9th Circ. Upholds Apple App Store Injunction In Epic Fight

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit mostly affirmed an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems on Thursday, handing Epic Games Inc. a partial win in their hotly contested compliance fight while agreeing with Apple that the injunction's commissions ban and certain restrictions are punitive and overbroad.

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'Totally Unacceptable': Alsup Rips Feds In Student Loan Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday denied the U.S. Department of Education's request for an 18-month extension to process over 200,000 loan cancellation applications for students claiming they were defrauded by colleges they attended, calling it "totally unacceptable" and setting an April deadline to get the job done.

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Trump Executive Order Targets 'Excessive' State AI Laws

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a controversial executive order establishing a "minimally burdensome national standard" for regulating artificial intelligence, deeming the order necessary for the United States to remain a leader in AI amid "excessive" state regulation.

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Md. Federal Judge Orders ICE To Release Ábrego García

By Britain Eakin

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to release Kilmar Ábrego García from immigration detention, ruling that his continued detention violates his due process rights and federal immigration law.

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5th Circ. Weighs Constitutionality Of Gun Dealer Licensing Law

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel seemed dubious Thursday of a gun dealer's claim that licensing requirements imposed on firearm merchants run afoul of the Second Amendment, asking if the dealer was arguing that the federal government cannot regulate gun sellers.

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Grassley Urges White House To Step It Up On Noms

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a message for the White House Thursday: "Get on the ball" with nominations for U.S. attorneys and the judiciary.

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White House Pushes Halligan's Confirmation Despite Hurdles

By Courtney Bublé

The White House is forging ahead with its bid to win confirmation of the president's controversial pick for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after a federal judge ruled she was serving illegally on an interim basis.

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Failed ACA Credit Extension Votes Leave Costs In Limbo

By Asha Glover

The Senate failed Thursday to pass procedural votes on two healthcare proposals to address the upcoming lapse in the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, including a proposal by Democrats to extend the subsidies for three years.

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4th Circ. Suppresses Gun Found In Illegal Traffic Stop Search

By Elizabeth Daley

A West Virginia man sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm should not have been searched during a 2023 traffic stop, a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, finding that a gun found on him should have been suppressed.

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Feds Reportedly Fail To Reindict NY AG Letitia James, Again

By Lauren Berg

New York Attorney General Letitia James' attorney Thursday celebrated reports that another Virginia federal grand jury declined to reindict her on charges of mortgage fraud, the second jury in a week to reject a case President Donald Trump had pushed prosecutors to pursue against a political opponent he's called "guilty as hell."

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NJ Sens. Urge Cooperation On Next NJ US Attorney Nom

By Courtney Bublé

The New Jersey senators are looking to collaborate with the White House to find a new nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey after the president's initial pick failed.

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Colo. Appeals Court Backs New Reasonable Doubt Instruction

By Parker Quinlan

A split Colorado appeals court Thursday upheld the use of a new model jury instruction on a reasonable doubt standard that a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material said lowered the burden for prosecutors to prove that a defendant is guilty.

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DOJ Says It's Entitled To Colo. Voter Registration Data

By Zach Dupont

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold should be forced to turn over state voter registration data that the federal government says it's entitled to, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a complaint filed in federal court Thursday.

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FSOC To Tack Toward Deregulation For Growth, Bessent Says

By Jon Hill

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the Financial Stability Oversight Council will pivot toward a focus on promoting economic growth through deregulation, charting a new course for the panel that mirrors shifts underway at its member agencies.

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Fed Terminates 3 Actions Against Credit Suisse, JPMorgan

By Sydney Price

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that it has terminated a trio of enforcement actions against Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., lifting consent orders that were tied to alleged illicit finance practices and trade surveillance failures.

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SEC Gives DTCC Nod To Offer Tokenization Service

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday issued a no-action letter clearing the way for The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to launch a service tokenizing certain securities.

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House Weighs CFTC's Future As Admin Looks To Fill Positions

By Jessica Corso

The White House said Thursday that it will soon fill some of the open leadership positions at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as industry experts and former CFTC insiders told Congress that the agency will need more funding and additional personnel if it's to properly police the cryptocurrency and prediction markets.

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Grants Can Be Axed For Political Reasons, DOJ Atty Says

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration lawyer said Thursday that the president had blanket authority to cancel every discretionary grant slated for states that broke against him in the general election, and it wouldn't amount to a violation of the Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantee.

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Alaska Natives Say Arctic Oil Project Ignores Enviro Risks

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management failed to properly evaluate the environmental impacts of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.'s seismic and exploration drilling program in the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaskan natives and green groups said Thursday in a new lawsuit.

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6th Circ. Hesitant To Call CDC Puppy Import Rule A 'Ban'

By Danielle Ferguson

Sixth Circuit judges Thursday appeared skeptical that updated U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules for bringing in dogs from other countries amounted to a ban that exceeded the agency's authority, but still challenged the agency on why age and microchip requirements are needed to prevent the spread of rabies.

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Trial Record Backs Gender-Affirming Care, Ohio Justices Told

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of transgender youths and their families urged Ohio's highest court to affirm their win overturning state restrictions on gender-affirming care, arguing undisputed evidence at trial backed their arguments on the safety and effectiveness of the treatment.

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Tracking Challenges To USPTO's Discretion Policy

By Dani Kass

Leaders at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have significantly altered the Patent Trial and Appeal Board playing field since March, making changes to institution reviews that have led to unprecedented levels of petition denials. A steady stream of companies has challenged those changes through mandamus petitions to the Federal Circuit, and here Law360 tracks where those petitions stand.

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NY Gov. Signs Landmark AI Bill On 'Synthetic' Ad Performers

By Hailey Konnath

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed into law landmark legislation requiring disclosure of the use of any artificial intelligence-generated "synthetic" performers in advertisements and also requiring the consent of heirs or executors to use the name, image or likeness of a person who has died.

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NJ Judge Won't Lift Bid Deadline On Tunnel Rail Project

By Emily Brill

A New Jersey federal judge said Thursday she won't lift a deadline to bid on a railway-construction project associated with building a new tunnel to New York City, saying a New Jersey construction company isn't likely to win its challenge to a project labor agreement tied to the venture.

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FEMA's Freeze On Disaster Mitigation Funds Ruled Unlawful

By Lauren Berg

The Trump administration unlawfully terminated Federal Emergency Management Agency funds intended to pay for disaster mitigating projects, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Thursday, describing the case as an "unlawful executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds" for specific purposes.

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Mass. Panel Drops Tax Value Of Lowe's Store Property

By Sanjay Talwani

A Lowe's store in Massachusetts was overvalued by more than $4 million, a state tax panel ruled, finding evidence presented by the local assessor in the case unpersuasive.

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Mass. Property Denied Farm Tax Break After Site Visit

By Sanjay Talwani

The owners of a Massachusetts property failed to show it qualified for an agricultural classification for tax purposes, a state board said after a member visited the site, upholding the assessment of back taxes on a portion of the property.

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Nonprofit Says Calif. Gov. Order Wrongfully Blocks Housing

By Isaac Monterose

A housing nonprofit sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other parties in state court over government orders that blocked the construction of residential properties in certain areas hit by the January wildfires.

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NJ Justices Say Teacher Was 'Essential' During Pandemic

By Carla Baranauckas

An Ocean Township teacher who died from COVID‑19 in 2020 was an "essential employee" entitled to a statutory presumption that her illness was work-related, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed Thursday, rejecting the school district's arguments that the workers' compensation judge improperly granted summary relief without supporting affidavits.

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Split Pa. Panel Blocks Police Reports On Liquor Licensee

By Matthew Santoni

A trial court was wrong to deny a Philadelphia establishment's appeal for renewal of its liquor license, since nearly a dozen police reports the court considered should have been excluded as hearsay, a split appellate panel said Thursday.

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FTC, Amazon Want To Delay Antitrust Trial By 7 Weeks

By Bryan Koenig

As they try to get back on track after the government shutdown, the Federal Trade Commission and Amazon asked a Washington federal judge Wednesday to push back the start of the antitrust trial accusing the online retail giant of creating an artificial pricing floor.

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FTC Challenges $725M Construction Adhesives Deal

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit Thursday in New York federal court to challenge a $725 million merger combining Loctite with Liquid Nails, arguing that joining "the clear top two brands of construction adhesives" would drive up costs for home building and improvement.

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Agri Stats Says DOJ Wants To 'Leapfrog' Pork Pricing Claims

By Matthew Perlman

Agri Stats urged a Minnesota federal court to reject the Justice Department's bid to "leapfrog" a set of private antitrust cases involving pork prices by using a scheduled May trial for its information sharing claims against the data firm instead.

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DOJ-UnitedHealth Deal Requiring Home Health Sale OK'd

By Bryan Koenig

A Maryland federal judge signed off on the U.S. Department of Justice settlement resolving its challenge to UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice company Amedisys, under a deal requiring the sale of least 164 locations across 19 states.

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House Panel Advances Nearly 20 Bills To Protect Kids Online

By Allison Grande

A package of 18 bills that propose using methods such age verification mandates, government-run studies and educational campaigns to enhance online safeguards for children passed through a House subcommittee Thursday, despite concerns from Democrats that the measures wouldn't be enough to counter recent moves to reduce the roles of states and the Federal Trade Commission in this space. 

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DoorDash, Uber Sue NYC To Block Checkout Tip Prompt Law

By Rae Ann Varona

DoorDash and Uber Eats filed suit together Thursday in Manhattan federal court, seeking to block two New York City laws that the food delivery companies say force them to solicit tips before or as customers check out, in an alleged violation of the companies' constitutional rights.

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Brief

Texas Business Group CEO Resigns After Sexual Assault Suit

By Spencer Brewer

The CEO of Texas' largest business association has stepped down after a woman who founded a business advocacy group said he attempted to coerce her into a sexual relationship and then assaulted her when she rejected his advances. 

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Democrats Say DOD Diverts $2B To Immigration Enforcement

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Pentagon has diverted at least $2 billion in obligated funds to support immigration enforcement efforts across the country instead of the agency's core national security functions, according to a report released by Democratic lawmakers on Thursday. 

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Natural Gas Tax Nixed For Wash. Silicon Maker On Appeal

By Sanjay Talwani

A Washington state maker of silicon materials used in solar semiconductors qualified for a tax exemption for natural gas purchased for use in its manufacturing process, an appeals court said Thursday, reversing a state board.

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Group Seeks Cannabis Reclassification Regarding Tax Status

By Jaqueline McCool

Cannabis shouldn't be categorized as a Schedule 1 or 2 drug, so tax law regarding the sale of illegal drugs shouldn't be applied to cannabis sales, a coalition of cannabis industry groups told the U.S. Tax Court in an amicus brief Thursday.

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Trump Admin Defends 'Authority' To Cancel Migrant Parole

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge Thursday it has "discretionary authority" to revoke removal protections and work authorizations for nearly 1 million immigrants who entered the country using the federal government's CBP One app.

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DOJ Wants Declarations Struck In 3rd Country Removals Case

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration urged a Massachusetts federal judge to strike some two dozen declarations detailing grim experiences with its policy of removing noncitizens to countries they don't have ties to, characterizing their filing as blatant "gamesmanship" with a court hearing days away.

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Terraform Founder Gets 15 Years For 'Epic' $40B Crypto Scam

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge hit Terraform founder Do Kwon with a 15-year prison sentence Thursday, saying he caused "real people to lose $40 billion in real money" as he orchestrated a massive fraud that sunk the once high-flying crypto concern.

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Ill. State Sen. Fends Off Bribery Retrial With Government Deal

By Lauraann Wood

A sitting Illinois state senator who was set for a criminal bribery retrial has agreed instead to enter a deferred prosecution agreement that will see his federal case dismissed next year as long as he follows certain conditions without issue and pays the U.S. government $6,800.

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Navajo President Reinstates Controller Amid Legal Dispute

By Crystal Owens

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has agreed to formally recognize that Sean McCabe is the tribe's controller, ending a dispute over the first-in-command's efforts to terminate his employment.

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Feds Challenge Utah Tribe's 1800 Act Land Ownership Claim

By Crystal Owens

The federal government is asking the D.C. Circuit to reject a bid by the Ute Indian Tribe to reverse a lower court decision that denied it ownership of 1.5 million acres of U.S. land, saying the challenge is based on mischaracterizations of a 19th century law.

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NextNav Gears Up Geolocation System Test In Bay Area

By Christopher Cole

Navigation technology developer NextNav said Thursday it would conduct a test run in San Jose, California, of its proposed network to backstop the Global Positioning System.

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Localities Worried Over FCC Preemption On Rights Of Way

By Christopher Cole

Cities are protesting a legal effort underway at the Federal Communications Commission to potentially override local decision-making when it comes to the use of publicly owned rights of way for high-speed internet deployment projects.

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Court Orders Redesign Of Calif. Cannabis Tracking System

By Jonathan Capriel

California's Department of Cannabis Control must overhaul its tracking system, a state court judge has ruled, saying it fails to highlight suspicious transactions or notify the department of regulatory violations, as required by state law.

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Brief

Kratom, Kava Sellers Drop Suit Over Utah Product Ban

By Jonathan Capriel

A company that marketed psychoactive products derived from the kratom leaf and kava root has permanently dropped its federal lawsuit against Utah regulators challenging the constitutionality of rules blocking the sale of their wares in the state.

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Brief

Fla. Lawmaker Proposes Medical Marijuana Home Cultivation

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida is considering a bill that would allow qualified medical marijuana patients to grow up to six flowering cannabis plants at home for personal use and purchase seeds from licensed centers.

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NJ Cannabis Co. Challenges Law Requiring Deal With Unions

By Katherine Smith

A cannabis company is urging a New Jersey federal court to pause an upcoming arbitration proceeding with a United Food and Commercial Workers local over its firing of several employees, claiming that it had been coerced into entering an agreement with the union by an unconstitutional state law.

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Series

Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

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Tracking The Evolution Of AI Insurance Regulation In 2025

As artificial intelligence continues to transform the insurance industry, including underwriting, pricing, claims processing and customer engagement, state regulators, led by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, are increasing oversight to ensure that innovation does not outpace consumer protections, say attorneys at Fenwick.

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NBA, MLB Betting Indictments: Slam Dunks Or Strikeouts?

Recent fraud charges against bettors, NBA players and MLB pitchers raise questions about what the government will need to prove to prosecute individuals involved in placing bets based on nonpublic information, and it could be a tough sell to juries, say attorneys at Ford O'Brien.

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How New SEC Policies Shift Shareholder Proposal Landscape

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins' recent remarks provide a road map for public companies to exclude nonbinding shareholder proposals from proxy materials, which would disrupt the mechanism that has traditionally defined how shareholders and companies engage on governance matters, say attorneys at Gunderson.

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6 Laws For Calif. Employers To Know In 2026

California's legislative changes for 2026 impose sweeping new obligations on employers, including by expanding pay data reporting, clarifying protections related to bias mitigation training and broadening record access rights, but employers can avoid heightened exposure by proactively evaluating their compliance, modernizing internal systems and updating policies, says Alexa Foley at Gordon Rees.

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New Russia Energy Sanctions Add Compliance Complexity

Recent U.S. and U.K. designations of Russian oil companies and related entities, as well as a new sanctions package from EU, mark a significant escalation in restrictions on the Russian energy industry and add a new layer of regulatory complications for companies operating in the global energy sector, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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Key Crypto Class Action Trends And Rulings In 2025

As the law continued to take shape in the growing area of crypto-assets, this year saw a jump in crypto class action litigation, including noteworthy decisions on motions to compel arbitration and class certification, according to Justin Donoho at Duane Morris.

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Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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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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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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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 Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Higgs Fletcher Forms White Collar, Regs Enforcement Team

By Andrea Keckley

San Diego-based law firm Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP has launched a white collar crime and regulatory enforcement defense practice group, citing heightened regulatory scrutiny in the financial and healthcare sectors and rising enforcement risks for licensed professionals and institutions.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Ex-NJ Municipal Court Admin Says COVID Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

The former municipal court administrator for West Windsor Township, New Jersey, has alleged that the town failed to accommodate her disability when it fired her instead of giving her a short medical leave of absence after she contracted COVID-19.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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