DOJ Wants NAACP's Air Permit Suit Against XAI Tossed

By Rae Ann Varona

The Trump administration has urged a Mississippi federal court to let it step in as a plaintiff and dismiss the NAACP's lawsuit that seeks to bar X.AI Corp.'s operation of a data center-powering gas plant in Southaven, saying the NAACP can't pursue the lawsuit over the government's objection.

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Texas Tech QB Leaves Team Amid Betting Scandal Lawsuits

By Alex Lawson

The legal fracas over Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who won an injunction to play football this fall despite extensive sports gambling admissions, abruptly halted Tuesday as Sorsby left the team and declared for the NFL's supplemental draft.

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Blanche To Go Before Senate Panel July 15

By Courtney Bublé

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination hearing is a month away, and the fate of his confirmation is likely in the hands of Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

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Oral Arguments In Comey, James Appeal Set For September

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Fourth Circuit has scheduled in-person oral arguments for the Trump administration's appeal of the dismissals of indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James for Sept. 15-18.

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Healthcare In Court

Md. Judge Continues Health Case Law Streak With ACA Ruling

By Mark Payne

U.S. District Judge Brendan Abell Hurson in Baltimore has been on the bench for less than three years. He's already building an impressive list of healthcare rulings.

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Ga. Judge Steps Away From DOJ Voter Case After Ethics Flap

By Kelcey Caulder

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross of Georgia agreed to recuse herself in a U.S. Department of Justice suit seeking full access to Georgia election records after being reprimanded for her attendance at a partisan political event for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has prosecuted President Donald Trump.

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CFPB Scraps 'Outdated' Credit Access Program Guidelines

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is withdrawing a 2020 advisory that gave lenders a road map for offering specially designed credit access programs for underserved communities, saying the guidance is "now outdated" after the agency's recent fair lending rule rollback.

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Mark Cuban Urges 6th Circ. To Rehear Case Against FINRA

By Jessica Corso

Mark Cuban is throwing his weight behind a Sixth Circuit challenge to the constitutionality of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's in-house disciplinary proceedings, arguing in a Tuesday brief that the regulator shouldn't be allowed to penalize the owner of a consulting company without first affording him a trial. 

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2 Firms To Lead Target Investor Suit Over Pride Month Merch

By Sydney Price

Grant & Eisenhofer PA and Boyden Gray PLLC will lead a group of shareholders suing Target Corp. over its Pride-themed merchandise that they claim was "exceptionally offensive" and "betrayed" investors.

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Judge Says Trump Admin Must Explain Park Sign Burden

By Crystal Owens

The Trump administration must explain how it will be harmed by an order requiring it to restore climate change, slavery and Indigenous history information to National Park Service sites by Independence Day after it asked a federal court to pause the decision pending a First Circuit appeal.

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'Cold Comfort': Judge Pans Fed Defense Of Energy Grant Cuts

By Dorothy Atkins

The Trump administration faced tough questions from a California federal judge during a hearing Tuesday on the government's request to transfer or toss states' allegations it unlawfully terminated energy and infrastructure programs, with the judge calling defense counsel's arguments "cold comfort" to grant recipients who've lost billions in funding.

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Chevron's Climate Suit Comparison Meets Skeptical Judge

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state judge pushed back Tuesday after Chevron and other oil giants urged dismissal of a family's lawsuit over a 2021 heatwave death, saying this case differs from a host of failed climate torts because it focuses on a single fatality from a "very specific weather event."

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Coalition Sues To Stop Trump's West Potomac Park Plan

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A coalition of conservation and historic preservation organizations and a Washington, D.C., resident are suing the Trump administration to stop a proposed revamp of West Potomac Park.

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Montanans Say Data Center Electricity Rates Need Their Input

By Elaine Briseño

Environmental advocacy groups seek to intervene in NorthWestern Energy's application to establish new rates for future data centers, telling the Montana Public Service Commission that their input is needed to protect residential customers from unpredictably higher costs.

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Academic Group Fights Feds' Bid For Lawsuit Funding Info

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Association of American Universities told a Massachusetts federal court on Monday it should not be required to open its books to prove it's eligible to recover attorney fees for successfully defeating the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' caps on indirect research costs last year.

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Roy Moore Seeks High Court Stay In PAC Defamation Fight

By Kelcey Caulder

Former Alabama judge Roy Moore on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an emergency stay of the Eleventh Circuit's decision to toss the $8.2 million defamation verdict he was awarded over claims that a Democratic PAC's ad suggested he solicited a minor for sex.

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Brazil Says Justice Is Immune From Trump Media's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

Brazil asked Monday to intervene and dismiss a suit by President Donald Trump's media company and online video-sharing platform Rumble Inc. against a Brazilian Supreme Federal Court justice's gag orders, saying the suit cannot overcome immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

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Brief

Feds Dropped From Foreign Drivers' Fla. License Ban Suit

By Britain Eakin

Nineteen foreign drivers challenging a Florida agency's decision to stop issuing commercial driver's licenses to some noncitizens have dropped the federal government from their suit after the U.S. Department of Transportation argued that the case belongs in a federal appeals court.

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Patriots Owner Sues Town Over $1M License Demand

By Julie Manganis

The owner of the New England Patriots says the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, is misusing its authority to extract another $1 million a year in exchange for an entertainment license for Gillette Stadium, according to a suit in state court.

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Colo. Justices Say PUD Pacts Can't Be Changed By Ballot

By Benjamin Morse

Planned unit development agreements are administrative matters that must be changed through the statutory amendment process, not by citizen initiative, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, blocking a bid by a property owner and local petitioners to put a Telluride PUD change before voters.

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AGs Face Opposition To RealPage Intervention Bid

By Matthew Perlman

Renters and building owners in multidistrict litigation alleging landlords used RealPage's software to inflate rental rates have told a Tennessee federal court the deals they reached cover any damages that attorneys general for four states and the District of Columbia might seek on behalf of their citizens.

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Mich. Township Says Man Admitted Church Wasn't His

By Susan Smiley

A west Michigan township accused of illegally demolishing a historic church is asking a federal judge not to allow a town resident to amend his complaint alleging the property belonged to him, arguing the plaintiff previously admitted that the church did not belong to him.

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Connecticut Owner Barred From Razing 1835 Captain's House

By Aaron Keller

At Connecticut's request, a state judge has briefly barred a property owner from demolishing a nearly 200-year-old house, giving the parties time to argue whether longer-lasting protections are warranted after the state sought to include the building in a proposed historic district.

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Unions Ask 1st Circ. To Spur Ruling On 'Loyalty Question'

By Carolyn Muyskens

Federal worker unions have asked the First Circuit to force a district judge to rule on their request to stop the federal government from asking job candidates how they'd advance Trump administration policies, saying their motion has sat undecided for nearly seven months.

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CU Regents Ask Judge To Toss Black Board Member's Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Members of the University of Colorado Board of Regents asked a federal judge to dismiss a fellow board member's lawsuit alleging she was sanctioned for opposing a university-funded campaign that stereotyped Black people, arguing that she was disciplined for breaching her fiduciary duties and that the defendant members have immunity.

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NJ Launches Push To Crack Down On Consumer 'Junk Fees'

By Jon Hill

New Jersey officials are declaring war on "junk fees" in the state with tighter regulation and enforcement, the latest state-level move to step up consumer protection efforts amid the Trump administration's pullback at agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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3 Groups Of Vape Users Sue Juul Over Addiction

By Mike Curley

Three groups of vape users are suing Juul Labs Inc. in Delaware Superior Court, each alleging that the company has been acting like tobacco companies of old, misleading the public about the dangers of vaping while reaping profits and addicting people from their childhoods onward.

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Stolen Skull Can't Lead To Ill. County Liability, 7th Circ. Says

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois county's coroner cannot be held liable for a former official's "abhorrent" practice of saving his examination subjects' skulls because the conduct itself was illegal and not part of his state-imposed duty to return bodily remains, a split Seventh Circuit panel has ruled.

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Wash. Judge Won't Revisit Order On Ed. Dept. School Grants

By Joyce Hanson

A federal judge in Seattle will not reconsider her decision declining to enforce an earlier order barring the U.S. Department of Education from ceasing school mental health grants, saying Washington and other plaintiff states have not shown that the court erred.

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EU Parliament Approves Trade Deal With US

By Dylan Moroses

European Union lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve legislation implementing the bloc's safeguard-bolstered trade deal with the U.S. founded on a series of tariff cuts, moving one step closer to implementation that is expected before the end of the month.

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Trade Court Backs Duty Redo For Canadian Wind Towers

By Jack McLoone

Certain wind towers imported into the U.S. from Canada will be subject to a 2.93% antidumping duty rate after the U.S. Court of International Trade signed off on Department of Commerce recalculations.

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Brief

US Customs Bars Copper Entries From Serbian Exporter

By Dylan Moroses

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will take steps immediately to ban copper imports from a Serbian exporter following an investigation that revealed those goods were produced with forced labor, according to a Tuesday announcement. 

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Illinois Adds Taxes On Digital Ads, Crypto, Prediction Markets

By Maria Koklanaris

Illinois will tax digital advertising, social media platforms, cryptocurrency, prediction markets and more under a nearly $56 billion budget signed Tuesday by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.

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Senate Rejects Bid To Block Fast-Track Immigration Appeals

By Courtney Bublé

A Democratic-led Senate resolution that would have blocked a U.S. Department of Justice rule directing its Board of Immigration Appeals to quickly dismiss cases that don't raise "novel" issues failed to pass Tuesday.

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Venezuelan Sent To CECOT Says His Tort Suit Belongs In DC

By Ganesh Setty

A Venezuelan national sent to El Salvador's CECOT prison is urging a D.C. federal court to adjudicate his tort claims against the government, arguing that the Trump administration's "centralized, multi-prong scheme" to deprive Venezuelans of due process originated in D.C.

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New Docs Undercut Feds' TPS Appeal, Haitians Tell Justices

By Ganesh Setty

Haitians challenging the Trump administration's now-postponed move to revoke temporary protected status for Haiti urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to dismiss the administration's appeal, arguing that additional factual development is needed in light of newly disclosed documents.

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Pa. Justices Say Fraud Clock Began Before Corpse Found

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated a woman's convictions of taking her dead grandmother's Social Security money as time-barred, ruling that the statute of limitations began running when she stopped collecting the checks, not when her grandmother's body was found in her freezer.

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Tribe Says Klamath Water Plan Shorted Salmon For Irrigation

By Tom Lotshaw

The Yurok Tribe has asked a California federal judge to overturn an annual operations plan the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released for the Klamath Project irrigation system, arguing it unlawfully promised too much water for agriculture at the expense of salmon.

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Scrap AT&T's Bid To Get Out Of Copper Line Rules, Calif. Says

By Christopher Cole

California officials urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject AT&T's push to escape state rules that the company says are blocking its transition from copper to fiber networks.

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FCC Urged To Revise Test Rule Language

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A trade group representing commercial, scientific and testing laboratories in the U.S. has asked the Federal Communications Commission to narrowly tailor the language of a planned rule that would restrict accreditation for labs that test communications equipment.

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Brief

FCC Lifts Security Ban On Some Foreign-Made Toy Drones

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission said that "toy drones" manufactured in foreign countries or using parts from overseas will no longer fall under an FCC ban on most drones produced outside the U.S.

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Va. Budget Deal Sets 2027 Launch For Retail Cannabis

By Sam Reisman

Virginia's governor and lawmakers on Tuesday announced an agreement to tax and regulate the sale of adult-use cannabis with sales beginning in July 2027.

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Landlord Says $158K Fine Over Alleged Pot Growing Illegal

By Jonathan Capriel

The city of Fresno, California, imposed an "excessive fine" for what it claimed was marijuana cultivation and allowed the plants to be destroyed before a landlord could challenge its finding, he contended in a federal lawsuit, saying he had no idea his tenant was allegedly growing cannabis.

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How PAGA Proposal Could Expand Calif. Labor Agency's Role

The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency's recently proposed regulations governing the Private Attorneys General Act signal a more structured and agency-driven enforcement approach, so risk management will depend on employers' ability to evaluate opportunities for effectuating a cure and navigate a more active administrative process, say attorneys at Lathrop.

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Regulatory Rollbacks Complicate Car Co. Compliance Plans

As federal fuel economy and emissions regulations undergo seismic changes, and gas prices surge, automakers seeking to position their product lines for the future face a difficult strategic choice: whether to treat today's regulatory rollback as a lasting shift or as a temporary opening in an uncertain market, says Thomas Healy at Honigman.

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Aviation Watch: Product Safety Lessons From The UPS Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board's recent hearing concerning the crash of a UPS jet late last year highlighted the importance of maintaining records documenting analysis of design defects, adequately warning users of defects and related safety issues, and requiring use of improved designs, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

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Fannie, Freddie AI Rules Raise Stakes For Mortgage Lenders

Artificial intelligence governance frameworks recently released by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac impose monitoring and vendor oversight standards on mortgage lenders, potentially reshaping secondary-market eligibility, fair lending reviews and risk management as compliance deadlines approach, says Brendan Palfreyman at Harris Beach.

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The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Maya Kowalski Sues Ex-Atty Over Fees, Funding Loan

By Carolina Bolado

Maya Kowalski, the subject of the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," filed a malpractice suit against her former attorney on Wednesday, accusing him of charging excessive fees and improperly orchestrating an advance funding loan after winning a $213 million judgment.

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Sanctioned IP Atty Tells Fed. Circ. 'Integrity' On The Line

By Elliot Weld

An attorney who was sanctioned in a trade dress infringement case due to what a judge said were his repeated misrepresentations has asked the Federal Circuit to lift the penalties against him and his client, saying his "professional and personal integrity, and my family, depends on it."

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Bosch Receives First DOJ Declination Under New Policy

By Sarah Jarvis

German technology company Bosch on Wednesday became the first company to avoid criminal prosecution under a new U.S. Department of Justice enforcement policy after it cooperated with the federal government and agreed to pay $36 million to settle allegations it improperly exported technology products to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei.

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DOJ's Pot Shift Leaves Key Questions For Cannabis Industry

By Sam Reisman

The Trump administration's recent moves to relax federal restrictions on marijuana through the administrative process will have unclear ramifications for all industry players unless Congress steps in to rewrite cannabis law, attorneys heard Wednesday.

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