'Skill Games' Don't Define One's Character, Court Says

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania regulators can't judge owners and operators of so-called skill games terminals as lacking "good character" solely because the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has concerns about the legality and effects of the games, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

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Judge Orders Feds To Explain If Removals Defied Injunction

By Britain Eakin

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Thursday called the Trump administration's Thursday response to his inquiry into whether the deportation of Venezuelans violated his injunction "woefully insufficient," and gave the administration until Friday morning to fulfill its obligations and provide the court with an adequate response.

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9th Circ. Judge Takes Aim At Calif. Gun Ruling On YouTube

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Ninth Circuit judge on Thursday took to YouTube to issue a dissent over the court's decision to ban in California all high-capacity magazines for weapons, a move that several of his fellow judges lamented as "wildly improper" and said they needed to address "lest the genre proliferate."

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8th Circ. Won't Pause FTC's Insulin Pricing Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Eighth Circuit refused Thursday to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices while the pharmacy benefit managers challenge the constitutionality of the proceedings.

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Trump Rescinds Paul Weiss Order After Firm Strikes Deal

By Lauren Berg

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will rescind an executive order suspending security clearances held by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP employees after the law firm agreed to not adopt DEI hiring practices and to provide $40 million worth of pro bono services to support administration initiatives.

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7th Circ. Chief Judge Diane Sykes To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Diane Sykes of the Seventh Circuit will take semiretired status on Oct. 1.

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Hawley To Introduce Bill To Restrict Nationwide Injunctions

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced on Thursday he would be introducing legislation to prevent district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions.

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Roundup

NC Statehouse Catch-Up: Helene, Crypto, Curbing The AG

By Hayley Fowler

Hurricane Helene is still center stage in the North Carolina General Assembly nearly six months after it tore through a large swath of the state, with the governor signing off on the latest round of funding as one lawmaker seeks to carve out cash to rebuild a destroyed courthouse.

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SEC Steps Back From Crypto Mining In Staff Statement

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance said Thursday that certain crypto mining activities are beyond the agency's purview, but the commission's lone Democrat warned against interpreting the statement as a "wholesale exemption for mining."

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OCC Says It Will Stop Examining Banks For Reputation Risk

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday that it will no longer examine banks for reputation risk, adopting a policy change that some Republican lawmakers want to require for all federal banking regulators to help curb so-called debanking.

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Judge Denies CFPB's Bid To Pause Experian Dispute Case

By Emilie Ruscoe

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can't pause its dispute-handling claims against credit reporting giant Experian to give the agency's new acting director time to review the case, a California federal judge said.

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CFPB Union Narrows Injunction Bid In Shutdown Suit

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would be barred from idling its workforce under a narrowed injunction bid filed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., federal court, where the agency's employee union is squaring off with the Trump administration.

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No Coal Plant Rescue Plans On The Table, FERC Chair Says

By Keith Goldberg

President Donald Trump's recent call for his administration to encourage more coal-fired power use hasn't resulted in any order to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to craft policies to prop up coal plants, Chairman Mark Christie said Thursday.

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Utah High Court Leaves Youth Climate Claims Down For Now

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Utah Supreme Court on Thursday found that a group of youths hasn't shown it has grounds to pursue a lawsuit against the state over its energy policies that allegedly contribute to climate change.

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Oil And Gas Cos. Say DC 'Greenwashing' Claims Are Too Vague

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. Superior Court judge pressed both sides in the district's consumer protection suit against four major oil and gas companies Thursday to say whether the city's claims that the companies misled consumers through systematic "greenwashing" campaigns fall within the scope of what she called a "very broad" statute.

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MiMedx Challenges FDA Classification Of Wound Care Powder

By Kelcey Caulder

Biomedical company MiMedx Group urged a Georgia federal judge on Thursday to overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's classification of a wound care treatment as a biological product, arguing the agency misapplied its own regulations.

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Industry Groups Criticize Withdrawal Of PTAB Denial Memo

By Ryan Davis

Groups representing major industries have written to the White House expressing "grave concern" about the patent office's withdrawal of a guidance memo limiting when patent challenges can be denied, and large tech companies told a court the office's move bolsters their case against such denials.

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Fox News Host Wins Atty Fees Over Failed Defamation Row

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered a former business associate of Hunter Biden and an attorney to pay more than $331,000 in attorney fees to a Fox News analyst they targeted in a failed defamation lawsuit, saying the analyst's counsel didn't engage in "duplicative" and "opportunistic" billing practices.

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Colo. Judge Tells School To Return Banned Books To Shelves

By Thy Vo

A Colorado federal judge has ordered a rural school district to return 19 books to school library shelves and temporarily barred it from removing more titles, finding the district was motivated by a "blatantly unconstitutional" desire to ban books it disagrees with.

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Media Matters Says X Can't Restrict Dispute To Texas

By Spencer Brewer

A nonprofit media watchdog wants to preserve its California federal lawsuit challenging social media site X's efforts to pursue defamation claims in Texas federal court, telling a Texas federal judge that X failed to adequately argue for an anti-suit injunction.

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Animal, Community Groups Can't Foil Iowa 'Ag-Gag' Law

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

An Iowa federal judge has tossed animal rights and community advocacy groups' First Amendment challenge to the state's "ag-gag" law that's designed to thwart undercover investigations of animal treatment.

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NTSB Says Maryland Didn't Track Risks Of Key Bridge Collapse

By Linda Chiem

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Thursday that 68 bridges in 19 states be evaluated for risk of collapse in the event of a vessel strike, and found that Maryland officials failed to adequately calculate vulnerabilities in Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge well before its collapse last year.

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Former Ore. Doctor's Deduction For Insurance Premiums OK'd

By Sanjay Talwani

A former Oregon doctor's payments of $2.5 million to a captive insurer are deductible from his state taxable income, the Oregon Tax Court ruled, saying an agreement the taxpayer reached with the Internal Revenue Service did not bar the deductions.

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LA Hit With Sanctions Request In Encampment Sweep Lawsuit

By Grace Dixon

Homeless residents accused the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office of hiding documents they requested in their suit challenging the constitutionality of encampment sweeps, asking a California federal court for case-ending sanctions for the second time in two weeks.

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Conn. AG Sues Builder, Companies For State Park Clear-Cut

By Brian Steele

A real estate builder and two of his companies have illegally clear-cut multiple acres of Connecticut state park land, installed fixtures including a basketball court and a guesthouse without permission and blocked public access to the area, according to an enforcement action brought by the state attorney general's office.

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7th Circ. Backs Chicago Rail In Canine Officer's ADA Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Seventh Circuit said Thursday it won't revive a Chicago rail officer's suit claiming he was removed from his canine handler role after testing positive for drugs he had been prescribed, faulting him for failing to respond to the agency's requests to clarify the results.

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9th Circ. Won't Renew Consumers' Amazon 'Buy Box' Suit

By Greg Lamm

A Ninth Circuit panel has declined to revive a consumer antitrust suit against Amazon, ruling on Thursday the plaintiffs have failed to show they were injured by the e-commerce company's practices incentivizing third-party sellers to use its logistics services with the "Buy Box" feature.

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FTC Asks 8th Circ. To Nix Click-To-Cancel Rule Challenges

By Nadia Dreid

The Trump administration's Federal Trade Commission isn't planning an about-face on the "click-to-cancel" rule debuted last year under the Biden administration, at least according to a recent filing asking the Eighth Circuit to dismiss a petition challenging the rule.

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Colo. Court Says No Corp. Damages Cap In Some Death Suits

By Thy Vo

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday held that there is no cap on damages for corporations facing wrongful death lawsuits for "felonious killings," sending a case back to a trial court to consider how much of a $15 million verdict Xcel Energy should pay.

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Conn. Murder Exoneree Seeks Extra $2M From Cop's Estate

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut felony murder exoneree on Thursday asked a judge to heap an extra $2 million onto a $5.7 million federal jury verdict issued Wednesday against the estate of a now-deceased town police officer who failed to raise red flags about a key witness's interview.

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IRS SALT Cap Workaround Rule Unlawful, 2nd Circ. Told

By Maria Koklanaris

The Internal Revenue Service unlawfully created a rule prohibiting workarounds to the federal cap on state and local tax deductions, a New Jersey deputy attorney general told a Second Circuit panel Thursday, asking the appellate judges to overturn a lower court ruling that upheld the rule.

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Ill. Justices End Cities' Dispute Over Cooper's Hawk Sales Tax

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a suit brought by an Illinois village against a neighboring city that allegedly pocketed over $1 million in sales tax revenue owed to the village, saying the Illinois Department of Revenue has exclusive jurisdiction over such disputes between municipalities and an intermediate appellate panel wrongly revived the case.

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Parolees Say DHS Parole Program Cuts Causing Broad Injury

By Madeline Lyskawa

Eighteen noncitizen parolees and U.S.-based sponsors suing the Department of Homeland Security are urging a Massachusetts federal judge to block the termination of Biden-era parole programs for Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cuba and other countries, arguing a block is necessary to "prevent deep and broadening irreparable injury."

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Brief

DOJ Drops Biden-Era Suit Over Texas Migrant Arrest Law

By Spencer Brewer

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to dismiss its challenge to a Texas law that allows state officials to arrest people suspected of crossing the border unlawfully and empowers state judges to order their removal.

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Brief

DHS Says There's No Evidence Parole Is Being Categorically Denied

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged a D.C. federal judge on Thursday to reject asylum-seekers' attempt to renegotiate an agreement to release them from detention on a case-by-case basis, saying they've offered no evidence that parole is being categorically denied.

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Feds Say Crypto Lobbyist Can't Delay FTX-Tied Case

By Katryna Perera

New York federal prosecutors Thursday opposed a request from attorney and crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond to extend filing deadlines for pre-trial motions in her criminal case until June, saying Bond's inability to access her assets due to bankruptcy proceedings involving her FTX-affiliated husband is not enough to warrant a delay.

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Feds Ask High Court To Nix Mich. Tribal Land Trust Row

By Crystal Owens

A Michigan tribe's analysis of a law governing the state's Indigenous land claims would allow it to purchase property anywhere and then compel the U.S. to take it into trust for its benefit, the Interior Department has told the Supreme Court, arguing the interpretation would render a bizarre result.

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FCC Eases Regs To Hasten Switch From Copper Lines

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday waived several longstanding rules in an effort to clear what FCC Chair Brendan Carr characterized as "red tape" delaying telecoms from putting legacy copper lines out to pasture.

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State AGs Want 11th Circ. Redo Of FCC Robocall Reg Ruling

By Christopher Cole

Attorneys general from more than half the states and Washington, D.C., are urging the full Eleventh Circuit to reverse a panel decision that nixed a federal rule restricting the use of comparison shopping sites to generate robocall leads.

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Brief

Senate Panel To Weigh NTIA Nom Next Week

By Christopher Cole

A U.S. Senate panel next week will consider President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce branch that oversees federal spectrum policy.

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Brief

Ore. City Can License Channels For Public Safety System

By Nadia Dreid

A small town nestled in the northwestern part of Oregon will be allowed to license four business channels for public safety and first responder communications, the Federal Communications Commission has said.

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Texas Senators Approve Bill Banning THC Consumables

By Sam Reisman

The Texas state Senate has approved a bill that would broadly ban consumable products with hemp-derived cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC, sending the legislation to the state House of Representatives.

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Robinson Bradshaw Adds Ex-FBI Deputy Chief Of Staff

By Jack Rodgers

Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson PA has hired a former FBI deputy chief of staff, whose new role will focus on representing clients in complex internal investigations similar to those he led in a previous position at the Justice Department, the firm announced.

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Frost Brown Adds Former Houston City Atty To Finance Team

By Corey Rothauser

Frost Brown Todd LLP announced that it has hired an attorney from the ranks of Houston's city government to strengthen its public finance group, adding his expertise in state and local government operations, taxation and economic development.

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Deportation Flights May End Up A Legal And Strategic Error

Officials in the Trump administration could face criminal contempt charges if a D.C. judge finds that they flouted his orders last weekend to halt deportation flights to El Salvador, which could ultimately make mass deportations more difficult — and proving noncompliance a self-defeating strategy, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

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Preparing For Tariffs On Canadian Power In The Northeast

The on-again, off-again risk of import and export tariffs on energy transactions between the U.S. and Canada may have repercussions for U.S. energy stakeholders in the ISO New England and New York Independent System Operator electricity markets — but there are options that could help reduce cost impacts, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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How Health Cos. Can Navigate Data Security Regulation Limbo

Despite the Trump administration's freeze on proposed updates to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act security rule, there are critical cybersecurity steps healthcare organizations can take now without clear federal guidance, says William Li at Axiom.

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New SEC Guidance May Change How Investors, Cos. Talk

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent updates to the Schedules 13D and G compliance and disclosure interpretations may mean large institutional investors substantially curtail the feedback they provide companies about their voting intentions in connection with shareholder meetings, which could result in negative voting outcomes for companies, say attorneys at Cleary.

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How Calif.'s Wildfire Insurance Crisis Might Affect Texas

Attorneys at Munsch Hardt examine the implications of California's wildfire insurance crisis for Texas, including potential shifts in coverage availability, regulatory differences and how the insurers in the second-largest U.S. state may react to a major wildfire event.

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Calif. Antitrust Bill Could Alter Enforcement Landscape

If enacted, a recently proposed California bill that would strengthen the state’s antitrust law could signal a notable shift in the U.S. enforcement environment, but questions remain about the types of cases the state could pursue, whether other states will follow suit and more, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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4 Key Payments Trends For White Collar Attys

As the payments landscape continues to innovate and the new administration looks to expand the role of digital currency in the American economy, white collar practitioners should be aware of several key issues in this space, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

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Mitigating The Risk Of Interacting With A Designated Cartel

There are steps companies doing business in Latin America should take to mitigate risks associated with the Trump administration's designation of several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and the terrorism statute's material-support provisions, which may render seemingly legitimate transactions criminal, say attorneys at Covington.

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Series

Performing Stand-Up Comedy Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Whether I’m delivering a punchline on stage or a closing argument in court, balancing stand-up comedy performances and my legal career has demonstrated that the keys to success in both endeavors include reading the room, landing the right timing and making an impact, says attorney Rebecca Palmer.

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Paul Weiss Stuns Legal Industry With Trump DEI Deal

By Ryan Boysen

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration to defuse an executive order targeting the firm has drawn criticism across the legal industry and highlights the challenges preventing BigLaw firms from taking collective action against the White House.

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Up Next At High Court: Non-Delegation & Clean Air Fights

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to hear arguments in a dispute that could revive a long-dormant separation of powers principle and trigger a regulatory power shift. 

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3rd Circ. Axes Ethics Claim Against Judge Critical Of Trump

By Emily Sawicki

A D.C. federal judge who criticized then-candidate Donald Trump in a CNN interview last spring has escaped judicial misconduct charges, with the Judicial Council of the Third Circuit finding that the judge had not violated judicial canons in his statements regarding Trump's social media posts amid a pending legal action.

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Ex-Cognizant CLO Reconsidering Dismissal Of Paul Weiss

By Carla Baranauckas

A former Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. executive facing bribery charges indicated Friday that he may reconsider his decision to fire Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP as his trial counsel, now that President Donald Trump has rescinded an executive order limiting the firm's access to federal buildings and officials.

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Judge Accused Of Bias Expresses Regret Over MDL Remarks

By Emily Johnson

The chief judge of the Eleventh Circuit has dismissed a judicial ethics complaint alleging that a Florida federal judge had shown impermissible bias in favor of women leading the multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, after the judge said she "regrets any misunderstanding" and took steps to address the issue.

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Attys Suing FIFA Say Humans, Not AI, Made Citation Errors

By Lauren Berg

Attorneys accusing soccer's international governing body, its Puerto Rican affiliate and a regional soccer association of trying to block local rivals told a Puerto Rico federal judge Friday that it was simply human oversight — not the use of artificial intelligence — that led to citation inaccuracies in recent filings.

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Ex-Buzbee Client Says Roc Nation Can't Exit Conspiracy Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation can't exit a lawsuit that claims his company conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee because it was "an integral and driving force" behind the alleged misconduct, according to a response filed in Texas federal court to a motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds.

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Analysis

Nonlawyer Migrant Aides See Clear Mission But Murky Future

By Marco Poggio

"Accredited representatives," a little-known and underutilized role that allows nonlawyers to represent immigrants with the federal government's authorization, are facing unprecedented demand but also an uncertain future under the Trump administration.

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No Suspension Pause For Ex-Alex Jones Atty, Ethics Boss Says

By Brian Steele

A former Alex Jones attorney's two-week suspension from practicing law in Connecticut should not be halted amid an impending appeal, but he should get credit for a previous weeklong suspension he served over the same mishandling of confidential information about family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims, the state's chief legal ethics official said in a new filing.

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3rd Circ. Takes On NJ Judicial Privacy Law's Constitutionality

By Rose Krebs

The Third Circuit has granted requests by several data brokers to review a lower court judge's ruling that New Jersey's judicial privacy and security measure, known as Daniel's Law, is constitutional.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen a sub-postmaster sue the Post Office and Fujitsu, Russian insurer Ingosstrakh hit the Financial Times with a defamation claim, and Britvic-owned Robinsons Soft Drinks file a passing off claim against Aldi. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Cognizant's former chief legal officer, who's facing bribery charges, requested a trial delay after he fired Paul Weiss from his defense team following the Trump administration's suspension of the firm's security clearances. Meanwhile, new findings show that women are still compensated less than men in legal operations roles. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP, Grant & Eisenhofer PA and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a D.C. federal judge upheld a $612.4 million jury verdict against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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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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