Justices To Resolve Split On SEC Disgorgement Powers

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case that could resolve a circuit split over whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has to prove investor harm in order to secure disgorgement from alleged fraudsters. 

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Justices Will Weigh FCC's Monetary Penalty Powers

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to take a look at the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue fines by announcing it would review both a Fifth Circuit ruling in AT&T's favor curtailing the agency's ability to issue fines using its own in-house legal process and a case that Verizon lost in the Second Circuit.

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CFPB's Vought Backs Down, Seeks Fresh Fed Funding

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Friday that its acting Director Russell Vought has moved to replenish its funding from the Federal Reserve, yielding after a weekslong standoff that left the consumer agency facing potential closure with dwindling cash.

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Judge Restores Migrant Parole For Now, Decries 'Police State'

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday said she will temporarily bar the Trump administration from revoking the legal status of at least 10,000 migrants in the country under a program intended to allow family members of citizens or permanent residents to live in the United States while waiting for a green card.

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4th Circ. Frees Man Convicted For Speech After 9/11

By Abigail Harrison

A lecturer and scholar of Islam convicted of inducing others to levy war against the U.S. after Sept. 11, 2001, was freed from serving his remaining sentence Friday, when a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel ruled that his speech was protected under the First Amendment.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: Pollution Lawsuits & Trans Athletes

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off the new year by hearing disputes over the constitutionality of state laws banning transgender female athletes from female-only sports and whether state or federal courts are the proper forum for lawsuits seeking to hold major oil companies accountable for harm caused by their oil production activities along Louisiana's coast. 

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DC Circ. Won't Rethink MSPB Firing Ruling

By Braden Campbell

The D.C. Circuit's decision to permit the president's removal of Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris despite her statutory job protections will stand after the full court declined to rehear her firing challenge Friday.

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Wash. Gov. Pitches Bills On AI Chatbots, Vaccines, Housing

By Ben Adlin

Washington state's governor announced six bills Friday that he's asking lawmakers to pass in the legislative session that kicks off Monday, including measures to increase housing, guard Washingtonians from people posing as law enforcement, reinforce the state's vaccine decision-making authority and establish protections around AI chatbots, particularly for youth.

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Class Action Challenges Solitary Confinement For NY Youth

By Marco Poggio

A group of children and young adults currently and formerly detained in New York's juvenile justice system are accusing state officials of subjecting children to prolonged solitary confinement in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal disability law, in a proposed class action filed in federal court.

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Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Trade Secrets Row, A Patient Data Deal

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court closed out the year by tossing a trade secrets fight brought by a corrugated packing manufacturer against its onetime star salesman and signing off on a $2.45 million settlement ending claims a healthcare system sold patients' data to Meta.

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New Trade Group Joins Litigation Finance Lobbying Fight

By Ryan Boysen

A new trade group for litigation funders has launched with the aim of enlisting personal injury and mass tort attorneys in a fight against proposed federal laws that it says could threaten the $16 billion litigation finance industry.

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OCC Floats Rule To Clarify Trust Companies' Broader Scope

By Aislinn Keely

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is proposing to amend its chartering regulations to make clear that national trust companies can engage in nonfiduciary activities, potentially resolving an area of contention that banking industry advocates have raised as crypto-focused firms applied for trust charters.

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Conn. Deems Coinbase, Kalshi Contracts 'Pure' Gambling

By Brian Steele

Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase and the derivative exchange KalshiEX LLC are not entitled to injunctions that would block Connecticut's enforcement of state gaming laws against their "unlicensed, unlawful sports wagers disguised as financial products," the state argued Friday in federal court.

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30 Dems Back Bill Limiting Officials' Prediction Market Trades

By Aislinn Keely

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., introduced his plan to ban public officials from trading in certain prediction markets on Friday with the backing of 30 House Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

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Alabama Steps Away From Appeal In ACF Water Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

Alabama on Thursday dropped its appeal at the Eleventh Circuit in a fight over water management of the Apalachicola watershed after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to changes proposed by Alabama and Georgia to end the decadeslong water feud.

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Calif. Climate Laws Violate Free Speech Rights, 9th Circ. Told

By Dorothy Atkins

A coalition of business groups urged a Ninth Circuit panel Friday to preliminarily block new California laws requiring large companies to disclose financial risks tied to climate change, arguing the laws are unprecedented and violate the First Amendment, in part by being "completely untethered" to any product or transaction.

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Gov't Tells 4th Circ. SC Residents Can't Challenge Marsh Plan

By Isaac Monterose

The federal government has urged the Fourth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a suit filed by South Carolina property owners challenging the approval of a local marsh mitigation bank plan, arguing the property owners lack Article III standing and their claims are "speculative."

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Mich. Bid For Behavioral Managed Care Contracts Can't Stand

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled the state health department's bid for Medicaid managed care contract proposals would unlawfully interfere with the duties of local governmental bodies that provide and coordinate behavioral health care.

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Squires Sets Precedent, Guidance On Discretionary Denials

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires on Friday designated four decisions on discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board precedential and another nine informative.

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USPTO Pushes Back At Tesla PTAB Policy Fight At Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the owner of three patents for self-driving vehicles urged the Federal Circuit on Friday to ignore Tesla's argument that the USPTO can't use the time before trial in patent litigation to deny patent reviews before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Fed. Circ. Doubts Trade Secret Was Properly Spelled Out

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Circuit spent part of its Friday morning mulling whether it is the court's job to, in the words of the judge who killed the trade secrets claims brought by a MasterCard unit against two McKinsey consultants, "do APT's job for it by mining its trade secrets from the raw materials."

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Rakoff Hints 'Baby Shark' Mail-Service Precedent Is Unpopular

By Pete Brush

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday critiqued a Second Circuit decision requiring mail service to alleged Chinese infringers of "Baby Shark" trademarks, which he said may slow Google's effort to shutter an alleged China-based global phishing scam.

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Sens. Urge App Stores To Ban X, Grok Over Sexual Images

By Allison Grande

A trio of U.S. Senate Democrats are calling on Apple and Google to remove the apps for the social media platform X and the generative artificial intelligence chatbot Grok from their app stores until the owner of these services, Elon Musk, adequately addresses the AI tool's generation of sexually explicit content, including "harmful and likely illegal depictions" of women and children. 

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DC Judge OKs $14M Award Despite Russian Sanctions

By Joyce Hanson

A D.C. federal judge has recognized approximately $14 million in arbitral awards originally issued to a Russian state-owned media company sanctioned by the United States for interfering in U.S. elections, concluding that a public policy exception to award enforcement does not apply.

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4th Circ. Asks If NCAA's W.Va. Eligibility Appeal Is Now Moot

By David Steele

The NCAA and four West Virginia University football players have until Jan. 21 to tell the Fourth Circuit whether the collegiate athletic association's appeal of an injunction making the players eligible this season is moot, now that the season is over.

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State Looks To Nix RealPage Case Over NY Rental Pricing Law

By Matthew Perlman

The New York attorney general's office urged a federal court Friday to toss a case from property management software company RealPage Inc. challenging a new state law that prohibits building owners from using software to collude on residential rental rates.

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NLRB Must Face Agency Atty's Speech Suppression Suit

By Katherine Smith

The National Labor Relations Board can't exit a field attorney's suit over her advocacy work with an environmental nonprofit, a Washington federal judge has ruled, finding that she has adequately alleged that her work doesn't violate a federal conflict of interest statute.

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Ex-CTA Bus Driver's Disability Bias Claims Will Go To Trial

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Thursday refused to grant summary judgment to the Chicago Transit Authority on a former bus driver's disparate treatment and failure to accommodate claims, clearing the way for the dispute over her 2022 firing to go to trial in April.

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Judge Blocks Edwards' $945M Heart Valve Deal

By Matthew Perlman and Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge issued an order on Friday preventing Edwards Lifesciences Corp. from moving ahead with its planned $945 million deal for JenaValve Technology Inc., torpedoing the merger challenged by the Federal Trade Commission.

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Brief

EU Clarifies Foreign Subsidies Regulation Guidelines

By Jack McLoone

The European Commission released an updated version of its foreign subsidies regulations to clarify how it determines competition distortions caused by such subsidies, among other aspects of the guidelines.

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Wash. AG Aims To Weigh In On Constitutionality Of Email Law

By Ben Adlin

Washington state's attorney general intends to weigh in on a proposed class action accusing apparel maker Hanesbrands Inc. of flooding consumers' inboxes with misleading marketing emails, responding to Hanes' argument that the state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is unconstitutional.

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States Cite Ed. Dept. Outsourcing In Revamped Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

Democratic state attorneys general added fresh allegations Friday to an ongoing lawsuit over cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, saying the Trump administration has begun offloading some of the department's functions to other agencies.

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Virginia Takes Vape Law Fight To 4th Circ.

By Jonathan Capriel

Virginia is looking to the Fourth Circuit to overturn a court order partially blocking it from enforcing a ban on flavored vapes, according to a notice filed by the state's attorney general.

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Brief

Senate OKs Bipartisan Proposal To Limit Trump's War Powers

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Senate voted to advance a War Powers Resolution that would prevent President Donald Trump from continuing to engage in military action in Venezuela without congressional authorization.

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Maine Tribes Gain Economic Boost With Online Gaming Law

By Crystal Owens

Maine Gov. Janet Mills is expected to sign into law a bill that will allow the state's tribal governments to operate online gaming that will help to provide the Wabanaki Nations with essential services.

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EU Council Approves Trade Pact With 4 S. American Countries

By Dylan Moroses

A legislative arm of the European Union approved the bloc's free trade agreement with four South American countries Friday, taking steps to create the largest global free trade zone.

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NY Groups Fight To Keep ICE Courthouse Arrest Suit Alive

By Ganesh Setty

Two providers of immigration services told a New York federal court this week that the Trump administration has misinterpreted prior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidance on courthouse arrests, saying extending them to immigration courthouses marks an "unprecedented expansion."

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H-1B Spouses Challenge End Of Auto Work Permit Extensions

By Britain Eakin

Seven spouses of H-1B visa holders asked a California federal judge to block the Trump administration's end of automatic work permit extensions, saying the move was based on unsupported national security grounds to fast-track the policy without public input.

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Groups Oppose Feds' Bid To Stay $100K H-1B Visa Fee Suit

By Britain Eakin

Medical and other groups challenging President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee urged a California federal judge to reject the federal government's bid for a stay in the case, saying they are facing imminent harm without court intervention.

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Woman Says Spouse's Terrorist Label Imperils Her Citizenship

By Ganesh Setty

An Iranian-born naturalized citizen is accusing federal immigration authorities of jeopardizing her citizenship after labeling her Iranian husband who lives abroad as a terrorist, telling a Washington federal court that authorities failed to explain the label and that she's unable to contest it.

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7th Circ. Upholds Ex-Atty's Conviction In Burke Bribery Case

By Celeste Bott

The Seventh Circuit on Friday kept in place the conviction and 32-month prison sentence of a Chicago real estate developer and former attorney for offering legal work to ex-Alderman Edward Burke as a bribe for help with a zoning permit, finding the government presented sufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict and arguments to the contrary were "unavailing."

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Fed. Circ. Won't Rehear Nev. Tribe's $208M Water Rights Suit

By Crystal Owens

The Federal Circuit has declined a Nevada tribe's petition for an en banc or panel rehearing on a decision to dismiss $208 million breach of trust allegations against the Bureau of Indian Affairs over water rights.

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Alaska Natives Challenge IHS Over Women's Health Services

By Crystal Owens

Two Alaskan corporations are asking a D.C. federal court to compel the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enter into a funding agreement that they say the Indian Health Service has rejected, arguing the denial threatens vital services to Alaska Natives and American Indians who have long depended on an Anchorage medical center.

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USTelecom Wants 'More Green Lights' For Broadband In '26

By Christopher Cole

A key telecom industry group says that if 2025 was marked by continual delays in broadband deployment, 2026 needs to be the year when construction crews actually break ground on federally backed projects.

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Brief

SpaceX Can Build Up Its Next-Gen Constellation, FCC Says

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission gave its stamp of approval Friday for SpaceX to ramp up its second-generation Starlink satellite system.

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Brief

FCC Approves Telecom's New Plan For Alaska Buildout

By Nadia Dreid

An Alaskan telecommunications company has received the go-ahead from the Federal Communications Commission to deploy its mobile service throughout the far-flung state with federal support, after the new plan showed the firm could triple the number of people for whom it provides service.

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Calif. Woman's Bid For Cannabis License Too Rushed, RI Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Rhode Island has objected to the "rushed approach" a California entrepreneur has taken in her effort to nullify the residency requirement in the state's cannabis licensing system, telling a federal court it should first learn if the businesswoman would "otherwise qualify" for a license but for her out-of-state status.

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Akin Adds Ways And Means Committee Trade Staffer In DC

By Christine DeRosa

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has expanded its international trade policy offerings with the addition of a former top Republican trade staffer to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means.

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Cozen O'Connor Lobbying Arm Lands Former Verizon Exec

By Jake Maher

Cozen O'Connor's government relations affiliate added Verizon's former head of lobbying for New Jersey as a principal in its Cherry Hill location this week.

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Banking M&A Outlook Reflects Favorable Regulatory Climate

The banking mergers and acquisitions environment is starting 2026 with a rare alignment of favorable market conditions and a more permissive regulatory atmosphere, creating a clear window for banks to pursue transformative combinations and shape the competitive landscape, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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Opinion

DHS' Parole Termination Violates APA And Due Process

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s abrupt termination of family reunification parole programs violates both the Administrative Procedure Act and the due process rights of vetted beneficiaries who relied on the government's explicit invitation to wait in the U.S. for an immigrant visa to become available, says Abdoul Konare at Konare Law.

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Montana Ruling Reaffirms Record-Based Enviro Analyses

A Montana federal court's recent decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Service, vacating permits for logging near Yellowstone National Park, is a reminder that, despite attempts to pare back National Environmental Policy Act reviews, agencies must still properly complete such reviews before projects are approved, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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2025's Most Notable State AG Activity By The Numbers

State attorneys general were active in 2025, working across party lines to address federal regulatory gaps in artificial intelligence, take action on consumer protection issues, continue antitrust enforcement and announce large settlements on behalf of their citizens, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

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Opinion

The Case For Emulating, Not Dividing, The Ninth Circuit

Champions for improved judicial administration should reject the unfounded criticisms driving recent Senate proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit and instead seek to replicate the court's unique strengths and successes, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

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Law Firms Closed 2025 With Continued 'Appetite For Hiring'

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued to defy hiring expectations in spite of uncertainty in the U.S. economy as 2025 drew to a close.

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NY Courts Open To Attys Using AI To Prep Filings

By Andrea Keckley

Lawyers should not be barred outright from using artificial intelligence tools to prepare court documents, a New York court system advisory committee said in its annual report on Thursday.

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Bruce Fein Unauthorized To Represent Maduro, Atty Says

By Rachel Rippetoe

When constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein entered an appearance as counsel for former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on Tuesday, it was without having ever spoken to the client, according to a Thursday filing by Maduro's attorney Barry Pollack seeking to remove Fein from the case.

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Goldberg Segalla Fights Ex-IP Co-Chair's $4M Arbitration Bid

By Theresa Schliep

An arbitration fight Goldberg Segalla LLP initiated against a former co-chair of its intellectual property group over proceeds from transferred cases spilled into New York state court, where the firm is seeking relief from his counterclaims that it shorted him nearly $4 million in compensation.

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Jones Day To Help Restore David Bowie's Old London Home

By Jamie Lennox

Jones Day's charitable foundation will help to restore the childhood home of musical icon David Bowie before it opens to the public in late 2027, the historical trust leading the project said Friday.

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NJ Justices Nix Atty Registration Fee Hike After Bar Pushback

By Rose Krebs

The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected a request to raise the annual registration fee for attorneys after the state's bar association complained that a proposed $27 hike for certain attorneys, following prior year increases, was too much at a time when they and their firms face "significantly increasing operational costs."

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Gov't Can't Use NYT Article As Evidence In Goldstein Trial

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Friday barred prosecutors from pre-admitting Thomas Goldstein's statements in a New York Times article as evidence in the SCOTUSblog co-founder's tax fraud trial, but she left open the possibility for the government to call either Jeffrey Toobin, the article's author, or a Times fact-checker, as a witness.

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Calif. Wage Suit Settles Months After Atty Admits To AI Mishap

By Emily Sawicki

A proposed wage and hour class action that drew the legal world's attention in November after the plaintiff's counsel admitted to using a half-dozen artificial intelligence tools to prepare a botched motion has now ended, with a Northern California federal judge granting a joint dismissal following a settlement agreement.

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Comey, James Fight DOJ Push To Combine Dismissal Appeals

By Jack Karp

Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James are pushing back against federal prosecutors' effort to consolidate their currently separate appeals of the beleaguered prosecutions against the pair at the Fourth Circuit.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen a collapsed investment firm revive a $15 million dispute with a hedge fund, major Hollywood studios bring an IP claim against the U.K.'s largest internet providers over illegal streaming, and the Department of Health and Social Care sue the law firm and barrister representing it in a pharma competition damages case.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

In technology, the increasing use of artificial intelligence by legal departments will be a major concern for general counsel seeking to control costs in the New Year. And in labor matters, the National Labor Relations Board has a new general counsel along with a quorum and is ready to start deciding cases again.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed a ruling in which Apple beat claims it illegally blocked third-party access to Apple Watch medical data so it could create rival software.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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