Full 3rd. Circ. Wipes Out New Jersey Assault Weapons Ban

By Hailey Konnath

The full Third Circuit on Friday held that New Jersey's decades-long ban on semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, though some judges said the way the weapons are now being used as well as recent technological advances couldn't have been foreseen by the Constitution's framers.

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Analysis

New Public Charge Rule Leaves Immigration Attys Guessing

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new public charge rule will give immigration officers wide discretion to decide who will become dependent on government assistance, replacing clearly defined guidelines with a system attorneys say has no guardrails or objective standards.

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Analysis

States Stepping Up Merger Work In First Half Of 2026

By Matthew Perlman

Federal enforcers reached a number of merger settlements in the first half of 2026, while state attorneys general stepped up their independent enforcement efforts, taking on Nexstar's planned purchase of rival broadcaster Tegna and Paramount's deal for Warner Bros. Discovery.

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Analysis

Upon Review: The 2026 World Cup's Biggest Legal Stories

By Alex Lawson

The grandest iteration of the World Cup to date unsurprisingly raised new legal and regulatory disputes, including immigration issues and the White House's intervention in a player disciplinary proceeding. Here, Law360 digs into the legal questions arising from the tournament.

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Feature

Wash. Gov.'s High Court Pick Aims To Hold Off 3 Challengers

By Ben Adlin

In one of the most hotly contested races in this year's Washington Supreme Court, Justice Theo Angelis — who took the high court bench in April after being appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson — will attempt to defend his Position 5 seat from three challengers, each with a different pitch to voters.

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Roundup

Skill Games, Grinch Bots: A Midyear Pa. Legislation Review

By Matthew Santoni

Two major rulings from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have left it up to the Legislature to address "skill games" and second-degree murder sentences, while other pending bills would tackle a long-standing challenge in administering elections, and make it harder for scalpers to snatch up high-demand tickets or products online.

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Ex-FDIC, CFPB Chiefs Back Colo. In 10th Circ. Rate Law Case

By Zach Dupont

Two former members of the FDIC's board of directors, one of whom also led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, filed an amicus brief urging the Tenth Circuit to uphold a panel's ruling reinstating a Colorado law intended to curb high-cost lending in the state that a lower court initially shot down.

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Brief

6th Circ. Won't Rehear Mark Cuban-Backed FINRA Challenge

By Phillip Bantz

A Sixth Circuit panel has declined to grant a full rehearing of a constitutional challenge of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's in-house disciplinary proceedings brought by the owner of a financial consulting company that had support from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

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Analysis

Top 4 Enviro Policies To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

By Gautama Mehta

The second half of 2026 may see the outcome of federal efforts to speed up construction timelines via federal rulemaking and in Congress, and the resolution of open questions around how the repeal of a foundational climate regulation will impact energy policy. Here are four key policy areas that are on environmental attorneys' radar.

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Judge Denies Bid To Fast-Track Alaska Refuge Road Ruling

By Crystal Owens

An Alaskan district judge is asking the federal government, the state of Alaska and an Indigenous corporation to provide an anticipated construction timeline for a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

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9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

By Gautama Mehta

The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

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Calif. Air District Can Be Sued Under Clean Air Act, Judge Says

By Elaine Briseño

A federal judge ruled Friday that the Clean Air Act allows a coalition of environmental groups to sue an agency that controls air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley even though it is a government regulator.

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States Ask To Join Fight Against DOD Wind Project Blockage

By Nadia Dreid

Nearly 20 states have told an Oregon federal judge they want in on a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to block land-based wind projects in the U.S. from moving forward.

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Md. Judge Stays Reforms Set To Shrink ACA Coverage Pool

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Maryland federal judge stayed a set of Affordable Care Act marketplace reforms that were set to take effect Monday, finding several cities and groups representing doctors and small businesses were likely to succeed in their Administrative Procedure Act challenge against them.

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Medical Groups Urge 1st Circ. To Back Vaccine Panel Freeze

By Carolyn Muyskens

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other public health organizations on Friday defended before the First Circuit a Massachusetts judge's decision to block Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine policy committee appointments, countering claims that the judge overreached.

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Reexams Reach Record High As PTAB Reviews Hit Low

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's second quarter saw the agency receiving more requests for ex parte reexamination and fewer petitions for America Invents Act reviews than any quarter before, according to a new Unified Patents report.

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Generative AI Patents Booming Globally, World IP Org. Reports

By Adam Lidgett

The number of patent families for generative artificial intelligence inventions more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, with mostly Chinese companies leading the pack, according to a report from a United Nations intellectual property agency.

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Reexam Denial On Ex-BlackBerry Patent Cites Pre-Order Filing

By Ryan Davis

Pointing to a paper filed by patent owner Malikie Innovations Ltd. under a new policy put in place this spring, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected Unified Patents LLC's request for reexamination of a video coding patent originally issued to BlackBerry Ltd.

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Judge Open To TRO Blocking Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge appeared open Friday to granting a group of states' bid for a temporary restraining order blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying it appears the tie-up's anticipated market share presumptively violates the Clayton Act under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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AGs Have 'Significant Concerns' With DOJ's Live Nation Deal

By Bryan Koenig

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general asked a New York federal judge Thursday for a peek into the negotiations behind the Justice Department's controversial midtrial settlement with Live Nation, voicing concerns the deal isn't in the public interest and saying they need details as they seek a breakup.

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NetChoice Ordered To Produce Harm Studies In Va. Case

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge ordered tech industry group NetChoice to turn over any studies or reports it has examining social media's potential addictiveness or harm to young people Friday, partially granting a motion to compel from the state as it fights a suit challenging its law limiting children's access.

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Analysis

Top Transportation Rulings: Midyear 2026 Report

By Linda Chiem

U.S. Supreme Court rulings determining that freight brokers can face state-based negligence lawsuits and that last-mile drivers can also be exempt from arbitration are among the biggest court decisions of the first half of 2026 affecting the transportation industry. Here, Law360 highlights a few of the biggest transportation-related rulings of 2026 so far.

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Mass. Court Tosses Evidence After Bodycams Show Coercion

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court on Friday said a gun and drugs found in a car after police repeatedly searched and pressured the driver for the key must be thrown out as evidence in a case that one of the justices, in a concurrence, says highlights the value of police-worn body cameras.

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Conn. Justices Uphold Nonprofit Center's Renovation Plan

By Aaron Keller

The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday said a nonprofit cultural center was legally clear to have renovated a building on its nearly 80-acre New Canaan property, finding a town zoning appeals board in 2019 correctly denied neighbors' challenges to a permit obtained from a zoning enforcement officer.

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Q&A

Eye On ERISA: Jerry Schlichter Talks 401(k) Litigation, Theory

By Kellie Mejdrich

Plaintiff-side litigation veteran Jerry Schlichter, founding and co-managing partner of Schlichter Bogard LLP, told Law360 that highlights among the firm's recent legal victories include a reported settlement to end 401(k) investment litigation against ADP, as well as a $150 million settlement in a toxic lead emissions case.

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Pipeline Worker Engaged In Interstate Commerce, Court Says

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appeals court ruled that Energy Transfer LP cannot compel the family of a man who died in a pipeline explosion to arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, finding Thursday that the FAA did not apply to his employment contract because he engaged in interstate commerce.

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Bipartisan Bill Targets Google's Search Dominance

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing dominant search engines such as Google from engaging in anticompetitive tactics to monopolize the online search market.

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Brief

Drug Buyers' $62M Generic-Pricing Deal Gets Final OK

By George Woolston

A federal judge granted final approval to wholesalers on settlements worth a total of at least $62 million with Glenmark Pharmaceutical Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Pfizer subsidiary Greenstone LLC over claims the companies colluded with others to keep generic drug prices high, according to court orders.

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Ex-Ga. Deputies Seek Immunity In 2017 Stun Gun Death Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

Three former Washington County, Georgia, sheriff's deputies asked a federal court to free them from a lawsuit filed by the sister of a man who died after being shot with a stun gun in a widely publicized July 2017 confrontation with police, citing qualified immunity.

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Ruger Asked To Pay $90M To Settle Mass Shooting Claims

By Hailey Konnath

The families of the victims of a 2021 mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, have proposed that gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. pay $90 million to resolve a pair of suits, according to a global offer of compromise filed in Connecticut state court.

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Conn. Says Reach Of Law Can't Stop $7.7M Ghost Gun Penalty

By Mike Curley

Connecticut is again asking a state court to issue a $7.7 million civil penalty against an out-of-state seller of "ghost guns," arguing that the court needn't consider the geographical scope of Connecticut's unfair trade practices law, but that even if it does, the state can reach the seller, and the penalty is appropriate.

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Analysis

Top Gov't Contracting Decisions Of 2026: Midyear Report

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court and federal circuit courts decided several consequential cases impacting contractors this year, including weighing whether contractors can immediately appeal district court denials of their immunity claims and clarifying what a successful protester needs to challenge an agency's decision to continue a contract during a bid protest.

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Judge Says OMB Can't Change Grant Terms After Award

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge said Friday the Trump administration cannot rely on a shift in policy to retroactively change the terms of already awarded grants in order to justify canceling them.

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Brief

Commerce Opens Duty Probes Into Chinese Supplements

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating whether certain dietary supplements imported from China are being sold at unfair prices and should be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, it said Friday.

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Conn. Justices Bar Town From Killing Errant Forest Tax Break

By Sanjay Talwani

A Connecticut municipal assessor did not have the authority to terminate a property tax break for forest use that was erroneously granted, the state Supreme Court said Friday, suggesting that state lawmakers could clarify the law on the matter.

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Calif. Judge Orders Feds To Improve ICE Facility Conditions

By Tom Lotshaw

A California federal judge has said the Trump administration must take steps to improve conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center East and West, finding a class of immigrant detainees likely to prevail in litigation claiming people have been subjected to inhumane and intolerable treatment.

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BIA Says Girl's Foster Care Risk Can't Block Dad's Removal

By Tom Lotshaw

The Board of Immigration Appeals disagreed that a 6-year-old girl could face "exceptional hardship" in foster care after her Guatemalan father was deported, when he could just take her along instead, overturning a cancellation of removal an immigration judge granted.

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Senate Bill Would Ease SEC Reporting For Rural Telecoms

By Christopher Cole

A bipartisan Senate bill would make it easier for small, rural communications providers to prepare reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when obligated to submit paperwork for certain financial events.

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FCC's Subsidy Reform Plan Could Cut USAC Board By Third

By Nadia Dreid

Change is on the way for the Universal Service Administrative Co., which manages the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy fund, with the agency signaling its plans to consider slashing the company's board by more than a third.

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Mo. Hemp Cos. Say New Law Bars Their Businesses

By Mike Curley

A Missouri hemp coalition is suing the state's governor, attorney general and head of its Department of Health and Senior Services in federal court, saying a newly signed law regulating hemp effectively eliminates the state's hemp product industry and contradicts both federal law and itself.

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Dentons Adds Ga. Senate Majority Leader's Ex-Chief Of Staff

By Emily Johnson

Dentons has added Ben Jarrard, former chief of staff for Georgia state Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, to the firm's regulatory, public policy and government affairs practice.

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How To Brace For A Potential Democratic Oversight Push

With the possibility of a shift in congressional control after the November midterm elections, companies and their general counsel should prepare now by mapping oversight exposure, reviewing government interactions, preserving records and developing coordinated communications strategies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

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What PE Practitioners Need To Know About New Del. ABC Act

Delaware's new Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute represents a structural shift in how companies backed by private equity can be wound down and provides a more streamlined tool for managing sponsor liability without the public visibility of a bankruptcy proceeding, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.

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Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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.

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The Debanking Minefield: Navigating Fair Access In 2026

Federal regulators' recent elimination of reputational risk from bank supervision, alongside a growing patchwork of state fair access laws, is reshaping how banks make account and service decisions and ushering in a new compliance era requiring individualized, objective and risk-based access determinations, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

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Carbon Health Settlement Highlights Why Evidence Is Key

The California Attorney General's Office's first-of-its-kind settlement with Carbon Health, imposing penalties for alleged corporate practice of medicine violations, shows that friendly professional corporation challenges usually hinge not on the parties' management services agreement, but on whether the operational record matches it, says Ben Dubin at VC Expert Services.

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

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.

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How Competitive Is Your Compensation? Take Our Survey

Is your compensation keeping pace with the rate of inflation? Do you know what your colleagues made last year? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's Law Firm Compensation Survey.

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DOJ Unveils Law Firm Subpoenas In ABA Docs Bid Fight

By Ryan Boysen, Rae Ann Varona, Alison Knezevich, Daniel Moritz-Rabson and Aebra Coe

The BigLaw firms that cut deals with the Trump administration last year to skirt punitive executive orders are now grappling with subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking deal-related communications and depositions of the firms' managing partners or chairs, according to Friday court filings.

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K&L Gates Cuts Nonattorney Staff By 10% After Review

By Tracey Read

K&L Gates LLP has cut its nonattorney and business support staff by 10% following a monthslong review of its structure, the firm told Law360 Pulse Friday.

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7th Circ. Admonishes Atty Over 'Astonishing' Bogus Citations

By Christine DeRosa

The Seventh Circuit has admonished but declined to sanction an attorney for a brief that included what a judge called "an astonishing number of erroneous and even hallucinated citations."

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Ashurst Perkins Gets Trial Date Pushed In Malpractice Case

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state judge granted Ashurst Perkins Coie's bid to postpone the trial date in a lawsuit accusing the firm's predecessor of making significant mistakes while representing a Middle Eastern screw and nail manufacturer in regulatory proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce, calling the case "complex" on Friday.

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Judge Warns Gov't Over Apparent AI-Hallucinated Citation

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judge in Michigan, appointed by President Donald Trump, called out the government for its apparent use of artificial intelligence to cite "nonexistent case law."

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Public Defenders Go On Strike In New York City

By Andrea Keckley

Hundreds of public defenders and social workers in Brooklyn and Queens have gone on strike, with the possibility of more walkouts to come as legal aid providers continue to negotiate with their unions.

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Feature

How A 'Revolutionary' Charlotte Courtroom Advances Justice

By Hayley Fowler

In the second of a two-part series on the Virginia Revival Courtroom in the Charlotte federal courthouse, judges, architects and a trial consultant explain the strategy behind designing a space they see as more conducive to justice.

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2nd Circ. Backs Public Defender's Firing For Computer Misuse

By Andrea Keckley

The Second Circuit has backed a district court's dismissal of a former public defender's lawsuit against Oneida County, New York, for firing him after he used his work computer to work on his private practice on county time, agreeing that the county did not violate his privacy rights or breach their contract.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering allowing electronic delivery to be the default method for sending investors information, and a panel of investor activists said the 2026 proxy season was shaped by regulators who seem to let public companies behave more like private ones. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen Snapchat and Dolby press on with a fresh infringement claim in their ongoing patent battle, The Telegraph face an intellectual property claim by a photo archive, a group of international human rights barristers and chambers sued, and oil business Equinor embroiled in a contract dispute with BP after recently acquiring full ownership in their offshore project. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Second Circuit determined that a lower court properly found that Nielsen cannot condition media company Cumulus' access to national radio ratings data on buying its local offerings.

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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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