Appellate

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Mull 5th Circ. Redo In ACA Preventive Care Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared skeptical of a Fifth Circuit ruling that found members of a task force setting preventive services coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act were unconstitutionally appointed, with multiple justices suggesting kicking the case back down to the circuit court for additional arguments.

  • April 21, 2025

    Democrats Seek More Funds To Protect Judges From Threats

    Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday asked U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts if more funding is needed to protect federal judges from a spike in physical threats that challenge "the viability of the rule of law itself."

  • April 21, 2025

    EFF Tells Fed. Circ. That 6th Circ. Case Aids Bid For IP Docs

    A digital rights nonprofit says that a recent Sixth Circuit revival of a fight for documents in a securities suit against a private prison operator bolsters its own bid at the Federal Circuit to unseal documents in a since-concluded patent lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas.

  • April 21, 2025

    T-Mobile Cites 5th Circ. Ruling In Challenge To $92M FCC Fine

    T-Mobile and Sprint told the D.C. Circuit that another appeals court got it right when it vacated a $57 million Federal Communications Commission fine against AT&T, asking the D.C. court to take the same approach to commission penalties against them.

  • April 21, 2025

    High Court Won't Review University Of Michigan's Gun Ban

    The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the University of Michigan's campus firearms ban Monday, leaving in place a lower court's ruling that the university is a "sensitive place" that may restrict guns.

  • April 21, 2025

    Supreme Court Won't Hear Neb. Tribe's Tobacco Sales Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear two Nebraska tribal companies' bid to undo an Eighth Circuit ruling that held the state can regulate a tribally owned manufacturer's sales of cigarettes to Indigenous-owned distributors after officials attempted to apply a settlement with major tobacco companies on the Winnebago reservation.

  • April 21, 2025

    High Court Wants SG's Input On Home Depot ERISA Case

    The nation's highest court asked the U.S. solicitor general Monday to opine on whether it should hear a retirement plan mismanagement case from Home Depot workers who say the Eleventh Circuit wrongly required them to link financial losses to alleged breaches of fiduciary duty.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Mall Of America's Sears Lease Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case filed by the owner of Minnesota's Mall of America against Sears Holding Corp. over a transfer of a 100-year lease for an anchor store location, leaving in place a lower court's finding that the mall's lease was not a "true" contract.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Kick Flavored-Vape Dispute Back To 5th Circ.

    After the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authority to reject an e-cigarette company's application to market flavored vapes, the high court on Monday granted summary disposition on one other pending case on the same subject, while denying certiorari to three others.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear CSX-Norfolk Southern Antitrust Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to review whether CSX waited too long to bring its antitrust case against Norfolk Southern over fees charged by a Virginia switching line they jointly own.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Patent Eligibility Ruling Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday decided to skip a case brought by a company that had lost a patent case against Amazon, declining the challenge asserting that courts routinely issue summary judgment rulings on patent eligibility, even if there are disputes of fact.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Pass On Damages Fight In Trading Patent Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday skipped a case brought by the winner of a $6.6 million patent infringement verdict who has argued that the Federal Circuit wrongly denied its bid to increase those damages after it said it discovered fraud in the proceedings.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Welding Inspector's Contractor Status

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a Fifth Circuit decision finding a welding inspector was an independent contractor, not an employee, and therefore not entitled to Fair Labor Standards Act coverage.

  • April 20, 2025

    High Court's Pause Of Removals Was 'Premature,' Alito Says

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision early Saturday morning to prohibit the Trump administration from using a 1798 wartime law to remove alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in northern Texas to an El Salvadoran prison was hasty and premature, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

  • April 19, 2025

    Up Next At High Court: Preventive Healthcare, LGBTQ Books

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in five cases this week, including disputes over the constitutionality of a task force that sets preventive healthcare coverage requirements, a school district's introduction of LGBTQ-themed storybooks and whether parties can establish standing based on harms affecting third parties. 

  • April 19, 2025

    Justices Temporarily Block Removals Under Wartime Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to halt removals of alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, pending further input from the court.

  • April 18, 2025

    11th Circ. Won't Revive ADA Suit Over Remote Work Firing

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday refused to revive a former call center director's Americans with Disabilities Act suit against a financial services company, holding that the company had legitimate reasons to fire her and reasonably accommodated her request to work from home due to her Crohn's disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • April 18, 2025

    Split 6th Circ. Clarifies Scope Of Sexual Harassment Arb. Ban

    A split Sixth Circuit panel clarified on Friday that a new federal law banning the mandatory arbitration of sexual-harassment claims may apply to alleged misconduct that occurred before the law was enacted, while a dissenting judge slammed the majority's opinion as a "formula for disaster."

  • April 18, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs SEC In Fraud Case Receivership Fight

    The Fifth Circuit has knocked down a Texas-based real estate investor's fight against a receivership imposed upon his entities by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the lower court did not exceed its authority in allowing the receivership in the $26 million fraud case.

  • April 18, 2025

    Venezuelans Ask High Court And 5th Circ. To Pause Removals

    A group of Venezuelans detained in northern Texas launched a multipronged effort Friday to prevent the Trump administration from removing them to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act before they can have their day in court, asking the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit and two district courts for emergency relief.

  • April 18, 2025

    Qualcomm Judge Bemoans 'Inefficiency' In Patent Fights

    A Florida federal judge has scheduled a third hearing on claim construction in a ParkerVision Inc. lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc. over wireless communications patents, while commenting about "the inefficiency of patent litigation."

  • April 18, 2025

    1st Circ. Upholds Massachusetts' Assault Weapons Ban

    The First Circuit on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision that a challenge to Massachusetts' 20-year-old ban on assault weapons is unlikely to succeed on the grounds that the ban comports with historical tradition.

  • April 18, 2025

    NIU Doesn't Have To Donate Undeveloped Land, Ill. Panel Says

    A Chicago suburb was correctly rejected in its bid to enforce a contract provision requiring Northern Illinois University Foundation to donate a parcel of land it decided not to develop into a branch campus, a state appellate panel said.

  • April 18, 2025

    Enviro Groups Tell 10th Circ. Denver's Dam Appeal Ill-Timed

    Environmental groups have asked the Tenth Circuit to preserve a lower court's order halting construction on a Denver dam, saying a stay requested by the city was filed prematurely.

  • April 18, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Nixed Zillow, NAR Antitrust Case

    The Ninth Circuit won't be rethinking a panel decision refusing to revive a defunct brokerage platform's case accusing Zillow and the National Association of Realtors of anticompetitively relegating its listings from Zillow's main page.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.

  • Fed. Circ. Inherency Ruling Refines Obviousness Framework

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    The Federal Circuit's December decision in Cytiva v. JSR has definitively eliminated the requirement of "reasonable expectation of success" analysis for inherent properties in obviousness determinations, while providing some key clarifications for patent practitioners, says Lawrence Kass at Steptoe.

  • Opinion

    Commercial Tree Thinning Should Be Part of Wildfire Control

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    The devastating wildfires currently afflicting California make it clear that the U.S. Forest Service should step up its use of methods including commercial tree removal to lower fire risk — but litigation that drags on for years stymies many of these efforts and endangers the public, says Jeffrey Beelaert at Givens Pursley.

  • The 5 Most Important Bid Protest Decisions Of 2024

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    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims and the Government Accountability Office issued five noteworthy bid protest decisions in 2024 that will likely have a continuing impact on questions concerning standing, timeliness, corporate transactions and more, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • High Court Could Further Limit Deference With TCPA Fax Case

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    The Supreme Court's decision to hear McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a case involving alleged junk faxes that centers whether district courts are bound by Federal Communications Commission rules, offers the court a chance to possibly further limit the judicial deference afforded to federal agency interpretations of statutes, says Samantha Duke at Rumberger Kirk.

  • Future Of Crypto-Asset Classification Is In 2nd Circ.'s Hands

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    A definitive ruling from the Second Circuit in a rare interlocutory appeal in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ongoing court battle with Coinbase could finally establish clear guidelines on the classification of digital assets, influencing how they are regulated and traded in the U.S., say attorneys at Manatt.

  • 5 Ways To Create Effective Mock Assignments For Associates

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    In order to effectively develop associates’ critical thinking skills, firms should design mock assignments that contain a few key ingredients, from messy fact patterns to actionable feedback, says Abdi Shayesteh at AltaClaro.

  • More Environmental Claims, More Greenwashing Challenges

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    As companies prepare for the 2025 greenwashing landscape, they should take heed of a D.C. appellate decision that shows that environmental claims are increasingly subject to attack and provides plaintiffs with a playbook for challenging corporate claims of sustainability, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Calif. Cannabis Decision Deepens Commerce Clause Divide

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    In Peridot Tree v. Sacramento, the Eastern District of California joined a growing minority of courts that have found the dormant commerce clause inapplicable to state-regulated marijuana, and the Ninth Circuit will soon provide important guidance on this issue, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • 4 Employment Law Areas Set To Change Under Trump

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    President Donald Trump's second term is expected to bring significant changes to the U.S. employment law landscape, including the potential for updated worker classification regulations, and challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion that are already taking shape, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • A Defendant's Guide To 4 Common CFPB Discovery Tactics

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    With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent flurry of new lawsuits showing no signs of stopping, defendants should know the bureau's most relied-upon discovery strategies — and be prepared to resist them, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What Employment Bias Litigation Looks Like After Muldrow

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    Nine months after the U.S. Supreme Court created an undemanding standard for discrimination claims in Muldrow v. St. Louis, Eric Schnapper at the University of Washington discusses how the Title VII litigation landscape has changed and what to expect moving forward.

  • The 7th Circ.'s Top 10 Civil Opinions Of 2024

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    Attorneys at Jenner & Block examine the most significant decisions issued by the Seventh Circuit in 2024, and explain how they may affect issues related to mass arbitration, consumer fraud, class certification and more.

  • Royal Canin Ruling Won't Transform Removal Jurisdiction

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Royal Canin USA v. Wullschleger means that federal district courts must now remand whenever an amended complaint excises grounds for federal jurisdiction — but given existing litigation strategy and case law trends, this may ultimately preserve, rather than alter, the status quo, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: Nov. And Dec. Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five federal court decisions and identifies practice tips from cases involving takings clause violations, breach of contract with banks, life insurance policies, employment and automobile defects.

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