Appellate

  • May 28, 2026

    High Court Says First Step Act Can't Inform Early Releases

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that changes in mandatory minimum sentences cannot be considered retroactively when weighing if a federal prisoner should be granted early release.

  • May 28, 2026

    Justices Say 'Last-Mile' Drivers Can Skip Arbitration

    An exemption to federal arbitration requirements for workers engaged in interstate commerce can extend to what are known as last-mile drivers who locally deliver goods that travel interstate, the U.S. Supreme Court held Thursday, resolving an issue that lingered after previous high court decisions.

  • May 27, 2026

    PacifiCorp Link Should DQ Appeal Judge, Plaintiffs Say

    Counsel for a class of Oregon property owners asked an appeals court Tuesday to disqualify the judge who authored a decision overturning classwide liability against PacifiCorp for wildfire damage, saying the judge's alleged work for the utility in prior private practice would cause a reasonable person to question her impartiality.

  • May 27, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Alaska Can Release ConocoPhillips Well Data

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a lower court's ruling that kept ConocoPhillips' Alaskan well data confidential, saying in a published opinion that federal law and regulations did not preempt an Alaska statute requiring the data's release.

  • May 27, 2026

    3rd Circ. Affirms Toss Of Spirit Airlines Site Tracking Suit

    The Third Circuit has refused to revive a proposed class action accusing the now-defunct Spirit Airlines of recording communications by visitors to its website, finding the plaintiffs voluntarily provided information to look for flights and that, at any rate, many understand "'that what we do on the Internet is not completely private.'"

  • May 27, 2026

    DOJ Urges Justices To Skip $400M Spain Award Cases

    The Trump administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to disturb a D.C. Circuit decision laying a path to enforce more than $400 million in arbitral awards against Spain, arguing that the decision, while flawed, does not warrant further review because the asserted circuit conflict is "shallow."

  • May 27, 2026

    National Trust Asks DC Circ. To Back Trump Ballroom Block

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation on Wednesday urged the D.C. Circuit to affirm a district court injunction that halted President Donald Trump's construction of a White House ballroom, arguing there's no justification for the project to proceed without Congress' approval.

  • May 27, 2026

    Chicago US Atty Revamps Grand Jury Rules After Misconduct

    Chicago's top federal prosecutor announced on Wednesday a new suite of rules for how grand jury investigations are handled after an Illinois federal judge accused the prosecutor's office of misconduct in a case against six immigration activists.

  • May 27, 2026

    Colo. Group Says $66M Flood Bonds Needed TABOR Vote

    A group of Boulder residents told a Colorado Court of Appeals panel Wednesday at oral arguments that the city's stormwater and flood management fees, which will be used in part to repay $66 million in bonds, are actually a tax under Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR.

  • May 27, 2026

    NFL's High Court Loss Is Lesson For Fair Employee Contracts

    The NFL's failed bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a former coach's racial discrimination claims via arbitration serves as a warning to businesses seeking to draft employment contracts with few options and limited rights for workers.

  • May 27, 2026

    Fla. Panel Says Confederate Tag Didn't Bias Crash Case Jury

    A man sentenced for seven crimes in connection with crashing his car into another vehicle was not unfairly prejudiced when the trial court admitted into evidence photos from the crash showing the Confederate flag tag he had affixed to his car, a Florida state appeals court said Wednesday.

  • May 27, 2026

    DOL Gets To Argue In 11th Circ. ESOP En Banc Appeal

    The Eleventh Circuit Wednesday granted the U.S. Department of Labor permission to argue as amicus in support of a seafood company in a worker-side appeal seeking to revive allegations of mismanagement of an employee stock ownership plan, which the full appellate court has agreed to consider in September.

  • May 27, 2026

    Colo. Panel Questions Trial Court's Reading Of Wage Laws

    The Colorado Court of Appeals appeared poised Wednesday to revive the retaliation claims of a former human services caseworker against the county department she had worked for, pushing back on a lower court's interpretation of statutes meant to close gender pay gaps.

  • May 27, 2026

    3rd Circ. Asks If Denny's Must Notify Servers Of Notification

    The Third Circuit appeared startled Wednesday at the notion that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to notify workers that they're required to notify them of various aspects of the wage law, as Denny's seeks to overturn certification of a server's suit accusing it of violating the act's disclosure requirement.

  • May 27, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Creditor Agent Could Be Served In Ch. 11 Suit

    The Second Circuit has found that when a Chinese textile company authorized an insurer to fully collect on a $3 million bankruptcy claim, it authorized the insurer's agent to accept service for a suit that would reduce the amount of the claim.

  • May 27, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs Fired Employee In Salary Spreadsheet Case

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday partially upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision finding that a Vermont software company illegally fired an employee for creating a spreadsheet to help coworkers compare salaries, but found the board relied on protected activity unrelated to the subject of the complaint in the case to find the company illegally fired three other workers.

  • May 27, 2026

    Pot Co. Urges 9th Circ. To Weigh Labor Law Constitutionality

    A cannabis retailer challenging the constitutionality of a California law that requires marijuana businesses to have labor peace agreements with unions is urging the Ninth Circuit to consider its claims against the state on the merits rather than remanding the issue to a lower court.

  • May 27, 2026

    Ill. Panel Won't Rethink 45-Year Sentence For Teen Murder

    An Illinois appeals court has ruled that a man convicted of a first-degree murder he committed in 2008 when he was a teenager is not eligible for a sentence reduction despite dramatic changes in state and federal law surrounding sentencing for juvenile offenders.

  • May 27, 2026

    NJ Justices Revive Eye Injury Suit For 'Gatekeeping' Test

    The Supreme Court of New Jersey revived a woman's suit alleging she suffered serious eye injuries because of a defect in Allergan USA Inc.'s product Ozurdex, ruling Wednesday that the trial court failed to conduct the gatekeeping inquiry required when there is a dispute over the reliability of expert testimony.

  • May 27, 2026

    10th Circ. Affirms Dentist's 3½-Year Sentence For Tax Evasion

    A dentist's sentence of almost 3½ years for evading over $1.6 million in personal taxes through an abusive-trust tax scheme was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit on Wednesday, as the appellate court rejected his argument that his sentence is both procedurally and substantively unreasonable.

  • May 27, 2026

    Ga. Panel Orders New Trial In Highway Collision Case

    A Georgia appeals panel has ordered a new trial for a woman who was injured when her stopped vehicle was struck by a speeding Ford F-150 truck on a Georgia highway, finding that the jury was improperly instructed on the "sudden emergency" doctrine.

  • May 27, 2026

    6th Circ. Backs Insurer In Michigan Jewelry Store Flood Fight

    A Michigan jewelry store's insurer does not have to cover water damage from a historic rainstorm that overwhelmed a Detroit area sewer system, the Sixth Circuit said, finding that the policy's flood exclusion barred coverage. 

  • May 27, 2026

    Conn. Justices Fault Bank In Lost Mortgage Note Dispute

    The Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB's appellate and trial court wins in a foreclosure case surrounding a lost $751,000 mortgage note, finding officials at a mortgage servicing firm submitted deficient and contradictory affidavits to support the bank's right to collect money.

  • May 27, 2026

    US Tells Justices To Hold 'Lightning Rod' Health Ministry Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court should hold out on deciding whether a New Mexico insurance law violates the religious rights of nonprofit healthcare-sharing ministries that provide cheap, Christian-focused health insurance options while the justices decide a similar case, the U.S. solicitor general told the court. 

  • May 27, 2026

    6th Circ. Upholds Prison Term Despite Sentencing Amendment

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed that a Michigan man's 103-month prison sentence should not be shortened, despite a recent change to sentencing guidelines, because his modest rehabilitation was not enough to justify a reduction.

Expert Analysis

  • 'Made In America' EO May Not Survive Section 230

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in advertising directs the Federal Trade Commission to deem online marketplaces' failure to verify third-party origin claims as unlawful, but such a rule would likely run into Section 230's publisher immunity doctrine, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Assessing EcoFactor's Impact On Damages Experts' Opinions

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    Though the Federal Circuit's ruling in EcoFactor v. Google gave rise to concerns that damages experts would be forced to rely on undisputed facts, recent case law suggests that those concerns are unwarranted, says Christopher Loh at Venable.

  • High Court Cert Case Would Test Sovereign Award Immunity

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    The D.C. Circuit's July 2025 Amaplat Mauritius v. Zimbabwe Mining Development decision appears to create a circuit split while elevating form over substance in a manner that, if left unreviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, could bar the courthouse doors for creditors holding arbitration awards against recalcitrant foreign sovereigns, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.

  • CFTC Actions Show Prediction Market Insider Trading Risks

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    It is a myth that insider trading law does not apply in prediction markets, as the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent enforcement actions illustrate that it has full authority to pursue such cases federally — and intends to, says attorney Gregg Goldfarb.

  • 2nd Circ. Clarifies When Prior Good Acts May Be Admissible

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in U.S. v. Cardenas, vacating a drug conspiracy conviction over improperly excluded evidence, indicates that evidence of prior good acts may be admissible to corroborate a defendant's testimony about their understanding of events and intent, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    Apple Discovery Fight Could Revive DOJ's Antitrust Appetite

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    Winning discovery disputes in the ongoing federal antitrust litigation over Apple’s app store practices is a huge opportunity for the Justice Department to return to its once-vigorous pursuit of product tying by tech monopolies, catch up with foreign competition regulators and establish clear standards for digital markets, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

  • Lockdown To Ledger: COVID Rulings Inform Crypto Coverage

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    As cryptocurrencies move deeper into mainstream financial markets, courts tasked with determining whether traditional insurance policies respond to digital asset losses have been evaluating coverage through the analytical framework of COVID-19 business interruption litigation, with one key recurring theme, say attorneys at Kennedys.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • The Federal Circuit's Evolving View Of Trade Secrets

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    In recent years, the Federal Circuit's approach to defining "readily ascertainable" information and determining sufficiency of trade secret identification has shifted, trending away from other circuits and potentially presenting a higher bar for trade secrets plaintiffs, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • What Justices' Review Of Guam Case Will Mean For Permitting

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    In U.S. Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether a federal agency's permit application is a final decision that courts can review — a question whose answer could reshape the timing and strategy of environmental litigation across the federal permitting landscape, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

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    Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • Human Authorship Is Still Central To Copyright Eligibility

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    In declining to review the D.C. Circuit's ruling in Thaler v. Perlmutter — holding that a work purely generated by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted — the U.S. Supreme Court has reinforced the human authorship requirement, so it is critical for creators of AI-assisted projects to document their involvement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Resolving The Conflict In 2nd Circ. Foreign Discovery Rulings

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    The Second Circuit recently issued two seemingly inconsistent decisions regarding the federal statute that permits U.S. discovery for purposes of a foreign proceeding, but the unifying feature appears to be the broad scope for district court discretion under Section 1782, say attorneys at Katsky Korins.

  • How 2nd Circ. Gave Loper Bright Real Force In SEC Cases

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Amah offers one of the first clear indications of how courts will operationalize Loper Bright, signaling that long-standing SEC enforcement theories resting on ambiguous definitional provisions are now subject to more rigorous judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

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