissing other claims in the proposed class action.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Ga. Justices Stand By Holding That Runoff Fees Aren't Taxes

By Chart Riggall

The Supreme Court of Georgia has for the second time ruled that a landowner can't use a constitutional challenge to get out of paying stormwater utility bills to its local government, declining Wednesday to overturn a decade-plus precedent that ruled the county was enforcing a fee rather than a tax.

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OIL & GAS

Mich. AG Urges Justices To Leave Enbridge Suit In State Court

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan's attorney general has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strictly enforce the statutory deadline for transferring a case to federal court and refuse Enbridge Energy LP's entreaties to move her lawsuit seeking to shut down a pipeline out of state court.

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FERC Ignored La. LNG Terminal's Enviro Harms, DC Circ. Told

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shirked its obligation to evaluate the potential harms of a massive liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana before approving its construction, environmental groups and fishermen have told the D.C. Circuit.

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11th Circ. Sides With Insurer In Fla. Gas Station Pollution Fight

By Ganesh Setty

An insurer for an owner and operator of Florida gas stations owes no coverage for pollution costs stemming from an underground fuel tank leak, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday, finding the owner failed to properly notify its insurer of a "pollution condition" that could result in an insurance claim.

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SPECIES PRESERVATION

Oregon, Groups Seek Dam Changes For Columbia River Basin

By Crystal Owens

The state of Oregon and several conservation groups asked a federal court to order changes to hydropower dam operations in the Columbia River Basin that they say will reduce harm to endangered salmon and steelhead.

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LAND USE

Florida Accused Of Hiding Info On Detention Center Grant

By Tom Lotshaw

A nonprofit focused on protecting the Everglades has accused the Florida Division of Emergency Management of breaking the state's laws by refusing to provide information about federal grant funding for the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center.

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PRODUCT LIABILITY

Mineral Co. Investors Seek Final OK Of $4.9M Deal

By Sydney Price

Investors of mineral producer Compass Minerals International Inc. have asked a Kansas federal judge to grant final approval to their nearly $5 million deal settling claims that the company misled the public about the likelihood it would secure a fire retardant supplier contract with the U.S. Forest Service.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Ex-WH Ethics Attys Slam 'Vindictive' Comey, James Charges

By Jack Karp

Three former White House ethics attorneys have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice over what they call the "vindictive and meritless" criminal prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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Jack Smith And Other Ex-DOJ Staffers Slam Trump Purge

By Lauren Berg

Former U.S. Department of Justice employees, including former special counsel Jack Smith, spoke out Wednesday in support of colleagues fired or forced to resign by the Trump administration, issuing a warning about the "existential crisis" born from efforts to use the agency to punish the president's political opponents.

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High Court Leans Toward Limiting Voting Rights Act Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative supermajority seemed ready Wednesday to further limit the use of the Voting Rights Act in challenging alleged racial discrimination in legislative redistricting, but appeared divided over how to accomplish that.

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Vought Aims To Close CFPB Within '2 Or 3 Months'

By Jon Hill

White House budget chief Russell Vought said Wednesday that he wants to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to succeed in the next few months, despite the Trump administration's claims in court that the agency is just being downsized.

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DHS Says Seizure Of Atty's Phone Tied To Employment Probe

By Julie Manganis

The government is pushing back on a Massachusetts immigration attorney's allegations that his work phone was seized in retaliation for his criticism of the Trump administration and advocacy for noncitizens, saying it's looking into whether he violated federal employment verification laws.

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Goldstein Can't Dismiss 2016 Tax Charges As Time-Barred

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge denied SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein's motion to dismiss four of the 22 federal tax charges brought against him in January, ruling that his defense that the counts stemming from the 2016 tax year should be time-barred will have to be raised at trial.

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Chief Judge Bars Civil Arrests In Cook County Courts

By Celeste Bott

Cook County's top judge issued an order Wednesday prohibiting the warrantless civil arrest of individuals attending court proceedings in Chicago-area state courthouses, as the federal government has ramped up immigration enforcement and arrests in the area.

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NY Court Tosses Most Of Ex-Lil Wayne Atty's Contract Claims

By Emily Sawicki

A New York state judge has dismissed most counterclaims a former attorney for Lil Wayne pursued in a fee dispute with his ex-client, but the lawyer may still attempt to collect some funds he claims to be owed by the rap star.

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Some Federal Workers Win Quick Block On Shutdown Layoffs

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Wednesday granted a request from two unions representing thousands of federal workers to immediately block the Trump administration from laying them off during the government shutdown, saying she believes the plaintiffs will show that "what's being done here is both illegal and is in excess of authority."

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Altshuler Berzon

Armstrong Teasdale

Blankenau Wilmoth

Butters Brazilian

Carothers & Mitchell

Clyde & Co

Coffey Burlington

Cullin O'Brien Law

Davis Polk

Dickinson Wright

Earth & Water Law

Foley & Lardner

Graves Garrett

Guilday Law

Husch Blackwell

Jonathan D. Davis PC

Levi & Korsinsky

Munger Tolles

Paul Weiss

Ramos & Law

Ramos Law (Wheat Ridge, CO)

Reitler Kailas

Rey-Bear McLaughlin

Robbins Alloy

Rosen Law Firm PA

Schwabe Williamson

Skadden Arps

Steptoe LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Affordable Care LLC

American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees

Center for Biological Diversity Inc.

Columbia Riverkeeper

Compass Minerals International, Inc.

Democracy Forward Foundation

Earthjustice

Enbridge Energy Partners LP

Environmental Integrity Project

Hertz Global Holdings Inc.

Instagram Inc.

NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc.

National Treasury Employees Union

National Wildlife Federation

Natural Resources Defense Council

Nautilus Insurance Co.

Our Children's Trust

Public Power Council

Sierra Club

SoundExchange Inc.

Southern Environmental Law Center

Universal Music Group NV

Venture Global LNG

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Reclamation

Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Labor Relations Authority

Fish and Wildlife Service

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Florida Supreme Court

Georgia Supreme Court

Homeland Security Investigations

Ingham County Circuit Court

Internal Revenue Service

National Marine Fisheries Service

New York Attorney General's Office

New York Supreme Court, New York County

Nez Perce Tribe

Spokane Tribe of Indians

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

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

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget

United States District Court for the District of Kansas

United States District Court for the District of Montana