Analysis

Justices Face Busy Summer After Nixing Universal Injunctions

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to limit nationwide injunctions was one of its biggest rulings of the term — a finding the court is likely going to be dealing with all summer. Here, Law360 takes a look at the decision, how it and other cases on the emergency docket overshadowed much of the court's other work, and what it all means for the months to come.

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Analysis

The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court Term

By Cara Bayles

The term's sharpest dissents often looked beyond perceived flaws in majority reasoning to raise existential concerns about the role and future of the court, with the justices accusing one another of rewarding executive branch lawlessness, harming faith in the judiciary and threatening democracy, sometimes on an emergency basis with little briefing or explanation.

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Senate Passes Budget Bill, Rebuking National Injunctions

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 51-50 on Tuesday to pass the budget reconciliation bill, including various provisions that seek to greatly restrict the use of nationwide injunctions, which Republicans heavily criticized after district courts repeatedly stalled parts of President Donald Trump's agenda with the legal maneuver.

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State AI Law Moratorium Struck From Senate Budget Bill

By Allison Grande

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to cut a proposal that would have blocked states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade from the budget reconciliation package after a deal to reduce the length and potential scope of the ban fell apart. 

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Axing Lit Funding Tax Bid Relieves Industry But Fears Remain

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funders are breathing a sigh of relief after a provision to impose a 41% punitive tax on the $16 billion industry was stripped Tuesday from the massive federal spending bill, but many think the episode is just the prelude to further battles with corporate opponents.

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RI Judge Orders Halt To HHS Layoffs, Reorganization

By Dan McKay

A Rhode Island federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, finding the reorganization usurped congressional spending authority and likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

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4th Circ. Backs Order To Release Georgetown Academic

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday denied the Trump administration's attempt to halt a Virginia federal court order requiring it to release a Georgetown University fellow from immigration detention, rejecting the government's claim that his lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue.

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US Attorney Picks Include Alina Habba And Senator's Son

By Courtney Bublé

The president sent 14 U.S. attorney nominations to the Senate on Tuesday, including Alina Habba, the president's former counselor and personal attorney, for the District of New Jersey and Arch Moore Capito, the son of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., for the Southern District of West Virginia.

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Supreme Court Taps Latham Atty In Campaign Spending Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned to Latham & Watkins LLP's Roman Martinez to defend caps on coordinated campaign spending as amicus counsel in a case on tap for next term.

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Pa. Leaders Split At 3rd Circ. Over Tossing Undated Votes

By Matthew Santoni

A Third Circuit panel's uncertainty over Pennsylvania's rejection of undated mail-in ballots intensified Tuesday during an oral argument as top Keystone State officials took opposing sides about the constitutionality of the date requirement.

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Proxy Firms Don't 'Solicit' Investor Votes, DC Circ. Rules

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday ruled that proxy advisory firms do not "solicit" proxy votes, thus denying a manufacturing industry group's attempt to revive a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule regulating those firms.

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5th Circ. Backs Dallas Short-Term Lending Ordinance

By Spencer Brewer

The Fifth Circuit denied a short-term lender's request for a court order blocking a Dallas city ordinance that created new hurdles for lenders, saying Tuesday the short-term lender did not demonstrate that the ordinance would shut down the industry.

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CFPB Drops Navy Federal's Overdraft Fee Consent Order

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has spared Navy Federal Credit Union from having to refund potentially tens of millions of dollars in allegedly improper overdraft fees, quietly lifting a Biden-era consent order imposing that and other requirements as the agency's enforcement retreat deepens.

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Banking Groups Call For Indexing Of Regulatory Thresholds

By Aislinn Keely

The American Bankers Association and its state counterparts are urging federal regulators to prioritize updating thresholds that trigger heightened supervisory obligations to account for inflation and the growth of the banking sector, arguing that the current standards unintentionally subject some institutions to burdensome requirements.

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NY AG Urges Lawmakers To Strengthen Stablecoin Legislation

By Aislinn Keely

New York's Attorney General Letitia James is calling on U.S. lawmakers to strengthen pending bills to regulate so-called stablecoins in a letter made public Tuesday that argued neither the House nor the Senate's proposals contain the necessary guardrails to protect consumers.

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DC Circ. Tosses Mich. Utility's Grid Upgrade Challenge

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to grant a Michigan transmission owner sole ownership of grid upgrades needed to serve a Michigan solar farm, rejecting arguments that existing agreements guaranteed it full ownership rights.

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NJ Governor Signs Bill Hiking Tax For Online Sports Betting

By Elaine Briseño

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has approved a bill that will increase the tax for online gambling and sports betting to 19.75% just hours after the measure was passed by both houses of the state's Legislature.

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Groups Urge Fed. Circ. To Stop USPTO Retroactive Denials

By Adam Lidgett

Advocacy groups in the communications, automotive and technology fields have thrown their support behind Motorola's challenge of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to retroactively apply a decision withdrawing earlier guidance on when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should not review patent challenges.

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House Report Says Ad Group Colluded With Foreign Gov'ts

By Jared Foretek

The World Federation of Advertisers' digital safety initiative targeted conservative voices with a digital advertising pressure campaign meant to "undermine American civil liberties" and "limit" consumer choice up until the project's discontinuation last year, according to a new report from the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee.

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NYT Says Palin Can't Get New Defamation Trial, Recusal

By Cara Salvatore

The New York Times urged a New York federal judge to refuse Sarah Palin's request for a new trial and judge after a jury rejected her defamation claims over a 2017 editorial, saying her arguments misunderstood circuit court rulings in the long-running case and skipped a procedural bar.

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FCC Drops $2.6M Kid TV Ad Fine, Lets Sinclair Settle

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission is going to let Sinclair Broadcast Group LLC slide by with a "voluntary contribution" of $500,000 instead of the $2.6 million forfeiture the agency had proposed for running more commercials than it was allowed to during children's TV programs.

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Mich. Judge Halts Mackinac Island Ferry Rate Ordinance

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Michigan federal judge has temporarily blocked Mackinac Island city officials from regulating ferry prices, a move the judge said preserves both the status quo and the availability of ferry service to the tourist destination.

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Mass. Justices Affirm Insurers Can Tap Workers' Comp Fund

By Julie Manganis

Insurers who have stopped writing workers' compensation policies but are still paying on older claims in Massachusetts are entitled to partial reimbursement from a state trust fund created to offset the higher costs of covering some individuals, because the money comes from employers rather than the insurers, the state's highest court concluded on Tuesday.

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DOL Rule Would Reverse Obama-Era Domestic Worker Regs

By Emmy Freedman

The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to roll back Obama-era regulations that redefined domestic service workers and required they be paid minimum and overtime wages, saying returning to regulations from 1975 could help expand access to care services.

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Turkey Cos. Must Face Price-Fix Suit From Litigation Funder

By Jared Foretek

An Illinois federal judge rejected a summary judgment bid from major turkey processors fighting a price-fixing antitrust suit, ruling that a litigation funding company can continue to pursue claims against the poultry processors as a stand-in for wholesale food distributor plaintiffs.

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Google Wants Texas Ad Tech Trial To Wait On DOJ Judge

By Matthew Perlman

Google has asked a Texas federal judge to delay the looming August trial in a case from state enforcers targeting its advertising technology until after a Virginia federal judge issues her final judgment in a similar case by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice reached the agency's first three merger settlements of the second Trump administration, clearing deals in the technology and aerospace sectors after divestitures, while the Federal Trade Commission put conditions on an advertising merger. Here, Law360 looks at the major merger review developments from June.

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Apple Backers Raise Price, Privilege Concerns At 9th Circ.

By Bryan Koenig

Trade groups and advocacy organizations have raised a series of concerns with the Ninth Circuit about a federal district court mandate blocking Apple from charging commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems, arguing an Epic Games Inc. injunction redux improperly compels speech, imperils price-setting autonomy and threatens legal privilege.

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DC Circ. OKs Trump Firing Of Privacy Board Dems, For Now

By Rae Ann Varona

The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday halted a lower court's order that blocked the Trump administration from firing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, suggesting in a per curiam order that members of the oversight board lacked adjudicatory functions that could shield them from termination.

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Analysis

Top Personal Injury, Med Mal News: 2025 Midyear Report

By Y. Peter Kang

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling over whether personal injury claims can be brought under a RICO statute and a $7.4 billion settlement reached with the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma are among Law360's top personal injury and medical malpractice cases from the first six months of 2025.

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9th Circ. Won't Revive Detainee's CIA Torture Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A Washington federal judge was right to dismiss a Guantánamo Bay detainee's tort claims against two psychologists who helped the CIA pioneer so-called enhanced interrogation techniques on him after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled.

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Ga. Justices To Review $33M Verdict In Student Crash Death

By Chart Riggall

The Supreme Court of Georgia has agreed to review a state appellate court's decision that a metro Atlanta city must pay a $33 million verdict awarded to the parents of a college student who died after crashing into a roadside planter.

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NJ Assault Weapon Ban Unconstitutional, 3rd Circ. Told

By George Woolston

Gun advocates told a Third Circuit panel on Wednesday that a Garden State federal court did not go far enough when it overturned the state's ban on AR-15 assault rifles, arguing that the state's ban on a number of other firearms and large capacity magazines should also be overturned.

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Mich. Judge Probes Conflict In Ex-GC's Whistleblower Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan appellate judge Tuesday pressed an attorney representing a town's former general counsel for proof that his client was fired for reporting what he described as corruption, suggesting his role as both human resources director and general counsel may have created inherent conflicts justifying the dismissal.

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Amazon Escapes Worker's Military Leave Suit

By Emmy Freedman

A former Amazon employee cannot show that she was fired because she requested to take military leave or because she needed to care for her son, a New York federal judge ruled, saying she can't rebut the company's argument that she was fired for violating security protocol.

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US Trade Blueprint Should Delay Tariffs, South Africa Says

By Dylan Moroses

The South African government said Tuesday it requested that the U.S. extend a July 9 deadline for trade talks before higher tariff rates kick in for it and other major trading partners, in anticipation of a new U.S. blueprint to guide prospective trade deals in the region.

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NY Judge Blocks DHS From Ending Haitians' Protected Status

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's bid for an early end to temporary deportation protection for certain Haitians escaping political instability and effects of natural disasters, saying the government's partial vacatur of the program in February was unlawful.

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State AGs Sue Gov't To Halt Medicaid Data Sharing With ICE

By Allison Grande

A California-led coalition of nearly two dozen state attorneys general is pushing a federal court to stop the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from giving immigration officials "unfettered access" to Medicaid recipients' personal health information, arguing that the sharing flouts decades of policy and practice.

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Texas Rep. Must Tell Feds If He'll Blame Attys In Bribery Case

By Catherine Marfin

A Houston judge said Monday that U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife must disclose to federal prosecutors whether they plan to use an advice-of-counsel defense in their trial on bribery charges.

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'ComEd Four' Lobbyist Deserves 4 Years In Prison, Feds Say

By Celeste Bott

Federal prosecutors argued on Monday that a lobbyist convicted alongside Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore and two others for bribing former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan should serve more than four years behind bars for falsifying books and records to hide the funneling of payments to Madigan's allies for do-nothing jobs.

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ND, Tribes Spar Over High Court Order In 8th Circ. Voting Row

By Crystal Owens

Two Indigenous tribes and North Dakota's secretary of state are feuding in the Eighth Circuit about how much weight a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found a Planned Parenthood patient doesn't have a private right to sue South Carolina carries over a bid to rehear a voting rights dispute.

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Conn. Tribe Fights State's Bid To Halt 80-Acre Land Transfer

By Joyce Hanson

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is fighting an emergency motion by Connecticut to halt the U.S. Department of the Interior's transfer of 80 acres into trust for the federally recognized tribe, saying the state fails to establish that a stay is necessary.

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Analysis

All Eyes On Congress After FCC Subsidy's High Court Win

By Christopher Cole

Supporters of the Federal Communications Commission's subsidies for phone and broadband service notched a clear win at the U.S. Supreme Court last week when justices upheld the Universal Service Fund's levy on telecom companies, but lawmakers now face pressure to beef up the $9 billion program's revenue sources.

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Mobile Cos. Applaud Senate Revival Of Spectrum Auctions

By Christopher Cole

The wireless industry on Tuesday praised the Senate's narrow passage of a budget reconciliation package that directs the federal government to identify and auction hundreds of megahertz of electromagnetic spectrum for private companies' use.

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Judge Rules Gun Ban For Medical Pot Users Constitutional

By Sam Reisman

A Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Monday that a federal policy barring medical marijuana patients from owning firearms does not violate the Second Amendment, granting the U.S. Department of Justice's motion to dismiss a challenge brought by a state prosecutor and others.

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RI Urges 1st Circ. To Toss Challenge To Pot License Regs

By Sam Reisman

Rhode Island marijuana regulators told the First Circuit on Tuesday that a lower court federal judge was correct to toss a constitutional challenge to the state's cannabis regulations, which had not yet been published when the lawsuit was initially filed.

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How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations

As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.

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3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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Breaking Down Part 3 Of The Copyright Office's AI Report

On May 9, the U.S. Copyright Office published a prepublication version of the third and final part of its three-part report on artificial intelligence, offering key insights on the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

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Navigating Antitrust Risks When Responding To Tariffs

Companies should assess competitive perils, implement compliance safeguards and document independent decision-making as they consider their responses to recent tariff pressures, say attorneys at White & Case.

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Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

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One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

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Legal Aid Attys Can't Sever Union Ties Over Its Mideast Views

By Emily Brill

A New York federal judge tossed two New York City public defenders' lawsuit against their union, saying the attorneys can't leverage the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus ruling to stop paying the union because they disagree with its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Yale Law's 1st Woman Dean To Leave Post 2 Years Early

By Hailey Konnath

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken, the first woman named to the position, is leaving Yale to lead the Ford Foundation two years before her term was set to expire, according to a recent announcement.

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The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires over the past month included high-profile appointments at Microsoft, Guess and U.S. Steel. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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