Trump Issues Travel Ban On 12 Countries, Limits 7 Others

By Rae Ann Varona

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a proclamation banning travelers from a dozen countries, including several he targeted during his first administration, and placed travel limitations on travelers from seven other countries, citing national security concerns.

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Trump Takes New Tack To Ban Harvard's Foreign Students

By Lauren Berg

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will restrict Harvard University's international students from entering the country based on supposed national security concerns, less than a week after a Massachusetts federal judge indicated she will block the administration from banning the university's foreign students.

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1st Circ. Upholds Block On Trump's Education Dept. Job Cuts

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Wednesday rejected a bid by President Donald Trump to greenlight massive job cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, finding that the administration had not provided enough evidence to overturn a block put in place by a Massachusetts federal judge.

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Justices Won't Intervene To Let Jan. 6 Cops Stay Incognito

By Rachel Riley and Greg Lamm

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant an emergency stay that would have allowed current and former Seattle police officers who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" insurrection to shield their identities from the public.

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Analysis

What To Know About Trump's Shake-Up At Copyright Office

By Ivan Moreno

The firing of Shira Perlmutter by President Donald Trump as the head of the U.S. Copyright Office has introduced uncertainty into the agency's operations, including whether a previously unannounced report on artificial intelligence will ever be released, and set up a fight regarding the president's power to remove and replace whoever he wants without congressional input.

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FCC Republican Says He's Leaving Agency This Week

By Christopher Cole

Nathan Simington, one of only two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, said Wednesday he will leave the agency at the end of this week.

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DOJ Alumni Aid Group Launches Pro Bono Legal Network

By Ryan Boysen

Justice Connection, a group founded by former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in response to the Trump administration's ongoing purge of the department, has launched a pro bono legal network to represent DOJ attorneys being "unfairly targeted" by the administration.

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Bowman Confirmed As Trump's Top Banking Regulator At Fed

By Jon Hill

Senators on Wednesday confirmed Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman to become the central bank's next vice chair for supervision, elevating the former Kansas community banker to a powerful perch overseeing many of the biggest Wall Street financial institutions.

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SEC Seeks Input On Tightening Perks For Foreign Issuers

By Tom Zanki

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed Wednesday to seek public input on whether foreign companies should continue to be granted accommodations to list in the U.S., noting that global markets have changed significantly since such rules were adopted.

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CFPB Resumes $4.2M Redress After Pressure From States

By Sarah Jarvis

California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now making good on a $4.2 million redress plan for former students of a shuttered sales-training firm, following agency delays and subsequent pressure from various states.

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Ex-CFTC Chair Warns Crypto Bill's Loopholes Still Too Wide

By Aislinn Keely

Former leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday told U.S. House lawmakers mulling a bill to regulate cryptocurrency markets that the legislation needs to close potential regulatory loopholes and that Congress must expand the agency's resources if they expect it to police the bulk of the digital asset space.

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MoneyLion Says CFPB Can't Duck Fed Funding Issue

By Katryna Perera

Online lending platform MoneyLion has doubled down on its bid for dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, telling a New York federal judge that new reasoning from the U.S. Supreme Court confirms the agency is improperly funded and that it is not improper to file successive dismissal motions as the CFPB has contended.

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Brief

Trump's CFTC Pick Set For Senate Confirmation Hearing

By Jessica Corso

President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been scheduled to appear before the Senate agriculture committee for a confirmation hearing next Tuesday, advancing his nomination at a time when the agency is facing a leadership void.

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Donlin Gold Says Vacatur Not Warranted In Alaska Mine Case

By Tom Lotshaw

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision confirms that government approvals for a large gold mine in Alaska should not be thrown out even if an agency botched some aspects of an environmental review, the company behind the project told a federal judge.

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Judge Halts Fla. Law Over Medicaid Ballot Initiative Concerns

By Mark Payne

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday blocked state officials from enforcing part of a new law that opponents say threatens to criminalize those collecting signatures for a 2026 ballot initiative to expand Medicaid access.

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DC Judge Weighs Harm In Teen Program Funding Fight

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday seemed unconvinced by Planned Parenthood's assertion that new federal grant requirements for a public health initiative aimed at preventing teen pregnancy are harmful enough to warrant a preliminary injunction.

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Calif. Official Defends Trans Athlete Rule Against DOJ Threat

By David Steele

California's top education official has responded to the U.S. Department of Justice's claim that a transgender girl's participation in the state high school track and field championships opened the door to a federal civil rights lawsuit, telling the state's schools the demands "are not in themselves law,'' and that the law supporting trans athletes "are in compliance with the U.S. Constitution.''

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Apple Can Shield Info In NJ TikTok Addiction Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A New Jersey state court will allow Apple Inc. to inject itself into the state attorney general's high-profile lawsuit accusing TikTok of designing features that harm and cause addiction in children, allowing the manufacturer of the iPhone to argue, away from public view, that certain content in the lawsuit should be redacted.

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Yogis' Legal Warrior Pose Gets Beach Ban Lifted At 9th Circ.

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered a lower court to grant a preliminary injunction to yoga instructors who challenged San Diego's prohibition on free yoga classes at shoreline parks, finding the activity to be speech protected by the First Amendment since it imparts a skill derived from special knowledge.

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Feds Say 'No Viable Path' Forward For Calif. High-Speed Rail

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Transportation said Wednesday that the California high-speed rail's overblown budget and ongoing mismanagement indicate that there's "no viable path" to completing the project on schedule, so the federal government is preparing to pull nearly $4 billion in funding.

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Lawmakers Say Recent Rocket Mortgage Deals Need Scrutiny

By Matthew Perlman

A group of lawmakers is calling on antitrust enforcers to scrutinize online mortgage giant Rocket's recent deals for real estate brokerage website Redfin and mortgage company Mr. Cooper over concerns that Rocket is trying to dominate the entire homebuying process.

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Analysis

3 Ways DOL Benefits Chief Nominee May Affect ERISA Cases

By Kellie Mejdrich

A key committee will decide Thursday whether to send President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Labor’s employee benefits arm ahead for a full Senate vote, setting the stage for what attorneys expect will be an employer-friendly shift in policies. Here are three ways Daniel Aronowitz could change benefits litigation if confirmed.

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Trump Ordered To Explain Why Layoffs Don't Flout Injunction

By Tim Ryan

A California federal judge ordered the Trump administration Wednesday to explain why preparations for layoffs at the State Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development do not violate an injunction she issued last month, saying she needed more details about the agencies' plans to evaluate their compliance.

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NY Judge Orders Temporary Block On DOL's Job Corps Cuts

By Beverly Banks

A New York federal judge on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from eliminating Job Corps, saying the agency can't move ahead with shutting down the more than 60-year-old job training program without approval from Congress.

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FTC Can't Exclude TikTok Blackout From Meta Case

By Bryan Koenig

Meta Platforms can point to TikTok briefly going dark at the beginning of 2025 as it tries to fend off claims that it is monopolizing the social media market, after a D.C. federal judge refused to let the Federal Trade Commission lock the case to evidence from the year 2023.

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FTC Fights Attys Who Want State Bar Input On Ethics Worries

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission doesn't want staff attorneys to be able to seek state bar association guidance if they dispute the legality of an instruction, arguing in a fight with the FTC's union that seeking such guidance would gum up the gears of commission work.

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Judge Won't Block Amazon From Talking To Depo Witnesses

By Matt Perez

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Federal Trade Commission's bid, in its antitrust case against Amazon, seeking to block lawyers representing the e-commerce giant from conferring with witnesses during breaks in their depositions.

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DOJ Won't Have To Give Agri Stats Specific Data Fields

By Matthew Perlman

A Minnesota federal court refused to force the U.S. Department of Justice to identify specific data fields in industry reports produced by Agri Stats that allegedly allow meat processors to share sensitive information, finding the case is not centered on individual data points.

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ContractPodAi Launches Tariff-Focused AI Software

By Matt Perez

Contract management software provider ContractPodAi, which offers an automated legal assistant called Leah, announced the release of a tariff-focused chatbot that tracks global tariffs and trade regulations.

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Dems Say Robocalls Can't Be Stopped With Less Money, Staff

By Nadia Dreid

Combating the scourge of robocalls is normally a more bipartisan issue, but at a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Democrats used the opportunity to take aim at the Trump administration for cutting funding and jobs from agencies tasked with fixing the problem.

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Vape Cos. Urge 5th Circ. To Toss FDA Vape Marketing Rule

By Mike Curley

A group of small e-cigarette companies is asking the Fifth Circuit to revive their suit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's rule for premarket authorization of new tobacco products, saying the FDA failed to account for how the rule would affect small businesses.

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DC Judge Won't Halt Education Data Collection Rollback

By Madeline Lyskawa

A D.C. federal judge refused to halt the Department of Education's cancellation of $900 million in data maintenance and collection contracts, saying it's not the court's place to "breathe life back into" large swaths of canceled programs and monitor day-to-day statutory compliance.

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Amtrak Bribery Plot Nets Contractor Nearly 5-Year Sentence

By Gina Kim

A former executive for a masonry contractor who admitted to participating in a scheme that involved bribing an Amtrak manager to overbill the federal government $2 million in a $50 million restoration of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station was sentenced to 57 months in prison by a Pennsylvania federal court.

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GAO Tells Congress DOD Must Take Fraud Risk Seriously

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Government Accountability Office's director of forensic audits and investigative services testified Wednesday that words and actions by U.S. Department of Defense leadership have called into question the DOD's commitment to combating fraud.

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Aerospace Coms Group Asks FCC To Redo Launch Changes

By Jared Foretek

A radio communications group representing the country's largest aerospace companies and defense contractors is asking the Federal Communications Commission to rethink certain recent procedural changes for space launch operations, arguing that more safeguards are needed to protect incumbent flight test operations from potential space launch interference.

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Analysis

Steel, Aluminum Tariff Hike Casts Cloud Over US Investment

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump's latest tariff increases on steel and aluminum imports strengthen an existing barrier to an already duty-riddled trade environment and could put both domestic and foreign businesses' investment opportunities in the U.S. at risk, experts say.

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Trade Talks With US Trying To Avoid Tariff Hikes, EU Says

By Kevin Pinner

The European Union and the U.S. aim to avoid tariff hikes threatened by President Donald Trump beginning July 9 as they negotiate this week on investments to rebalance trade in goods and on what the U.S. considers trade barriers, the bloc's trade commissioner said Wednesday.

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Trump Nominates Ex-SBA Official For Top CFIUS Post

By Al Barbarino

A former U.S. Small Business Administration official from Donald Trump's first term has been nominated by the president to lead the U.S. government panel that reviews foreign investments for national security risks.

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Bulgaria Meets Criteria To Switch To Euro Next Year, EU Says

By Jack McLoone

The European Commission and European Central Bank affirmed that Bulgaria has met all necessary criteria to adopt the euro as its currency starting Jan. 1, which would make it the 21st country to do so.

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Boston Condo Owned By LLC Wins Partial Exemption

By Sanjay Talwani

A Boston condominium owned by a single-member limited liability company is eligible for a partial tax exemption as a primary residence, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said in an opinion released Wednesday, reversing the determination of the city board of assessors.

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Ohio Justice Questions School Board's Tax Appeal Claim

By Paul Williams

An Ohio justice criticized a school board's claim that state law allows it to appeal administrative property valuation rulings to county courts when the board doesn't own the property at issue.

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Judge Ponders If Netflix's Tax Theory Is 'Too Philosophical'

By Thy Vo

A Colorado appellate judge on Wednesday wondered if Netflix's argument for why its subscriptions are not subject to state sales tax is "too philosophical" and doesn't reflect its actual transactions with customers, at a hearing in the state's appeal.

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Texas Unauthorized Student Tuition Law Axed Hours After Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday scrapped a decades-old Texas law that allowed college students without legal residency to pay in-state tuition, hours after the Trump administration filed suit to challenge the law as unconstitutional and after the state agreed the law conflicted with federal immigration law.

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Venezuelans Say End To Removal Protections Was 'Contrived'

By Britain Eakin

The National TPS Alliance and several Venezuelans have asked a California federal judge to set aside U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's vacatur of temporary protected status for Venezuela and Haiti, saying the underlying rationale is concocted.

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Scalia Invoked Against Trump's Citizenship Stance At 9th Circ.

By Rachel Riley

A panel of Ninth Circuit judges scrutinized the Trump administration's take on the citizenship clause as the government argued Wednesday to preserve the president's push to curb birthright citizenship, with one judge suggesting the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would've rejected the attempt to read "beyond the mere words" of the 14th Amendment.

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Deportees Urge Justices To Keep 'Basic Measure Of Fairness'

By Julie Manganis

A class of deportees who are being sent to countries where they have no prior ties asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to leave in place a preliminary injunction requiring that they be provided a meaningful opportunity to challenge their destinations, calling it "a basic measure of fairness."

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Brief

Press Groups Get Some Abrego Garcia Case Docs Unsealed

By Britain Eakin

A Maryland federal judge gave a partial win Wednesday to more than a dozen news organizations pushing to intervene in the suit challenging the removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, ordering some sealed documents to be made public.

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FCC Hopes To Junk 'Dead Wood' In Cable Regs, Chair Says

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission wants to eliminate 77 regulations affecting the cable industry that the FCC's Republican chief says are outdated.

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Brief

FCC Says C-Band Payment Clearinghouse Can Wind Down

By Nadia Dreid

The C-Band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse has received the go-ahead from the Federal Communications Commission to wind down its operations by the end of the month, after the agency agreed it had done what it was intended to do.

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Brief

Calif. Assembly Passes Internet Price Cap, Moving To Senate

By Christopher Cole

The California State Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill that would mandate a low-cost option capping the price of high-speed internet service for low-income families at $15.

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House Committee Puts Intoxicating-Hemp Ban In Spending Bill

By Sam Reisman

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Wednesday released a spending bill that includes a major change to the statutory definition of hemp and hemp products in its agriculture appropriations that would effectively rewrite national hemp policy if it becomes law.

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NC Governor Launches Council To Advise On Cannabis Policy

By Sam Reisman

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Wednesday announced the creation of a state advisory council on cannabis to develop a comprehensive policy with respect to the regulation of hemp and marijuana.

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Calif. Air Board Offers Early Hints On Climate Reporting

As initial reporting deadlines for California's new climate reporting laws approach, guidance provided by the California Air Resources Board in a virtual public workshop sheds some light on rulemaking to come, and how to prepare for compliance during this period of uncertainty, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Supporting A Trial Team

While students often practice as lead trial attorneys in law school, such an opportunity likely won’t arise until a few years into practice, so junior associates should focus on honing skills that are essential to supporting a trial team, including organization, adaptability and humility, says Lucy Zelina at Tucker Ellis.

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DOJ Policy Shifts May Resurrect De Facto 'China Initiative'

The U.S. Department of Justice's recently unveiled white collar enforcement strategy seemingly marks a return to a now-defunct 2018 policy aimed at combating national security concerns with China, and likely foretells aggressive scrutiny of trade and customs fraud, sanctions evasion, and money laundering, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

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High Court Order On Board Firings Is Cold Comfort For Fed

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Trump v. Wilcox order, upholding the firings of two independent agency board members during appeal, raises concerns about the future of removal protections for Federal Reserve System members, and thus the broader politicization of U.S. monetary policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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5 Ways In-House Counsel Can Stay Ahead Of New HSR Rules

Now that the Trump administration’s new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act rules have been in effect for several months, in-house counsel should consider several practice pointers that can help spearhead management of M&A-related antitrust risk, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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Parsing The SEC's No-Action Letter On Rule 192 Compliance

Brandon Figg at Morgan Lewis discusses the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent no-action letter, which greenlights information barriers as an alternative approach to Rule 192 compliance and includes likely relief for existing policies and procedures.

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Bernstein Litowitz Can Hire Ex-SEC Atty Over Musk Objection

By Jessica Corso

A New York federal judge on Thursday gave the all-clear for investor-side firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP to hire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's former litigation chief over the objections of Elon Musk.

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Seyfarth Joins Long List Of BigLaw's China Closures

By Aebra Coe

Seyfarth Shaw LLP is the latest large law firm to close an office in China, with a spokesperson confirming Thursday that the firm plans to shutter its Shanghai office later this year.

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Analysis

How Trump's Pardons Could Sway Prosecutorial Discretion

By Phillip Bantz

As President Donald Trump dismantles a growing list of white collar criminal cases with a flurry of clemency grants early in his second term, erasing years of investigative and prosecutorial work with a stroke of his black Sharpie, experts worry his actions will have a chilling effect on prosecutorial decision-making.

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Senate Panel Advances Picks For Nat. Sec. Post, Iowa US Atty

By Courtney Buble

The Senate voted 52-43 along party lines on Thursday to confirm John Andrew Eisenberg to be assistant attorney general for national security.

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Atty Coalition Asks Fla. Bar To Open Ethics Probe Into Bondi

By Carolina Bolado

A group of lawyers, law professors and former judges asked the Florida Bar on Thursday to open an ethics investigation into Pam Bondi's actions as attorney general, saying she has pushed U.S. Department of Justice attorneys to violate their ethical obligations under the guise of "zealous advocacy."

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Joseph Saveri

By Daniel Connolly

Joseph Saveri, now one of the most successful plaintiffs lawyers in the U.S., said he's thought often about the story of his paternal grandparents, who left Italy around 1918, immigrated to America and traveled across the continent to settle in San Francisco.

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Judicial Watchdog Says Mich. Judge Created 'Climate Of Fear'

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan's judicial watchdog has said in a formal misconduct complaint a state judge "created a climate of fear" among court personnel that disrupted the administration of the court, "bullied" court staff and improperly dismissed criminal cases to "punish" prosecutors.

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Foley & Lardner Says Palestine Support Didn't Doom Job Offer

By Andrea Keckley

Foley & Lardner LLP asked an Illinois federal judge Wednesday for an early win in a bias suit from a former summer associate who claims that the firm pulled a job offer because of her public support for the Palestinian people, arguing that the rescission did not occur because she was an Arab Muslim but rather because her statements about Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel "not only violated the firm's core values, but also constituted a display of incredibly poor judgment."

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Conn. Bill Boosts Atty Presence On Judge Selection Panel

By Aaron Keller

Both houses of the Connecticut Legislature this week passed a bill that would alter the Constitution State's Judicial Selection Commission, replacing two nonattorney seats with positions held by lawyers and heightening job requirements for lawyers selected to vet applications for appointment to the bench.  

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Judge Rejects DC Bid To Toss Black Atty's Bias Suit

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge allowed a city attorney's discrimination and retaliation lawsuit to proceed to discovery Thursday, rejecting the D.C. government's motion to toss the claims that a city administrative law judge discriminated against Black women and paid the plaintiff attorney less than her male peers.

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Dems, GOP Question Contempt Section Of Reconciliation Bill

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats have vowed to do whatever they can to defeat a provision in the budget reconciliation that would limit federal courts' ability to hold federal officials in contempt, and some Republicans are wary of it as well. 

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Attorney's FMLA Suit Against Va. City Headed To Trial

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former Virginia city assistant attorney's Family and Medical Leave Act suit against the chief city prosecutor will head to trial, a federal judge said Thursday, ruling that there is an open question over whether firing the attorney was a pretext to not grant a leave request.

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