Appellate

  • August 17, 2026

    Unfair Jury Instructions Challenged Too Late, 6th Circ. Says

    An Ohio man convicted of hiring two hitmen to kill a man for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry from him cannot challenge his "almost certainly" unconstitutional mandatory life sentence, because he waited far too long to raise the matter, the Sixth Circuit said Friday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Experts See Looming Legal Disputes Over FCC Party Balance

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to ditch case law shielding independent federal agency members from presidential removal is unlikely to resolve ongoing controversy over White House control of the Federal Communications Commission, experts said Monday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Moderna, Arbutus Clash On Gov't Venue For Vax IP Claims

    Moderna Inc. has accused Arbutus Biopharma Corp. of turning a government contractor indemnification law "upside down" by arguing the COVID-19 vaccine supplier must face infringement litigation, while Arbutus says the government is wielding that relationship to dodge liability in two separate courts.

  • August 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Wonder If Murder Witness Had A Deal

    A divided Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that it needs more information before it can decide whether to grant a man's habeas corpus petition that argues prosecutors in his murder case misled a jury about a key witness's leniency agreement.

  • August 17, 2026

    NJ Justices Let Murder Defendant Undo Global Guilty Plea

    The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday ruled a defendant in separate felony murder and armed robbery cases must be allowed to withdraw his global guilty plea after evidence used in both cases was suppressed on appeal.

  • August 17, 2026

    USPTO Backs Double Patent Policy Squires Wants Reviewed

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold the rejection of a Sanofi patent application for double patenting, days after USPTO Director John Squires said in a separate case that the policy rationale underlying both disputes should be reconsidered.

  • August 17, 2026

    Happy Egg Breaks 'Pasture Raised' False Ad Class At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday threw out class certification of California and New York consumers accusing the company behind the Happy Egg brand of deceptively labeling egg cartons with promises that its hens are "pasture raised on over 8 acres."

  • August 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Statute Mandates Central Valley Contract Switch

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had no duty to complete environmental reviews before it converted dozens of water service contracts for the Central Valley Project in California in a process intended to help fund storage improvements.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mass. Justices Reject Injured Roofer's Negligent Hiring Suit

    Massachusetts' top court said Monday that state law does not recognize a negligent hiring claim when it is lodged by a subcontractor's worker against the general contractor and tossed a suit seeking to hold the contractor liable for a roofer's nearly fatal fall.

  • August 17, 2026

    10th Circ. Skeptical Of Gov't In Rwandan Refugee Appeal

    The Tenth Circuit on Monday pushed back against the U.S. government's contention that a Rwandan woman can't seek judicial review of its decision to terminate her refugee status during a rehearing of the woman's challenge of the termination. 

  • August 17, 2026

    Kalshi Loses Bid To Block Conn. Enforcement

    A Connecticut federal judge has denied a bid from KalshiEX to keep offering sports contracts while it pursues an appeal before the Second Circuit, finding the prediction market's arguments for a stay had already been rejected by the court and that it has not shown it is likely to win on appeal.

  • August 17, 2026

    Attorneys Skeptical Of Trump's 11th Circ. Appeal Of IRS Case

    Six attorneys who weighed in on President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service told a Florida federal court Monday that he hasn't demonstrated that he will prove that its ruling that the settlement from the suit lacked a legitimate controversy violated due process.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Panel Says Notice Rule Doesn't Bar Workers' Bias Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel has refused to dismiss sex discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation claims by Wayne County Community College District police employees, ruling that the college is a local political subdivision and not subject to the Court of Claims Act's notice requirement.

  • August 17, 2026

    Medtech Group Faults Fed. Circ. Trade Secret Timing Rule

    A medical technology trade group and a University of Texas law professor are urging the full Federal Circuit to revisit a decision that wiped out Insulet Corp.'s trade secret win against EOFlow Co. Ltd. after finding the suit untimely, reversing a $452 million jury verdict that had been reduced to $59.4 million.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Asked To Ban Ten Commandments In Texas Schools

    Two dozen families on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's decision allowing Texas to require public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, arguing the decision "egregiously" ignores several of the high court's religious freedom precedents.

  • August 17, 2026

    10th Circ. Won't Rehear Okla. Death Row Gender Bias Claim

    The Tenth Circuit will not reconsider its decision upholding convicted murderer Brenda Andrew's death sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court revived her claim that the use of sexualized and gender-stereotyped evidence at trial violated her constitutional rights.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Court Won't Revisit Pot-Smell Basis For Car Search

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has again affirmed that the smell of cannabis can serve as the basis of a police search, noting that the court had already weighed in on the issue in a similar case earlier this year.

  • August 17, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Public Can Film Police And Their Stations

    The Second Circuit said Monday it has joined "a growing chorus of our sister circuits" in finding a constitutional right to record law enforcement activity in public, as well as police buildings, but still turned away a self-described First Amendment auditor's lawsuit over his arrest while filming the exterior of a Connecticut police station.

  • August 17, 2026

    11th Circ. Revives Royal Caribbean 401(k) Fund Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit reversed a win on Monday for Royal Caribbean in a suit from cruise ship workers who alleged they lost 401(k) savings because of shoddy target-date investment funds, holding that a lower court erred in handing the cruise company an early win in a challenge to the prudence of their investment management.

  • August 17, 2026

    Justices Won't Reconsider Verizon's $47M FCC Fine

    The U.S. Supreme Court is not interested in reconsidering how it worded its June opinion upholding the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties, despite Verizon arguing that the ruling left it between a rock and a hard place concerning the $47 million fine it already paid.

  • August 17, 2026

    Chattah Can't Serve As Acting Nevada US Atty, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that Nevada's top prosecutor was not put in place lawfully and was barred from overseeing the criminal cases giving rise to the appeal, the latest state where courts have shut down attempts by the Trump administration to fill U.S. attorney vacancies without Senate confirmation.

  • August 17, 2026

    4th Circ. Says Waiver Applicants Aren't Shielded From ICE

    Federal immigration regulations do not prevent the government from deporting an unlawfully present noncitizen who is married to a U.S. citizen and is seeking to avoid being statutorily barred from reentering the country amid the green card process, the Fourth Circuit ruled.

  • August 17, 2026

    NC Gov. Nixes GOP Bill To Let Chief Justice Suspend Judges

    North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Monday vetoed a bill that would allow the chief justice to suspend trial court judges under investigation by the Tar Heel State's judicial watchdog, criticizing lawmakers as "playing politics" with the judiciary.

  • August 17, 2026

    Georgia DA Wants A Say In Trump Election Case Fee Battle

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is urging a Georgia appellate court to undo an order blocking her from intervening in a bid by President Donald Trump and others to recoup $16 million in legal fees in a dismissed election interference case, saying her office has a significant financial interest at stake.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mich. Homeowner Qualifies For Exemption, Court Rules

    A Michigan homeowner who lived in the state while her husband lived in Washington state is eligible for a principal residence exemption despite filing a nonresident return for one year, a panel of the Michigan Appeals Court ruled. 

Expert Analysis

  • High Court Rulings Could Alter Agency Strategy For Cos.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook mark major turning points in the law of independent agencies and in how regulated companies should think about federal enforcement, rulemaking and agency-facing strategy, say attorneys at Holtzman Vogel.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • 3rd Circ. ERISA Ruling Stresses Process Over Perfect Returns

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Quest Diagnostics affirms that a sound fiduciary process — not perfect investment returns — defeats Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims, signaling that courts will keep scrutinizing how fiduciaries decide, and sponsors who can show their work should remain protected, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.

  • Fed. Circ. Licensing Rulings Shed Light On Patentee Standing

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    Two recent decisions from the Federal Circuit provide a useful framework for evaluating whether a patent license agreement preserves a sufficient exclusionary interest to support future patent infringement claims, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Solar's Momentum At Mid-2026 Will Help It Overcome Snags

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    The rapid expansion of U.S. solar development in the first half of 2026 is likely to continue its pace, even amid ongoing shifts in federal trade policy and supply chain regulations, obstacles to permitting reform, and an increasing divide between states enacting policies to encourage or stymie project development, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • How Justices Stayed Off The Geofence In Location Data Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Chatrie v. United States decision reaffirms Fourth Amendment protections for location data but avoids more complicated questions about geofence warrants, say attorneys at Adams Duerk.

  • Remote Work Rulings Show ADA Fights Hinge On Process

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    Two opposite outcomes in recent Fifth Circuit and D.C. federal court cases underscore that the legality of denying employees' disability accommodation requests for remote work depends less on broad policy and more on how it's applied, says Paul Sweeney at Ice Miller.

  • Fed Autonomy Rests On Narrow Exception After Justices Rule

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Trump v. Cook and Trump v. Slaughter expand presidential removal power while temporarily preserving the Federal Reserve’s independence, but there is uncertainty about which of the Fed’s authorities fall within the court’s narrow monetary-policy exception, says Keith Bradley at Squire Patton.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

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    Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

  • How Pfizer Won Fed. Circ. Patent Dispute By 1 Carbon Atom

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    The Federal Circuit's recent refusal to revive a patent in Enanta Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer over an alleged typo creating a one-atom difference in a COVID-19 treatment application hands defendants a template for potentially converting a triable fact question into an early dispositive ruling, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • What To Know Before Justices Rule In Title IX Employee Case

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Title IX protections extend to employees alleging sex discrimination in Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which could have significant implications for higher education institutions and their employees, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Highlights The Cost Of Incorrect Inventorship

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Fortress Iron v. Digger Specialties, affirming that a fencing company's patents were invalid due to a missing co-inventor, is a reminder that confirming correct inventorship should be a critical part of every patent invalidity workup, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.

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